Okay I'm almost caught up on deep dives, I think I have...five left? Five extra long field exercise updates but still. I'm going to try to do them in order except the one I already did. Did you know these are all between 5k and 10k words, with the most recent (Wednesday End) being the longest update in the thread yet? And that this quest just passed 100k threadmarked words? Everyone congratulat Arvis on doing a great job and eating all of my free time.
"Are all the rooms upstairs clear?" your instructor asks as she double checks her office. With all of Class VII heading out for their Field Exercise, Leaf has decided to lock up the dorms for the week. You're currently helping Wiggly take stock of the perishables in the cupboards and fridge, while Theodora and Elise were upstairs making sure nothing was plugged in, and all the windows and doors were locked.
You know, I don't know how this worked in Cold Steel. I guess the Class VII dorms had school staff maintaining them even if they were off-campus. God knows Sharon wasn't actually staying home after she assigned herself to work there, and her equivalent in this universe isn't even pretending.
Then again I don't know if food spoils in Zemuria, considering the number of "Fresh Eggs" I had in Lloyd or Rean's pockets for months.
"All clear here, Miss Leaf," Elise reports as she and Theodora descend the stairs. You keep sneaking glances at the dorm entrance waiting to see if Ostia shows up. According to Miss Leaf, one of Ostia's guardians will bring them to the Class VII dorms.
You hope it isn't Raifort.
Does Ostia have any other human guardians, or are the options here like, Mr. Grumpig? Food for thought.
You and Wiggly finish up in the kitchen, putting the tupperwares of lunches into a bag. According to Miss Leaf, the inns your groups will be staying at for the week should have microwaves.
Finally, we've genericized Tupperware to the point where even fictional universes can use its name without fear of trademark violation. It happened to xerox and may the same happen to google.
"Are we all done here?" Leaf asks. She is wearing her Ranger Uniform today and she has four Pokeballs connected to a belt around her waist. You and your classmates nod. Elise takes one of the bags containing the lunches from you, letting you carry your own luggage much more comfortably. Roland's Pokeball is strapped to your belt, while Renne's Pokeball is in your bag. It feels irresponsible just leaving her here.
Leaf wears her Ranger uniform whenever she's getting serious, even when it's not strictly-speaking Ranger work. She did the same for her trip to Rhyme City.
Four Pokéballs also corresponds to her character sheet: Missy, Ditzy, Wiggly, and a fourth unknown we're assuming to be a recent capture. Her team is only very loosely based on Green's Pokémon Adventures manga team so I don't have any educated guesses here.
A knock on the dorm's main door interrupts your instructor. Raising an eyebrow, Leaf motions for Wiggly to open it. The puffball eyes glow as the door opens on its own. At the main entrance is Ostia and Argy, the latter levitating the little kid's bags. Behind them is someone you hoped you'd never have to face again.
Raifort.
Ostia is nervous, they look almost afraid. You give your best reassuring look to them as Leaf sneaks a glance to you. Internally you're already seething. A fairy like Wiggly can probably pick up on that. The look she gives confirms it.
"You must be Ostia's guardian." Leaf says in a neutral tone. Elise seems confused, while Theodora does that face she makes when she's unsure of something. Raifort gives a little smile at your teacher.
"Indeed I am, my name is Raifort Arasia, you must be Leaf Midorikawa." There's tension in the air. Leaf's shadow is writhing, meaning Missy is agitated. But why?
As usual, everyone gets the child abuser vibes from Raifort instantly, even if Elise and Theodora don't seem certain why.
Also, Wiggly has some form of telekinesis, hadn't noticed that before. Could be Fairy stuff, especially since this same chunk confirms a level of tele-empathy coming with the Fairy typing, or she could have picked up some Psychic tricks by TM.
I already went over Raifort's given name (French for Horseradish). Her surname is Raifort's name in the Indonesian translation, and is probably based on
Armoracia, the genus of the horseradish plant. Although Arasia by itself is also a genus of jumping spider, so that's interesting.
You take a second look at Raifort, and you catch it. It is near imperceptible. It is only your familiarity with Missy that allows you to see it. Raifort's own shadow writhes. She has a Ghost-Type with her.
Both women remained silent, an unspoken conversation passing between them.
"Well, take care then, Ostia. You have your instructions." Ostia nods glumly at that. Whatever happened, Raifort turned away first.
