The Forlasan Atlas ~ The Month of Frost

[Jackie Cat]

You have been summoned to a world named Forlas by an entity resembling a cloud of light.

You met them – and each other – in a strange place, a crossroads of many paths lit by alien stars in a vast expanse of darkness. This dreamlike realm was the Astral Plains, though it is also known by other names, such as Spirits' Edge. It is the immaterial space in between worlds. The meeting-place was a Spirit Nexus, if the entity is to be believed.

This entity, nicknamed 'Voice' by one of your party, claims to have summoned you all at the behest of a hero already on Forlas. Some of you have faint recollections of hearing a call for help in your dreams, others don't. Apparently, you are all 'heroic spirits' sent by many different worlds in the multiverse to save this one, as the hero who petitioned Voice to bring you there had already failed to save it. It's unclear how you were chosen, but you did consent to it. It's also unclear just what the threat you're meant to fight actually is.

Your souls have been placed in new bodies in order to bring you to Forlas, and when your task is over, you will return to the same time and place as if nothing had happened. You are likely to remember nothing of your adventures on Forlas, since most worlds seal memories from other lives and other worlds. (For similar reasons, you don't have access to any memories of other extradimensional adventures you may have been on.) Your new bodies are weak to begin with, but you may have an echo of any particular powers and abilities you had in your previous lives, and you have the advantage of Voice auto-translating spoken and written language for all of you. You can understand each other, and any native pokémon you encounter.

Voice hasn't spoken to any of you since you arrived, but you must stay a team and work together until you can return to your old lives.

Good luck saving Forlas.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Forlas is the name you have for both the planet you now stand on, and the universe it exists in. Anything in it – besides yourselves, being 'offworlders' as you are – is 'Forlasan'.

According to the being that summoned you, Forlas is a fairly typical Earth-like world. It has axial tilt, a sizeable moon, and an orbit around a yellow dwarf star. Atmospheric conditions, day and night cycles, and so on will be familiar to most heroic spirits. Seasons, tides, diverse climates across multiple continents divided by large oceans are all typically Terran. And, naturally, there are thousands of species of pokémon.

No humans, though.

This, like many worlds, is a world of only pokémon (and various small mundane animals, such as fish and insects). Humans cannot exist here, and those of you who were human before have been transformed into pokémon so that you may live on Forlas for a time. You needn't fret over the loss of opposable thumbs – you may interact deftly with objects and the environment with a weak contact-based telekinesis, and your extremities may be more dexterous than you expect. You are weak at first, but you'll soon grow in strength as you strive and challenge yourself.

There are both sapient and wild Forlasan pokémon, and thinking pokémon make up the world's civilised population. They – and therefore you – can use elemental techniques to battle, evolve into new forms, and everything else that pokémon can, but they also live in multi-species settlements, and have diverse cultures, writing systems, financial institutions, religious traditions, and so on.

In other words, Forlas is a world much like most worlds with mystery dungeons. And it, too, has long had dungeons of its own.

 

[Jackie Cat]

While different cultures certainly have their own individual calendar systems, the most common one you'll encounter is the Common Calendar, in use by the residents of Frontier Town, and by the rest of the Commonwealth proper. It's a solar calendar, with 365 days per year, and one leap day every four years. (Days are 24 hours long, and timekeeping during the day is likewise the same as on most of your worlds. Conversationally, most 'mon use 12-hour time, even though official documents tend to use 24-hour notation.)

The year is divided into twelve months of thirty days each, leaving five days (and one leap day) standing outside any month. (The technical term for this is 'intercalary' or 'epagomenal'!) These extra days are inserted after every third month, halfway between each solstice and equinox, and mark the crossing of one season into another, with the "Spring Crossing" being both a two-day event, and marking the New Year. Once every four years, the Autumn Crossing is also two days long.

It is said that during the Crossings, the Saints watch the world a little more closely, and as such any unvirtuous behaviour on these peaceful days is said to bring wrongdoers terrible luck for the following year. The second day of a Crossing is held by many to be especially sacred, and an opportune time to forgive debts and release grudges.

The twelve months of the Common Calendar are each named for a pokémon type, beginning with the Month of Seeds, which corresponds to the grass type.

Spring

• Month of Seeds
• Month of Swarms
• Month of Loam

Summer

• Month of Battle
• Month of Mind
• Month of Stone

Autumn

• Month of Winds
• Month of Charge
• Month of Rot

Winter

• Month of Spirits
• Month of Gloom
• Month of Frost

Many pokémon find this easier to remember by reciting the months in rhyming meter!

