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History of the Pokemon World...?

Heatmor C. Dawson

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I've been eyeing the Pokemon/Nobanunga's Ambition crossover game, and I've recently become curious about is that despite its fairly well-developed mythology, the Pokemon series has a significant lack of information about the history of its world. There is little mention of famous kings, of empires, of foreign influence, etc. Sure, there is some (Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, the books in the various libraries), but it is sparse and vague.

So, for game developers, fan fiction writers, role-players, and curious minds alike, I would like to pose a few questions that my readers can examine. For the record, we will assume that the Pokemon world is, in fact, Earth (the numerous fourth wall references suggest this), in our "real" timeline.

1. How did the Pokemon nation as we know it begin? Was it a loose confederation of isolated tribes, like that of the Native Americans? Was it a collective of warring city-states, like ancient Greece? Were there every any major empires? Was there ever any attempt at unification?

2. Foreigners definitely "discovered" the Pokemon world at one point or another, but when and how? Was it merely a brief stopping-point, or was it part of a colonial empire? And given the obvious Japanese architecture and culture, how/when/to what extent did Japan influence the Pokemon world? Did the isolationist shogunate affect the Pokemon world?

3. Taking it further in history, was the Pokemon world ever involved in an international war, like the World Wars? Did it ever experience a revolution against a colonial power? Was it ever involved in the Cold War, on either the communist or democratic sides?

4. Where does its amazing technology come from? Has it experienced a technological singularity? Does the rest of the world have this technology?


And, of course, feel free to add your own. Think about these things, and feel free to add your views and insight.
 
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I've been eyeing the Pokemon/Nobanunga's Ambition crossover game, and I've recently become curious about is that despite its fairly well-developed mythology, the Pokemon series has a significant lack of information about the history of its world. There is little mention of famous kings, of empires, of foreign influence, etc. Sure, there is some (Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, the books in the various libraries), but it is sparse and vague.

So, for game developers, fan fiction writers, role-players, and curious minds alike, I would like to pose a few questions that my readers can examine. For the record, we will assume that the Pokemon world is, in fact, Earth (the numerous fourth wall references suggest this), in our "real" timeline.

1. How did the Pokemon nation as we know it begin? Was it a loose confederation of isolated tribes, like that of the Native Americans? Was it a collective of warring city-states, like ancient Greece? Were there every any major empires? Was there ever any attempt at unification?


Due to the various temples and ancient religions, that often intersperse and intersect, and whatnot, organized civilization developed as a nomadic culture of Grecian-style people. My thought of nomadism stems from that overlapping, such as the shared mythos Ho-Oh between Oblivian and Johtonian cultures, whose temples are aesthetically different but technologically the same.

2. Foreigners definitely "discovered" the Pokemon world at one point or another, but when and how? Was it merely a brief stopping-point, or was it part of a colonial empire? And given the obvious Japanese architecture and culture, how/when/to what extent did Japan influence the Pokemon world? Did the isolationist shogunate affect the Pokemon world?

You seem to be implying that were alien visitors to the Pokemon world at one point at time. What evidence do you have of this? The Pokemon World is obviously a planet in its own right, with Pokemon all over it.

3. Taking it further in history, was the Pokemon world ever involved in an international war, like the World Wars? Did it ever experience a revolution against a colonial power? Was it ever involved in the Cold War, on either the communist or democratic sides?

Lt. Surge served in two wars, so it would appear that there is indeed a formalized military, although the lack of mention to any actual wartime conflict in the 15 years the games have been out seem to indicate an era of world peace.

4. Where does its amazing technology come from? Has it experienced a technological singularity? Does the rest of the world have this technology?

Christianity, or any similar religion/culture, appears to have never existed in the world. They never had the Dark Ages, or the Crusades, or the formation of a church in all honesty. Thus, the Pokemon world is essentially at least 1000 years ahead of our modern world, meaning there technology is suitably more advanced. Particle and quantum physics have obviously been fully understood. Due to the general philosophy of the human race on the Pokemon world, technology is obviously dispersed fairly evenly among the planet.

That's my take, anyway.
 
For a realistic version of PokeHistory, I'd think the histories of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, & Sinnoh should be vastly different from that of Unova comparable to how different the histories of Japan and America are.
(With the Nobunaga crossover exploring the Japanese side of PokeHistory)


But I won't be surprised if all of these regions have their histories lumped together as one highly incorrect mass of fantasy-esque-ness.
(due to the Pokemon World being "one nation" and all; despite the confirmation of there being at least 5 separate real world European and Asian languages used in that very world; or even the bigger question of "where did the Pokemon come from?")

Fantasy and realism don't really mix well in Pokemon. :eek:hdear:
 
Due to the various temples and ancient religions, that often intersperse and intersect, and whatnot, organized civilization developed as a nomadic culture of Grecian-style people. My thought of nomadism stems from that overlapping, such as the shared mythos Ho-Oh between Oblivian and Johtonian cultures, whose temples are aesthetically different but technologically the same.
That is a clever analysis.

