[Pokémon World] Azurine

Sounds fun, I can't wait to see a map. It sounds like geography will be very interesting here.

This is really interesting! More like a city-state style than anything, yeah? I was playing with a concept of united city-states for a while before Paqori, so I'm eager to see how it develops in your hands!

The Azurine Region is divided into two parts by a long, navigable river. Its mouth, where the water flows into a wide bay before reaching the ocean to the east, is overlooked by none other than Azurine City, the only settlement that extends on both sides of the river.
The northern part is mainly mountainous and therefore colder. Two valleys separate the major mountain ranges of the region, and some passes offer an alternative route to the river in order to trade and to move around the territory.
From here, in fact, come building materials, minerals, and wood - gathered from the many firs and pines which grow on the slopes of the mountains. Furthermore, an artificial lake has also been created in this area, in order to produce electricity and store water in case of necessity.
The southern part is much less intimidating, being mostly constituted by a wide and open plateau; the usual temperature is also higher than in the other part of the region. Because of this, fields and farms are very abundant in this territory: however, heading west the climate becomes slightly more dry, as the ocean can't influence it anymore, and fields become less frequent to see.
Overall, the climate of the region is temperate, and is mitigated by the ocean especially in the eastern part of the territory.


Note that these are just some commonly used names for these towns, like with the region itself.
1. The Western Bridge
Built near one of the few bridges on the river, this town acts as a loading and unloading station for many boats, but more importantly as a cozy place for travellers to get some rest. In fact, a famous landmark in town is the Merchant's Inn, one of the first to be built here.
2. The Furnace
The dry climate and the abundance of clay made this a great place to produce bricks, which are frequently used in the other settlements of the region: Azurine's city walls - alongside many popular houses - are made with this material. Furthermore, many clay vessels and pots come from here.
3. The League
The Pokémon League of the Azurine Region is built not too far from the pinnacle of a mountain - here, trainers can appreciate a great view on the artificial lake, the fields on the southern part of the region, Azurine City, and the town underneath, built where two rivers converge.
This town once served as one of Azurine City's outposts, before it would further extend its influence. Now it hosts some facilities for trainers that are approaching the League or that are exploring the region.
4. New Lake Town
A look at the houses or at the hotels built along the lake's coast line will easily suggest that this is a recently founded town. However, this valley has been populated for much longer.
With the creation of the artificial lake, many houses and small villages were submerged, and the inhabitants were forced to move to a different place. Sometimes, what remains of them still reappears in the middle of the lake before being submerged again.
In spite of all this, the new town that has been built is now a well known tourist destination, and the power plant still gives the inhabitants a consistent source of income.
5. The Caves
This town is built at a higher altitude than most of the other neighbouring settlements and is quite difficult to reach. However, this mining town is where most of the minerals used in this region come from, and where most of the stone used in Azurine City's buildings is extracted.
6. The Granary
This settlement gets its name from the various storage rooms in town, built to keep safe all of the cereals that are produced in the neighbouring fields. Of course, this acted also as a meeting point for the farmers living in the area.
While in this plateau isolated houses, each one with its fields, are more common than big towns, this settlement acts as an exception.
7. Cascade Village
Azurine City's first outpost was the Cascade Village, which gets the name from the nearby waterfalls. At first, a sighting tower and some houses were built in this place, in order to control the mountains that overlook Azurine. Now, this village acts as another tourist destination in this region, and is a great starting point to visit the waterfalls.
8. The New Docks
Thanks to its position, Azurine City was practically unescapable for all the merchants trading with regions that were west of it. The safest way there was, in fact, the river that Azurine was overlooking.
Frequently in the past, the city inhabitants wanted merchants to pay them a tax in order to pass, and of course not everyone agreed. This is why some foreign merchants decided to build a new harbour on the coast north of Azurine. From there, the merch had to be transported on land for a while, before it could continue its journey on the river.
One interesting fact about the town is that, when Azurine started to extend its influence to the entire region, the inhabitants of this settlement agreed to form an alliance with their former enemies, without any form of prolonged conflict - and at the same time, Azurine's governors lowered the price of their tax.

