worldbuilding headcanon; Today we’re here to talk about Ransei’s mythology & religion. While Ransei’s beliefs and practices are typically referred to as “traditional Arceuism,” referring to the form of Arceuism originating and practiced within the early Sinjoh cultures, this is mainly because they’re closer to that than more contemporary forms of Arceuism - while Ransei’s beliefs originated from Sinnoh and Johto’s early Arceuism, as well as having much the same practices (basically, see: Shinto beliefs & practices. I won’t go into heavy detail due to limited research, but ), it still derives quite a bit due to, as one would expect, Ransei’s isolated development and the metric fuckton of legendaries present there.

In Traditional Arceuism, originating from the joint Sinjoh culture, recognized were the legendaries of, duh, Sinnoh and Johto as deities - Arceus, the Lake and Creation Trios, the Tower Duo, and the legendary birds as major gods, while Celebi, Shaymin, Darkrai, Cresselia, Heatran, etc. were recognized as more minor gods. Ransei’s beliefs also extend to the legendaries of Hoenn, and has altered versions regarding the mythology of many of these legendaries - Arceus, of course, having the most significant differences via it’s mythology being extended quite a bit from the original version.

In the earliest mythologies, Arceus only brought forth the Creation Trio, the origins of the physical world itself, and Lake Trio, the basis for life in the physical world - after this, it returned to the heavens, considered to be Arceus’s own realm (a.k.a. the Hall of Origin), leaving its children to watch over the world in its stead. However, according to the mythology of Ransei, before Arceus could return to its realm, it had to create a gateway in order to return. Should it ever need to return to the Earth, or should the deities it created ever need to return to the heavens, this ‘gateway,’ an island, was left open - that is to say, it existed both in the physical world and the heavens. While legend states that the humans that would inhabit the island were ‘Arceus’s chosen’ - meaning the people Ransei now knows as ‘warriors,’ those who can link with pokémon - it’s unclear whether they found their way there by Arceus’ will, or if they found the island by chance and came into its favor (the most common interpretation is the prior, however). Originally, the humans of the region had a single emperor, but as they spread out further and further, they began to feud - the final straw came when war broke out, sparking with the destruction of both the emperor’s palace and the shrine to Arceus. Angered, Arceus severed it from the heavens, dubbing it ‘Ransei,’ and allegedly swearing only to accept the region back into its favor if it were to be united again. The ruins of its original shrine, as well as those to all of the other legendaries of the world, were said to have vanished from the face of the Earth. Allegedly, there are still points in Ransei which connect to the heavens, but these are said to appear and disappear at Arceus’s will - one such example being the Mysterious Ruins in Aurora, the remains of Arceus’s shrine.

Since this is long enough as it is, I’ll get into other legendaries in another post; a general Ho-oh and Lugia and the Legendary Birds can be found here, since I’ve already written mythologies for them before (though I’ll most likely have some minor revisions in the eventual final product). As far as belief & practice goes within Ransei, it varies largely from kingdom to kingdom, depending heavily on both past & current Warlords. Aurora, for example, is more on the traditional end and is home to quite a few shrines, and, historically, has never strayed very far from that. Osamu, Hiroko’s father, was pretty devout in his beliefs and both in learning from him and… you know, actually encountering Arceus for herself, Hiroko is as well. Things like the supposed disappearance of the shrines (and the fact that no such shrines exist which date back to a time prior to the recorded beginnings of Ransei’s wars) is typically justified by those who put less stock in the legends as having been destroyed in war - a pretty reasonable assumption, as there are, in fact, few structures left in Ransei which can say they’ve been standing since the last peacetime, and most of which are only partially so, with many portions being reconstructed due to both age and various acts of sabotage during the many, many wars.

wait wait ok keep going with sun/moon/seasonal birbs that sounds rad w t f

BIRB MYTHOLOGY HELL YEAH

Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos were considered the children of the Sun and Moon; Moltres was Summer, the child of Ho-Oh, and as such its season was known for bright sunlight and long days; Articuno was bringer of Winter and child of Lugia, giving its season longer nights and serene atmosphere. Zapdos was the youngest - after Moltres and Articuno were created, Ho-Oh and Lugia realized that the two seasons were too different and so they created Zapdos as a combination of their powers to usher in the two periods of transition between Summer and Winter.

Ho-Oh and Lugia were said to guide the Sun and Moon across the sky. Lugia was both the Moon and Guardian of the Sea as the moon and tides (and consequentially, tidal winds & stormy seas) are directly linked - as for the phases of the moon,

It is said that it quietly spends its time deep at the bottom of the sea because its powers are too strong.

The full moon was said to be Lugia using the height of its strength, but in order to keep things running smoothly it had to limit its presence in the night sky; the moon’s phases were periods where it was moving between the Moon and the bottom of the sea. The two quarters were when it was said to be on land. 

Ho-Oh was associated with life on land the way Lugia was to the seas; Lugia was viewed as a being of power and mysticism, and Ho-Oh was longevity and good fortune. People would pray to Ho-Oh for luck, wealth, good crops, health, etc. and to Lugia for strength, courage, knowledge, and protection (like good weather & smooth sailing.)