"Do send my regards to His Highness, Miss Midorikawa." With that, she turns around and vanishes. Probably teleporting away.
Also something I think I mentioned before, but Raifort has a Gengar on her canonical team, so that's probably what this is about, along with her using her Grumpig as transportation as we've seen before.
Intimidation staredown between Team Wine Aunt and Mother Gothel here and Leaf seems to come out on top, although Raifort is still confident enough to foreshadow Ostia's post-bedtime shenanigans we've been seeing on the Field Exercise. Raifort also casually drops that Leaf is in contact with the royal family, which we all promptly ignore. If this is in parallel to the Trails storyline, Sara was a direct hire for her position as Class VII instructor by Prince Olivert - Leaf and Prince Carlos might have a similar arrangement going on, if all the parallels are what I expect. There's only two previously-named royal characters it
could be, and it feels unlikely that Emperor Eugene is directly involved in the plot here...yet.
With Raifort gone, Ostia runs to hug you. You reciprocate as best you can. They're shaking. You feel utterly helpless, just forced to watch as your friend suffers. Turning your gaze to Argy, your eyes ask your question for you.
'Later. Gengar still has his eyes on us.' That answers the question of what Ghost-type that was.
As you comfort and calm down Ostia; Elise and Theodora immediately barrage your instructor with questions.
"...Look, like it or not—I don't, for the record—she's Ostia's legal guardian. I barely know anything about her. Surprisingly little paper trail for a lab researcher." Leaf mutters that last part under her breath. Elise looks unsatisfied with your instructor's explanation while Theodora is outraged.
"...Do you want me to?" You ask Ostia who seems to have calmed down. You could probably explain some of what you know. They furiously shake their head.
lol forgot that the Gengar confirmation was a couple lines down.
Anyway we do our thing while Elise and Theodora get up to speed on the Complicated Situation, or as up to speed as Leaf can get them, since we're still in Ostia's confidence on some of it and they're asking us to keep that for now.
Elise, naturally, sees problems she's going to look for ways to Solve Heroically later, but Thea being outraged at the law protecting Raifort from even investigation is interesting, given her own complicated family situation. Even without skiving off into my usual Umineko rant (namely how Rosa always gets the
special deaths), Thea's relationship with the Duke de Medali is just as bad in its own way as Ostia's with Raifort, and I can see protective instincts clicking into place over it.
"...I wanna go to Cortondo now." Ostia says meekly. You give them another hug as you shake your head at your classmate. With no explanation forthcoming, your group heads out, locking the dorms behind you.
What a great start to your Field Exercise.
Unfortunately Trails always has so many fucked-up personal subplots that there's a queue, and we're not going to get to do much to help the root of Ostia's problems until the plot moves along enough.
Throughout Mesagoza, there's a decent number of urban trams that allow people to commute across the city. The month of August brings with it the last stretch of Summer and with that the Trainer Circuit is once again in full swing.
Another Trails reference - Heimdallr has the same thing. Not relevant but I thought it was something neat to point out.
Trainers, young and old, greenhorn and veteran, scramble to head out from the urban settlements and back into the wild. To train, journey and eventually battle across the region. While taking the railways between cities isn't explicitly forbidden, for regular trainers there's a taboo to their usage.
Using Airships and Trains is seen by most Trainers as contrary to the spirit of a Journey. Just one of many reasons why a lot of them deeply resent Mesagoza students. The glares are out in full force today. While Mesagoza residents look at your group with a mix of pride, affection and nostalgia; a decent number of people with Pokemon have nothing but disdain for you.
It's even starting to get to Ostia, who's fidgeting. Elise is meditating, Rin placed on her lap, while Theodora is seemingly thriving at the looks of hostility given her way. You try your best to shrink away from the looks people give you.
And some more meditation on the Traditions of the Pokémon World, and how as Academy students we're kind of privileging our way out of them, creating some conflict that's gonna be a running theme. Notably, this isn't really a thing in Scarlet and Violet - while Naranja/Uva academy is a huge institution in the setting, and there's certainly a different dynamic to having a home base where you can take lessons, they're still functionally the same game that Pokémon's mainline entries have been from the start - kids wandering around the world and experiencing it in what I can only describe in S/V's case as a semester-long self-guided field trip, the "Treasure Hunt". There's no particular shortcuts or privelege to being a student, outside of the availability of lessons (and a trio of classmates to send you on your main story quests).
