Tri-Mon Crossover (Shin Megami Tensei, Digimon, and Pokemon in a Shared Universe!)
I. Intro
A Japan where reality is shattered, and Pokemon, Digimon, and Demons compete and coexist.
Demons have the fundamental powers of Creation, which allow them to bring forth new objects from nothingness. However, they can be changed and altered by Human beliefs. Not merely that, but Gods, or even Capital-G God, the Creator of the Universe, can be downgraded into Demons by those same Human beliefs, and there is a cottage industry engaged in doing just this so that Demons can be controlled by Human 'Summoners'.
Pokemon originated from an attempt at making artificial Demons resistant to attempts to change them through belief. However, even they need energy from Human bonds to gain real power, which is why many of them, even Arceus, the first Pokemon, form friendships with Humans that they draw energy from; sometimes, however, weaker Pokemon can be disadvantaged by those friendships and abused.
The Digimon, meanwhile, are fully independent beings, capable of human speech like Demons, drawing energy from Human relationships like Pokemon, but cannot be changed by just believing different things about them. In fact, as Digital Beings, they can reshape Demons as well as Humans can, which they use to transform Demons into Digimon. This is a terrifying development.
As for Humans? They are the real rulers of the Universe, yet subjugate each other with 'Mons as their tools. They want meaning and belonging from being part of a greater cause, yet do not want to accept that they have subjugated and altered every being that was once worth their worship. Now they make war with each other in a Japan similar yet different from our own, hoping to shape a new Reality where one set of beliefs is on top, hoping it would grant them satisfaction...
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Yes, a Pokemon + Digimon + Shin Megami Tensei RP that tries to meld the settings together. This will be an Open World RP, within reason, where you guys get to play in multiple places and have multiple plotlines with each other, maybe across multiple threads. However, there will be a lot of violence, including violence towards Pokemon, so do not expect this setting to be, well, child's play.
II. How does this all work?
The Great Will, also called The Axiom, created Humanity, and gave it the power of Observation, which means that what Humanity believes, about Gods/God, Angels, and Demons, becomes real. So as Humanity grew and evolved, they 'Observed' the supernatural landscape around them, reshaping them according to their changing beliefs and local cultures. Even YHVH, the foremost avatar of the Great Will/Axiom, the creator of the Universe, and the God of Law and Monotheism, was affected by the very power given to Humanity even as the latter praised and worshipped him.
In Japan, this had consequences, where except in various areas of Kyushu Island, YHVH is transformed into an evil tyrant opposed by Lucifer, who according to most Japanese is the benevolent sort of rebel, when this is not the case in other areas of the world, where it was the reverse. Eventually, as the various nations of Humanity forged global connections and began to compare and contrast notes, they realized that they could create and control their Gods, and so experiments in creating their own, more consistent 'Monsters' were kick-started.
This resulted in Pokemon being born from alchemical experiments melding Demons and biological life in the Sengoku period (Oda Nobunaga fully united Japan in this timeline), and Digimon being born in Great Britain in the 1940s when computer technology was advancing at a rapid pace. Now, Demons, Pokemon, and Digimon are commonplace throughout the world, although Demons are more common in places where traditional beliefs are strong.
The consequences are that Japan and the rest of the world are more divided; Japan's Imperial Diet is almost as powerless as the Emperor, as entire cities and prefectures use the power of Pokemon, Digimon, and Demons to defy the central government's decrees. The country is in a low-level civil war, albeit one where the most powerful 'Rogue Regions' have made it clear that they'd unite against any obvious foreign interference.
And this, my dear Demon Summoner/Digimon Tamer/Pokemon Trainer, is where you come in.
Are you a warlord, using the power of Bishamonten to slaughter your foes?
Are you a corporate executive, masterminding the creation of new, stronger Digimon?
Or are you a Pokemon Trainer who's just using his Pokemon to farm?
...Maybe you're something else; we'll see - Either way, Japan is your oyster.