There’s also the Legendary Beasts; when the Brass Tower was burned down, Lugia, angered, created storms lasting for weeks - Ho-Oh revived the three pokémon that had perished in the tower as a gift to Lugia to make up for its loss and quell its anger - Entei is attributed to volcanoes (see: undersea volcanoes), Raikou to storms, and Suicune to clean water & the North Wind.

headcanon; even more Aura! This time getting more into Aura Guardians, including the rise in organization among aura users that led to the foundation of The Order of Aura Guardians, the Order’s initial goals and intentions, and how things changed over the years. This is building off of the base Big Bad Aura Headcanon. Not quite as long as the first, but a bit of elaboration. Also, first Jedi joke gets blocked. (jk, jk.)

Prior to the rise of the Order, the most common fate for aura users (as well as others, like psychics) was to be more-or-less obligated to swear their loyalty to their region / the crown and serve as a soldier or knight of some sort. Typically, actively refusing to do so was considered treason. Training for aura users was usually informal, passing from user to user, and while some places did make sure their aura users were capable of unlocking their full range of abilities (after all, it could be to their benefit in battle) most rarely focused beyond the basics of controlling the sense and simple projection. Aura users with no defined loyalties were considered dangerous and often persecuted for it.

Very little history of aura users was recorded; if an aura user was well-known, it was likely in infamy moreso than in any positive light. By the general populace, they were seen as deceitful and untrustworthy - essentially rogues (particularly for empath-like abilities, often mistaken for a sort of mind-reading to those uninformed). Because of the reputation they had, few names of Aura Users stood the test of time until Sir Aaron.

And being considered the first Aura Guardian, Aaron set the precedent for the Order, which came together after his death. They sought to follow his ideals: finding the young aura users of the kingdom (later, the world), teaching them to use their powers and giving them protection and safety in a world that offered them no such securities, and, most importantly recording these techniques and more aura user history so that future generations could learn from it. 

The Order initially began as Aaron’s students, determined to pass on what he had taught them. Slowly, they began to search for users beyond their kingdom’s borders - further out into the KanJoh regions, then beyond, to Sinnoh and Hoenn, and in later generations, the distant reaches of Kalos, Unova, and other overseas regions. As it grew, the Order needed more... well, order. This is where the Aura Guardians’ council began; it was decided that the most skilled - masters of aura - should be the ones to guide the Order. Ultimately, they were the ones to decide on training processes, oversee recording of their traditions, training,and history, and maintaining order within the Aura Guardians overall.

This council was concentrated in Rota - as the birthplace of the Aura Guardians, it was only natural. Other regions and even smaller areas within them had their own guilds and councils of aura users that could decide on further specifics tailored more to their localized traditions, but ultimately, all Aura Guardians followed the greater council’s decisions as law. Among these rules were ideals like, “no aura user will be turned away from learning under the Order,” and, “Aura Guardians and their apprentices will respect life of all kinds; they will put the greater good above all else.” In addition, there were unspoken rules - Aura Guardians were expected to have no affiliation to any one nation / royal family / etc., and the council would handle any breaking of the Order’s rules, even if it overlapped with their nation’s laws, such as deliberate murder. They were, first and foremost, sworn to the protection of the people

To this day, Rota has the most extensive collection of aura user history and recorded techniques in the world, all in a variety of languages as the Guardians, at their height, were a global organization. Their traditions continue to celebrate Aura Guardians and aura users - their annual festival was, for example, a way to celebrate newly initiated Guardians until the order declined. Many young aura users in the modern day who discover their powers and do a bit of research will quickly discover Rota - almost all of those make it a goal to visit the city someday, if not someday soon, especially those dedicated to understanding and mastering their abilities. Though the Order itself has yet to be reinstated, it does seem that there’s been a significant number of aura users who have begun to rediscover the history behind their abilities in recent years; it seems only a matter of time until someone pushes to revive the Order once again.

sereneislemuses:

There is just a thing as normal type energy actually. It’s mainly just the rawest form of type energy since I headcanons that pokemon generate a form of energy and then “refine” it in the body (This is actually something that happens in real life regarding chemicals in the body). Which is why we have a bunch of different types.

It’s also how infinity energy was created as well.

I guess I didn’t phrase that very well; the differently typed energies was kind of what I was trying to get at (e.g. bite is dark because of the energy used while other moves with a similar ‘technique’ [using a part of the body like claws, teeth, etc.] are normal type because of the same reason), so sorry ‘bout that one.

Anyway - just to clear one thing up, I’m assuming pokémon can use/somehow ‘make’ energy of different types since pkmn aren’t confined to using only moves that match their type. So what would you say defines a pokémon’s typing, based on that? 

Just because in my headcanon I would say that typing is the result of what sort of energy a pokemon naturally generates (i.e. life energy / aura), hence why super/noneffective moves are a thing, and then that energy can be altered or (as you put it) ‘refined’ into another type. However, that “weakens” it - some of that energy is lost in the process of type conversion, leading to different-type attacks being weaker / STAB moves.

(infinity energy I haven’t actually put much/any thought into because I pretty much forgot about it ‘til now, so sorry if I don’t address that as much)

headcanon; the Dragon Force! Actually, most of this isn’t anything new. It’s more for the sake of compiling everything I’ve written on it thus far, since I haven’t really done that yet. 