For Mesagoza students, it's different. Class schedules mean that you can't just wander about on your Journey, going Gym to Gym at your own pace and making friends along the way. So you ship out on rails, go there, do the fight, come back. Class VII is a different case, thanks to the existence of Field Exercises to give us a more
structured version of the "stumble over the plot and have adventures" format of a Journey, but the general populace has no way of knowing that (yet), and we're still taking advantage of the privilege in how we go about getting Gym badges.
Naturally our classmate reactions to the public disdain are, respectively, be worried about it, ignore it, and remembering that negative attention is still attention. Bless you Theodora, you awful troll.
Also, airship mention, which is relevant to the thread conversation just now. It's pretty clear that flying boats are the main form of air transit in this world, as opposed to airplanes, much like in the Trails universe and......does air travel really come up in the games? I know the anime has both airships and jet liners at different points but I can't really think of much in the video game canon.
At last you finally arrive at Naranja Station, the main railway artery connecting the capital to Western Paldea. Not to be confused with Naranja Gate, the primary way foot travel leaves Mesagoza.
Unsurprising naming scheme given that we already established Uva Station. Although it is funny in a "this is realistically confusing" way that the train station and the foot gate have the same names.
Also the existence of a Gate for foot traffic implies that Mesagoza has walls, which is something I didn't realize was weird until I started talking about it. It's not weird for the Trails setting because the technology level is deliberately highly varied and there's monsters outside the main settlements ready to kick the ass of passerby. It's not weird in Pokémon for tha latter reason as well as aesthetics and disguising loading zones in the open world setting (and I guess Trails likewise has gates everywhere to break up the maps for similar reasons). But it is a bit interesting to consider with the modern real-world influence on the setting, when most major cities outgrew the bounds of their walls and any need for them like 300 years ago. If nothing else, it just makes Mesagoza remind me even more of Toledo, which has an extremely well-preserved walled medieval city center in amongst all the modern urban structures surrounding it.
Entering the station and the interior is just as grand as its counterpart in Uva Station. Ostia looks around wide eyed at the mosaics on the walls and ceiling of the building. The murals depict humans and Pokemon working together in harmony, and some even depict moments from Mesagozan history. The most striking one is a mural of Emperor Rodrigo atop his Imperial Rapidash, wielding Durandal, his Aegislash.
Speaking of history, Emperor Rodrigo namedrop. And a nicely decorated train station, always like to see that.
That Imperial Rapidash, as got spelled out four updates from this point and in the last update I deep-dived on, is the Psychic/Fairy regional form that's definitely
not Galarian thank you we have national pride here, and is what made it onto the Imperial coat-of-arms. Durandal, the Aegislash, is named for the mythical sword Durandal in the legends of the real world that supposedly belonged to Roland, legendary paladin of Charlemagne and namesake of our dragon buddy (and Emperor Dreichels' bestie in Trails of Cold Steel history). While this is a different myth than the origins of Emperor Rodrigo, it's not hard to see how Arvis could gloss them together given that El Cid and Roland were both known as unparalleled soldiers in the religious struggles on the Iberian peninsula. Otherwise, Durandal is known for being indestructible (like Aegislash in the Gen VI meta lol) and otherwise the kind of generic superlatives that get piled on to all legendary swords.
"Oh thank granmo—god you're here." A haggard looking Erika walks up to your group. She hands Group 1's tickets over to Elise before explaining what happened before you arrived.
Erika is somehow even worse at this than Emma. Personally I can't wait to meet Grandma Probably Diancie I'm sure she's fun.
"We've managed to split them apart for now. Nemona and Atticus are good at corralling them but Jacinto is way too easy to needle and Manuel likes needling him out of spite. We've split them up for now." To emphasize this, Erika points at the rest of Group 2. The two offenders are seated far apart from one another, Jacinto conversing with Nemona while Atticus discusses something with Manuel.
Before Leaf can say anything, Theodora speaks up.
"I'll try and have a word with Manuel. Elise, dear, could you talk with Jacinto for a bit?" The Medali heiress has a serious and unamused look on her face. She still occasionally sneaks glances at Ostia, asking either you or them if the kid is okay. You appreciate her concern, and from how Ostia smiles at them so do they.
