Post-Nuclear Pokémon? A Setting Idea.

Started by Tacogeddon May 13th, 2010 12:46 PM
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Age 30
Maryland, USA.
Seen August 18th, 2010
Posted June 25th, 2010
159 posts
14.1 Years
OH GOD I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON I BLEW UP POKÉMON.

Anyway, a long time ago, maybe about a year or so, I made a thread on worldbuilding in which I mentioned off-hand that Pokemon in a nuclear wasteland might make for some pretty interesting stuff, and at least a couple people thought it was cool. So what did I do?

I totally forgot about it for awhile instead of building on it like somebody with an attention span would do. :P

Eventually I started putting down little ideas here and there, and it became a pretty cool blend of a lot of stuff. It's a little bit Cold War, a concrete wall stands between Johto and Kanto, not to mention paranoid billboard propaganda (Johto! Menace of the West!), a little bit Mad Max and Fallout, the land is perpetually burnt and dry, with little touches of old fashioned advertising for the sake of dark irony. Certain features started to stick around more, like the fact that you can walk to Cinnabar Island because sea levels have dropped, the Cycling Road was never built, and is instead a high density highway with actual cars, and Silph Co. decided to sell comically expensive blast protection kits for people's houses. Stay SilphSafe!

So the general gist is that it's an alternate timeline that took a turn for the more industrial and aggressive, and slapped all the cute out of Pokémon! In a funny way, a mean funny way...you know.

Is this the future?!

MAP UPDATE! Looks like a survivor went and scribbled all over my map, are they just sightseeing, or are they looking for something? Some new places here, The Kiln is an ashen stretch of land blackened somewhat from Viridian Forest burning. Saffron Flats is a relatively calm and of course, flat area that centers around the ruins of Saffron City. Saffron City is something of a pilgrimage location, crossing the desiccated land to get there is quite a challenge, but there's a decently sized society of people holed up there. Up north is Rareworth Family Candy Company, the pre-war world's favorite candy company, and a terrible pun. Replacing the Indigo Plateau is the Indigo Hills ICBM Base, which of course launched missiles during the war. The base is home to "The Remnant" now, a group of hostile survivors. Cinnabar Point is of course Cinnabar Island, now a peninsula like I mentioned before. The SCZ, which stands for "Seafoam Contamination Zone" was already a mess before the war, it was used as a convenient out-of-the-way waste dump.

The Dustbowl is...a dustbowl, probably the least inhabited area of Kanto, Cerulean City has actually vanished under the dust storms. Millyan City is the remains of Vermilion, also home to a small society, though the name has degenrated over time. Lastly, out east is Fort Surge, apparently named for a soldier who went missing when undercover in Johto before the war, despite its solid construction, no survivors live in it, they consider it bad luck, or haunted.




Honestly though, this is more of a worldbuilding thing than a set up for a fanfic, I like making settings, but not so much with stories. If people like the idea enough, maybe they could write in it, like a collaborative setting dealie. I'd love comments and ideas though! There's all sorts of little notes I've jotted down that I haven't mentioned yet, a crashed Holon Jetliner blocking off Route 4, a creature creeping about the remains of the Cinnabar Labs, all sorts of nightmare fuelish stuff.
Female
In my dreams.
Seen December 13th, 2016
Posted October 30th, 2011
444 posts
14.3 Years
It sounds really interesting! I've never seen a Pokemon fanfic take place after nuclear fallout. Do trainers still exist if your world, because I think they'd have a pretty hard time going anywhere. Not to mention how scared parents and normal people would be. Also, how did the whole thing become a nuclear wasteland? Was there a war taking place between Kanto or Johto, or is this an alternate Japan or something?
"After being saddled with two ten-year-old brats and being sent out on her long overdue Pokemon journey, she can’t help but wonder… is it worth it?"
Age 30
Maryland, USA.
Seen August 18th, 2010
Posted June 25th, 2010
159 posts
14.1 Years
Do trainers still exist if your world, because I think they'd have a pretty hard time going anywhere.
Sort of, they might be more like tamers in the sense that a lot of Pokemon are more feral and distrusting of people now, for obvious reasons. Not to mention, nobody makes Pokeballs anymore, they might not remember how!

Also, how did the whole thing become a nuclear wasteland? Was there a war taking place between Kanto or Johto, or is this an alternate Japan or something?
War between Kanto and Johto was the idea, hence the Berlin Wall sort of structure between them, who launched first and why is sort of fuzzy history now. I'm not too certain on how everywhere else is faring, taking a boat anywhere is dangerous anyway, mutated water Pokemon!

Miz en Scène

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Male
The Wired
Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted August 30th, 2016
1,645 posts
14.7 Years
I think its a generally okay idea, but I have one nitpick in the form of why the sea level dropped? Nuclear winters don't really have enough energy to blot out the sun and create an ice age which might explain glacial formation and sea level drop. Maybe that part could be explained in more detail?

I wish you luck.
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Age 30
Maryland, USA.
Seen August 18th, 2010
Posted June 25th, 2010
159 posts
14.1 Years
I think its a generally okay idea, but I have one nitpick in the form of why the sea level dropped? Nuclear winters don't really have enough energy to blot out the sun and create an ice age which might explain glacial formation and sea level drop. Maybe that part could be explained in more detail?

I wish you luck.
Yeah I know, that's sort of an intentional science fail on my part, and where the Fallout/Mad Max inspiration comes in. I guess you could say I'm running on Pulp Fiction SCIENCE! and not science. After all, radiation doesn't mutate things, it just gives you a long, painful death, but what fun is that in fiction right? :P
Age 41
Male
Breaking the sound barrier
Seen April 18th, 2011
Posted September 20th, 2010
180 posts
18.8 Years
I’ve played the Fallout games since the very beginning, so yes, I’m definitely familiar with this kind of post-apocalyptic setting. It’s a very good one, but you probably should consider the following:

Past – What exactly happened that would result in this setting? Since you’re looking at a dramatic, world-changing scenario, the events that led up to it are pretty important and will undoubtedly have some bearing on how this changed the world to what it is present day. Consider the motives, reasons, and consequences of actions that lead to the devastating effects that left the world like this.

Present – Now that you have the events that lead up to this, what is the story about and how does this setting affect it? What are some of the things you can accomplish with a setting like this that couldn’t be done or would seem out of place with any other setting? And how can you use this to your advantage to cover the kinds of events, situations, and conflicts that you want to have happen in your story?

In essence, the plot should really revolve around the setting. I’ve never seen Mad Max, but I know Fallout greatly depends on its setting. In Fallout, the survival of people of all races is greatly in the balance. Law enforcement has become very difficult, government is almost non-existent or has become very dictator-like in most scenarios, harsh racial tensions exist, and the process of salvaging pre-war technology and resources has become extremely crucial. In these settings, food, medical supplies, and weapons can be worth more than gold, and people would be willing to die to get their hands on them. Yes, you’ll have similar factions like the Brotherhood of Steel that is trying to revive society through technology and unity, while other factions, such as the Enclave and the Master’s Army, are simply trying to exploit the situation to their own advantage, using power and propaganda to accomplish it. The question is, what kind of entities are you going to bring forward in your story, how might they affect the new society in this ravaged setting, and what kind of protagonist/antagonist conflicts and situations are you going to bring forward in this?

Again, the setting is a good idea and is very rarely done with Pokémon. However, there’s a lot more on the plate than just making a once-thriving world into a beaten, nuclear wasteland.