The Dragon Force is most commonly described as the aura of the Earth itself; in a way, it’s the sum of the Auras of everything - plants, humans, pokemon, and so on. It draws from the Auras of living things to reach a sort of equilibrium. The Earth absorbs the energy living things give off and then re-emits it, and, though it usually goes unknown by most beings, it influences their well-being as well. Auras, like any form of energy, will affect other objects and transfer between them. Depending on the person / pokemon / environment, the effects could be positive or very, very negative. By disrupting the balance of an area (through, say, a war), that will throw off the Dragon Force and, in turn, affect the natural health of the area as well. Though, with enough time, all imbalances in the Dragon Force will eventually return to their natural state, if the destruction and chaos is too much, the area could become permanently damaged, such as a desert. However, where many living things coexist (be it in human settlements or forested areas), that energy will help to strengthen the Dragon Force - assuming overall harmony is maintained. (I hope it’s clear what I’m getting at here.)

Though the Dragon Force exists across the entire world, there are certain areas that, due to the patterns it follows, are considered “hotspots,” where large amounts of Dragon Force energy sort of pools up. (One specific example - and possibly the most well-known, at least historically - lies in the heart of Unova.) These areas tend to flourish and, naturally, attract quite a bit of life, but they’re also far more sensitive to imbalances and can be very easily tipped one way or the other. If used correctly, hotspots can be a massive benefit to all life. If not, then the resulting chaotic energy could very well wipe away the life there entirely, and later begin again with a clean slate.

This brings us to the role of “balancekeepers,” a nickname for legendary pokemon (typically, you guessed it, dragon-types, hence the name ‘Dragon Force’)  that are strongly connected to and influenced by the Dragon Force. Such legendaries are typically found near these hotspots. Their role is almost exactly what their nickname would imply; they maintain balance among opposing forces of the Earth (be it between Life and Death, opposing sides such as Ideals and Truth, and so on...) and, in turn, keep the Dragon Force in check. Few to no humans understand their motives, but it is possible that they do this in self-interest. When the Dragon Force is well-balanced, they’re at the height of their power. When it isn’t, they, like the DF itself, begin to lose control; in cases of complete corruption and times of crisis, they’ve even been rumored to act more like monsters than ‘gods,’ as they were commonly revered. 

How the balancekeepers went about their role did vary, but one in particular - the Great Dragon of Isshu, known also as ‘Isshurem’ and, in modern times, ‘The Original Dragon’ - was said to have worked hand-in-hand with humans during ancient times. 

The civilization of Isshu, the predecessor to Unova, was famed in its time for its successful use of the Dragon Force in order to create a greatly prosperous region. Humans and pokemon were said to live in perfect harmony, working and interacting together in daily life as partners; the technology their people produced was also some of the most advanced in their time, and between their trade agreements and isolation from the rest of the world, they managed to maintain a long-standing history of nonviolence. The kings of the region were said to be Isshurem’s Heroes, tasked with acting on its behalf to maintain harmony. 

Some Isshu folklore, while not fully accurate, did provide some form of explanation on the balancekeepers (namely Isshurem) and the Dragon Force. At the time, while Pokemon were not necessarily revered as gods, they were seen as more like spirits or such that influenced the natural world. The well being of pokemon was tied to the well being of the world, and, consequently, the well being of humankind. Allegedly, the Great Dragon was an embodiment of the Dragon Force, a natural energy that flowed through the Earth; Isshu was believed to be the center of this energy, and the Dragon Force was what (supposedly) gave pokemon their abilities. Logically, this was why, when the energy of the Dragon Force was disturbed through chaos such as wars or natural disasters, that disruption would affect other areas as well - it caused pokemon to be weaker, unable to maintain nature properly until the disruption was fixed. 

Many of these legends, however, were later lost to time after to the fall of Isshu and the infamous story of Unova’s Twin Heroes, who caused Isshurem’s split into the two opposing dragons of Truth and Ideals (and its remnant, Kyurem, the ‘boundary’ - a now empty and near-powerless keeper of balance). The Dragon Force has since become a concept that has mostly gone forgotten over the ages; whether this ties into the ever-increasing troubles throughout the world caused by humankind still has yet to be seen.

worldbuilding headcanon; There are really only two types of battling in the pokemon world: League-dictated battles (Gyms, Contests, Battle Frontier, E4/Champion - anything official and following League-set rules) and street battles.

“Street battling” is technically a catch-all term for any non official battle (so, by game standards, random NPC battles that aren’t any of the ones mentioned above), but most trainers use it to describe a pretty specific battle style with a following a lot like competitive battlers or coordinators to league battles and contests.  

When the term “street battling” was coined there really wasn’t much of a difference between it and official league battles - most trainers followed all of the League’s preset rules that were set in place for official battles, including the single-pokemon restriction, limits on the battlefield size and what’s a “legal” area to battle, how moves can be used without being considered cheating, and so on. They just accepted it as the basic standard, in a sense, and carried the rules over to training outside of league facilities.

“True” street battles formed from groups of trainers that wanted to break away from the league restrictions because they thought they were too strict. A lot of them felt that league battles were too regulated in regards to how a battle could actually be fought and wanted to get out of the box a little more and test what their pokemon could really do. A few really popular street battle formats were adopted by the League, including Double (and later Triple and Rotation) battles, as well as the use of held items in battle. Places like the Battle Frontier, Subway, and so on were essentially created to host League-sponsored battles that drew from street rules in order to attract more of the street battling community.

