- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Random thought: Is Mary oblivious to Erika's gay panic due to low KNOW?
Trails of Tera Steel (Kiseki-inspired Pokemon Academy Quest)
- Thread starter ArvisPresley
- Start date
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I like to think she's just like that.
Plus it'd be Charm to notice a social cue right?
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Will close Vote in 1 day
- Pronouns
- She/Her
But all the gay is happening in the literature club. Clearly it must scale off KNOW if that's where you go to train it, right? This makes perfect sense.
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
I assumed it was a Sailor Moon reference, personally.
It's probably the same trauma that's hitting us with the constant negative self-talk. We don't believe we're any good at anything, let alone attractive to cute girls.
This is also my read of at least two out of four Trails protagonists from games I've played, including the guy Elise spun off from, so I'm taking it as genre convention at this point.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Ah but you see! It's a trick! A red herring!
The club members have high KNOW but low CHRM! They're not training their gay stat, their gay stat is simply too low so they've chosen to live vicariously through gay literature!
- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Do you wanna roll the stick job?
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
Ah, where was I...
I had a joke once upon a time, before I knew what Trails into Reverie was, that the Trails games were all named for their primary means of transportation - you use airships in the Sky games, trains in the Cold Steel games (well, the first one), and your ass is fucking walking in Trails from Zero.
The "surprisingly accomodating" station staff is probably down to Mesagoza Academy being a relatively elite institution, or at least one whose reputation precedes it. Several members of the imperial family attended Thors in ToCS, and it's probably the same in this universe's equivalent as well.
Also I see the menu prices here are similar to the ones in the Trails games. 5000 mira for a goddamn gelato, fuck.
Here's an approximation of this train ride on Scarlet/Violet's world map, with the Zara-Zapapico leg in red, Zapapico-Levincia in yellow, and Levincia-Mesagoza in red. I'm gonna go ahead and assume that the in-game map is not to scale for this quest for a variety of reasons, but it's useful to figure out where things are in relation to each other, and it is also possible that the third leg being so much faster is because it's an up-to-date commuter line, rather than "one of the oldest continuously operating" like the first two legs.
I'll save getting into the Rangers/Bracers for later.
Also, note a lack of mention of coal pretty much everywhere - industrial power in Trails comes from Septium and Orbal Energy, and it seems likely to be the same for Poké-Europe and Terastal-derived power. No need for fossil fuels when you can run cars, trains, and factories on refined Terastal Energy.
(Except when you can't).
Fake Edit: I learned during an unrelated wiki dive that Erebonia does, in fact, have an Aragon mining district as well, smaller and secondary to the the Roer/Sachsen system. Weird for a German-themed country, but then again, it could be a slightly misspelled Lord of the Rings reference, like the Eisengard Mountains.
Let's take a look back at Levincia in the hometown descriptions:
Oh I just realized that Ostia Bond gives us bonuses to exploration actions because this is THEIR hometown.
While Erebonia does have a Naval Fortress thats' relevant in later ToCS games, I believe the real nature of Watts Naval Fortress here is an equivalent to Garrelia Fortress, a very important component of Erebonia's border defense controlling its border with Crossbell. It accomplishes this by being the garrison for railway guns that serve as area denial weapons--with the "area" they're denying being the entire state of Crossbell, with the range and power to powder a whole-ass foreign country if they want to. I wouldn't be surprised to see some equivalent dreadnought or Orbal-powered naval artillery chilling in Watts Naval Fortress during our inevitable Field Exercise to Levincia.
But that's not important right now, let's talk about best boy and best enbies.
Argy is a Beldum, already an exceptionally rare Pokémon, and on top of that has Shiny coloration, with your more typical Beldum being blue. They're pretty clearly an equivalent to Airgetlam, or "Lammy", the semi-autonomous combat shell (robot) from Trails of Cold Steel who is the partner and weapon of Millium Orion. Combat shells aren't exactly a dime a dozen in Trails, and Airgetlam is an exceptionally advanced one, hence translating into a pseudo-legendary, robot-themed Steel type like Beldum. Could also explain the arrogant tryhard demeanor, even when they're being nice. They're among the strongest of the strongest of the Pokémon world, and they know it...and so does whatever organization is responsible for Ostia and their partnership.
As noted before, Ostia's physical appearance is based on a character named Renne, who debuted in Trails in the Sky Second Chapter and has recurred throughout the ensuing series, surprising zero people as a fan favorite given that she debuted as an eleven year old EGL-enthusiast supersoldier calling herself "the Angel of Slaughter", only for the protagonists to almost immediately decide to adopt her. However, she's not directly important to Ostia, other than being the start of a recurring archetype of Trails characters that are cute-as-a-button children with superhuman combat or supernatural capabilities thanks to the intervention of evil organizations.
The more applicable Trails character here is a girl from Trails of Cold Steel, Millium Orion, a 13 year old kid who was...honestly I'm actually going to spoil this one, even though I've mostly been ignoring Trails spoilers so far.
Also Millium's afraid of ghosts (as is like, every other tough female character in Trails. And Persona. Japan has gender brainworms), which is funny, because Roland.
Who needs surnames, I ask, having never given my Quest protagonist a surname, out of laziness, and definitely not plot reasons.
Ostia is a neighborhood of Rome that started as its own town before getting absorbed by the municipio of the capital, serving as Rome's seaport in ancient times before being rebuilt in the 1880s. It's also the technical (plural) term for the holes in a sponge. Airgetlám means "silver hand" in Irish and was the epithet of the first king of the Tuatha dé Danaan, Nuadhu, in Irish mythology. Argy is really easy to typo as "Angy" and I love that that's happened repeatedly.
That said, it is worth noting that it's possible that Ostia and Argy were designed to be psychically compatible, given the plot parallels.
Also some funny accidental foreshadowing of Roland's upset victory over Argy at the round robin. I wish Mariana was capable of perceiving her own successes so we could figure out how the hell that happened. I'm gonna guess latching on with Bite and then not letting go until Argy tapped out, personally.
Incidentally, Thors isn't located in Heimdallr in Trails of Cold Steel, instead being located in the de facto suburb Trista, around 30 minutes away from the city by commuter rail. The geography here comes from the Pokémon games, which have Naranja/Uva academy as the centerpiece around which Mesagoza is built, because game design.
By the way, every Gym Leader in canon Paldea has some kind of business in addition to being a Gym Leader: Kofu runs a gourmet restaurant, Katy a bakery, Iono and Ryme are performers, etc.
In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Instructor Raifort (name meaning: French for "horseradish", apparently) is the history teacher who acts needlessly shady and is clearly obsessed with Legendary Pokémon and Area Zero, the mysterious zone in the Great Paldean Crater. Get to know her enough, and she feels like she was meant to be leading a villain team, especially since she'll just point you at the Ruinous Quartet (our friends in the stakes) and tell you to go poke them and see what happens. She makes a good red herring for the real villains of the "Path of Legends" plotline, the deceased Professor Sada or Turo.
Here, Iiiiiiii don't think she's a red herring. She's clearly Ostia's handler (mentioned in the "Stranger of Paradise" background) and keeps them on a very short leash, almost as if they're a Pokémon under her control rather than an autonomous person. Her attitude is a dead ringer for that of Trails's nastier masterminds, who tend to treat their underlings (especially the artificial or mentally manipulated ones) the same way. It's entirely unclear who Raifort is working for or where she gets her resources, but you can't come up with someone more obviously bad news than this without putting a flashing neon bad guy sign over her head. She's gonna be after something big, nasty, and related to a Legendary Pokémon, surely.
Honestly though, I guess she could be a red herring again. Trails evil scientists are usually really nice and/or losers until the disguise comes off. She's an asshole either way, though.
Mr. Grumpig is a canonical member of Raifort's battle team from the S/V postgame. We probably don't want to fuck with him.
Rodrigo, Felipe, Anna, and Maria are the main halls. Emperor Felipe is probably named for one of Spain's most successful emperors, Phillip II, who ruled Spain at the height of its golden age, reigned over half the planet on paper (his uncle and later cousin in Austria ruling over the other half on paper), and became the namesake of our QM's home country. Anna and Maria are common enough names in Spanish that they could be borrowed from several places, and Spain itself never had a ruler named Maximilian, although the aforementioned Phillip II's great-grandfather was Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, whose son ended up king of Spain for reasons. That's a pretty distant guess for a namesake though. For all I know it's a random name, or taken from the other Habsburg who briefly ruled Mexico.
Alright. Leaf.
So, obviously, she's the female protagonist from the Pokémon Fire Red/Leaf Green remakes (Leaf meaning Leaf, Midorikawa most likely translating to "green river"). Buuuuuut information we've gotten later puts some spin on that, since there's a lot more to the story of Kanto and its neighbors than there were in the games. Leaf was a young woman, apparently from the Sevii Islands (FRLG's version-exclusive bonus content area, loosely equating to two of Japan's outlying island chains, the Izu and Bonin archipelagos) during the long, grinding last hurrah of Team Rocket. We don't know for sure what she got up to during that time, but, well, I don't think it was a cheerful Pokémon journey alongside her neighbor(s).