As the two Group 1 members head to their respective quarries, you ask Erika if she's okay.
"Oh I'm fully prepared to do all the tasks with just Nemona and Atticus. Loathe as I am to say it, when it comes to battling, Nemona is the superior of everyone in class. With my intellect and Atticus' physical abilities, we should be able to make up for the two millstones around our necks." That's pretty mean but considering those two, probably not unwarranted.
Currently Theodora has grabbed Manuel by scruff of his neck, while Elise is whispering something to Jacinto. So that's going well.
Obviously the big thing for Group 2 is the fact that Jacinto and Manuel are still on the verge of murdering each other. They've got a respectable plan going here but it's notable that in Trails of Cold Steel the non-Rean group's first FE was a complete disaster entirely because of their counterparts. Elise and Theodora are doing their best to mitigate, thankfully, but it's gonna be next month at least before this plot has run its course. And Erika's assessments are, as usual, both completely accurate and needlessly rude. And she does have a point - Nemona's SKLL, her own KNOW, and Atticus's
ninja tricks PROW are all, respectively, the highest or tied for highest in the class, and it seems that's come across in-universe as well.
Also I want to call out again that the fashion nerd kid's actual PROW score is equal to the protagonist-samurai-Ranger trainee? And one higher than the woman who fireman carries Wooloo? Never underestimate the little guy with access to poison darts.
"See! Things are working out!" Leaf commentates with a shit eating grin on her face. Erika looks unamused. Your instructor rolls her eyes.
"Fine, I'll keep an eye on Group 2 for most of the Field Exercise. Missy can keep watch over Group 1. Miss Class President!" You stand at attention at Leaf, who snorts and starts giggling at how serious you are.
…Stop it!
"Alright, Alright. First off, here." Leaf hands you a disc- it's a TM. "Forgot to give this to you during the weekend. Consider it a souvenir from Rime. Secondarily, while Elise is in charge of Group 1, try to keep an eye on your groupmates, it'll be part of your duties as Class President." Leaf's tone takes a turn for the serious as her instructions end.
You solemnly nod, promising to do your best. This causes your instructor's expression to ease up. With that she turns to face the rest of your class, a massive grin on her face.
And some logistics before we go. I made a commment on this earlier but I do want to point out that Leaf gave us and Elise two
distinct jobs. Her job is field commander, probably because
protagonist bias we're effectively doing Ranger work and Elise is the one with experience there.
Our job is closer to our specialty, looking out for the team's well-being. Not a normal Class President job in the real world
or Trails, but one we're going to do anyway, so might as well make it official.
Either that or she meant to keep an eye on the two suspicious people and we're way too gullible for that.
It's a screenshot of Game Cortondo, put through a sepia filter so we know it's
been moved from Spain to Mexico a more serious story.
Beyond the Queen of Cities, to its west, lies an endless green horizon.
Beyond the windows are the vast vistas of farmland that make the Imperial Breadbasket what it is. The Breadbasket is one of the largest stretches of land reserved entirely for agricultural use on the planet. Attempts to replicate something on a similar scale in other regions often face pushback, from Pokemon or otherwise, as they usually correlate with expansion of human habitation to the detriment of the Wild and the Pokemon inhabiting them.
Despite its already massive size, expansion is still ongoing at least to the west of the settlement. Paldea has historically been underpopulated in comparison to the sheer scale of the region. The books you've read give a myriad of reasons, ranging from things like carrying capacity—
Some more worldbuilding. Mostly discussing the sheer scale of cultivated farmland here, which is one of the factors that makes Mesagoza capable of being such a highly populated city. It's another thing that like...large farming breadbaskets aren't
common on real Earth, per se, but they're probably a lot less common in the Poké world given that humans share the fertile spaces of the planet with animals that can shoot lasers. Industrial farming is almost out of the question, which is probably one reason why the Pokémon world seems less populous than ours (with another reason being that humans are sharing resources, as noted, with the laser dogs, without the whole world being human-centric first.)
Meanwhile, we get a note about Paldea's lack of population density even in comparison to other regions of the world, which fits with historical Spain - even today Spain is one of the less densely-populated European states, although that's mainly because it has a lot of areas unsettled - its "real population density", based solely on inhabited areas, is the highest in Europe besides the microstates. I think the real explanation for this is just that it's much drier than the rest of its half of the continent (?), but I don't have a source on that. This is a Trails version so the place is probably just cursed.