As far as rules for street battles go, a lot of it is “whatever goes” - there are certain unspoken rules among the community of trainers that’s developed, most of which are similar to the league’s standards; usually they have to do with ensuring the pokemon and trainers involved are safe, like what’s considered a “legal” faint or causing (intentional) lasting harm to the other party. Otherwise, a lot of it is free-for-all: any number of pokemon can be on the battlefield at once, but usually three is considered the “limit” since it gets pretty hectic otherwise. There are no battlefield limitations - the pokemon can go as far as they want and use any terrain or parts of the surrounding environment to their advantage (assuming it wouldn’t be illegal and get anyone into trouble, i.e. destruction of property) with the limitation that their trainers have to be close enough to give commands. Move usage is absolutely no holds barred; the league limits certain moves as damaging only and not to be used for environment alteration (like ice-type moves being used to create a slick ground) or combinations or multiple moves being used at once, with the exception of in contests, while street rules allow all of the above.

The street battling community is actually pretty strong and organized for one with no official regulation; every region and even most cities have large groups of trainers who focus much more heavily on street battles than league ones. Street-style tournaments and large-scale competitions are often strung together by these groups and information is spread by word of mouth. Any small restrictions like how many pokemon can be used or whether items like revives can be used are on a very case-by-case basis and most of the details are decided on the spot. The community is all about competition for competitions’ sake and challenge - most battles have no official winnings, though setting up a winnings pool isn’t rare in larger scale tournament-style battles. It’s very strategy based and encourages breaking away from typical “standard” training by using less common (or considered by the competitive community to be “weaker”) pokemon and movesets.

The street battling community’s biggest flaw is how intolerant they tend to be of competitive trainers - they often make fun of League restrictions, push trainers who prefer or have an equal liking for gym/other League-dictated battles, and so on. While they’re pretty accepting to newcomers, even those that come from contest coordinating or other nonstandard League battles, they’re incredibly exclusive when it comes to anyone that might prefer more organized forms of competitive battling like the gyms. 