This sounds like my kinda region, it has my three favourite 'biomes' in mountains, grasslands and rivers. Can't wait to see more!

Being a Pokémon region, it's needless to say that Azurine is populated by humans and Pokémon. Simple, right?

The Azurine Region has always been home to people from many different places, but in the past years people started to come here from even further regions, and for many reasons: for example, trying to set up a business, work in one of the City's facilities, find some peacefulness in the smaller towns of the region, or just challenging the Pokémon League.

The Pokémon distribution in this region almost reflects what is happening with humans: in fact, many species from different regions can be found here. Some Pokémon are native of this area, others migrate here from time to time, other have been imported, and the few that still aren't present can still be obtained by trading with other Pokémon Trainers; this gives an even bigger incentive for young, foreign trainers to take on this League.

It's also needless to say that Pokémon are not just animals: they can execute many kinds of Moves, they can count on their Abilities, they seem to be able to understand humans and sometimes communicate with them, and even the biggest Pokémon can fit into a small Pokéball by transforming into some sort of glowing energy.
In the past, people accepted this as "normal" and didn't seem to ask themselves why all of this is possible, but the creation of Porygon by Silph Co. (among other similar facts) has brought the attention onto this topic. Now, in Azurine, some people are actually conducing research on Pokémon to answer these questions.
Some say that Pokémon are constituted by just some kind of Energy, which manifests itself when the Pokémon comes out of the Pokéball, others say that a Pokémon is an animal infused with energy, others say that "they're just Pokémon" and that there shouldn't be any research conducted on these critters.

To make things more complicated, some rumors that are spreading in this area talk about people with some special mental abilities, like having the power of telekinesis or talking with Pokémon.* This has never happened in the Azurine Region, though.

As simple as it might sound, even a world with just humans and Pokémon is becoming more complicated than their inhabitants thought... But after all, being a world created by Arceus, everything could happen here.

* : this is a reference to two characters from the official games, Sabrina and Riley.

The Azurine Region is home to many people and Pokémon from different territories, which brought their own cultures and lifestyles here; this way they helped this Region's culture to evolve and progress rather than overriding it.
In Azurine City this is especially true, also because of the many young Pokémon trainers who keep arriving here.

People from the Azurine Region hold dear their unity. Each settlement in this region is seen as a part of a big mechanism, which creates wealth and heightens the quality of life - but also creates friendship, confrontation, and fraternity between the inhabitants. People know well that, if every town was isolated, they would be living completely different lives, not to mention that some settlements, like the Azurine Furnace, wouldn't even exist.

Another important valor for this region's culture is freedom and respect. People have freedom of choice and of opinion, and this also reflects on things like how they choose to appear in public and how they talk.
This freedom, though, shall be granted to everyone: even a well known proverb says "Your freedom ends where someone else's freedom begins". Therefore, publicly offending others, ruining someone else's property or cause harm to anyone else are actions that are never taken lightly here (and every foreign Pokémon trainer has to learn this quickly).
Reciprocal respect also means that confronting each other's opinion with a discussion (as heated up as it might be) is always preferred to physical fights.

This tendency has an interesting consequence: arts are rather common in Azurine, as they're considered a much powerful way to express emotions than a simple talk. Many forms of art are used, from sculptures to photographs and to contemporary music, and many are the subjects that are represented or the themes that are brought up.

All in all, the reason why people seem to have become more coherent, respectful, and open minded, and why the aforementioned valors have become so important in the culture of the Azurine Region, lies in the history of this territory...

Evidence shows that people have been living in the Azurine Region for thousands of years: the early inhabitants of this territory seem to have come from the inland, south or west of Azurine - that is a large, hilly area that even now is relatively unpopulated, with the exception of some rivers' shores. They raised most of their settlements in the southern area of the region and near the river, where it was easier to cultivate crops; but their presence has also been documented in the mountains, in the northern part of the Azurine Region.