"No fair! I want a rematch!" You're taken out of sightseeing and contemplation by Ostia being a sore loser. They're currently playing card games with Elise and Theodora. Group 1 is currently residing in a private passenger's cabin similar to the one you rode on the way to Mesagoza.
Prior to Ostia asking to join in on them, Elise and Theodora had been playing something called Triple Triad. You were interested but you apparently need your own deck to play. Fortunately Theodora had a set of playing cards on her, so you and her were able to teach Ostia how to play Pusoy dos, a popular shedding-card game. You remember the first time your brother taught you how to play, said it was a great time waster and you have to agree.
"Are you done staring wistfully out the window?" Theodora teases while shuffling the deck for another round. You roll your eyes in response.
"Don't worry, Ostia, I'll help you beat these two," you reassure them.
Unfortunately for the two of you, even with you and Ostia openly colluding, neither of you were able to triumph over your opponents. You weren't surprised at not beating Theodora but Elise is surprisingly good at card games herself. Your Group spends the rest of the train ride to Cortondo playing again and even some other card games, like Tong-its and Tycoon.
Anyway, on to the second most important subject in any RPG, card games. Triple Triad, for the record, is actually from a different RPG series entirely, being the absurdly addictive featured minigame of Final Fantasy VIII (although let's be real Trails borrows a shitload from PSX-era Final Fantasies anyway). It does need its own bespoke deck and is technically a collectible game, though, so you can't just pick it up.
Pusoy dos, meanwhile, is a real life card game played with a standard 52-card deck, and originating in the Phillipines. A "shedding" card game is the same genre as Hearts, Spades, or (technically) Uno, with the main gimmick being that 2s are high (hence the name), that cards can be discarded in the form of valid poker hands, and that within one round of the table you have to play a more valuable hand than the player who played before you. Tong-its is another game from the Philipines, and Tycoon is from Japan, although I don't think I need to spend more word count on them unless and until one of the characters gets way to into them.
All of these take the place of Blade, the card game in Trails of Cold Steel that you play on the train (and which Crow got everyone into, indirectly or directly), which I'm gonna level with you, it sucks. I'm not gonna go into it, it's just kinda boring and random compared to a real card game. Thankfully some time in the two years following CS1 someone invents Vantage Masters, which presumably got backported to this setting as Triple Triad.
You're not the only ones departing the train. There are those who commute between settlements for work, those wanting to visit friends and family (the start of the Circuit is technically a working holiday for most Paldeans), and even some wanting to see battles at the Cortondo Gym live. That's not even counting the occasional tourist deciding to visit Cortondo as part of their itinerary.
Cortondo might be a bit parochial, but it's still a very important town for its place in Paldea's food chain and Pokémon ecosystem, to say nothing of the additional attraction for business and tourism of a town with a Gym.
Miss Leaf corrals your group to a corner of the station for final instructions before the groups split up. You also take the opportunity to distribute the lunches you and Wiggly made for Class VII. You brush off the chorus of thank yous that you receive; it was the least you could do and it was better than letting the ingredients go to waste
Accept a
fucking bit of gratitude, woman, I promise it won't hurt.
"Group 1 will be based during the Field Exercise at the Pirotin Inn, located in the eastern half of the settlement. Group 2 will be at the Sevaro Inn, at the western half of Cortondo. Since some people are unable to behave themselves I'll be spending most of my time with Group 2, only occasionally popping by to see how Group 1 is doing. Missy will accompany them, though."
As your instructor finishes, Missy emerges from Miss Leaf's shadow. She makes her way over to your group before diving into Elise's shadow. Your classmate rubs her hands together, exhaling to keep them warm.
I don't actually know what either of these names mean, although searching either gets me a drug and a medical services company respectively.
Also fun fact about getting your shadow possessed by a ghost: it's cold. I think that was established already but let's keep it in mind.
Also I wonder - is it only primary ghost-types that can ride along like that, or is a matter of experience? We've seen Roland go into shadows in combat, but not this kind of rider situation, whereas the Pokémon we have seen do it are a Mismagius and a Gengar.