headcanon; and before you ask, yes, this icon is 100% necessary. Some hella history on Unova. Early/prehistory & the civilization of Isshu, those two dumb twins who came along and made a region then ruined everything, and a bit on what happened afterwards. First things first, I should clear up a little headcanon/canon disparity here. These headcanons did originate on Adair’s blog and, originally, the ‘first’ Unova (Isshu, whatever you want to call it) wasn’t a thing whatsoever. Unova started with the twins and there was no real, singular region there prior. BUT I realized later on that while I’d remembered the fact that Unova dated back to around 2500 years, which is when the Relic Castle was made by one of the twins and their respective dragon/Ancient Unova was at its peak (bulbapedia skimming and a pretty good memory for useless facts does a person wonders), I totally forgot about the Abyssal Ruins factoring in until later. Basically, I was skimming around again and stumbled on the descriptions for the Relic Items, which say that they were made by a civilization over 3000 years ago. The in-game legend says that the Twin Heroes created the region (said by Iris) so that kinda threw me for a loop at first. Because I already had the established canon with a blog and all, I went with the option of “there was a civilization before Unova, but shit got wrecked” and that the Abyssal Ruins, Dragonspiral Tower, Golett/Golurk, and a few other bits and pieces were sort of the remnants of that civilization (semi-officially nicknamed Isshu for simplicity’s sake). Totally willing to admit that I could’ve taken it a different way and other interpretations can definitely be made, but this is just the way that added up for me and I’m pretty cemented in this version by now. Whoops. So, for starters, there was the Kingdom of Isshu. And, I’ll admit, it’s more or less (probably more) based on the Kingdom of the Vale from m14. Right down to the Dragon Force. Isshu was a civilization heavily centered around the relationship between humans and pokemon; while Pokemon were not necessarily revered as gods, they were seen as more like spirits or such that influenced the natural world. The well being of pokemon was tied to the well being of the world, and, consequently, the well being of humankind. Contributing to this idea was a legendary dragon that was revered as a god, said in Isshu folklore to be a keeper of balance between the opposing forces of the world. Allegedly, this dragon was an embodiment of the Dragon Force, a natural energy that flowed through the Earth; Isshu was believed to be the center of this energy, and the Dragon Force was what (supposedly) gave pokemon their abilities. Logically, this was why, when the energy of the Dragon Force was disturbed through chaos such as wars or natural disasters, that disruption would affect other areas as well - it caused pokemon to be weaker, unable to maintain nature properly until the disruption was fixed. (However, keep in mind that this was all legend. For the real version of how the Dragon Force works, you may want to check out the Big Bad Aura Headcanon.) The legendary dragon, known often as the guardian of the region or simply “The Great Dragon,” was more or less the cornerstone of the civilization as a result.  Now, Isshu itself was, overall, a highly peaceful civilization. While it was a monarchy, ruled by the Harmonia house (their name quite literally meaning peaceful or harmonious), tradition was that the king was rightfully whoever was chosen as the Great Dragon’s Hero (thought rarely to never were they actually Heroes; ‘Hero’ in this case just refers to 'a person whose partner pokemon is a legendary’). The kingdom was rather isolated from the rest of the world geographically, giving them very little to worry about in terms of enemies; most of their interaction with other parts of the world came from trade. Interestingly enough, Isshu had some of the most advanced technology of their age, allowing them to develop feats like the Dragonspiral Tower and Golett/Golurk lines due to their relationship with pokemon, nature, and their knowledge of the Dragon Force. On top of that, they had quite the abundance of natural resources, which allowed them to flourish for a long time. Their peaceful nature was ultimately their downfall, however. The fall of Isshu occurred around 3,000 years prior to modern times, not many years after the Ultimate Weapon’s fire in Kalos. While the war that ultimately toppled Isshu wasn't the same as AZ’s war, it did occur soon after. AZ’s war had left Kalos crippled; the people of Kalos were growing desperate, so they went after the easiest target they could find: Isshu. They had a long history of trade with Kalos, making the two civilizations well aware of one another’s presence. It was well known that Isshu was a very nonviolent civilization, and it was assumed that a forceful conquer would come easily - and, honestly, it did. As if the whole thing wasn’t underhanded enough, the Kalosian forces also went to the extents of capturing and killing Isshu’s king as he was trying to negotiate for some compromise (knowing that Isshu was beyond outmatched, it was really their only hope) before the war even formally began. To their credit, the people of Isshu still put up quite a fight (mostly due to the help of The Great Dragon) but the civilization was inevitably conquered. Due to the (vastly) imbalanced Dragon Force combined with the wear and tear of being (really) the single thing keeping Isshu together through this war, the legendary dragon vanished shortly after the kingdom fell. So what happened after that? For a good century or so, Kalos had a strong grip on Isshu land; they used its resources to help compensate for the losses of AZ’s war and soon came back to full strength. Many settlers from Kalos came to Isshu, pushing back the remnants of its people into small communities in the north (Icirrus, Opelucid, and, though not an in-game location, the Village of Dragons). After a while, though, Kalos had less and less immediate need for the region and began to let their guard down. This opened up an opportunity for people of other civilizations to come to Isshu, settle there, take its abundant natural resources, etc. which also made it a bit of a breeding ground for territorial squabbles. As time went on, matters got worse; more regions staked their claim to the land, more fighting occurred. Descendants of those who had originally settled there were often expected to involve themselves with these fights, and were later on forced to provide aid in whatever way possible - more often than not, by people from regions other than those their ancestry hailed from, though it wasn't unusual for their own nations to cast their well being aside for the sake of power as well. All the while, what remained of Isshu really got the worst of it; without any say in the matter nor much of a way to defend themselves, they were by far the most commonly abused and pushed around in these situations. This state of the region being fractured and basically a huge warground persisted until Unova’s foundation.  