The remaining six types, along with the sun and the moon, are all represented by the eight days of the common week.

Weekdays

• Monday
• Plainsday
• Embersday
• Tidesday
• Oresday
• Drakesday
• Faesday
• Sunday

(Note that in some communities, 'Lunsday' and 'Solsday' are in use instead of Monday and Sunday.)

The Common Calendar does not prescribe a particular dating system, but the Commonwealth uses an era-based system, with the current era beginning with the founding of the Commonwealth itself. As such, the current year is 181 CE, or "Common Era".

You arrived in Forlas between approximately 12:00 Monday 20th of Stone (the initial wave) and 18:00 Embersday 22nd of Stone (the trio whose landing was in Sunward.) The moon was waxing crescent. None of this has any special significance, which is a shame.

It would have looked so deliberate and neat if I'd brought you here on the Autumn Crossing. It's even a full moon this year.

 

[Jackie Cat]

In this world – as with most worlds – pokémon are not simply creatures of flesh and blood, but innately extraordinary beings of mystical energy. This energy can take many forms, and has many uses. It is this energy that powers the combat techniques of pokémon, and which enables pokémon to evolve in a near-instant and retreat inside apricorn capsules. It can come in any of several different elemental 'types', and empower a pokémon's body, or be wielded like magic in countless forms.

This energy is sometimes called Infinity Energy, but its most common name is Aura. It is the life force of pokémon, and has properties that defy the laws of mundane thermodynamics. Many believe it is easier to understand it through spiritualism, than through scientific inquiry.

Pokémon can wield their Aura in countless ways, and achieve extraordinary feats with it, but usually only after growing strong through continuous striving – especially striving in battle. Everything from making elementally-charged attacks, to empowering their bodies, to surviving injuries all use the power of a pokémon's Aura. Naturally, these powers grow stronger as a pokémon grows stronger – those with a remarkably strong Aura can demonstrate enormous power, with great heroes and legendary pokémon being capable of things it would take dozens of ordinary 'mon to achieve. Myths tell of Saints who could stop a hurricane with their powers.

However, these are exceptional individuals, at the height of what is possible. The day to day lives of farmers and shopkeepers, artists, and builders, do not require such mighty feats. Nor is Aura without its own rules and limitations. For instance, one's species may govern the kinds of elemental energies they can wield, and how powerfully. It is also challenging to wield Aura outside of proven techniques, or to stay practicsed in more than a handful of strong techniques at once. Perhaps most importantly, the power of Aura energy does not make pokémon invincible by any means.

Your Aura will always protect you from attacks made with Aura energy, at least until your strength has wholly left you. Some 'mon are more fragile than others, of course, but even the weakest of pokémon can take a surprisingly powerful elemental attack and survive. Being in battle will make your Aura 'flare', and empower you to fight. Suffering attacks with a flared Aura will rarely result in any serious harm or lasting injury. When a 'mon takes enough attacks that they cannot safely continue to fight, their Aura 'breaks', and they faint. Pokémon are robust creatures, and recover quickly from fainting, ready to battle again. However, once a flared Aura has broken, pokémon risk being injured even by Aura attacks if they keep battling.

While elemental attacks always interact with Aura, mundane dangers do not. One's Aura cannot always protect a pokémon from normal kinetic and thermal attacks, drowning, poisonous substances, severe illness, and so on. A flared Aura will resist such dangers – and most adult pokémon will reflexively flare their Aura in an instant if attacked – but pokémon are wholly vulnerable to everything from raging fires, to exposure, to ordinary weapons, if caught unawares – or if their Aura has been depleted. In other words, pokémon can ward off all sorts of dangers if they're braced to do so or already fighting, but can still be badly hurt or even killed by natural causes. You should not be careless around deep water, wildfires, thunderstorms, blizzards, rockfalls, toxic gases, or any other such thing. Even if you have your Aura flared at all times, the power of 'Mother Nature' is far stronger than the energy of any pokémon's life force.