III. Magic, Technology, and How Humans Can Match 'Mons
Magic exists in the world, and in Canon SMT, most Humans are incapable of it without aid from a magic item, demonic ancestry, or having a demonic magical item implanted into them like the Magatama. Needless to say, this rule is relaxed in this Roleplay, and you can be a Mage as well as a Pokemon Trainer, Digimon Tamer, and Demon Summoner, albeit with this limitation:
The Grand Restriction: More Powerful Magic, Less 'Mons in your Team
Magic feeds on the very same emotional energy that Pokemon, Digimon, and Demons depend on. If you use your Magic to cast a spell, you can't use that energy to fuel your 'Mon's powers. Being a Mage at all reduces your Pokemon or Demon Team to 5, being able to burn down a house with a fireball reduces your Pokemon or Demon Team to 4, being able to raise an army of 50 zombie warriors means you can only have 3 Digimon or Demons, being able to transform a Human into a Pokemon for 24 hours reduces your team to 2, and being able to cause a volcanic eruption means you can only have 1 Pokemon or Demon and they cannot use their abilities when you are using yours'.
You can only have a single Digimon partner at any given time, so they are not affected by you being a Mage until you try and cast Magic on the level of a Volcanic Eruption or higher, in which case they are drained to Baby Form.
Aura exists and is subject to the same restrictions as Magic, except that if your last remaining Pokemon partner cares about you, he can still use his abilities even as you cast epic-level Aura techniques (there is a list of Canon ones; use those).
As for Digisoul, you can only have one Digmon partner, and as long as you care about them, you can punch Gods or even this world's version of YHVH as many times as you want without them being drained to Baby Form. But if you have stopped caring about them, well, I hope the Gods/God you punched have mercy on you.
Oh, and Crests allow you to cast Unlimited Magic without forcibly devolving your Digimon as long as you feel the emotion or virtue associated with them. Good on you if you have the Crest of Hope, bad if you have the Crest of Envy.
Guns exist and are now legal in Japan, and can wound or kill the grand majority of Pokemon. With enough belief and willpower (the equivalent of the Gun Skill from various SMT games), they can harm Demons as well, although a Digimon is resistant to them unless the guns double as Anti-Data Energy Weapons (think the Yuggoth from Tamers). The grand majority of Guns in Japan are American and European Models, although Japan has cornered the market in Anti-Data Energy Weapons.
Pokeballs exist. The cities have the fancy teleportation tech from Shin Megami Tensei I and II. Bullet Trains Exist. Digivices exists. Holograms from the Digimon Ghost Game Anime exist. Name a piece of technology seen in a canon series and I and potential Co-GMs can decide if it's too strong.
IV. Character Sheet
[b]Name:[/b] [b]Age:[/b] [b]Appearance:[/b] (can use a picture or just a description) [b]Powers:[/b] (remember, keep it reasonable) [b]Weaknesses:[/b] (no exceptions) [b]Bio:[/b] [b]Theme Song:[/b] (not required, but I figured it would be nice to have the option)
[b]Team of Mons:[/b] (Digimon Tamers/Digidestined only have 1 Digimon (which would be capable of Digvolution to Mega level), Pokemon Trainers can have 6 Pokemon (and their version of Mega Evolutions), and Demon Summoners can use 2 Demons per fight, but keep 4 more in reserve, aka not used in a fight.
V. Rules
1.) No godmodding, powerplaying, metagaming, etc. etc. 2.) No getting raunchy with OCs under 18, please. With OCs above 18, just be careful not to do anything above non-descriptive nudity. 3.) No OOC feuding! If you must argue, be respectful. IC, meanwhile, you can hate each other as much as you like as long as it doesn't seep over to OOC. 4.) Please notify me if you will be gone longer than a few days, I will let you guys know if I will be gone. 5.) Only one Digimon per Tamer/Digidestined, six Pokemon per trainer, and two Demons per fight for each Demon Summoner, but the latter can have four more in reserve. 6.) Special Rule for someone who wants multiple types of Mon (aka a Digimon, Pokemon, and Demon on their roster): You spend more emotional energy than if you had one type of Mon, meaning that you can only use one of them in battle. If you have Magic, all off your Mons get drained of emotional energy when you use even the tiniest amount of it; that's how demanding having multiple types of Mon are to you.