Relatively soon, another population made its appearance in this region: some merchants and craftsmen from a far, large island started to trade goods with the inhabitants of this region (and other nearby places, as well). They started to gain more autonomy from their homeland and, eventually, they founded some colonies and harbours here: Azurine City was just one of them.
Already foreseeing the positive aspects that their unity could have brought, the two populations eventually merged into one pacifically.


Azurine City, thanks to its position, was becoming a wealthier and more influent trading city: most of the local products were made in the neighbouring towns and then carried here in order to be sold. As time passed, more and more products from different places were brought here as well, and if that wasn't enough, the city became richer also because of the tax that merchants had to pay to pass through it and follow the river.
A castle was also built opposite to the city centre, in order to defend and control the city.

Alongside its wealth, the population of the region started to rise, too: it is roughly in this period of time that people from other settlements started to move to Azurine, hoping to find better life conditions. Not everyone's wishes, though, came true.
Only some of these people could, in fact, find a well paid job or set up a successful business, while the others lived in rather bad conditions.

With Azurine's importance rising, (more precisely about eight centuries in the past), some other towns in the Region were founded - for example, the "Cascade Village", which consisted of a sighting tower and few houses built nearby. Other settlements, instead, were obtained in this period from the fusion of various estates: the Azurine Granary started to get its shape only now, when the inhabitants of the area designed a place to meet and make decisions together.
Of course, all of these towns were already under the influence of Azurine: its presence was not essential to survive, but was fundamental to raise the quality of life. On the other hand, the citizens of Azurine respected the inhabitants of the other settlements and always helped them when needed.

When a city becomes so influent, it is bound to have some enemies. In fact, the New Docks of Azurine were founded by a group of merchants from a different trading city. This way, they wanted to create a new commerce route which, despite being more difficult to use, avoided Azurine and its taxes.
Azurine City's inhabitants, however, were able to negotiate pacifically with these merchants and collaborate with them, effectively rendering redundant the presence of this new settlement. Some people, though, think that this lack of conflicts was abnormal and unexplainable: there are still some fantastic stories based on these facts.

The castle in Azurine can tell the history of the entire town by itself: once a defensive building, it was expanded and restaurated later, becoming a large villa - the home of the governors of Azurine. Now it acts as a tourist attraction and as a Pokémon Gym.


Compared to other places in the world, industry became important in Azurine only in the last decades: in fact, now there are various high-tech industries and laboratories in this area. Other industries, however, are much harder to find.
Before the rise in industrial activities, Azurine had begun to lose progressively some of its influence, in favor of other cities with more industrial facilities.

As trading between faraway regions is becoming easier, and therefore the commerce competition seems to have intensified, Azurine City (like many other settlements) is now more "specialized" in just a handful of activities. In the case of Azurine, these are high-tech industry, research and tourism… and of course, the Pokémon League.

Inspired by many old traditions of this territory and by the diversity of available Pokémon, Azurine, like other places, has founded a strong Pokémon League. Recently, the League has been revamped and many new services have been activated for the trainers who challenge it. These trainers can either be from this Region or from other places and, as usual, receive a Starter Pokémon and a Trainer card at the beginning of their adventure. Also, like in the other regions, the League they will have to beat is composed of the Champion, the Elite 4 and the Gym Leaders.
The League is rather famous around the world, and the many trainers who gather here certainly have a positive impact on the culture of this Region. Furthermore, alongside the trainers, there are also the many businessmen and families coming to Azurine to live, work or just in occasion of their holidays.
...And that explains how rollerskates* have been introduced in Azurine City.

* : XY reference, of course!

"Your freedom ends where someone else's freedom begins". I was confused about this for a while but I think I got it- it's like, you have complete freedom and autonomy involving yourself, but you do not get to use that to do things to other people? Is that right?

Also great job on this! I love reading this region. :D

Aquacorde said:

"Your freedom ends where someone else's freedom begins". I was confused about this for a while but I think I got it- it's like, you have complete freedom and autonomy involving yourself, but you do not get to use that to do things to other people? Is that right?