Leaf is also Class VII's homeroom instructor, Sara Valestein (side note: fuck you Falcom for naming two important characters in the same game "Sara Valestein" and "Emma Millstein", with no relation to each other even thematically). She's a complicated woman, but definitely where most of Leaf M.'s personality comes from, in the sense that she's Misato Katsuragi with gunblades. There was just a proliferation of big tiddy deadbeat adult older sisters in anime for a couple decades there. Fortunately Leaf has skipped the alcoholism and hitting on minors part of the set, but I don't think she skipped the traumatized veterand and possible former child soldier parts of Sara's background. Leaf's got an old scar on her neck, some clear trauma, and well...I happen to have some leaked information from the QM that indicates Arvis is taking more than a bit of inspiration from the Pokémon Adventures manga when discussing the motivation and actions of Team Rocket, which gives Leaf's equivalent (named Green in official localization and Blue in Japanese)...a lot of background, some of which meshes with Sara's, all of which is traumatic.
Rather than ramble on, I'm going to settle on my one line assessment that Leaf has seen some shit, and wait to see what parts of which manga and video games comprise that shit as Arvis reveals them.
I also think we should trust her with our lives no matter how goofy she is.
FORESHADOWING IS A LITERARY TECHNIQUE IN W
So, the characters here are where I really started picking things apart originally, but we've gotten more clarification on each of them since, so I'll go ahead and do a breakdown at their vote introductions - skipping Erika until next time for the same reason I skipped Ostia until this time.
Theodora is Suspicious, but lovely, and I don't just say that because her face claim is identical to my favorite homicidal VN girlboss. Multilingual and very up on her current events and politics - later on, she's responsible for blurbs about the game history in Kanto/Johto and Alola, and she's familiar with Leaf, also from Kanto. It could be a gossip mag addiction, but it could be something else, especially since she's a polyglot. People who just like to know things exist, but...in Trails, in Pokémon, and in Umineko, there's probably a deeper meaning.
Her background is a medley of things - she's clearly based on my proposal for the player character, Porto Marinada+Noblesse Oblige, meaning she's (probably) the bastard scion of the Medali house and grew up in the Empire's most recent conquest. She's also clearly at least partly based on Trails of Cold Steels's Alisa Reinford - while Alisa was haute bourgeois and went through a token effort of hiding her status as the heiress to the Fantasy Krupp Family, Theodora is a noble (at least on paper) and somewhat more open with that fact. Her faceclaim and Alisa also have being curvy blonde bombshells and having a slightly inexplicable fixation on The Protagonist in common...along with frequent accusations of being a tsundere, even if that doesn't seem to apply to Theodora yet, possibly because she has actual social skills. Most notably, she's got a doppelganger for Alisa's maid Sharon on staff, but we can discuss her when she makes an appearance later.
Theodora means "God's gift" in Greek. Thematically resonant with Beatrice ("blessed one" or "happy one", from Latin), and really thematically resonant with Umineko spoilers.
As far as potential connections to ToCS characters, I've brought it up before but I'll collate it here. Her canonical background as the daughter of a major industrial producer - brought to this universe pretty much verbatim from ScarVi - technically puts her in the same social standing as Alisa, but her actual personality and social role within Class VII actually most resembles Laura S. Arseid, heiress to the most prestigious school of swordsmanship in all of Erebonia and by a wide margin the biggest threat in a physical fight in the party (who doesn't rely on plot powers, having a pet robot, or flashbangs). Her automatic place on a pillar by herself and everyone else, plus her stilted manners, causes some major social rifts despite the fact that she herself is a sweetheart, something we see bearing out with Nemona and Mariana already.
Okay I guess I did have more to say. Now for my thesis on how Mariana is actually Monica from the Swimming Cl--
Nemona, like many Pokémon characters, especially from the last couple of gens, derives her name from a flower, specifically the genus Nemophila, at least according to Bulbapedia. Mendoza is actually a Basque surname, meaning "Cold Mountain". Maybe her family's originally from Glaseado.
A bit of worldbuilding that I missed was that there's Three Great Houses as opposed to ToCS's 4 (Arseid, Albarea, Hyarms, and Rogner). We have the scions of de Cascaraffa and de Medali in our class, and the only other character we've met with a "de" nobiliary particle is Astrid de Ambrette. Not sure if she's in a Great House given how...casual she was, but then again, the Rogner heiress in ToCS is a motorcycle lesbian with the worst pickup lines on the planet who spends 99% of her time in biker leathers, so who knows.
Manuel is a very common Spanish name coming from the Hebrew Emmanuel, "God with us". An appropriate enough name for a nobleman, it also means Jusis swapped initials with his rival in the translation to this universel (M<>J)
Also is it just me or does "Albarea" sound more Spanish than German? Al Barea? No?
I have absolutely no fucking idea what's going on with the birds.
Jacinto is Spanish for Hyacinth, the flower, and Laureano comes from the same root as Laurel trees. I guess this is why birds like roosting on him? It also means Machias swapped initials with his rival in the translation to this universel (J<>M)
Why is this post longer than some of the official updates. Why do I have no control over my fixations.
Trains are a hugely important thematic element in Trails of Cold Steel, the symbol of Erebonian industry, modernization, and the increasing grasp of the central government over a previously feudal Empire. It's unsurprising that they're our first introduction to Paldea proper in this quest.
I had a joke once upon a time, before I knew what Trails into Reverie was, that the Trails games were all named for their primary means of transportation - you use airships in the Sky games, trains in the Cold Steel games (well, the first one), and your ass is fucking walking in Trails from Zero.
The "surprisingly accomodating" station staff is probably down to Mesagoza Academy being a relatively elite institution, or at least one whose reputation precedes it. Several members of the imperial family attended Thors in ToCS, and it's probably the same in this universe's equivalent as well.
Reminder that Roland physically does not need to eat. He just likes how things taste (especially Oran Berries).
Also I see the menu prices here are similar to the ones in the Trails games. 5000 mira for a goddamn gelato, fuck.
Here's an approximation of this train ride on Scarlet/Violet's world map, with the Zara-Zapapico leg in red, Zapapico-Levincia in yellow, and Levincia-Mesagoza in red. I'm gonna go ahead and assume that the in-game map is not to scale for this quest for a variety of reasons, but it's useful to figure out where things are in relation to each other, and it is also possible that the third leg being so much faster is because it's an up-to-date commuter line, rather than "one of the oldest continuously operating" like the first two legs.
The Railway Military Police are a direct lift from Trails of Cold Steel, and are one of the main levers that the central government uses to interfere with the provincial ones - the RMP has jurisdiction over anything that could interfere with railway traffic, and the railways go almost everywhere. Some nice terminally dull politics for you and definitely not a big factor in both provoking and preparing for the simmering noble revolt. They might be on our side, they might not, but regardless of the situation, they're feds.
I'll save getting into the Rangers/Bracers for later.
The Aragon Plateau corresponds geographically to East Province Area 3, the rocky desert between Levincia and the North Province border (and also, roughly, the Aragón and Catalonia autonomous communities in real-world Spain). It also seems to be playing the role of the greater region around the city of Roer in Trails of Cold Steel (pronounced Ruhr because the parallels to historical Germany are unsubtle. The main mine is also called "Sachsen", after the endonym for Saxony. I'm surprised there's no Schlesien in the same area). In any case, it's the industrial heartland that fuels Levincia's productivity, and probably gonna be very important late in the "main" plot.
Also, note a lack of mention of coal pretty much everywhere - industrial power in Trails comes from Septium and Orbal Energy, and it seems likely to be the same for Poké-Europe and Terastal-derived power. No need for fossil fuels when you can run cars, trains, and factories on refined Terastal Energy.
(Except when you can't).
Fake Edit: I learned during an unrelated wiki dive that Erebonia does, in fact, have an Aragon mining district as well, smaller and secondary to the the Roer/Sachsen system. Weird for a German-themed country, but then again, it could be a slightly misspelled Lord of the Rings reference, like the Eisengard Mountains.
Levincia is the industrial hub of the Region, even in canon, as well as corresponding geographically to Valencia, the third-largest city in real-world Spain - the second-largest, Barcelona, is likely meant to also be covered by Levincia in the compressed mapping scheme of a Pokémon game.
