Post by Birdybot on Aug 20, 2013 11:38:21 GMT -5
General Rules
Dæmons
Pokémorphs
Careers
- No character limit. A lot of places have a limit on characters, but not us. Keep in mind, however, that you'll have to be able to keep track of them all and keep them active. If you can't handle another character, but want to make another profile, feel free to create one in the Adopt-a-Character section for someone else's benefit.
- No canons. On Enera the characters have to be original, not from any show or book or anything. Not just people like Ash and Misty in the Pokémon series, but anything else too. You can use actors or anime characters as face claims, and can even use fictional characters as inspiration, just don't go and copy some existing fictional character. Basing your character off a real life person is a definite no-no as well, because it's a teeny bit creepy if you don't know the person. Try not to base them off yourself, either. If you have trouble, just ask!
- You can't already have a Pokémon. All characters start off with no Pokémon and items (unless you've received stuff from a giveaway). You must head over to Pine Labs to receive a starter and items.
- No perfect characters. Simple as that, really. Nobody's perfect. I have flaws, you have flaws, we all do. It's fine if your character is incredibly smart, but maybe they're not very nice or are ugly or something. Just make sure that they're not completely perfect, and have plenty of flaws rather than just a tiny one.
- More than just a picture is needed for a character's appearance. Even if you did draw the picture yourself, it's not enough. A picture can't show all angles and details of a character, or how they move, and it's not going to be a perfect capture of your imagination.
- One account. I know some forums make you have one account per character, but here you only need the one account for all of your characters. You can list them in your signature if you struggle to manage them all, or create a character managing thread.
Dæmons
Enera is set in a world parallel to the Pokémon world, where every human has a counterpart known as their dæmon. This is taken right out of the His Dark Materials trilogy (Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass, and there was a movie of the first book called The Golden Compass), so if you've read them, you know what they are. If not, don't worry, I've written a brief summary of them and how they work on Enera here and you could also check out the Wikipedia page (link).
A person's dæmon takes the form of a Pokémon, and as such can understand the speech of Pokémon, making them useful translators. The dæmons of children can shape-shift into any Pokémon aside from legendaries, but at the age of around fifteen their dæmons settle on a fixed form, which represents some aspects of the human's personality. This is often triggered by an important decision or life event, but sometimes just happens at a random point in time. The dæmon will recognize when they have settled. They are almost always the opposite gender to their human.
A person's dæmon has a mind of their own, but is often similar to their human. The two share an invisible (but physically real) bond which means they will love each other, and limits the distance they can move apart. They can only usually move about 10m at most. At the limits, they both feel uncomfortable. There is nothing stopping them getting further apart, but it causes physical and mental pain for both parties along with emotional trauma. Touching another person's dæmon is considered the greatest breach of rights, as touching a person's dæmon is a very intimate thing and causes the person touching the dæmon, the dæmon and the person connected to the dæmon to feel weak and the dæmon and human to feel violated. Dæmons can interact freely with one another just as humans can. Dæmons are born at the same time as their humans, are named by their parents' dæmons, struggle to remain awake if their human is asleep and vice versa, and die at the same time as their humans.
Pokémorphs
- No legendary Pokémorphs. We do allow Pokémorphs here, but no legendary ones. Legendary Pokémorphs would have too strong abilities to be considered fair on this site. It just wouldn't be too good to have a bunch of super-freaks roaming about there.
- Limit Pokémorph abilities. I don't want anyone flying around randomly or completely controlling fire or possessing other characters or anything like that. Pokémorphs aren't so common here, and they're not just people with special powers. They've got things wrong with them, and the powers are never too major. For example, a Torchic Pokémorph might be able to make small amounts of heat and little flames, and a Swellow 'morph might be able to fly, but at low altitudes because of air pressure and oxygen levels, and not for very long because of the energy used. Their humanity limits their powers since a human body is very different to that of a Pokémon.
- Humans first. EVERYONE seems to want a Pokémorph character. To prevent Enera becoming overrun with something that's supposed to be rare, you must have at least one human character before creating a Pokémorph, and you need to have one human for every Pokémorph you make.
- Appearance. Pokémorphs look mostly human. They may be genetically engineered to have some features of a Pokémon to enhance them in some way, such as ears, nose and eyes for better senses, a tail for balance, wings and so on. It is far from perfected, so there will always be flaws and mutations, such as patches or fur or scales and physical abnormalities in bone and muscle structure. If the Pokémorph was created in a lab, they will mostly be healthy but look odd if they were created more recently, but when the process was first started around 60 years ago, there were far more complications.