Still, one can keep their Aura passively flared. Aura flaring is easier, stronger, and more sustained the more powerful a pokémon becomes, and happens automatically during exposure to other flared Auras, i.e. using moves around pokémon will flare their Auras in response. Infant 'mon can often barely flare their Aura at all, typical adults will flare reflexively when in danger, but the very strongest pokémon have Auras so powerful that they are 'active' even in their sleep. One consequence of this is that sufficiently strong pokémon can walk through open flames, get struck by lightning, or even be shot in the back by a gunpowder rifle, and their Aura will still protect them as if it were a mere elemental attack.

Your Aura encompasses not only your body, but your immediate possessions as well. There are unclear limits to what counts, but pokémon routinely extend their Auras – as unconsciously as breathing – to include any clothing, supplies, tools, or adornments they may be carrying. This is why Teleporting does not, for instance, leave one's ear piercings behind. This is, thankfully, especially true for prostheses! Some items have Aura energy within them, either because they are the uncanny products of a mystery dungeon, or because they are a pokémon's body part, or treasured possession. For example, a Farfetch'd's leek is not simply an object they habitually hold, but a part of their identity, and filled with their very life force. However, one may only extend their Aura into so many so-energised objects at once! One must consciously connect with such items, and it takes concentration. This is called 'attunement', and it is the reason pokémon do not simply wrap themselves in dozens of layers of Tough Scarf fabrics!

Similarly, the rules and limitations about Aura-infused objects mean pokémon only have so much ability to channel their life energy into mundane energy. Using your life force to hurl a rock means that rock is, to some extent, an Aura-based attack. Weapons wielded with the strength given by Aura energy are necessarily Aura-based weapons. A strong enough pokémon, with a perpetually flared Aura, will passively infuse any weapon they use with their own energy. This is why swords and ranged weaponry tend to be used only by rank-and-file soldiers against each other, or weak 'mon such as wilds and civilians – they only outclass elemental attacks when used by weak 'mon against weak 'mon. In these circumstances, however, or when used against a foe who has been badly knocked out, they are lethal in a way that elemental attacks are not.

However, even under these circumstances, pokémon can still be tough to put down! While many are biologically mere flesh and blood without their Aura energy to protect them, countless others have adaptations or physical forms that protect them from weapons and mundane dangers, and any healthy pokémon is likely to heal easily and quickly from an injury. Consider that even a rifle bullet is likely to ping harmlessly off the armour of the average Rock- or Steel-type, pass straight through most Ghost 'mon, or fail to hit any vitals for all sorts of other species. Similarly, no fire is hot enough to kill a Magcargo, and no amount of water can drown a pokémon with gills. In short, there are few things in this world that can reliably harm or kill any kind of pokémon. Even being critically injured is survivable with swift medical attention.

Many strange and wondrous things are possible through the use of a pokémon's Aura – your own potential extends much, much further than you can see right now...

 

[Jackie Cat]

Character stats flavour guidelines:​

The numbers below are meant to helpfully suggest the upper limits of what your characters might be capable of in and out of combat, purely in flavour terms. Note that these benchmarks are highly abstracted 'rule-of-thumb' ideas, and that they really only apply to player characters inasmuch as they apply to any pokémon at all, since enemy units have to be balanced for combat rather than adhering to any particular power scaling. Additionally, specific contextual factors such as species and the kind of scene you're in should certainly affect their flavour, so use your best judgement instead of relying entirely on this rough guide. The purpose of this guide is to set a rough expectation for what weaker or stronger pokémon in this world are capable of, compared to other settings and campaigns.

​

HP:​

• 50 — A bit of bruising or other minor injury will take you out of the fight.
• 180 — It takes a few strong blows to your core to put you down.
• 320 — You'll keep going when bloodied and beaten black and blue.
• 450 — Even broken bones are just another injury to you.

Stamina:​

• 40 — Exerting yourself for a few minutes will tire you out.
• 110 — You can keep up an athletic performance for a fair while.
• 180 — Even pushing your limits won't leave you winded.
• 250 — You can do this all day, and do it again tomorrow.

Attack:​

• 30 — You may need to put your body weight into knocking over heavy objects.
• 130 — You can punch through drywall and smash basic un-proofed furniture.
• 220 — You will easily splinter un-proofed wood and break sturdy objects.
• 320 — Your attacks can routinely split boulders and knock down trees.

Magic:​

• 30 — With effort, you can send small household objects flying with an elemental blast.
• 130 — You can routinely smash simple un-proofed objects and furniture with your energy.
• 220 — You can blow a hole clean through ordinary wooden walls with a well-aimed beam.
• 320 — The force of your magic leaves craters in the earth and shatters nearby windows.