Let's take a look back at Levincia in the hometown descriptions:
Levincia is an industrial boom town, creating a wealth divide between the nouveaux riches and the workers, and between both of those and the old nobility with its emphasis on modern technology. It's also a port town faced with both threats and influence from Paldea's neighbors, and probably just as rife with spies as it is with potential revolutionaries. Rime City is this universe's version of Crossbell, but I imagine Levincia takes some inspiration from it as well as an international city filled with intrigue and unrest. The fact that the Pokémon League employs the Region's most popular livestreamer as a Gym Leader here is......interesting.
Oh I just realized that Ostia Bond gives us bonuses to exploration actions because this is THEIR hometown.
While Erebonia does have a Naval Fortress thats' relevant in later ToCS games, I believe the real nature of Watts Naval Fortress here is an equivalent to Garrelia Fortress, a very important component of Erebonia's border defense controlling its border with Crossbell. It accomplishes this by being the garrison for railway guns that serve as area denial weapons--with the "area" they're denying being the entire state of Crossbell, with the range and power to powder a whole-ass foreign country if they want to. I wouldn't be surprised to see some equivalent dreadnought or Orbal-powered naval artillery chilling in Watts Naval Fortress during our inevitable Field Exercise to Levincia.
But that's not important right now, let's talk about best boy and best enbies.
I noted this before, but even this early on, Roland is being an emotional support dog because he loves us. Might not be the best therapist in the world, but he does know how to coax us out of a panic attack.
So, Ostia and Argy. Let's start with the latter.
Argy is a Beldum, already an exceptionally rare Pokémon, and on top of that has Shiny coloration, with your more typical Beldum being blue. They're pretty clearly an equivalent to Airgetlam, or "Lammy", the semi-autonomous combat shell (robot) from Trails of Cold Steel who is the partner and weapon of Millium Orion. Combat shells aren't exactly a dime a dozen in Trails, and Airgetlam is an exceptionally advanced one, hence translating into a pseudo-legendary, robot-themed Steel type like Beldum. Could also explain the arrogant tryhard demeanor, even when they're being nice. They're among the strongest of the strongest of the Pokémon world, and they know it...and so does whatever organization is responsible for Ostia and their partnership.
And here they are. The blorbo.
As noted before, Ostia's physical appearance is based on a character named Renne, who debuted in Trails in the Sky Second Chapter and has recurred throughout the ensuing series, surprising zero people as a fan favorite given that she debuted as an eleven year old EGL-enthusiast supersoldier calling herself "the Angel of Slaughter", only for the protagonists to almost immediately decide to adopt her. However, she's not directly important to Ostia, other than being the start of a recurring archetype of Trails characters that are cute-as-a-button children with superhuman combat or supernatural capabilities thanks to the intervention of evil organizations.
The more applicable Trails character here is a girl from Trails of Cold Steel, Millium Orion, a 13 year old kid who was...honestly I'm actually going to spoil this one, even though I've mostly been ignoring Trails spoilers so far.
Millium is an operative for the Imperial Army Intelligence Division, and an Ironblood, one of the closest personal confidantes of Erebonia's ambitious Chancellor, Giliath Osborne.
That's not the real spoilers.
The real spoilers are the Millium is an artificial human called a Homunculus, essentially grown from scratch with ancient technology, and specifically "tuned" to psychically link with Airgetlam. There's other, similar subjects, and in particular a "sister" who comes up later in the story, forcing her to divide her loyalties between her friends in the protagonists, the Chancellor, and others she cares about, along with deep ties to the "A-plot" that I don't think I need to go into here.
Whoever Ostia is, wherever they came from...I don't think they're a normal kid with parents. I doubt they're tied into the political plot like Millium is, but Raifort and her Legendary fixation...it can't be good.
That's not the real spoilers.
The real spoilers are the Millium is an artificial human called a Homunculus, essentially grown from scratch with ancient technology, and specifically "tuned" to psychically link with Airgetlam. There's other, similar subjects, and in particular a "sister" who comes up later in the story, forcing her to divide her loyalties between her friends in the protagonists, the Chancellor, and others she cares about, along with deep ties to the "A-plot" that I don't think I need to go into here.
Whoever Ostia is, wherever they came from...I don't think they're a normal kid with parents. I doubt they're tied into the political plot like Millium is, but Raifort and her Legendary fixation...it can't be good.
Also Millium's afraid of ghosts (as is like, every other tough female character in Trails. And Persona. Japan has gender brainworms), which is funny, because Roland.
Who needs surnames, I ask, having never given my Quest protagonist a surname, out of laziness, and definitely not plot reasons.
Ostia is a neighborhood of Rome that started as its own town before getting absorbed by the municipio of the capital, serving as Rome's seaport in ancient times before being rebuilt in the 1880s. It's also the technical (plural) term for the holes in a sponge. Airgetlám means "silver hand" in Irish and was the epithet of the first king of the Tuatha dé Danaan, Nuadhu, in Irish mythology. Argy is really easy to typo as "Angy" and I love that that's happened repeatedly.
I really don't think this is normal. Especially since, while the Zalgotext gets clearer later, apparently the pain is still a thing. Whatever happened to us (was done to us by Chimu) in our backstory definitely gave us Brain Problems.
That said, it is worth noting that it's possible that Ostia and Argy were designed to be psychically compatible, given the plot parallels.
Another important point of personality here is that Ostia loves Pokémon. Perhaps unsurprising considering that Argy seems to be their best friend.
Also some funny accidental foreshadowing of Roland's upset victory over Argy at the round robin. I wish Mariana was capable of perceiving her own successes so we could figure out how the hell that happened. I'm gonna guess latching on with Bite and then not letting go until Argy tapped out, personally.
Pokémon lore note for once - the central school of Scarlet and Violet has a different name, uniform, and school colors depending on version. What we're calling Mesagoza Academy would be Uva (Grape) Academy in Violet, and Naranja (Orange) Academy in Scarlet. The probability that the western hub station is called Naranja is about 99.7%
Mesagoza, in addition to being a Madrid+Toledo+Salamanca displaced hundreds of kilometers south by the Great Crater of Paldea, is also standing in for the capital of the Erebonian Empire, Heimdallr, with many of the same features and quirks, and also credit as possibly the largest city in the setting by population at canonically about 800,000 people.
Incidentally, Thors isn't located in Heimdallr in Trails of Cold Steel, instead being located in the de facto suburb Trista, around 30 minutes away from the city by commuter rail. The geography here comes from the Pokémon games, which have Naranja/Uva academy as the centerpiece around which Mesagoza is built, because game design.
Another thing I pointed out before but am pointing out again here: this is almost definitely Kofu, the Water-type Gym Leader of Cascarrafa in Scarlet/Violet. Either he moved his restaurant from Cascaraffa to Mesagoza, or franchised. Either way, I assume he's actually in Mesagoza because it's the off-season, or maybe he commutes between his jobs. Lunatic hoofed it across a desert (without his wallet) just to source ingredients in the game, so he's definitely not averse to business travel.
By the way, every Gym Leader in canon Paldea has some kind of business in addition to being a Gym Leader: Kofu runs a gourmet restaurant, Katy a bakery, Iono and Ryme are performers, etc.
So. Raifort.
In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Instructor Raifort (name meaning: French for "horseradish", apparently) is the history teacher who acts needlessly shady and is clearly obsessed with Legendary Pokémon and Area Zero, the mysterious zone in the Great Paldean Crater. Get to know her enough, and she feels like she was meant to be leading a villain team, especially since she'll just point you at the Ruinous Quartet (our friends in the stakes) and tell you to go poke them and see what happens. She makes a good red herring for the real villains of the "Path of Legends" plotline, the deceased Professor Sada or Turo.
Here, Iiiiiiii don't think she's a red herring. She's clearly Ostia's handler (mentioned in the "Stranger of Paradise" background) and keeps them on a very short leash, almost as if they're a Pokémon under her control rather than an autonomous person. Her attitude is a dead ringer for that of Trails's nastier masterminds, who tend to treat their underlings (especially the artificial or mentally manipulated ones) the same way. It's entirely unclear who Raifort is working for or where she gets her resources, but you can't come up with someone more obviously bad news than this without putting a flashing neon bad guy sign over her head. She's gonna be after something big, nasty, and related to a Legendary Pokémon, surely.
Honestly though, I guess she could be a red herring again. Trails evil scientists are usually really nice and/or losers until the disguise comes off. She's an asshole either way, though.
Mr. Grumpig is a canonical member of Raifort's battle team from the S/V postgame. We probably don't want to fuck with him.
Rodrigo namedrop. Like Thors, Mesagoza Academy was founded by the legendary emperor who united the realm after a period of chaos. Also like Thors, Mesagoza Academy is rapidly transitioning away from being a purely military academy and into a university, although Mesagoza seems to be further along, or at least more honest about it.