Also great job on this! I love reading this region. :D

Click to expand...

First, thank you very much! :3
And yes, you're right about that.

To expand on this subject... although I'm probably just going to bore people

Interesting. So basically, most negative speech is censored? That makes for an interesting way of dealing with negative emotions...

Aquacorde said:

Interesting. So basically, most negative speech is censored? That makes for an interesting way of dealing with negative emotions...

Click to expand...

Buildings in this Region can be quite different, depending on their location: of course, most of the houses of Azurine City will look different than those of the Azurine Caves, which are built on the mountain's side. The presence of different building materials only contributes to this diversity: stone and wood can be gathered in the mountains, while bricks and glass are made in the southern part of the region.

Most of the buildings that are in the northern part of Azurine are made of local stone. More expensive homes were usually made with bigger stone blocks, while others were just made of cobblestone and wood.
Usually, these buildings are rather small and tall: they host a craftsman's shop on the first floor, and then one or more apartments upstairs: some of them still have an external gallery made of wood that grants the access to each floor and to some rooms.
Especially around the Artificial Lake, many modern buildings can be found: these are no longer made of just stone, as other materials like bricks are more commonly used now.
It is very common to grow flowers on the balconies, or underneath windows - some houses are just full of them!

In the southern part of the Region, buildings rarely have more than two or three floors and are generally more spread out than in the mountains, thanks to the more forgiving terrain. Almost all of the structures are made of bricks that are created around here.
There are many large houses scattered around the fields, where each family lived. The oldest ones were rather simple buildings with just a handful of rooms, which were easy to recognize because of the roof made of hay. Only a couple of these buildings are still intact.
With the advent of commerce and trading, the richest land owners could afford bigger and more elegant buildings (Villas), with more rooms and, in some cases, a garden. Around there, many smaller houses can be found: these were the homes where the people working for the land owner lived. The town known as Granary of Azurine was , in fact, born when some of these land owners decided a common place to meet and built some large warehouses for all of this area's farmers.

The diversity in the architecture, however, is very evident in Azurine City. Many kinds of buildings can be found rather close to each other, thanks to the long history of this settlement.
In the historical centre of the city we can find many tall buildings, usually made with bricks, where most of the inhabitants lived. These were divided into many floors and many flats, in order to provide a home for a rather large number of people. There are also many buildings made of stone blocks in this area, which are either of public use - for example, the Temple and the old Town Hall - or were the home of quite rich and influent people.
The Historical centre was protected by the city Walls, of which only some parts have remained intact. The city was still growing, and the inhabitants wanted to secure their hometown from any attempt to conquer it.
At this time, there was only one bridge on the river, and there were only a couple of houses on the other shore or near the bay's coastline - and of course, what would become the city Castle.

Later on, many new palaces were built on the other side of the river, as commissioned by many important citiziens of Azurine, and the city was expanded. Because of this, on this side of the river (where the castle is) you will mostly find elegant palaces and modern buildings. The train station, for example, is in this area. This period of time was rather peaceful, and the construction of these palaces is another hint at this.

In the last years, many modern buildings have been built near the bay. On the nothern side we can find many hotels and modern houses or flats, which were built for two main reasons: the increase in the population of Azurine and in the tourists visiting the region. These buildings, which house many flats each, are rather colorful, with rather big terraces... but it's also true that the flats are rather small inside.
Opposite of this area, in the southern side of the bay, there are many industrial buildings and factories.

The most recent buildings in the city, however, have to be in proximity of the castle: for example, the new housing for visiting Pokémon Trainers, and the suspended bridge that connects the historical centre with the Estuary Park - it is certain that trainers who come now have many new attractions in town they can enjoy.

Although its inhabitants usually don't admit it, this Region offers everything that is needed to survive: building materials, crops, wildlife, water, minerals, and a nice climate. However, Azurine would have never been this wealthy without craftsmanship and trading.