Defense:​

• 30 — You would bruise easily to a punch thrown by a youth.
• 130 — You can handle barstools thrown right at you and barely wince.
• 220 — It takes a wagon crashing into you to do you real harm.
• 320 — It takes collapsing a building on top of you to seriously hurt you.

Resistance:​

• 30 — Your skin will burn against an open flame the same as anyone.
• 130 — You can land on hot coals and the fight won't be out of you.
• 220 — You can walk through open fire and live another day.
• 320 — If you were struck by lightning, you still wouldn't drop.

 

[Jackie Cat]

While Forlas has multiple continents, our adventures take place in Luctemar, which occupies a similar geographical and cultural space as others worlds' North America. Its east coast is green and temperate, enormous lakes – really inland seas – occupy much of its frozen north and border vast plains, its interior is an arid expanse of badlands, highlands and lush deserts, and past a massive mountain range is a quasi-mediterranean west coast.

The most prominent civilisation of this continent is the Commonwealth of Luctemar, often called simply 'the Commonwealth'. Like the United States of other worlds, it is a federal republic comprised of several lesser states, governed through a form of representative democracy, with separate executive, legislative and judicial chambers. Also like the United States, it is a rapidly industrialising former colony with substantial economic inequality and social unrest, spreading westward to achieve sovereignty over much or all of the continent, and often in conflict with indigenous civilisations.

You are already familiar with the Sohavenia Territory, known more often to locals as the Soja', or Sojavena. It is for now an unincorporated territory, over which the mayor of Frontier Town is also Governor-General. The culture there is an emerging one, shaped – like many states – by successive waves of immigrants and by local tribes and clans. Much of the Soja' is nominally Escarpa Clan land, and the clan tolerate Commonwealth presence so long as it remains centralised in Frontier Town and does not interfere with clan life.

Though we are unlikely to see quite so much of any other specific states or foreign locations as the Soja', we are sure to be called across the continent to many of these places at some time or another...

 

[Jackie Cat]

States of the CWL​

Prosper: rich in precious mineral deposits, these dusty highlands and canyons were over-exploited in a hasty gold rush that left it impoverished without the proper infrastructure to support the booming extractive sector. The town of Blaguarro is a microcosm of this ironically-named state – struggling to reap the rewards of the mad dash to the mines.

Auranosa: a famed 'beautiful wilderness', almost the entire civilised population is concentrated in the so-called Adventurers' Towns near its borders. The perpetually untamed interior is full of mystery dungeons, making it resistant to settlement and development. Archeologists take great interest in the plentiful local ruins – evidence of advanced, ancient native cultures.

Taleska: a land of vast plains and steppes, Taleska is named for the native lapine nation that make up a majority of its townships. The populous city of Novelux on the Cobalt coast is its single metropolis of immigrant 'mon, and its breakneck technological development and sky-scraping highrise districts contrast starkly with the more traditional outlying towns.

Gran Cielo: meaning 'Big Sky', this state's reputation is for wide-open grasslands and savannahs, inhabited by ranchers, herders, and 'outsized personalities'. The locals are proud of their blended Tenacine-Luctemarene culture, from which originates the popular myth of wand-slingers and frontier justice, but it's been decades since such things were common here. Sojavena is the modern frontier.

Landsverd: the most populous state, and the most central – Landsverd is adjacent to no fewer than six others, and a tremendous amount, road, rail, and river connections run through its fields and forests. It is otherwise the agrarian heartland of the union, critically important both to the interstate trade network, and as an industrious agricultural breadbasket.

Alexandria: one of the oldest constituent colonies, and proud of it, it was here that the Articles of Federation were signed and the Commonwealth born. It is home to Magna City, the greatest of the east coast metropolises, along with the federal Capitol, and reputedly some highly influential secret societies. Many of the most prestigious universities of the renowed Sophosyne Schools are here, such as Anbara College and Alexandria State, and the state may boast of more highly-educated citizens than any other.

Makepeace: a somewhat rural state comprised of a peninsula and an archipelago, with a somewhat insular culture. It is, in a way, a microcosm of the wider Commonwealth, with its state government treating each island almost as constituent members. Undeveloped compared to its neighbours, the locals have a tendency towards social conservatism and are traditionally pacifistic – albeit argumentative!

