Aotokeloa Region

(Updated as of 06/06/2023)

Latest version **here**

Contact e-mail: freighttrain@email.com

***Pokémon* (also known in Japan as *Pocket Monsters*), is a Japanese media franchise focusing mainly on a long-running video game series and anime cartoon, where humans known as Pokémon Trainers, capture and train incredible creatures called Pokémon to battle other Pokémon for self-defence, sport, games and also to collect, study or keep as companions. Created in 1995 by Satoshi Tajiri, it is the highest-grossing media franchise of all time.**

These Pokémon games take place in the Aotokeloa region, which is based on New Zealand and surrounding islands, it is considered to be a sister region to Alola. The games are *Pokémon Masque Version* and *Pokémon Cloque Version*:

* The Aotokeloa region is composed of two large main islands and some smaller surrounding islands. The southern island features craggy coastal cliffs with hidden coves, idyllic farmlands can be found further inland and are punctuated by estuaries and areas of hilly wilderness, with a narrow alpine region running along the left side of the island's lower half. The northern island is home to several dormant and active volcanoes surrounded by lush rainforest, secluded marshes and tropical beaches, extensive caverns run throughout both islands with the depths of many remaining unexplored.
	+ Other islands:
		- Olde Kalodon is found to the northwest of the Aotokeloan mainland, based on New Caledonia it is a colony of the Kalos region and is the largest of the smaller islands, it is home to Kalos species as well as a few new species not found on the Aotokeloan mainland.
* The three starter Pokémon are Badpole; the Grass/Dark-type tadpole Pokémon, Cinderbat; the Fire/Flying-type bat Pokémon and Delphrog; the Water/Ground-type dolphin Pokémon.
* The region's Pokémon professor is professor Beech, a rural-styled professor and a colleague of the Sinnoh region's professor Rowan.
* The antagonist teams are Team Mask and Team Cloak, who have a rivalry similar to that of Team Magma and Team Aqua from *Pokémon Ruby Version* and *Pokémon Sapphire Version*.
	+ Team Mask:
		- Antics include the player encountering the team impersonating Pokémon scientists, with the grunts disguising themselves professor Beech's lab researchers, the lieutenants as his aides, and the leader as professor Beech herself.
	+ Team Cloak:
		- Antics include include the player encountering the team blending in with a flock of sheep Pokémon, with the grunts camouflaging themselves as Faewe, the lieutenants as Solaries and the leader as an Allama.
* The eight Gym Leaders use Grass, Normal, Flying, Fairy, Bug, Fighting, Water and Rock types.
* The Elite Four use Flying, Dark, Poison and Fire types.
* The grouping arrangement of this region's Pokédex is designed to be somewhat comparable to generation I's Kanto Pokédex.
* One developmental focus here, is to create a Pokémon battle system where the overly straightforward and uncreative numbers game of the metagame, will be corrected and in it's place a battle system more true to what is seen in the anime will be implemented, this is so that a person's Pokémon team will reflect their own personal preferences, and will require genuine creativity and interest to be a valid choice. For example, in the anime you very rarely see the trainers with kind of overpowered teams of the same few heavy hitters or legendary Pokémon, making it much more interesting and individualistic, and this has been an unaddressed issue since the first Pokémon games were released. People can access sites like Smogon, which have all of the most comprehensive and up to date info regarding which Pokémon perform best in the metagame and how to breed/train them, it basically puts a meta-competitive Pokémon team together for you with very little input from a trainer, so clearly the Pokémon battle system is already way too simple as it is, this problem cannot be solved by simply adding new Pokémon and new techniques etc. with every successive generation, that does not solve the fundamental problems, avoiding the problem like that and just building more of the what is basically just the same stuff on top of it, just creates more data to alter when improvements *are* actually made to create a battle system with proper dynamics, though fortunately people such as myself are already developing Pokémon battle dynamics more in line with what is seen in the anime, and even improving on that, this also goes beyond just the battle dynamics, but also things such as encounter and capture dynamics.