AND THEN CAME THE TWIN IDIOTS HEROES. Legend says that Unova was created by the Heroes of Truth and Ideals, also known as the Twin Heroes of legend. The brothers were born around five hundred years after Isshu’s collapse, near Icirrus City. Their early lives were nothing extravagant - like most, their family was more or less just scraping by for many years (though Icirrus’ relative isolation and apparent lack of anything especially useful allowed them a lot less trouble from militia and soldiers from other regions than those who lived in more accessible areas). The turning point in the twins’ lives was when they found their original dragon partner - the Guardian of Isshu itself, Kyurem. The twins were the first to see Kyurem in centuries. It had practically become a myth in the past centuries, told of in Isshu folklore but still genuinely believed in by very few. Over the years, it had been slowly recovering from the injuries it had sustained in the midst of war in the form of a dragon stone (much like the Dark and Light stones of Reshiram and Zekrom) in Dragonspiral, but due to the still-imbalanced Dragon Force, full recovery took extremely long, So long that Kyurem was unable to fully heal itself - it was nearly drained of its power and upon trying to leave the tower, crashed down in the forests north of Icirrus. This was the state the twins found it in. Hoping to help, they did their best to nurse it back to health (an extremely slow process given Kyurem’s near powerless state) and soon found themselves befriending the dragon, and were soon taken under its wing as its Heroes. A few years after finding the dragon (all of which were spent keeping Kyurem under wraps to avoid any unwanted attention), the twins found themselves in the face of losing their home and potentially being forced into a fight they had no part in by one of the many small, foreign forces around the region. To protect their family (as well as Icirrus), the twins, along with Kyurem’s help, fought back. This would be the beginning of a revolution that, led by the trio, would spread across the region and eventually end in the formation of the Kingdom of Unova (its name derived from the old Isshu word for ‘unity’). Despite the twins being relatively young and extremely inexperienced, tradition was that Kyurem’s chosen were rightfully kings (divine right to rule and all of that). In addition, they’d served as leaders during the revolution; people already looked up to them, so placing them on the throne seemed a very logical choice. Over the years, the Twin Heroes, with a lot of help from Kyurem, would build Unova into a strong, unified region. And as we all know, they totally fucked that up in the end. The in-game legend basically captures the gist of what happened; the Twin Heroes began to fight over whether to pursue Truth or Ideals, and the Original Dragon, unable to choose a side, was split into Reshiram and Zekrom. The conflict began with quite a few years of fighting between the twins, a lot of which was a result of miscommunication and their vastly different styles of ruling. The source of it was a disagreement on whether they should make an attempt to progress further and make more of a push at improving and strengthening their kingdom (Ideals) or go on the way they had, making progress more slowly to avoid risk and preserve what Unova already had (Truth). The war began some time later when both of the twins got the idea to go to Kyurem and attempt to sway it to his own side in order to convince his brother. However, realizing that both of them had the same idea, they began fighting. Seriously fighting; what started as an argument went to accusations of trying to grab power and betrayal, then before anyone knew it the twins both had weapons drawn on one another. Kyurem, with a strong connection to both of the twins as its Heroes, was under a lot of physical and mental strain this whole time. Unable to prevent the brothers from fighting, Kyurem was literally torn between them, thus creating the Dragons of Truth and Ideals (and, unbeknownst to the twins, leaving behind a shell of what it had originally been, resulting in the frozen monster we all know and love). The War of Truth and Ideals lasted around three years, and ended with a truce between the brothers; neither side had been entirely right nor wrong, but it was evident that there was still a large rift between them that would make it difficult for Unova to fully recover for some time. The remainder of their lives were spent, alongside their respective dragons, trying to repair the damage done - however, that was only about five years after the war’s end. Unova began to recover, slowly, and within a couple of years it managed to calm down to a point that could be considered an improvement, thought hardly recovered. However, once things reached this point, the beginnings of a second war were already being put in place - this time, between the Twin Heroes’ sons. Though there was actually very little conflict between the princes, pulling the strings was a man belonging to the Harmonia family. Though he was known and trusted by both of the twins, he wasn’t overly fond of them after the split and war; he began manipulating both of the twins and, more importantly, their sons, trying to push them into using the dragon’s power once again. While one of the princes was convinced to act drastically, the other was convinced that his cousin would only bring trouble. (Of course, this went unrecorded in history, as few knew that there was anything happening behind the scenes.) Though remembered as a second war, it was an incredibly short conflict, lasting only the span of a few days - however, the scale of it was even larger than the first. The destruction it caused - enough to nearly burn Unova to the ground - was likely unintentional on all parts, but was stopped before the region could be entirely destroyed by the Twin Heroes themselves.  Legend says that after the second war, the dragons vanished; the twins, desperate to prevent another conflict like that - as well as protect their families (who were still mostly innocent) from becoming the target of blame - sealed the dragons in the Dark and Light stones to prevent them from waking and causing any more damage. However, the Heroes vanished as well. The twins’ sons, under fire for being the sole source of all the destruction, couldn’t step up in their fathers’ places, and so - you guessed it - the same Harmonia that had tricked the princes into fighting took up “temporary” rule while the kings were missing. Some months later, both the Dragon Stones were discovered, but the twins were nowhere to be found, at which point they were officially proclaimed dead. The Harmonia family reclaimed the throne thereafter, carefully keeping the Dragon Stones under close guard for several generations to prevent the risk of the dragons’ return. 

