[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

When Terra asks if Gallade can help him learn a little about swordplay, Gallade starts thinking very carefully about that.  More on that later.

When Heart arrives, the first thing Nathan does is hand Heart his cloak with the golden heart sewn onto the back.  "Here.  I recommend putting that on before somebody starts asking questions about our strange attire."  When the collector says he found a Honedge after all, followed by recounting how and ending by saying he sent Honedge to the present time...well, he doesn't immediately say anything because Terra started discussing it with Heart.

Nathan listens quietly and carefully the whole time.  When they finally finish, Nathan says his piece.  Very, very quietly.  "...don't be so loud and boisterous about it, please...and don't let anyone in this time catch wind of that, Heart.  The King himself will probably deal with such treason personally if he starts hearing rumors about that.  Creshirean Aegislash are the quintessential representation of the right to bear authority.  Only those deemed worthy of holding that authority, be it King or Champion, can ever hope to evolve a Doublade into the Royal Sword pokemon.  Even in our time, that still holds true.  Only the Champion is permitted to use an Aegislash in official League battles.  Honedge and Doublade are fine for anyone to raise in our time.  But here?  Treason, no matter what stage of the evolution line you have.  Be very, very careful, Heart.  Creshire holds their Aegislash in much higher regard than Kalos does."

What Nathan doesn't say out loud is just how...significant Heart obtaining an Aegislash would be.  Heart's father had raised and trained Heart to go beyond his limits, be more than what his father had been...it'd probably be a little fitting and potentially a little comforting for him to have a symbol of leadership.  Particularly since he has to rebuild his clan from the ground up...

Then Nathan looks at everyone else.  "Everyone understand?  No talking about Heart having a member of the Honedge family in this era.  That could endanger him, plus us for associating with him.  The less we talk about it, the safer we'll be.  I don't think any of us want to end up dead, imprisoned, or worse because of this."

He looks back at Heart.  "...you can raise it without getting in trouble if you're careful about when you use it, just...don't get yourself...or us...in trouble with authority figures by doing so, alright?"

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Now then, on to the soldiers.

First, Nathan sighs.  "...let me elaborate a little on what I said earlier, Shiva.  There is SOME oppression, I'm just...maybe being overly paranoid.  For the most part, if you could command pokemon well or were of a noble caste, you'd be treated well regardless of gender.  If you were a commoner with no skill with regards to commanding pokemon...no guarantees.  Heck, if someone like that was lucky and good looking enough, one of the 'better' lives they could have was being a personal slave/servant to a noble or even the King himself.  Again, with gender equality being factored in...mostly.  Males are still dominant in most of the areas you'd expect them to be.  Don't ask how I know all that.  It's a looonnnnggg story."

Then he points towards the camp, and is talking to everyone now.  "As far as those soldiers go...they're all minor nobles.  Every.  Single.  One.  And Terra's not wrong about them not being average.  They're what some researchers call Progenitors, and they make up about half of the population in this era if you can believe that.  Sarimanok claims their general capabilities are primarily due to his bloodline's influence...and he's not entirely wrong...but there are other factors too.  Not only did the Progenitors win the genetic lottery, they're also better fed and educated than the peasant caste.  Because of that, they're almost able to be classified as a separate species of human entirely.  They're tougher, stronger, bigger...and they have an almost innate ability to raise pokemon with ease (OOC: basically a +1 Empathy surprise specifically for raising pokemon)."

Another sigh from Nathan.  "...to be honest, I don't want to go anywhere near them if I can avoid it.  I don't want to go anywhere near those statues, either.  You said there were Ghosts in those statues and the gems on them seemed to be decorative, right, Spira?  I'm thinking the Ghosts might be there as sentries of sorts.  If someone were to tamper with those incredibly valuable gems...the Ghost would probably follow whoever did so, and then report back to someone and lead some soldiers to the culprit's hiding place.  Sarimanok's rather infamous for 'laying curses' on things and using 'magic', but there's almost always some kind of reasonable explanation for most of that kind of stuff.  He's also well known for using Magic Crystals, which were the basis of early apricorn based pokeballs.  Don't think they actually are magic, but it probably seemed like that to most everyone that didn't know any better.  Heck if I know exactly how a pokeball works."

A pause, then he continues.  "...peasants could be conscripted into the army too.  They were usually just expendable cannon fodder, though.  And punching bags for the Progenitors to train with.  I don't see any in any of those camps, though..."

One last pause.

"...well, welcome to 500 AD, everyone.  Or at least, we're in the general ballpark of that century.  Being 1500 years in the past...well, 1400 in your case, Spira...it's certainly going to be a...different experience, to say the least...we'll need to tread carefully, and second guess anything that seems even remotely out of the ordinary..."

Whew, that was a long lecture...

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At some point, Nathan also introduces his stranger pokemon to Terra and Spira.  "Ah, right.  Terra, Spira, this is Charmeleon.  One of my few dragons, and one looking for an opportunity to prove his strength.  And the big guy behind me..."

Nathan points behind him at the big, scruffy looking dog that appears to be wearing a cape.

"...that's Ditto.  Currently Transformed into a Herolune, a rather rare and...heroic dog pokemon.  Just a quick question, Ditto, but are you able to detransform at the moment?"

Dittolune barks, focuses...then shakes his head.  Nope.

"...well, I suppose there's worse things you could be stuck as..."

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After having giving Terra's question some thought...Gallade turns to Nathan to discuss something with his best friend.  He extends one of his blades, slashes at the air with it, then sheathes it, waves his hand around, and shrugs. Nathan turns to Terra to 'translate'. "...he's not sure how well that might go. He could try if you really wanted to attempt to learn, but fighting with bladed elbow is a bit different from waving a sword around."

It's at this point that Gallade notices the images on Terra's shiny, new, medieval gear and points them out to Nathan, who hadn't really paid too much attention to them at first.

"...ummm...Terra, I think it might be better if you don't use those...I'm not sure it'd be a good thing if somebody thought we were part of Sarimanok's army because of all those eyes..."

Then he notices the pictures of what appear to be pokemon on the shield and helmet.

He blinks a few times.  "...Terra, what are those pokemon depicted on the helmet and shield?  That paint still looks fresh if I'm not seeing things..."

(OOC note: if Terra wants Nathan to elaborate on anything he said during the course of this post, he's free to ask)