In the past, most of the products that Azurine exported were important goods like foods, minerals and woods, but also things like vases, jewelry, and other products made by the local craftsmen. All of these had the fame of being high quality things, usually with a rather high price tag as well.

Right now, Azurine doesn't export these products as much, because they can be found at a lower price elsewhere: therefore, the sources of income of the region are very different.
Most of the necessary goods that this region used to export, like wheat, are now exchanged between the various settlements of Azurine: for example, the farmers who live in the Granary of Azurine prepare bread that they sell to neighbouring cities, like the Caves of Azurine - and, with their income, they can afford the bricks and vases that are manufactured in the Furnace of Azurine.

The sources of income of Azurine (from outside the region) now include the export of high-tech products, scientific research, the presence of banks and other similar institutes, and finally tourism. This income can be used, for example, to finance new infrastructures in the city, but also to offer various services to the Pokémon Trainers who come here.

Barter, the original way of trading goods, was soon abandoned in this region, with the introduction of coins. These had a rather high value compared to other region's own coins (at least in the past) and, while they are still used right now, they have received many changes.
Some of these include, of course, the introduction of paper money and, more recently, the credit card. This is a device that more and more people in this Region (especially in Azurine City) are getting, and that will probably be given out to visiting Trainers as well.

So here's my (mediocre) hand drawn map of the Region... bear with me pls

Click to expand...

You do realize that map is, like, 3? better than what I have? :p

Seriously, it's good to see people working in the more artistic approach for presenting their regions. Wish I could do more of that.

I like how all those places have mostly simplistic names, that feel like they would have been specifically prescriptive when they would have founded, even if you describe the opposite. Wonder what were Azurine people thinking of when they named eg.: The Granary, besides the obvious.

I want to hear (well, read) more of this region, in particular regarding its culture. I hope you are doing all right with the development!

The Azurine Region, like most of the Pokémon World, has a rather strong religious tradition, which is also remarked by the aforementioned Temple in Azurine City (and the many shrines around the region). Like in other areas, people pray and confide in many Legendary Pokémon: most of these creatures' existance has been already confirmed in one way or another, and some of these spontaneously show up to help humans.
Thanks to the frequent trading and to the influence of other cultures, the amount of Legendary Pokémon that the inhabitants know is much higher now than in the past, and the roles of each creature have been defined more clearly... however, the biggest influences on Azurine's religion and cosmology still come from the Sinnoh Region.

At least here in Azurine, people consider Arceus the first Legendary Pokémon to exist, and the one who created the universe from nothing. An interesting detail is that a minority of people consider Arceus' birth to be the result of the creation of a new dimension from a pre existing one.
Arceus is said to have given birth to Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, but also to Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde. The former control the time, the space (matter) and the antimatter, while the latter seem to create and destroy the life energy of creatures - which some people identify in the Aura of Pokémon and humans.
Of course, this is an example of the influence on Azurine's culture of the culture from the Kalos region.

Most of the other Legendary Pokémon are considered more important in other regions than in Azurine, but they still have an important role: it's the case of Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza, who made the Earth less hostile by creating the atmosphere, the land and the oceans; the Legendary Birds and Beasts and the Kami trio, all of which seem to control weather; Mew, who according to some people is the ancestor of every other Pokémon and of humans; and Solgaleo and Lunala - not much is known about them in the Azurine Region, though.
There are also Legendary Pokémon who seem to influence the emotions and the ideas of humans and Pokémon, like the Lake Guardians (which are quite important in this region); Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem; and the protector of the Azurine Region, Manaphy.


Manaphy is a common presence in this Region. This Mythical Pokémon is considered a bringer of peace and of confrontation, thanks to its peculiar move, Heart Swap.
In the past, many conflicts were stopped or just avoided thanks to the intervention of Manaphy - which helped the inhabitants of the Azurine Region to remain free but, more importantly, made them more open to other people's ideas and more inclined to find common points between people and cultures. Heart Swap also allowed people to communicate more easily and to know more about each other.