- Three kinds. There are three different types of Pokémorph on Enera, and your character can be be any of them. They are listed below;
- Natural. If a shifter and a human or two shifters have a child, it will be either a human, a shifter, or a Pokémorph. Pokémorphs are more common for shifter-human couples than shifter-shifter couples. Shifters are a complete secret, even to their own family, so your character won't know about them. These 'morphs come about because they would be shifters, but are permanently stuck between human and Pokémon forms. They have been around for a long time, but for some reason are becoming more common for a reason the shifters are unsure about. They can also be born to Pokémorph parents, be they natural 'morphs or otherwise. Their genes are much neater so they are not as susceptible to genetic diseases as lab-made 'morphs, and they often have fewer mutations. They grow up with a normal family and so can live normal lives, save some bullying, so almost always show no signs of emotional trauma, unlike lab-make 'morphs. There is no generally accepted view on their existence since no-one knows about shifters, so there are many theories about spirits and all sorts. Their dæmons occasionally show some traits of the Pokémon they share the DNA of, but can settle as normal and are otherwise unaffected.
- Unnatural. These are people born as 'morphs where they should have naturally be born as humans. This can be the result of genetic engineering before birth, but in rare cases can be due to extreme radiation or other random forces. Their genes are not so neatly arranged as natural 'morphs, making them more at risk of diseases from mutation, such as cancer, especially if the cause of their 'morphism was radiation exposure. They are only lab-made about half the time, and if they are they normally go onto live normal lives outside the lab after their birth, occasionally going in for tests and check-ups. The sorts of labs that run experiments are usually licensed, humane ones. Their dæmons may be affected in appearance, but can still settle.
- Forced. Forced Pokémorphs are the most horrific kind, mostly bearing severe physical and emotional trauma. The process is illegal in Enera, but there are some who still practice it in secret, creating Pokémorphs for an unknown purpose. They will acquire humans, usually children who still have plenty of room to grow, and alter their DNA in a painful process to turn them into a 'morph. Many of the kidnapped are never seen again, many grow ill or die from rejecting the new DNA or less-than-perfect techniques and abilities of these illegal 'scientists'. Some 'morphs they release back onto the streets, others are rescued as the government manage to track down those running the experiments. It is rare for any to escape (seriously, they're going to take care to make them secure, far too many characters are making miraculous escapes). Most forced Pokémorphs around the region now are free thanks to being rescued. Their dæmons are sometimes unable to settle.
Careers
- Be creative. There are three main categories your character should place themselves under, but you can be imaginative! They can be any combination of those three and compete in both, say, contests and Pokémon shows. You can also have an extra career in addition to these, such as a doctor, researcher, traveling fuzzy hat salesman, anything you want.
- Trainer. The most popular and well-known choice. Trainers in Enera help their Pokémon reach their full potential. They form close relationships with them and work alongside them to defend towns, cities and villages throughout Enera from wild Pokémon. They collect badges, the big goal being defeating the Elite Four and League Champion to earn the title 'champion', something few of them manage. Many end up training Pokémon for physical work, or as guards against wild Pokémon attacks. Those with more badges are better respected and find it easier to get work even after they stop traveling.
- Coordinator. It isn't just beauty these people try to bring out in their Pokémon. Their goal is to find their Pokémon's talents, hone them, and impress others with them. They entertain and inspire others, lifting spirits. They can still battle, too, the stylized moves helping outwit opponents. They earn ribbons by competing in Contests, and can enter the Grand Festival to be declared the 'top coordinator'. Many coordinators who later settle down end up in a creative profession, especially the more well known ones.
- Breeders. They seek to breed and raise Pokémon to be as healthy as they can. They compete in Pokémon shows to earn medals, and can enter the Ultimate Show to become the 'master breeder'. Not so much geared towards the battling side, they look after Pokémon and try to be as nice as possible. Raising loyal and good-natured, healthy Pokémon is important to them. They participate in breeding programs to restore numbers of Pokémon in the wild if a certain species becomes threatened, and can even sell eggs and Pokémon to someone they think is worthy of raising it. Some supply starter Pokémon to laboratories.