Rodrigo, Felipe, Anna, and Maria are the main halls. Emperor Felipe is probably named for one of Spain's most successful emperors, Phillip II, who ruled Spain at the height of its golden age, reigned over half the planet on paper (his uncle and later cousin in Austria ruling over the other half on paper), and became the namesake of our QM's home country. Anna and Maria are common enough names in Spanish that they could be borrowed from several places, and Spain itself never had a ruler named Maximilian, although the aforementioned Phillip II's great-grandfather was Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, whose son ended up king of Spain for reasons. That's a pretty distant guess for a namesake though. For all I know it's a random name, or taken from the other Habsburg who briefly ruled Mexico.
We gotta do the A-plot and save the Empire, guys. It's the only way we'll ever be able to afford our student loans.
It's worth noting that while Trails's "tech level" is deliberately schizophrenic, with people waving around swords and spears to fight futuristic robots from 1200 years ago before logging onto 1980's style computer terminals to learn about the progress of the industrial revolution that started 50 years prior, this quest sticks much closer to Pokémon's tech level, which is more consistently 21st century Earth with some fantastical elements made possible by Pokémon and a population that actually gives a shit about green energy, hence the satellites, e-mails, widespread mobile phones with AI Pokémon assistants, etc.
Alright. Leaf.
So, obviously, she's the female protagonist from the Pokémon Fire Red/Leaf Green remakes (Leaf meaning Leaf, Midorikawa most likely translating to "green river"). Buuuuuut information we've gotten later puts some spin on that, since there's a lot more to the story of Kanto and its neighbors than there were in the games. Leaf was a young woman, apparently from the Sevii Islands (FRLG's version-exclusive bonus content area, loosely equating to two of Japan's outlying island chains, the Izu and Bonin archipelagos) during the long, grinding last hurrah of Team Rocket. We don't know for sure what she got up to during that time, but, well, I don't think it was a cheerful Pokémon journey alongside her neighbor(s).
Leaf is also Class VII's homeroom instructor, Sara Valestein (side note: fuck you Falcom for naming two important characters in the same game "Sara Valestein" and "Emma Millstein", with no relation to each other even thematically). She's a complicated woman, but definitely where most of Leaf M.'s personality comes from, in the sense that she's Misato Katsuragi with gunblades. There was just a proliferation of big tiddy deadbeat adult older sisters in anime for a couple decades there. Fortunately Leaf has skipped the alcoholism and hitting on minors part of the set, but I don't think she skipped the traumatized veterand and possible former child soldier parts of Sara's background. Leaf's got an old scar on her neck, some clear trauma, and well...I happen to have some leaked information from the QM that indicates Arvis is taking more than a bit of inspiration from the Pokémon Adventures manga when discussing the motivation and actions of Team Rocket, which gives Leaf's equivalent (named Green in official localization and Blue in Japanese)...a lot of background, some of which meshes with Sara's, all of which is traumatic.
Rather than ramble on, I'm going to settle on my one line assessment that Leaf has seen some shit, and wait to see what parts of which manga and video games comprise that shit as Arvis reveals them.
I also think we should trust her with our lives no matter how goofy she is.
FORESHADOWING IS A LITERARY TECHNIQUE IN W
So, the characters here are where I really started picking things apart originally, but we've gotten more clarification on each of them since, so I'll go ahead and do a breakdown at their vote introductions - skipping Erika until next time for the same reason I skipped Ostia until this time.
Theodora is Suspicious, but lovely, and I don't just say that because her face claim is identical to my favorite homicidal VN girlboss. Multilingual and very up on her current events and politics - later on, she's responsible for blurbs about the game history in Kanto/Johto and Alola, and she's familiar with Leaf, also from Kanto. It could be a gossip mag addiction, but it could be something else, especially since she's a polyglot. People who just like to know things exist, but...in Trails, in Pokémon, and in Umineko, there's probably a deeper meaning.
Beatrice, her faceclaim, was among other things the descendant of Italian fascists who fled to Japan. Could she be related to the ultranationalist Rockets, having traveled in the opposite direction, and that's why she knows everyone from KanJoh?
Her background is a medley of things - she's clearly based on my proposal for the player character, Porto Marinada+Noblesse Oblige, meaning she's (probably) the bastard scion of the Medali house and grew up in the Empire's most recent conquest. She's also clearly at least partly based on Trails of Cold Steels's Alisa Reinford - while Alisa was haute bourgeois and went through a token effort of hiding her status as the heiress to the Fantasy Krupp Family, Theodora is a noble (at least on paper) and somewhat more open with that fact. Her faceclaim and Alisa also have being curvy blonde bombshells and having a slightly inexplicable fixation on The Protagonist in common...along with frequent accusations of being a tsundere, even if that doesn't seem to apply to Theodora yet, possibly because she has actual social skills. Most notably, she's got a doppelganger for Alisa's maid Sharon on staff, but we can discuss her when she makes an appearance later.
And then there's the fact that she grew up in occupied Porto Marinada, a conquered state in a very similar position to Jurai in Trails of Cold Steel. We've seen ""Crow"" as a Pokémon later, and the Alisa connections are a lot more obvious, but I can't shake this feeling that we're going to meet "Comrade T" sooner or later, or perhaps the terrorist mastermind calling herself "The Golden Witch". The Pepe Silvia board was moved to a back room, not dismantled.
Theodora means "God's gift" in Greek. Thematically resonant with Beatrice ("blessed one" or "happy one", from Latin), and really thematically resonant with Umineko spoilers.
Contrastingly, I don't have much to say on Nemona that the thread hasn't already sussed out or projected. She's The Rival from Pokémon Scarlet/Violet and probably its most popular character, edging out other Main Plot Partner NPCs Penny and Arven with her sunny disposition and memetic love of battling (and being the final boss of the Pokémon League plot, completely overshadowing official Top Champion Geeta). The frequent comparisons to Goku aren't at all inaccurate, since she just loves a good challenge and is otherwise friendly to everybody, if more than a little casually insensitive and with some trouble reading the room. Poor Arven, he gets it even worse than Mariana...
As far as potential connections to ToCS characters, I've brought it up before but I'll collate it here. Her canonical background as the daughter of a major industrial producer - brought to this universe pretty much verbatim from ScarVi - technically puts her in the same social standing as Alisa, but her actual personality and social role within Class VII actually most resembles Laura S. Arseid, heiress to the most prestigious school of swordsmanship in all of Erebonia and by a wide margin the biggest threat in a physical fight in the party (who doesn't rely on plot powers, having a pet robot, or flashbangs). Her automatic place on a pillar by herself and everyone else, plus her stilted manners, causes some major social rifts despite the fact that she herself is a sweetheart, something we see bearing out with Nemona and Mariana already.
Okay I guess I did have more to say. Now for my thesis on how Mariana is actually Monica from the Swimming Cl--
Nemona, like many Pokémon characters, especially from the last couple of gens, derives her name from a flower, specifically the genus Nemophila, at least according to Bulbapedia. Mendoza is actually a Basque surname, meaning "Cold Mountain". Maybe her family's originally from Glaseado.
We haven't interacted with Manuel much, but he's pretty clearly based on the other near-winning "Noblesse Oblige" plan from character creation, as well as ToCS character Jusis Albarea, who has more or less the same background but with extra "no one in the previous generation of his family knows how to fuck their actual wife" thrown in. I'd bet money that he has an awkward rivalry-adoration complex with an older sibling, and it's more complicated than at first apparent, but I guess we'll see. If nothing else, they both seem perpetually annoyed at the doting nature of servants and would prefer to live in an era where nobles were knights and exemplars instead of parasitic landlords...or maybe I'm reading too much into it. In any case his having a Horsea is funny because Jusis is definitely a male Horse Girl. You know what I mean.
A bit of worldbuilding that I missed was that there's Three Great Houses as opposed to ToCS's 4 (Arseid, Albarea, Hyarms, and Rogner). We have the scions of de Cascaraffa and de Medali in our class, and the only other character we've met with a "de" nobiliary particle is Astrid de Ambrette. Not sure if she's in a Great House given how...casual she was, but then again, the Rogner heiress in ToCS is a motorcycle lesbian with the worst pickup lines on the planet who spends 99% of her time in biker leathers, so who knows.
Manuel is a very common Spanish name coming from the Hebrew Emmanuel, "God with us". An appropriate enough name for a nobleman, it also means Jusis swapped initials with his rival in the translation to this universel (M<>J)
Also is it just me or does "Albarea" sound more Spanish than German? Al Barea? No?
Jacinto is the only Class VII character who isn't either a canon Pokémon character like Atticus or Nemona, or one of the runner-up character creation options. Well...actually, he might be [] Plan: Started at the bottom since he does appear to be from Levincia, and is using elements of that background that Ostia isn't (like being an Iono fan). He's also very definitely a parallel to Machias Regnitz from Trails of Cold Steel, a passionate and hardworking young nerd with a shotgun who applies most of his passion to hating nobles as a social class, getting into an immediate homoerotic rivalry with Jusis and never really stopping. Machias has some complicated circumstances, but I'll hold back on details until we talk to Jacinto more to see the parallels - one thing he does have in common is that Iono fandom. While there's no livestreamers in Zemuria (yet), Machias is a big fan of...prominent figures in the arts, being a passionate fan of radio personality Misty and opera diva Vita Clotilde. But I repeat myself.