In certain periods of the year, the bay in front of Azurine City becomes the home of many Phione - and, sometimes, Manaphy appears too. It is still unknown if only one Manaphy exists in the world, because it has never happened that two or more Manaphy would appear in the bay and because this Pokémon can travel quite long distances easily.
The Temple in Azurine City is obviously dedicated to Manaphy, and is a place where people go for many reasons: for example, showing their gratitude to the Pokémon or asking for its help with a prayer.
Due to the possibility of Manaphy appearing and the particular way it uses to offer its help (Heart Swap), the role of the Priest is not considered that important and there are no official priests of the temple of Manaphy. A similar situation happens in the other parts of the region as well.


The Lake Guardians are also considered important Pokémon, not only because of Sinnoh's influence but also thanks to some people who state to have seen them in the Azurine Region. This is not new, actually - Uxie, Azelf and Mesprit's presence has been confirmed also in the Unova Region, which is very far from Sinnoh.
Like Manaphy, the Lake Guardians are also considered to help humans by giving them some more qualities: knowledge, emotions and valor.
There are some smaller shrines dedicated to these Pokémon, mainly in the northern part of the Region, which remark the importance that these Pokémon have for the inhabitants of Azurine.


There are other influences that the religion and the culture of Sinnoh have brought to Azurine, and these reside mostly in myths and folk stories - some of which can be found in the Canalave Library in the present.
For example, people in Azurine have the tendency to use weapons very rarely in a fight, and rely on their Pokémon, something that is likely related to the Veilstone Myth. Furthermore, many inhabitants of Azurine try to create a strong and durable bond with their Pokémon, as seen in the "Sinnoh Region's Mythology".
Especially outside of Azurine City, some people use to state that, in the past at least, weddings between Pokémon and humans were possible: to this day, these remain stories*...

* = the whole paragraph is a reference to my first Pokémon game, Platinum!

Azurine's fauna, obviously, is made up by many kinds of Pokémon. In fact, almost every Pokémon known to humans can be found here, either in the wilderness or under the ownership of another trainer.
Like in other regions, Pokémon are still kept as pets, friends or assistants, even if they aren't truly integrated in the humans' society.

Excluding Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, though, the rarest creatures to find here are definitely Alolan Pokémon. Before trainers, tourists and other travellers starter to bring to Azurine their Alolan companion, these creatures were unheard of by this region's inhabitants - and this explains why most of these Pokémon aren't found in the tall grass, like many others. Only in the last months some rumors about wild Alolan Pokémon started to spread around the region.
Most of the other Pokémon (including those from the faraway region of Unova) are much more common than Alolan Pokémon, but are typical of one area: for example, many Fire-types can be found only in the South-west of Azurine. Something similar happens with Flying-type Pokémon: creatures such as Pidgey and Pidove are more common in the southern part of the region while Starly and Rufflet seem to replace them in the mountains.
Pokémon can be found in Azurine City as well, not only in the nearby routes. The city is home of many humans and, therefore, of their Pokémon, but also hosts many wild Pokémon in the gardens, the bay or the river. As these examples suggest, the variety of environments found in Azurine and the contacts with other regions give this region a great variety of Pokèmon, too!

Now, even in official games it is still unknown whether normal animals exist alongisde Pokémon or not - but, even if they would exist in Azurine, these animals wouldn't be relevant enough in the region - and their very existence in the Pokémon world (especially considering its mythology) wouldn't have much sense.
If normal animals wouldn't exist, though, human diseases wouldn't work like in the real world, as they're mostly caused by virus and bacteria. Maybe these diseases wouldn't exist at all in the Pokémon world, or maybe there would be different kinds of illness caused by other things, like the move Toxic...


Author's notes (edited):
The three months are about to end, and I still haven't completed the World building challenge (also, my PC is not working)... But, even then, thanks to everyone who read this and gave some feedback! Eventually I'll keep updating this topic in the future, until every aspect of this world is expanded upon.
Besides that: since other users have mentioned the reason why they have created their own world, I'll join in - I actually plan to create a Pokémon Fangame set in the Azurine Region!