At that, your instructor finally lets your Class go out into Cortondo proper. The sweet aroma of food is the first thing that hits you. The sheer difference between the settlement and Mesagoza is striking. There are very few buildings that you'd say look modern. Quaint and antiquated, if you were to describe the feeling you get from just looking at them. Bakeries and restaurants, houses and inns, there's even an old Geomantic parish here.
If Mesagoza is a city of the past and future of the region, Cortondo falls squarely onto the past side of the divide.
But there are modern buildings, greenhouses, orbal workshops, Battle Arenas, Pokemon Centers and, of course, the Cortondo Gym. Arguably the largest building in the settlement, built onto an old fort but modernized to fit with the changing times. Though they only make up a minority of the settlement's landscape, a microcosm of the image of Paldea as a region of ancient history reinventing itself for the current world.
More commentary on the past vs. future divide of Paldea, hey I wonder why that's being played up, aside from borrowing the industrial revolution motif of Tr--
obliterated by Collision Course and Electro Drift
More seriously this is good visual illustration of the conflict between conservatives and modernizers here as well, with most of Cortondo remaining quaint and in the past, but with the biggest source of modernization, and biggest building period, being the Gym complex. Also an interesting note about the Geomantic Church - in Trails of Cold Steel, the Septian Church is quite pervasive and relevant, with the local church being the largest and most central building in all but the largest cities and present in all but the smallest villages. I didn't notice on my trip there, but I assume similar of the Catholic churches in real world Spain. Here, the Geomantic church seems a fair bit less relevant. Maybe I'll change my mind when we explore out to the Cathedral in Mesagoza, but I find the footnote nature of this one interesting when comparing it to other elements of this crossover.
As Class VII splits up and says goodbye to one another, the two groups go their separate ways. Your Mesogoza uniforms clearly mark you as outsiders. You get looks of curiosity from those who you assume are the locals, and the increasingly frequent disdainful stares from regular Trainers.
Occasionally flashes of recognition appear in people's eyes as they look at Theodora and sometimes even you. She takes it all in stride, pretending to not even notice the stares as she converses with Elise.
The looks you're getting on the other hand form a knot of anxiety in your gut. Do they recognize you as an Andosin or what? Sure, you have your hair tied up into a braid in the Andosin style, but that's not really something your people advertise to the world at large. They look away quickly enough that you can't really tell otherwise.
Ostia's grip on your hand tightens, as if sensing your nerves. "It's okay Miss Mary, lots of people just like staring. Most of them don't mean anything by it." Why are you getting lectured by a child? You chuckle, feeling like you've lost control of your life, if you even had it in the first place.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1yO4S07b9o
More notes on the journeyer/student divide. Thea's probably getting extra stares from people who know their nobility, and as for us...maybe it's because we're foreign, if Elise and Ostia aren't getting them too for the red uniforms. I wonder if there could be something else.
Also I'm going to be completely honest with you thread, my mental image of Mariana isn't Linde, it's genderbent Gaius with red hair...and Linde's expression.
You finally arrive at Pirotin Inn. An archetypal example of the old wood and brickwork architecture that you've seen across Cortondo. The sign outside has a drawing of an Alcremie as its logo. Going inside, you're greeted by an old matronly woman who is tending to customers at the front desk. She, unsurprisingly, had an Alcremie helping her.
"Oh my, you must be the Academy students Leaf was talking about. Apologies, we weren't expecting you until lunch, we haven't even made anything yet." The old lady explains, her hair is entirely white due to her age and she's holding onto a walking stick.
"It's no problem at all. I hope we aren't intruding too much. We're Class VII of Mesagaza Academy Academic Year 2022." Elise introduces each member of your group to the old woman.
"Oh they have a new class now? But how rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Ronah Araceli and here is my partner Pirotin." She gestures to her Alcremie who waves a hand at us while delivering the orders to the other customers. Wait…Araceli?
Love me a good old fashioned inn and ice cream shop. I don't spend all my food budget on vacation on sweet shut the hell up. This one's named after the proprietor's Pokémon, that's cute.
Ronah is a hard name for me to source but it's
probably Gaelic and means...even the baby name sites I am finding don't agree what it means. Let's go with "seal", as in keeping something sealed. That sounds relevant. Araceli I...don't think I covered when I commented on the gym leaders, did I? I'm just gonna direct-quote behindthename on this one.