I have absolutely no fucking idea what's going on with the birds.
Jacinto is Spanish for Hyacinth, the flower, and Laureano comes from the same root as Laurel trees. I guess this is why birds like roosting on him? It also means Machias swapped initials with his rival in the translation to this universel (J<>M)
Why is this post longer than some of the official updates. Why do I have no control over my fixations.
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
I always love whenever you do analysis posts.Ah, where was I...
Trains are a hugely important thematic element in Trails of Cold Steel, the symbol of Erebonian industry, modernization, and the increasing grasp of the central government over a previously feudal Empire. It's unsurprising that they're our first introduction to Paldea proper in this quest.
I had a joke once upon a time, before I knew what Trails into Reverie was, that the Trails games were all named for their primary means of transportation - you use airships in the Sky games, trains in the Cold Steel games (well, the first one), and your ass is fucking walking in Trails from Zero.
The "surprisingly accomodating" station staff is probably down to Mesagoza Academy being a relatively elite institution, or at least one whose reputation precedes it. Several members of the imperial family attended Thors in ToCS, and it's probably the same in this universe's equivalent as well.
Reminder that Roland physically does not need to eat. He just likes how things taste (especially Oran Berries).
Also I see the menu prices here are similar to the ones in the Trails games. 5000 mira for a goddamn gelato, fuck.
Here's an approximation of this train ride on Scarlet/Violet's world map, with the Zara-Zapapico leg in red, Zapapico-Levincia in yellow, and Levincia-Mesagoza in red. I'm gonna go ahead and assume that the in-game map is not to scale for this quest for a variety of reasons, but it's useful to figure out where things are in relation to each other, and it is also possible that the third leg being so much faster is because it's an up-to-date commuter line, rather than "one of the oldest continuously operating" like the first two legs.
The Railway Military Police are a direct lift from Trails of Cold Steel, and are one of the main levers that the central government uses to interfere with the provincial ones - the RMP has jurisdiction over anything that could interfere with railway traffic, and the railways go almost everywhere. Some nice terminally dull politics for you and definitely not a big factor in both provoking and preparing for the simmering noble revolt. They might be on our side, they might not, but regardless of the situation, they're feds.
I'll save getting into the Rangers/Bracers for later.
The Aragon Plateau corresponds geographically to East Province Area 3, the rocky desert between Levincia and the North Province border (and also, roughly, the Aragón and Catalonia autonomous communities in real-world Spain). It also seems to be playing the role of the greater region around the city of Roer in Trails of Cold Steel (pronounced Ruhr because the parallels to historical Germany are unsubtle. The main mine is also called "Sachsen", after the endonym for Saxony. I'm surprised there's no Schlesien in the same area). In any case, it's the industrial heartland that fuels Levincia's productivity, and probably gonna be very important late in the "main" plot.
Also, note a lack of mention of coal pretty much everywhere - industrial power in Trails comes from Septium and Orbal Energy, and it seems likely to be the same for Poké-Europe and Terastal-derived power. No need for fossil fuels when you can run cars, trains, and factories on refined Terastal Energy.
(Except when you can't).
Fake Edit: I learned during an unrelated wiki dive that Erebonia does, in fact, have an Aragon mining district as well, smaller and secondary to the the Roer/Sachsen system. Weird for a German-themed country, but then again, it could be a slightly misspelled Lord of the Rings reference, like the Eisengard Mountains.
Levincia is the industrial hub of the Region, even in canon, as well as corresponding geographically to Valencia, the third-largest city in real-world Spain - the second-largest, Barcelona, is likely meant to also be covered by Levincia in the compressed mapping scheme of a Pokémon game.
Let's take a look back at Levincia in the hometown descriptions:
Levincia is an industrial boom town, creating a wealth divide between the nouveaux riches and the workers, and between both of those and the old nobility with its emphasis on modern technology. It's also a port town faced with both threats and influence from Paldea's neighbors, and probably just as rife with spies as it is with potential revolutionaries. Rime City is this universe's version of Crossbell, but I imagine Levincia takes some inspiration from it as well as an international city filled with intrigue and unrest. The fact that the Pokémon League employs the Region's most popular livestreamer as a Gym Leader here is......interesting.
Oh I just realized that Ostia Bond gives us bonuses to exploration actions because this is THEIR hometown.
While Erebonia does have a Naval Fortress thats' relevant in later ToCS games, I believe the real nature of Watts Naval Fortress here is an equivalent to Garrelia Fortress, a very important component of Erebonia's border defense controlling its border with Crossbell. It accomplishes this by being the garrison for railway guns that serve as area denial weapons--with the "area" they're denying being the entire state of Crossbell, with the range and power to powder a whole-ass foreign country if they want to. I wouldn't be surprised to see some equivalent dreadnought or Orbal-powered naval artillery chilling in Watts Naval Fortress during our inevitable Field Exercise to Levincia.
But that's not important right now, let's talk about best boy and best enbies.
I noted this before, but even this early on, Roland is being an emotional support dog because he loves us. Might not be the best therapist in the world, but he does know how to coax us out of a panic attack.
So, Ostia and Argy. Let's start with the latter.
Argy is a Beldum, already an exceptionally rare Pokémon, and on top of that has Shiny coloration, with your more typical Beldum being blue. They're pretty clearly an equivalent to Airgetlam, or "Lammy", the semi-autonomous combat shell (robot) from Trails of Cold Steel who is the partner and weapon of Millium Orion. Combat shells aren't exactly a dime a dozen in Trails, and Airgetlam is an exceptionally advanced one, hence translating into a pseudo-legendary, robot-themed Steel type like Beldum. Could also explain the arrogant tryhard demeanor, even when they're being nice. They're among the strongest of the strongest of the Pokémon world, and they know it...and so does whatever organization is responsible for Ostia and their partnership.
And here they are. The blorbo.
As noted before, Ostia's physical appearance is based on a character named Renne, who debuted in Trails in the Sky Second Chapter and has recurred throughout the ensuing series, surprising zero people as a fan favorite given that she debuted as an eleven year old EGL-enthusiast supersoldier calling herself "the Angel of Slaughter", only for the protagonists to almost immediately decide to adopt her. However, she's not directly important to Ostia, other than being the start of a recurring archetype of Trails characters that are cute-as-a-button children with superhuman combat or supernatural capabilities thanks to the intervention of evil organizations.
The more applicable Trails character here is a girl from Trails of Cold Steel, Millium Orion, a 13 year old kid who was...honestly I'm actually going to spoil this one, even though I've mostly been ignoring Trails spoilers so far.
Millium is an operative for the Imperial Army Intelligence Division, and an Ironblood, one of the closest personal confidantes of Erebonia's ambitious Chancellor, Giliath Osborne.
That's not the real spoilers.
The real spoilers are the Millium is an artificial human called a Homunculus, essentially grown from scratch with ancient technology, and specifically "tuned" to psychically link with Airgetlam. There's other, similar subjects, and in particular a "sister" who comes up later in the story, forcing her to divide her loyalties between her friends in the protagonists, the Chancellor, and others she cares about, along with deep ties to the "A-plot" that I don't think I need to go into here.
Whoever Ostia is, wherever they came from...I don't think they're a normal kid with parents. I doubt they're tied into the political plot like Millium is, but Raifort and her Legendary fixation...it can't be good.
Also Millium's afraid of ghosts (as is like, every other tough female character in Trails. And Persona. Japan has gender brainworms), which is funny, because Roland.
Who needs surnames, I ask, having never given my Quest protagonist a surname, out of laziness, and definitely not plot reasons.
Ostia is a neighborhood of Rome that started as its own town before getting absorbed by the municipio of the capital, serving as Rome's seaport in ancient times before being rebuilt in the 1880s. It's also the technical (plural) term for the holes in a sponge. Airgetlám means "silver hand" in Irish and was the epithet of the first king of the Tuatha dé Danaan, Nuadhu, in Irish mythology. Argy is really easy to typo as "Angy" and I love that that's happened repeatedly.
I really don't think this is normal. Especially since, while the Zalgotext gets clearer later, apparently the pain is still a thing. Whatever happened to us (was done to us by Chimu) in our backstory definitely gave us Brain Problems.
That said, it is worth noting that it's possible that Ostia and Argy were designed to be psychically compatible, given the plot parallels.
Another important point of personality here is that Ostia loves Pokémon. Perhaps unsurprising considering that Argy seems to be their best friend.