As far as posting headcanons go I’ll reblog/queue up a lot more once I get a few base headcanons done - it sorta dawned on me that a lot of my ancient unova/isshu stuff especially doesn’t make sense without the context of my history there, and that’s only really found in a couple of my blog bios, so I’ll start typing a few of those up soon.

headcanon; let’s talk legends. Legendary Heroes & why the twins are really fucking weird in that category. To start, let’s get a definition on the floor. To restate what I explained here, Heroes are meant to be a link between a Legendary and humankind. Depending on the Legendary, having a Hero can make a huge difference; the Lake Guardians and (the original) Kyurem are pretty big examples, being that Emotion, Knowledge, and Willpower are all pretty significantly linked to humans and Kyurem’s whole thing was maintaining balance and keeping humans in check would’ve been a major part of that. Others, like, say, Dialga & Palkia, would have Heroes more for the sake of making their own duties easier. Being connected to humanity would be somewhat less important - on the grand scale, anyway - and so such Heroes would sort of be an assistant to said Legendaries more than anything. Heroes were typically chosen based on how well suited that person was for the job and either how well they fit the ideal of what a particular Legendary embodied (ex., a Hero of Willpower would have to be strong-willed, naturally), or a Legend’s personal connection with the human (like how the twins helped Kyurem recover). Some Legendaries do not take Heroes, period, either because of their own reasons - example being the Sacred Swords, which are more or less sworn to the protection of pokemon and pokemon alone - or man-made legendaries like Mewtwo and Genesect.  There are also (NORMALLY) sort of two different stages or “levels” of being a Hero; the first would be almost like a “trial” stage. I touch on this briefly on Shiori’s blog - during this stage the only real connection between a Hero and their patron Legendary is the mental one. They can communicate telepathically and the Hero can tell when their patron is in danger; in the face of impending danger, Legendaries will occasionally form this link with someone in order to attempt preventing disaster. Canon example of this would be the Lake Guardians in both the anime and ‘spe (and debatably in the games), where they formed a link with the main trio prior to the Galactic events. The other would be the full level of being a Hero, which comes complete with eternal youth (their mortality being limited to being killed by an outside force) and a very small portion of power (the use of which varies anywhere from a small boost in physical or mental strength to powers such as moving through time - I’d imagine that powers more akin to Aura aren’t uncommon as more of a side effect of this, either) in addition to the telepathic link. It isn’t necessary to progress from the 'first’ stage of being a Hero to the next - the full Hero stage can exist independently of the other, and oftentimes does. In times of need it is also possible for a Legendary to allot more power to their chosen Hero, though there’s only so much that a human can withstand, so that sort of thing is reserved for extreme cases only. The connection between a Hero and Legendary can be severed at any time if it becomes necessary, too (again: Normally). If a human were to request that they would no longer serve as a Hero, or if they were, for whatever reason, no longer capable of fulfilling their duty or unfit to be a Hero (for whatever reason that might be), their patron Legendary would remove the connection between them entirely, withdrawing their power and thus making that person an average, mortal human. Without their eternal youth, they would continue to age from wherever they left off and live out the rest of their natural life.  And then there’s the twins. They were your absolutely run-of-the-mill Heroes prior to the war. It was because of the connection, however, that Kyurem was ultimately split between the two of them. With two completely equal and full connections each to a different Hero, there was no physical way for Kyurem to take a side without severing one or both of the connections. Zekrom and Reshiram, however, were both halves of Kyurem, and therefore needed to be 'completed’; the rest of their being came from the twins through a ’complete’ connection, so to speak, which entirely links them mentally & spiritually. The twins are actually something beyond actual Heroes - they quite literally became part of the Dragons. When one is hurt or in extreme mental/emotional distress, the other will feel it. The twins and their respective dragons can share memories, experiences - technically, even a consciousness, so to speak (literally seeing through the other’s point of view and such). However, the twins still only can withstand so much of their respective Dragons’ power - that’s an entirely physical thing. The only thing that really separates the twins from the Dragons is having separate physical bodies. (Feel free to draw your own conclusions as to what would happen there if either of the twins [physically] died). The Dragons can’t sever the connection like a normal legendary could because they’re dependent on it. Basically, they’re stuck together. Forever. Nice job breaking it, Heroes.