Means "altar of the sky" from Latin
ara "altar" and
coeli "sky". This is an epithet of the Virgin
Mary in her role as the patron
saint of Lucena, Spain.
Miss Ronah beams in pride at the mention of that. "Why, yes, little Katie is my beloved little granddaughter. She was a graduate of Mesagoza as well. Class V, if I remember correctly. My little inn frequently received students from the Academy even before Katie graduated. But we can tell stories later, let's get you settled in."
Katie being a Mesagoza grad will come up later. Obviously not uncommon among important Paldeans, but worth noting, as there seems to be a story there. Also confirmation, if it wasn't obvious, that the Aracelis are commoners.
"If you need anything, just ask me. Field Exercises are a pretty stressful time from what Katie told me and I'm willing to lend an ear." With that, Ronah says goodbye, leaving your group to your devices.
There's one thing that's bugging me about the crossover here, and it's Field Exercises. In ToCS, Field Studies are a new thing specific to Class VII. In this setting, it appears to be a common thing for Mesagoza students, perhaps replacing the "Treasure Hunt" I went on about at the beginning of this post. But I wonder if they were always the same, or if Leaf's planning and Class VII's specific nature have put a new spin on it...
And for the vote stuff, I'm just going to cherry-pick the flavor text out of the wild encounter options, since we're gonna see most of the rest of it anyway:
Badajoz was built on a Plateau of a similar nature but a much smaller scale to the Aragon. It is unclear whether the name for the Heights or the former settlement came first. What is known is that the riches and minerals of the plateau fueled the prosperity of Badajoz during the First Empire. Now the mines along with the settlement lay abandoned, the reasons lost to local myth and legend.
One reason or another has prevented the large-scale mineral exploitation of the Heights. This has resulted in all sorts of Pokemon making the caves of the plateau their home. Sizable salt deposits hint at the long term habitation of the Nacli in the area, while the presence of iron and copper ore attract Arons and Drilbur who feed on said minerals to fuel their evolutions.
A Tinkatink Guild had recently moved into the Heights bringing it into conflict with the local Pawniard Battalions. Led by a Tinkatuff and a Bisharp respectively. The two species have been feuding and fighting for the past few years for territory and resources. The former require rich minerals for their weaponry and the latter need the same for sustenance and the maintenance of their blades. However…
So the Badajoz Heights are a rich mineral vein that hasn't been mined out industrially like the Aragon has, which is why it attracts all these Rock and Steel-types. I'm curious what's up with the Tinkatink Guild, really, since we haven't run into them, and we kinda obliterated the organization of a large part of the Pawniards in the area on Tuesday. The fact that the mines used to be a lot more relevant explains the now defunct settlement nearby.
Theodora was hanging around here on Monday, possibly scouting the Bisharps and getting an idea of Lokix's deal.
It was said that at its apex, Badajoz could rival Cascaraffa and Artazon in splendor. There were even historical records of the Counts of Badajoz pushing to be made an equal of the Great Houses. That ended during the Great Collapse. Whatever calamity befell Mesagoza during it, also struck at the nearby settlement. The constant conflict between the successor states of Cascaraffa and Mesagoza likely did not help efforts to reestablish a settlement in the area.
For one reason or another the Imperial seat never made the resettlement of Badajoz a priority, even in the aftermath of the reunification, an era where despite its subservience to the Imperial seat. Nearby Cortondo was still firmly under the thumb of the Dukes of Cascaraffa.
In some areas of the ruins, there are still buildings large enough and intact enough that entire ecosystems of Pokemon exist within them. Both known variations of Yamasks have been sighted wandering the Ruins aimlessly at night. A few decades ago, a trainer's Swoobat had set up a colony in the remains of a church of the Geomantic Faith. Flights of Woobats going forth at night to hunt Bug Pokemon. As with any ruin in Paldea, Charcadet squads are also a common sight, as they search for tinder and fuel for their unceasing fires.
Local legend claims that during the Great Collapse, a Courtier of the Imperial Family had fled with the Imperial Treasury while chaos consumed the capital. What followed varied, some claimed he was beset upon by bandits, the wealth scattered to the winds; others say that he had fled to Badajoz with the Treasury, cursing the settlement in the same manner as the capital and even some said that he had successfully hidden the Imperial Treasury in the caves of Badajoz before he was slain. The Treasure lost forever to time.