Also some funny accidental foreshadowing of Roland's upset victory over Argy at the round robin. I wish Mariana was capable of perceiving her own successes so we could figure out how the hell that happened. I'm gonna guess latching on with Bite and then not letting go until Argy tapped out, personally.
Pokémon lore note for once - the central school of Scarlet and Violet has a different name, uniform, and school colors depending on version. What we're calling Mesagoza Academy would be Uva (Grape) Academy in Violet, and Naranja (Orange) Academy in Scarlet. The probability that the western hub station is called Naranja is about 99.7%
Mesagoza, in addition to being a Madrid+Toledo+Salamanca displaced hundreds of kilometers south by the Great Crater of Paldea, is also standing in for the capital of the Erebonian Empire, Heimdallr, with many of the same features and quirks, and also credit as possibly the largest city in the setting by population at canonically about 800,000 people.
Incidentally, Thors isn't located in Heimdallr in Trails of Cold Steel, instead being located in the de facto suburb Trista, around 30 minutes away from the city by commuter rail. The geography here comes from the Pokémon games, which have Naranja/Uva academy as the centerpiece around which Mesagoza is built, because game design.
Another thing I pointed out before but am pointing out again here: this is almost definitely Kofu, the Water-type Gym Leader of Cascarrafa in Scarlet/Violet. Either he moved his restaurant from Cascaraffa to Mesagoza, or franchised. Either way, I assume he's actually in Mesagoza because it's the off-season, or maybe he commutes between his jobs. Lunatic hoofed it across a desert (without his wallet) just to source ingredients in the game, so he's definitely not averse to business travel.
By the way, every Gym Leader in canon Paldea has some kind of business in addition to being a Gym Leader: Kofu runs a gourmet restaurant, Katy a bakery, Iono and Ryme are performers, etc.
So. Raifort.
In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Instructor Raifort (name meaning: French for "horseradish", apparently) is the history teacher who acts needlessly shady and is clearly obsessed with Legendary Pokémon and Area Zero, the mysterious zone in the Great Paldean Crater. Get to know her enough, and she feels like she was meant to be leading a villain team, especially since she'll just point you at the Ruinous Quartet (our friends in the stakes) and tell you to go poke them and see what happens. She makes a good red herring for the real villains of the "Path of Legends" plotline, the deceased Professor Sada or Turo.
Here, Iiiiiiii don't think she's a red herring. She's clearly Ostia's handler (mentioned in the "Stranger of Paradise" background) and keeps them on a very short leash, almost as if they're a Pokémon under her control rather than an autonomous person. Her attitude is a dead ringer for that of Trails's nastier masterminds, who tend to treat their underlings (especially the artificial or mentally manipulated ones) the same way. It's entirely unclear who Raifort is working for or where she gets her resources, but you can't come up with someone more obviously bad news than this without putting a flashing neon bad guy sign over her head. She's gonna be after something big, nasty, and related to a Legendary Pokémon, surely.
Honestly though, I guess she could be a red herring again. Trails evil scientists are usually really nice and/or losers until the disguise comes off. She's an asshole either way, though.
Mr. Grumpig is a canonical member of Raifort's battle team from the S/V postgame. We probably don't want to fuck with him.
Rodrigo namedrop. Like Thors, Mesagoza Academy was founded by the legendary emperor who united the realm after a period of chaos. Also like Thors, Mesagoza Academy is rapidly transitioning away from being a purely military academy and into a university, although Mesagoza seems to be further along, or at least more honest about it.
Rodrigo, Felipe, Anna, and Maria are the main halls. Emperor Felipe is probably named for one of Spain's most successful emperors, Phillip II, who ruled Spain at the height of its golden age, reigned over half the planet on paper (his uncle and later cousin in Austria ruling over the other half on paper), and became the namesake of our QM's home country. Anna and Maria are common enough names in Spanish that they could be borrowed from several places, and Spain itself never had a ruler named Maximilian, although the aforementioned Phillip II's great-grandfather was Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, whose son ended up king of Spain for reasons. That's a pretty distant guess for a namesake though. For all I know it's a random name, or taken from the other Habsburg who briefly ruled Mexico.
We gotta do the A-plot and save the Empire, guys. It's the only way we'll ever be able to afford our student loans.
It's worth noting that while Trails's "tech level" is deliberately schizophrenic, with people waving around swords and spears to fight futuristic robots from 1200 years ago before logging onto 1980's style computer terminals to learn about the progress of the industrial revolution that started 50 years prior, this quest sticks much closer to Pokémon's tech level, which is more consistently 21st century Earth with some fantastical elements made possible by Pokémon and a population that actually gives a shit about green energy, hence the satellites, e-mails, widespread mobile phones with AI Pokémon assistants, etc.
Alright. Leaf.
So, obviously, she's the female protagonist from the Pokémon Fire Red/Leaf Green remakes (Leaf meaning Leaf, Midorikawa most likely translating to "green river"). Buuuuuut information we've gotten later puts some spin on that, since there's a lot more to the story of Kanto and its neighbors than there were in the games. Leaf was a young woman, apparently from the Sevii Islands (FRLG's version-exclusive bonus content area, loosely equating to two of Japan's outlying island chains, the Izu and Bonin archipelagos) during the long, grinding last hurrah of Team Rocket. We don't know for sure what she got up to during that time, but, well, I don't think it was a cheerful Pokémon journey alongside her neighbor(s).
Leaf is also Class VII's homeroom instructor, Sara Valestein (side note: fuck you Falcom for naming two important characters in the same game "Sara Valestein" and "Emma Millstein", with no relation to each other even thematically). She's a complicated woman, but definitely where most of Leaf M.'s personality comes from, in the sense that she's Misato Katsuragi with gunblades. There was just a proliferation of big tiddy deadbeat adult older sisters in anime for a couple decades there. Fortunately Leaf has skipped the alcoholism and hitting on minors part of the set, but I don't think she skipped the traumatized veterand and possible former child soldier parts of Sara's background. Leaf's got an old scar on her neck, some clear trauma, and well...I happen to have some leaked information from the QM that indicates Arvis is taking more than a bit of inspiration from the Pokémon Adventures manga when discussing the motivation and actions of Team Rocket, which gives Leaf's equivalent (named Green in official localization and Blue in Japanese)...a lot of background, some of which meshes with Sara's, all of which is traumatic.
Rather than ramble on, I'm going to settle on my one line assessment that Leaf has seen some shit, and wait to see what parts of which manga and video games comprise that shit as Arvis reveals them.
I also think we should trust her with our lives no matter how goofy she is.
FORESHADOWING IS A LITERARY TECHNIQUE IN W
So, the characters here are where I really started picking things apart originally, but we've gotten more clarification on each of them since, so I'll go ahead and do a breakdown at their vote introductions - skipping Erika until next time for the same reason I skipped Ostia until this time.
Theodora is Suspicious, but lovely, and I don't just say that because her face claim is identical to my favorite homicidal VN girlboss. Multilingual and very up on her current events and politics - later on, she's responsible for blurbs about the game history in Kanto/Johto and Alola, and she's familiar with Leaf, also from Kanto. It could be a gossip mag addiction, but it could be something else, especially since she's a polyglot. People who just like to know things exist, but...in Trails, in Pokémon, and in Umineko, there's probably a deeper meaning.
Beatrice, her faceclaim, was among other things the descendant of Italian fascists who fled to Japan. Could she be related to the ultranationalist Rockets, having traveled in the opposite direction, and that's why she knows everyone from KanJoh?
Her background is a medley of things - she's clearly based on my proposal for the player character, Porto Marinada+Noblesse Oblige, meaning she's (probably) the bastard scion of the Medali house and grew up in the Empire's most recent conquest. She's also clearly at least partly based on Trails of Cold Steels's Alisa Reinford - while Alisa was haute bourgeois and went through a token effort of hiding her status as the heiress to the Fantasy Krupp Family, Theodora is a noble (at least on paper) and somewhat more open with that fact. Her faceclaim and Alisa also have being curvy blonde bombshells and having a slightly inexplicable fixation on The Protagonist in common...along with frequent accusations of being a tsundere, even if that doesn't seem to apply to Theodora yet, possibly because she has actual social skills. Most notably, she's got a doppelganger for Alisa's maid Sharon on staff, but we can discuss her when she makes an appearance later.
And then there's the fact that she grew up in occupied Porto Marinada, a conquered state in a very similar position to Jurai in Trails of Cold Steel. We've seen ""Crow"" as a Pokémon later, and the Alisa connections are a lot more obvious, but I can't shake this feeling that we're going to meet "Comrade T" sooner or later, or perhaps the terrorist mastermind calling herself "The Golden Witch". The Pepe Silvia board was moved to a back room, not dismantled.
Theodora means "God's gift" in Greek. Thematically resonant with Beatrice ("blessed one" or "happy one", from Latin), and really thematically resonant with Umineko spoilers.