Eleutheria: meaning 'Liberty', the reputation of Eleutheria is of a temperate, pastoral idyll, filled with bright-minded idealists who prize personal freedoms. While the philosophical tradition here is libertarian, and the local environment quite picturesque, the state has actually modernised and urbanised just as much as its neighbours. In the fact of an acute and growing wealth divide, a counterculture is emerging here that eschews individualism for mutual aid.

Frigatespur: originally settled in large part by naval professionals given land grants as a reward for long service against piracy, this coastal state has a strong maritime and naval tradition. Perhaps this, and its long border with Tenacinde, is why many 'Spurs' are said to have a somewhat hawkish outlook. Even so, it's a safe, sandy, sunny locale, and very popular with tourists.

Windholm: cold weather, rugged highlands and plain-spoken 'mon are typical of this stormy region. Civilisation can feel remote, here, with development far behind the urban coast, but as civilisation spreads across the continent, Windholm looks increasingly appealing as the gateway to Kyogre's Tears, inland seas vast enough to permit shipping across the continent. The local culture is reputedly pragmatic, down-to-earth and blunt, but also unfailing hospitable to weary travellers.

Nova Zephenna: named for the nation from which its early colonists hailed, the modern Nova Zephennans come off to many as nostalgic for the Old World, and less invested in the future of the Commonwealth. Locals are largely bilingual, often speaking Zepherric amongst each other even among guests, and have a 'grey attitude' to match their ever-grey and stormy skies. The economy relies on fishing, whaling, and more recently offshore drilling for fossil fuels, all of which contribute to the sea-beaten character of the region.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Foreign Nations​

Lucre Confederacy: much of the western coast of Luctemar is populated by diverse indigenous tribes, many of which are characterised by the prominence of lutrine species such as Buizel and Dewott, and of strongly riverborne culture. While each tribe varies, almost all have a traditional canoe or barge of some kind, and many of their settlements feature prominent quays, pontoons and dams, if not entire districts floating or on stilts out on a lake. These tribes are joined in a kind of league or union not dissimilar to the Commonwealth, and hold regular intertribal meetings on everything from trade, to religion, to war. Supposedly, they are a generally welcoming and amiable folk!

Kivaran Tundra: an expanse of largely unsettled and inhospitable land, the major regional tribe are the Kivara, of which the most prominent species are of the Sneasel line. The 'white' and 'black' Kivara are regional subgroups which differ in the elemental typings and evolutionary forms of their Sneasel members. The Kivara are relatively unknown to outsiders, save for that they are strongly superstitious, insular, and extremely bloody-minded.

Tenacine Protectorate: the other great power of the New World, the Protectorate is at once similar and opposite to the Commonwealth. Like its neighbour, it is an expansionist, ex-colonial, federal power. Unlike the CWL, but like many Old World nations, it is a constitutional monarchy, and maintains such ancient traditions as a lunar (rather than solar) calendar, an order of chivalric knights to be called on in defence of the nation, and the earnest worship of Saints. The Protectorate has long been in decline, with much of its northern territory now annexed by the Commonwealth, from Gran Cielo to most of the Soja', but it retains ties to the clans of those regions, and remains a formidable imperial state, with the second-largest economy of the continent.

Tyrrier: a small and oft-overlooked nation, sometimes thought of as the 'missing' member state of the CWL, subject to seriously inclement local weather and a popular tendency to gloom. Agriculturally poor, it maintains its independence through high stone castles constructed throughout, and through a reliance on the natural geography – and mystery dungeons – that define its borders. Tyrrier is popularly featured in Commonwealth pulp fiction as the homeland of distinguished aristocratic villains and charismatic blood-drinking monsters.

Malantau: there is no extant nation-state by this name, but records show that more than a century ago, a Kingdom of Malantau existed in the far north of the continent, and performed trade and diplomacy with Tyrrier and the CWL. A relatively obscure and minor power, the fall of which is not known to history, few remember it may ever have existed. The region is now best-known for the Wight Barrens, a stretch of frozen wasteland riven with minor and major mystery dungeons. The largest of these is Eremus Rift, where it is said that the world peels away into the sky, as the material plane collapses into the aether.

Across the ocean, too, are other nations of the Old World. Western kingdoms and republics such as Arcadelle, Zephenna, and Akkairos, and the great and timeless empire of Tsainan, ruled by the divine phoenix, son of heaven. Though our fates are bound to Luctemar, the Old World's influence touches this continent also.