Badajoz the settlement was ultimately a victim of both the calamities befalling the country during the Collapse, and the politics of the rebuilding era, with the competing kingdoms of Mesagoza and Cascaraffa meaning it didn't get what it needed for rebuilding, compared to its agrarian neighbor Cortondo.
Interesting that we got an origin story for the Woobat colony - they're technically invasive, and also doing the appropriately goth thing of nesting in an abandoned church. Also interesting that the Charcadets
were common...
And of course, The Legend of Someone's Gold. This is Trails
and Pokémon, so the legend is definitely describing a real event that happened - I wouldn't be surprised if grabbing some cursed item and taking it to Badajoz really was the reason for the place's destruction. It'd also explain the presence of the quite rare Gimmighoul.
Theodora and Elise were hanging around here on Monday. I wonder if they were trying to play an asinine barely-solvable wordgame to find the hidden gold. Did they at least bring an almanac?
How does a region feed a population of millions while remaining hostile to local Pokemon? The answer is they don't. Long standing agreements and traditions between the people of Cortondo and wild Pokemon have led to a form of cohabitation. Locals and historical records claim that this relationship with Pokemon had existed since the settlement was founded millenia ago.
Many of Cortondo's exports, aside from foodstuffs and crops, have been Pokemon material, edile or otherwise. Combee Honey, Kakuna and Metapod shells, Moomoo Milk and so much more. This more than anything else, is the cornerstone of Cortondo's identity and pride as a province of Paldea. Anything that could threaten this could be catastrophic, so the catching of Pokemon is extremely regulated.
The small Grass-type is common enough that despite the value of its olive oil, locals aren't particularly too fussed about Trainers catching one for themselves, as long as the Pokemon agrees, of course. After all, there's more to Cortondo's world famous Lusia Olive Oil than what the Smoliv line can provide, its recipe being a secret amongst the families that cultivate it.
On the other side of the coin, historical influences from Cascaraffa have led to the practice of Pokemon Familial Adoption. Where Pokemon are registered in the Familial records of the households they coexist with. Not quite Trainer Pokemon but not quite Wild either. It's actually a process you're quite familiar with as an Andosin. You're likely going to have to convince both the Pokemon's guardians (human or otherwise) if you want to catch one.
The farmlands. Rolling hills of vegetation and Pokémon-derived byproduct, and an
extremely carefully balanced social situation between the people and the laser dogs. Kind of vaguely amusing that Smolivs are the only thing here common enough that it's not going to cause a problem if we recruited one. Also wondering what's up with the famous olive oil, maybe we'll find out on that optional task we haven't done yet.
Pokémon Familial Adoption sounds like the situation we saw play out with the Wooloo and the Skiddos - Pokémon that are domesticated and "owned", but not "caught". Coexistence and symbiosis, rather than formal partnership. Oh, to be a Wooloo in the field, no thoughts in my head...
A rather archetypal forest in Paldea, most of Badajoz Forest is well traveled and watched by Trainer Associations from Cortondo and Mesagoza. As a result it's actually rather safe in comparison to places like the Tagtree Thicket or the Fede Great Forest. You doubt there'll be any big surprises here. -1 AP
lmao
The forest are the typical feeding grounds of the Woobats located at the Badajoz Ruins, this has resulted in a vacuum where Bug Pokemon unable to resist a Woobat's attacks have been forced out. This combined with the frequent presence of humans have made the most of the Pokemon of the forest much more hospitable to humans and have made them more resilient in comparison to the average in the rest of the province.
The size of the forest is actually rather deceptive, attempts to reach the deepest parts of the woods by outsiders ending in confusion and them getting lost. Simultaneously well-traveled yet possessing a mysterious inner sanctum. It is in the boundary between the two that someone can hide in, undetected by the wider world.
And we see the knock-on ecological effects of the invasive woobats spelled out here, as well as an acknowledgement of the Ursaring Horseshit that we saw go on on Wednesday. There's probably even more to it than that, if I had to guess, but the "Lost Woods" were a result of bears fucking with people and honestly I'm still delighted about that.
Alright, this post is 70% the length of the one it's commenting on. I may have rambled a bit
too much but no one has the power to stop me besides Arvis and the mods so y'all can deal.