Contrastingly, I don't have much to say on Nemona that the thread hasn't already sussed out or projected. She's The Rival from Pokémon Scarlet/Violet and probably its most popular character, edging out other Main Plot Partner NPCs Penny and Arven with her sunny disposition and memetic love of battling (and being the final boss of the Pokémon League plot, completely overshadowing official Top Champion Geeta). The frequent comparisons to Goku aren't at all inaccurate, since she just loves a good challenge and is otherwise friendly to everybody, if more than a little casually insensitive and with some trouble reading the room. Poor Arven, he gets it even worse than Mariana...
As far as potential connections to ToCS characters, I've brought it up before but I'll collate it here. Her canonical background as the daughter of a major industrial producer - brought to this universe pretty much verbatim from ScarVi - technically puts her in the same social standing as Alisa, but her actual personality and social role within Class VII actually most resembles Laura S. Arseid, heiress to the most prestigious school of swordsmanship in all of Erebonia and by a wide margin the biggest threat in a physical fight in the party (who doesn't rely on plot powers, having a pet robot, or flashbangs). Her automatic place on a pillar by herself and everyone else, plus her stilted manners, causes some major social rifts despite the fact that she herself is a sweetheart, something we see bearing out with Nemona and Mariana already.
Okay I guess I did have more to say. Now for my thesis on how Mariana is actually Monica from the Swimming Cl--
Nemona, like many Pokémon characters, especially from the last couple of gens, derives her name from a flower, specifically the genus Nemophila, at least according to Bulbapedia. Mendoza is actually a Basque surname, meaning "Cold Mountain". Maybe her family's originally from Glaseado.
We haven't interacted with Manuel much, but he's pretty clearly based on the other near-winning "Noblesse Oblige" plan from character creation, as well as ToCS character Jusis Albarea, who has more or less the same background but with extra "no one in the previous generation of his family knows how to fuck their actual wife" thrown in. I'd bet money that he has an awkward rivalry-adoration complex with an older sibling, and it's more complicated than at first apparent, but I guess we'll see. If nothing else, they both seem perpetually annoyed at the doting nature of servants and would prefer to live in an era where nobles were knights and exemplars instead of parasitic landlords...or maybe I'm reading too much into it. In any case his having a Horsea is funny because Jusis is definitely a male Horse Girl. You know what I mean.
A bit of worldbuilding that I missed was that there's Three Great Houses as opposed to ToCS's 4 (Arseid, Bareahard, Hyarms, and Rogner). We have the scions of de Cascaraffa and de Medali in our class, and the only other character we've met with a "de" nobiliary particle is Astrid de Ambrette. Not sure if she's in a Great House given how...casual she was, but then again, the Rogner heiress in ToCS is a motorcycle lesbian with the worst pickup lines on the planet who spends 99% of her time in biker leathers, so who knows.
Manuel is a very common Spanish name coming from the Hebrew Emmanuel, "God with us". An appropriate enough name for a nobleman, it also means Jusis swapped initials with his rival in the translation to this universel (M<>J)
Also is it just me or does "Albarea" sound more Spanish than German? Al Barea? No?
Jacinto is the only Class VII character who isn't either a canon Pokémon character like Atticus or Nemona, or one of the runner-up character creation options. Well...actually, he might be [] Plan: Started at the bottom since he does appear to be from Levincia, and is using elements of that background that Ostia isn't (like being an Iono fan). He's also very definitely a parallel to Machias Regnitz from Trails of Cold Steel, a passionate and hardworking young nerd with a shotgun who applies most of his passion to hating nobles as a social class, getting into an immediate homoerotic rivalry with Jusis and never really stopping. Machias has some complicated circumstances, but I'll hold back on details until we talk to Jacinto more to see the parallels - one thing he does have in common is that Iono fandom. While there's no livestreamers in Zemuria (yet), Machias is a big fan of...prominent figures in the arts, being a passionate fan of radio personality Misty and opera diva Vita Clotilde. But I repeat myself.
I have absolutely no fucking idea what's going on with the birds.
Jacinto is Spanish for Hyacinth, the flower, and Laureano comes from the same root as Laurel trees. I guess this is why birds like roosting on him? It also means Machias swapped initials with his rival in the translation to this universel (J<>M)
Why is this post longer than some of the official updates. Why do I have no control over my fixations.
No harm in saying this specific part but the birds and Jacinto's hair color is a reference to who his dad is.
- Location
- Philippines
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- He/Him
Say whaaaa... Larry is Jacinto's dad!?
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- He/They/She
Nah given the 0-8 record it's definitely Falkner.
(It's Larry.)
Hex
A Lingering Curse
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/They
Poor Falkner. You didn't have to murder him like that. He already died 8 battles ago.
KnownParadox
Not a sphere
- Location
- Canada
She's evil I tell you, she's being used by the Paldean government on purpose and she's enjoying every minute of it I tell you-
It's not anyone's fault that Falkner is so easy to murder, easiest gym leader ever. Mr. "Bird's have no weaknesses! Well, I guess you can shock em, or throw a rock." Bird Keeper headass.
Anyways.
Politics and factions is a big thing in Trails, shocking I know, so I wonder how all that's going to turn out in the future for our class specifically.
Taking a look at the Noblesse Oblige description here...
Geeta has her own faction of course, she's the Top Champion, whatever that title is worth. I expect she represents some sort of commoner/non-noble and non-outsider faction. I feel like Nemona ending up with her is inevitable as seen in Gen 9 itself. Considering Nemona's champion class herself, that's a rather large beatstick to have on hand, someone capable of shifting the balance of power itself in large or small ways. Other factions would want an answer to her in some way, because having a backing of force is probably essential in this world for any political movement. Which might be where we come in.
Depending on how things turn out, and seeing our current projected future, whatever faction that forms around us or we join will probably have us as a potential answer to Nemona in case of actual fighting. Which is more than a bit terrifying to be perfectly honest. If we even barely manage to keep up with or stay a badge behind The Sun I expect the courting from various people to be intense, probably not romantic courting but instead monetary sponsorships or rare pokemon or resources.
There's also the possibility that we end up working alongside Nemona, and the Geeta faction ends up with two Elite 4/Champion level beatsticks, and if you thought the political shifting would be bad before, hoo boy.
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We'll see how it goes in the quest, but a couple of things...lemme just spoiler box this since I'm probably gonna ramble into the weeds about ToCS again.
First of all, if the plan behind the creation Class VII is anything like it was in Trails of Cold Steel, the intent is definitely going to be a centrist faction of future leaders that can play kingmaker, or peacekeeper, amongst the political factions without being beholden to any of them, hence the LARGE sociopolitical cross-section, and Field Exercises designed to crash course us about all parts of the country and their problems. Falling in with one faction or another is certainly possible, but I think the goal here is to concentrate enough power and influence that we don't have to, and can play the system for what's right rather than the say-so of any one politician.
Second, while Nemona is rightfully terrifying, she's still one girl who's a sports enthusiast, not a soldier. She could be a weapon for a political faction, maybe even the strongest one, but still one among many. No one in Pokémon or Trails has the power to bend the setting to their will by themselves unless backed up by some real horseshit like a Box Legendary/Sept-Terrion, which is why the bad guys are always chasing those and the good guys are always defeating them with the power of friendship (i.e., having allies). I wouldn't want to fight Nemona on a battlefield, but one soldier by herself doesn't change the course of a nation, especially when she's only a potential soldier and would much rather have a friendly match.
But really, put together, I think the conclusion is that Bonds are what's going to change the course of Paldean history, because Bonds direct strength. Class VII sticking together as our own faction (barring inevitable plot twist betrayals that will almost certainly come from people more subtle than Nemona) is worth far and away more, power-wise, than even its strongest individual member declaring for one faction or another.
Second, while Nemona is rightfully terrifying, she's still one girl who's a sports enthusiast, not a soldier. She could be a weapon for a political faction, maybe even the strongest one, but still one among many. No one in Pokémon or Trails has the power to bend the setting to their will by themselves unless backed up by some real horseshit like a Box Legendary/Sept-Terrion, which is why the bad guys are always chasing those and the good guys are always defeating them with the power of friendship (i.e., having allies). I wouldn't want to fight Nemona on a battlefield, but one soldier by herself doesn't change the course of a nation, especially when she's only a potential soldier and would much rather have a friendly match.
But really, put together, I think the conclusion is that Bonds are what's going to change the course of Paldean history, because Bonds direct strength. Class VII sticking together as our own faction (barring inevitable plot twist betrayals that will almost certainly come from people more subtle than Nemona) is worth far and away more, power-wise, than even its strongest individual member declaring for one faction or another.
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- They/Them
It's also a country in Elibe, so personally I fully expect Ostia's older brother to rock up some day
counterpoint: the loans are to the government, so if that government were to unfortunately cease to exist those loans would go away too!