headcanon; relevance can go screw itself, let’s talk Aura. Definition, how it works, Aura Guardians - the whole nine yards. This is all in respect to the canon already provided and doesn’t necessarily apply to any specific media; I’m pretty much mixing whatever I can find from anime / game / manga verses. Might throw in some links here and there.  Aura is, in the simplest definition, energy. In Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, it’s described as “the essence of every living creature.” Ultimately, Aura is a spiritual energy given off by every living thing. They often change depending on the mental, physical, and emotional state of a being. While it’s technically not capable of being visually perceived without projection, the ‘color’ of an Aura is completely dependent on personality, while the intensity and 'feel’ of it will vary dependent on the state of the living thing it belongs to. Everything has a completely distinct Aura; 'identifying’ an Aura operates very much like knowing a person by their normally perceivable features like appearance or voice - when one is familiar with an Aura, it’s not difficult to pick out from a group, even though it undergoes small day-to-day changes (almost like changing clothes or hairstyles).  The Dragon Force is actually a form of Aura; in a way, it’s the sum of the Auras of everything - plants, humans, pokemon, and so on. It draws from the Auras of living things to reach a sort of equilibrium. The Earth absorbs the energy living things give off and then re-emits it, and, though it usually goes unknown by most beings, it influences their well-being as well. Auras, like any form of energy, will affect other objects and transfer between them. Depending on the person / pokemon / environment, the effects could be positive or very, very negative. By disrupting the balance of an area (through, say, a war), that will throw off the Dragon Force and, in turn, affect the natural health of the area as well.  Bringing us to Aura users. In short, Aura users are capable of sensing and manipulating this flow of energy to use their advantage. An untrained Aura user - as many are these days - will usually only be able to sense Auras, and not utilize them. To be able to manipulate and project energy consciously takes years of practice because of how much physical and mental effort it requires. Depending on the person, it may even be impossible to fully master; just like how every person has their own, individualized Aura, no two Aura users will see their powers develop in the same way. It’s very possible to be limited just to sensing Aura and not being able to utilize it otherwise. There are two ways to “become” an Aura user. The first: being born with the ability. Being an Aura user is usually an inherited trait and this way is one that leads to the highest possibility of variation. A person who inherits the ability to use Aura could have only an ability to sense it, the power to project to a very small degree, or the full range of powers seen in Riley and Sir Aaron. An inherited Aura user, however, will not always been aware of their power. Though they may have a heightened sense of what’s going on around them or a superior ability to read others, it is easy to tune out their sense of it on the grander scale if they don’t know it exists. On the flip, side, the other way to acquire Aura powers is through some experience in a person’s life. Most typically, a near-death experience or encounter with a legendary pokemon. Being an Aura user is less being aware of others and more being aware of one’s own Aura; oftentimes, if a person comes close to death or is in a life-or-death situation, their Aura will, in a sense, “burst” with energy in a last-ditch effort by their body to save themself. (Whether or not it actually does anything is entirely situational, of course.) That sudden change is sometimes enough to win over the senses in a way that results in a person developing a sense of their own Aura. Granted, this is a very rare case to begin with, and it’s not unusual for that awareness to fade given enough time. Legendary encounters work similarly: because legendaries have so much pure, unrestrained energy, the right (or possibly wrong) encounter with one can leave a similar effect.  Manipulating Aura comes in all shapes and sizes, but it’s limited only to projection, or the use of one’s own Aura. No known Aura user, human or otherwise, has been able to manipulate the Aura of another living thing. In fact, even directly perceiving another’s Aura is technically impossible - it’s all based on awareness of one’s own Aura. Sensing others is really just a simple, weak form of projection. Others’ Aura will give off energy that affect a user’s Aura and, through that, they can piece together a reading on people within a fixed range. That range varies depending on the skill level of the Aura user - one with no experience or awareness of their powers can typically only get a reading of those within an 8 - 10 ft. bubble. An Aura user with several years of practice under their belt can potentially sense Auras for miles away if they so choose (not factoring in the possibility of using the Dragon Force to facilitate; it’s very possibly to ‘tap into’ that and better read Auras at extreme distances). It’s simply dependent on how far a user is capable of projecting. Then comes the matter of utilizing projection. In training for young and inexperienced Aura Guardians, one of the most basic tests of projection was the activation of a Time Flower. The interior of a Time Flower is made of a mineral that is capable of absorbing and containing a lot of energy from Auras (much like the Tree of Beginning), while the outside traps that energy and will enclose it (and reopen) when triggered. If stimulated by an Aura in the right way, the Aura/energy contained within will be released in such a way that it projects the scene that occurred in full. How and why exactly it does so, no one has entirely figured out just yet - Time Flowers have faded into near-obscurity since the decline of the Aura Guardians, but were well-known during the time of their height. They were used for training and tests, as mentioned above, as well as a form of communication between the Guardians when need be. Other forms of advanced manipulation would be "advanced” sensing, combat projection, and manipulating a flow of energy. Combat projection is the most obvious; it’s used to create attacks and defend through the use of projecting one’s Aura. A highly concentrated pulse of energy (Aura Sphere) is the simplest form of attack, while, similarly,  a screen-like barrier of energy in the same general fashion would be the simplest form of defense. Combat projection is extremely risky, however, and while mastering it was typically considered mastering Aura, it was very rarely used as anything but a last resort in a fight, as using one’s own Aura too much in this way can sap energy quickly and kill a user faster than whoever they’re fighting. Most relied on knowledge of other forms of combat and mainly only utilized their Aura for the purpose of sensing and predicting movements, which was enough of an upper hand in and of itself.  More advanced forms of sensing are more or less centered around concentrating the typical range of sensing around a single point or individual; by focusing the entirety of that energy on one thing, the ‘reading’ a user gets from its Aura is much more detailed and gives an extremely solid sense of emotion and, occasionally, thought and intention. Lastly, manipulating a flow of energy, or supplying Aura to another living thing, as seen in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. Once again, actively projecting Aura in such a way that it moves to another being or object can easily be fatal to the user. While, in theory, supplying Aura to a dying human or pokemon could very well save its/their life, it causes a lot of pain and risk to the user themself. It’s considered only to be an ultimate last resort, used in dire situations only, like Sir Aaron did to prevent the war and, while it wasn’t fatal, the Aura Guardian briefly featured in the DP anime would have done to seal Spiritomb in the keystone.  With all of their power and capabilities, Aura users have definitely had mixed reputations throughout history. In very early times, they were seen almost as demigods for their abilities, but as civilization developed further, people began to fear them. There was a span of time where Aura users were hunted down like witches due to the belief that they would turn against and hurt ‘normal’ humans, and even when that ended, they were still treated with distrust and hatred for centuries, with very little protection offered to them. Aura users were few and far between, often untrained, and had little to no access to information on their powers and others like them. This remained for most of history up until the beginnings of the Order of the Aura Guardians. Sir Aaron was one of the first widely recognized Aura users, even before his sacrifice; he gained a lot of notoriety by helping to train whatever other users he could find, the first to really be capable of doing so due to his status in Rota and friendship with the queen providing more protection than other Aura users had. This is recognized as the origin of the Order, and one of the first instances of organization among Aura users, but while Aaron is hailed as the first true Aura Guardian, the Order itself didn’t begin until after his apparent death. In memory of Sir Aaron’s heroism, Queen Rin, along with the other Aura users of Rota, set the foundation for the Order of the Aura Guardians. The intention was to preserve the history and knowledge of Aura users, as well as to protect and teach each new generation of users for the future. While initially only concentrated in KanJoh, the Order soon spread out to other regions and took root in nearly every part of the world. They soon became largely influential, training Aura Guardians of all ages and skill levels and teaching them to master their abilities while using the powers they were gifted with to help others around them, and were around for several centuries until their very recent decline. Only in the past century have the Aura Guardians become practically nonexistent. It’s unclear what exactly caused the Order to dissipate so suddenly, but some point to the rise of the Pokemon League - increase in Rangers, Trainers, and so forth, along with improvements in technology, seem to have made Aura Guardians somewhat redundant as far as their ‘good deeds’ go, and since society has become more accepting of Aura users, psychics, and the like, the security provided by the Aura Guardians is no longer entirely necessary. Others theorize that Aura users are simply dying out (which couldn’t be farther from the truth - plenty of people with some degree of Aura abilities are still out there, but many are either unaware or untrained in their powers). Regardless of the reason, Aura users are once again few and far between, but for those willing to do some digging, the Order ensured plenty of documentation of Aura Guardian history and information on powers and training. Most of it can still be found in Rota, Kanto, which was known as the heart of of the Order and still remains, to this day, a center for Aura users seeking insight into their abilities. Whether the Aura Guardians will ever see a revival beyond the town’s borders, however, is now all in the hands of the current generation of Aura users.