You seem to be implying that were alien visitors to the Pokemon world at one point at time. What evidence do you have of this? The Pokemon World is obviously a planet in its own right, with Pokemon all over it.
My primary reasoning is the references to Earth within the franchise. Lt. Surge is the "Lightning American" and several Pokedex entries (Poliwrath's Pokedex entry mentions it could swim the Pacific Ocean, Victreebel lives in the South American jungles, etc.), and the presence of German/French/Spanish speakers in more recent games. Granted, they're off-handed mentions, but they are, to my knowledge, in both the original Japanese and dubbed versions. With that in mind, they're probably canon.

Lt. Surge served in two wars, so it would appear that there is indeed a formalized military, although the lack of mention to any actual wartime conflict in the 15 years the games have been out seem to indicate an era of world peace.
That seems to make sense.

Christianity, or any similar religion/culture, appears to have never existed in the world. They never had the Dark Ages, or the Crusades, or the formation of a church in all honesty. Thus, the Pokemon world is essentially at least 1000 years ahead of our modern world, meaning there technology is suitably more advanced. Particle and quantum physics have obviously been fully understood. Due to the general philosophy of the human race on the Pokemon world, technology is obviously dispersed fairly evenly among the planet.
I'm not so sure about the 1000 years (probably more like 100 at most), but the rest makes sense. With 1000 years, society of that time would be as far removed from our time as ours is from the Middle Ages, if not more. 100 years seems more logical to me, but that's your viewpoint. As for the Christianity thing, the only evidence I would have to refute that would be the cathedral in Hearthome City and Misty's use of a crucifix in The Ghost of Maiden's Peak. Beyond that, well...

That's my take, anyway.
It's a fascinating take, for sure. I probably should have had my own feelings about it in the first post, but I was strapped for time. I appreciate your responses.
 
My primary reasoning is the references to Earth within the franchise. Lt. Surge is the "Lightning American" and several Pokedex entries (Poliwrath's Pokedex entry mentions it could swim the Pacific Ocean, Victreebel lives in the South American jungles, etc.), and the presence of German/French/Spanish speakers in more recent games. Granted, they're off-handed mentions, but they are, to my knowledge, in both the original Japanese and dubbed versions. With that in mind, they're probably canon.

I'm not so sure about the 1000 years (probably more like 100 at most), but the rest makes sense. With 1000 years, society of that time would be as far removed from our time as ours is from the Middle Ages, if not more. 100 years seems more logical to me, but that's your viewpoint. As for the Christianity thing, the only evidence I would have to refute that would be the cathedral in Hearthome City and Misty's use of a crucifix in The Ghost of Maiden's Peak. Beyond that, well...

My take was that the Pokemon World has many of the same countries as we do, which would explain the various languages and whatnot. And if I recall correctly, I believe a landmass very similar to Iceland appeared on the map of the world in Black and White, which would support my claim.

The Dark Ages themselves were fueled by the preference of religion over science, and they lasted for 800-1000 years. If one removed Christianity from the world's timeline, the Pokemon World would indeed be many centuries ahead of us. Really, the cathedral in Hearthome displays no actual Christian symbols in it, so its religious origin is indeterminate. As for the crucifix, the crucifix in Japan is more of a pop culture item than anything with religious value.
 
My take was that the Pokemon World has many of the same countries as we do, which would explain the various languages and whatnot. And if I recall correctly, I believe a landmass very similar to Iceland appeared on the map of the world in Black and White, which would support my claim.

The Dark Ages themselves were fueled by the preference of religion over science, and they lasted for 800-1000 years. If one removed Christianity from the world's timeline, the Pokemon World would indeed be many centuries ahead of us. Really, the cathedral in Hearthome displays no actual Christian symbols in it, so its religious origin is indeterminate. As for the crucifix, the crucifix in Japan is more of a pop culture item than anything with religious value.

You all definitely have a point about the religious part. In our world, the Catholic church basically refused to listen to science relying solely on their religious views. So when something was discovered, they basically ignored it. Essentially science was 'evil' in their eyes. If this was non-existent in the Pokemon world, they would definitely be more technologically advanced.

As for you're countries theory, you seem to have a point.. All the previous regions are based on Japan, not only the regions geographically, but some of the architecture (ie Ekruteak City) and everything. While we know Unova is based more on America. There are definitely various languages, but there seems to be a universal language used everywhere since everyone speaks Japanese in the original (and English in the dub or even other languages). I do think that there aren't all the countries there that we have on Earth though. Especially if you look at everytime (in BW especially) that we've seen a map, look at how large Unova is, theres no way every country could be there.
 
You're right about the cathedral; it isn't really a Christian one (so far as we know, anyway). I was pointing more to the architecture (Gothic revival, I believe). I have my own feelings on Christianity and scientific advancement--namely, that they aren't mutually exclusive--but this thread is about Pokemon, not the religion/science debate.

Anyway, I personally think the Pokemon world doesn't have a military, nor does it need one. Think about it--there's kids walking around with fire-breathing dragons, giant insects, and levitating electric lamprey. All of these kids have a strong moral compass. All of them are at least moderately athletic. All of them pay for their own supplies. If a foreign army were to invade, they'd probably get eaten/roasted/stung/electrocuted the moment they touched Kanto soil. Besides, tanks aren't exactly electrically insulated...
 
Please note: The thread is from 12 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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