Toaster cult
I Am An Imaginary Living Body
- Location
- Tokyo
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No no go on I think your onto something here
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
In my cogitation on the conversations on this thread and in an offhand comment to Arvis on Discord I have discovered perhaps the most...I want to call it surprising, but it's not really surprising? Ah, I think I understand.
I have discovered the character equivalency I was most in denial about, upon re-reading the quote in KnownParadox's last post.
Who's the head of the civil government of Paldea or, indeed, any Pokémon League.
Who's got a family resemblance to...oh. Oh no.
I have discovered the character equivalency I was most in denial about, upon re-reading the quote in KnownParadox's last post.
Who's the one person in Trails of Cold Steel who can actually carry a political movement by name.
Who's the head of the civil government of Paldea or, indeed, any Pokémon League.
Who's got a family resemblance to...oh. Oh no.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Top Champion Geeta
La Primera de Sangre y Hierro
La Primera de Sangre y Hierro
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- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- He/Him
First off, Discord server link pls. Second, Geeta's in on Ostia's background?
edit: changing votes (but not really, just adding one)
[X] Tio
[X] Renne
[X] Plan: A Contest of SKLL
Anyone who wants to make some last minute changes, go ahead.
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Read Watts Naval Fortress as less Trails, more real-life Spain. Montjuic Fortress in Barcelona started as a lighthouse (as in the lighthouse in S&V), and was turned into a Fortress first by Catalan rebels trying to revolt against the Spanish kings, and expanded afterwards by the same Spanish kings to use as a citadel to oppress the city of Barcelona and stop them getting any ideas. Most notably when Montjuic bombards the city of Barcelona itself after it rises in a tax revolt against the King of Spain. And up until the Civil War, it is used as a millitary prison to drag and execute dissidents pulled from the city itself.
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Interlude: From the City to The World I
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- She/Her
Article: …while neither had deigned to comment to the press on the beginnings of their relationship, Clair Blackthorn and Jasmine Mikan were clearly infatuated with one another. From how their friends and family had described it, Jasmine was the one who had courted Clair over the past two years. This remains consistent with how the former had been referred to as the groom by both the officiant and many of the attendants of the wedding.
Many high-ranking members and officials of the Indigo League were in attendance, close friends and associates of both Gyms Leaders. Most curious was the presence of both Oak siblings and the absence of Red Isamu…
Article: …despite ostensibly being an occasion celebrating the marriage between two women, the ceremony itself remains steeped within the traditions and mores of the Blackthorn Clan. 2022 marks the 28th Anniversary of Lance Blackthorn's reign as the 4th Champion of the Indigo League. It also marks 30 years of Blackthorn dominance in the political scene of the two regions.
Lance Blackthorn had ascended to the Championship at age 19, then the youngest in the position's admittedly short history. A record that would be broken twice within two years as the 5th and 6th Champions, Blue Oak and Red Isamu, defeated Lance back-to-back. Despite both youths turning down the position, the embarrassment of losing to two pre-pubescents, combined with the chaos wrought by the initial Rocket Uprisings, many believed that Lance's government was not long for the world.
Yet it endured.
Now more than two decades after the 2nd Capo of Rocket, 1st Champion and Mahogany Gym Leader Pryce Yanagi, was arrested and executed for high treason. Champion Lance is enjoying his cousin's wedding, more secure in his, and by extension the Blackthorn clan's, power than ever before. Political Supremacy unseen since the day of the pre-Great War Indigo Imperial Dynasty. And with continued rumors of an affair with Elite Four member Yellow Tokiwa, it might not be an unfounded comparison…
Article: …At its peak before Kyogre's Awakening, Pacificlog had a population of nearly 40,000 souls, human and Pokemon. While it was the smallest in all of Hoenn, the town was a popular tourist spot due to being a settlement built entirely on a massive Corsola colony. Now ten years later, it is a town that barely reaches 1,000.
Despite efforts by May Birch and Champion Wallace Yunseok to bring back and reassure the Corsola that had made up the foundations of the settlement, many surviving Corsola had migrated to greener waters, primarily in the Orange and Sevii Islands. In some cases bringing on their backs the homes and in very rare cases the families of the humans that had lived in the town. Saved by the attachment the Pokemon held for the humans that coexisted with them. And they were indeed saved as, of the pre-Kyogre population, only 10,000 had managed to reach safety and later refuge in Slateport.
Despite all that, Pacificlog is far from the worst settlement in Hoenn as both Lavaridge and Fallarbor remain uninhabited…
Article: …Dawn Berlitz's visit to Pueltown was part of the Champion's Almian good will tour. She met with Ranger and government representatives about the strengthening of ties between the two regions. Sinnoh and Almia were already in a mutual economic trading block, this move would further tie the two nations of the Hisui Archipelago together.
After meeting with local authorities, the Champion attended a performance in the city by the Go-Rock Quads. She is later said to have given the band her certified 'Cute!' rating…
Article: …as the protests in front of the Paldean embassy enter their 2nd week, many Castellians call for the cessation of diplomatic relations with the Empire and the halting of construction of the "International Campus". This has been part of a rising undercurrent of hostility to Unova's alliance with Paldea and the latter's continued occupation of Marinedo and Northern Ferrum.
President Ghetsis reaffirms Unova's commitment to its foreign allies and to the Republic's international character with his continued support for the construction of Teal Academy. Champion Alder had declined to comment on this…
Article: …Kalos' largest industrial concern announces its cooperation with Lysandre Labs to develop a competitor to the recently released Porygon Phone made by the Paldean Mendoza Group. The two companies have had a long and storied rivalry. First in arms manufacturing, then orbal technology and now electronics. The announcement of a collaboration by the company with a major national competitor within the Kalos market shows the desperation to not be edged out of the world market…
Article: …Champion Geeta announces early today to the Imperial Diet and to the press the official completion of the Marinedo-Medali High Speed Railway line. Planning for the railway line had begun four years ago, and while the railway had been considered usable as early as last year, it was only within the recent few months that the last RMP stations needed to secure the line were established.
As La Primera, the first commoner-born Champion in Paldean History, declares that there will be further marvels, industrial and technological, for the region. Support for her administration continues to grow amongst Paldea's urban citizenry…
Article: …with the theft of Glen's Pokemon, this marks the fourth violent poaching incident involving trainers within this month alone. While no statements have been made beyond condolences and promises to bring the perpetrators to justice by Gym Leader Katie and the Cortondo Governing Council, many suspect that unreported incidents involving the smuggling and illegal poaching of wild and agricultural Pokemon are occurring.
Many continue to criticize Count Cortondo's decision to restrict the Provincial Army to their barracks. His official statement claimed that this was beyond his jurisdiction, and it was an issue for the Gym Leader and the RMP to address…
Article: …the battle had already been over by the time the rest of the Rimean Police and local Rangers had arrived. According to reports by the SSS and later confirmed by the Interpol Rimean office, International Criminal and Rocket Capo, Victor Surge had been sighted amongst the attendees of the underground auction.
With this and the presence of Indigo boogeyman 'Silver' in the city, local politicians have called for an increased crackdown on criminal organizations like Satellite, Chevauchée and Falange…
"Hey Ditzy, have the two of them come back yet?...No? Call me when they have, and also lock up for the week afterwards, and come to the dorms with them. We're going to Rime for a bit…Yes, Wiggly and Missy are coming. Alright, take care." Leaf slumps back onto her chair after the call. She spares one last look at the news report and sighs.
Now, while she regrets yelling at Silver, why didn't he tell her fucking Surge was in Rime?!
"Are you done preparing, Wiggly?" She asks her starter, receiving a cute little affirmative.
"Thanks, we'll leave after the students get back. I'll just write up instructions for Marianna throughout the week." Grabbing one of the pencils she leaves lying around, she starts writing. She keeps her off of thinking about it, busy to distract herself from—
The pencil snaps, her hand is shaking. She feels Missy embrace her, the coldness of her love for her trainer calming Leaf.
"I'm sorry…probably going to drink once I get back huh…" Missy makes a half-hearted attempt to discourage her. Ditzy and Wiggly will probably try a lot harder to stop her from relapsing.
Surge is probably already gone by now, but it won't hurt to check. And also to yell at Silver and the new kid in person for once. That might make her feel better. Maybe even get an apology gift for Jasmine for not coming to her wedding despite getting invited.
She tries not to look at the mirror, as she cleans up and grabs another pencil to write with. She might see a killer looking back.
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- She/Her
Made a small little Interlude for people to chew on for a while.
Will Close vote in Two Hours
Will Close vote in Two Hours
- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Oh God, Arceus and Aidios above.
- Location
- United Kingdom
I guess we know what the sub-plot will be for our first Field Exercise should we choose to get involved (if we even end up with a choice).