The Order of Mesia (Law): Humanity needs Law and Order under One God, One Law, to find true meaning and community in a harsh world where each individual is weak. Under orders from the God of Monotheism, the one who proclaims himself the "One True God", YHVH, the Order of Mesia seeks to conquer Japan and set up the 'Thousand Year Kingdom', where the chosen few will live under absolute order and peace while the rest will be exterminated and their souls thrown into eternal torment. They despise Pokemon and Digimon and prefer to use 'Angels', which in this setting are just a subtype of Demon.
Their leaders are four such Angels: Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel.
The Council of Wisdom (Neutral): Scholars of multiple faiths met in Nagasaki, Japan, during the Sengoku Period and compared notes and found out that through 'Observation', the Gods, or even God/YHVH himself, can have their nature changed by human belief. Weaponizing this, the Council embarked on a centuries-long quest to shape the beliefs of the Japanese people to maximize the amount of supernatural power it could draw on, creating the first Pokemon as a side experiment to create a more dependable type of 'Monster'.
In the late 20th Century, they split into the Nagasaki Fleet (who believe that rewriting God/YHVH into a benevolent, non-genocidal entity is viable and desirable), the Imperial Army (who want to replace all Demons with Pokemon and Digimon through mass genocide), and the Zaibatsu (a group of rich corporations that want to make money, even if it means exploiting Humans and 'Mons alike).
The Ring of Gaea (Chaos): The Gaeans believe in two things: One is Free Will, and the other is Rule by the Strong, even when the strength is used to deny others' freedom. The Ring of Gaea seeks to bring down the remnants of the central government in Japan so that an anarchic landscape of warlords, bandits, and pirates can take their place; a wonderland of slaughter, superscience, and sorcery. They work with local warlords and provide them with magical strength in the form of Mages while making side deals with the Zaibatsu to make money off the trade in human beings - Slaves.
They claim to worship a 'Mother Goddess', Gaea herself, but their strongest leader is Lucifer himself, who in the past had been rewritten by the Council of Wisdom to be a well-intentioned rebel against YHVH's tyranny.
The three main factions have been posted - Smaller ones, such as the Pokemon Gyms, HYPNOS from Digimon Tamers, and Team Plasma (not sure if Team Rocket should exist here) also exist but will not be elaborated upon yet.
Putting this up for a look over, even though it'll be a while before this RP starts.
Name: Maribel Hotsuin Age: 16 Appearance: Both physical appearance and clothing choice. Powers: - Dragon Stream (It usually refuses to obey her, despite her birthright. She is able to direct it, when it deigns to follow her will, but not increase her abilities through it.) - Star/天狼 Form (Sirius B/賊星) (Thief Star) - She harbors a secret unbeknownst to anyone, even herself. - Skill Crack (Requires her phone) - Stat Powers Weaknesses: - Mental Illnesses [Retrograde Amnesia, Severe OCD, Dissociative Identity Disorder ("Belladonna")] - Genuinely too kind of a person (It's seriously problematic) - Scared of her own power, and partially as a result of this: Has a hard time making and maintaining connections or relationships of any kind with anything, especially humans. - Stat weaknesses - Cannot use Cracked Skills without her phone. Stat Powers - Natural Zio-class Magic - Natural Ailment-type Healing-class Magic - High Magic stats - High Physical Resistance Stat Weaknesses - Bufu-class Magic - Curse-class Magic - Low Physical Stats Other Skills - Talented with the use of several musical instruments, most melee weapons, handguns, and sniper rifles. For some reason, she can't seem to use other types of firearms with any accuracy or skill. (She is unable to figure out automatic firearms and explosive weapons such as bazookas or grenades.) - Able to very quickly and competently fuse demons, though her attachment to keeping things as they are and her unwillingness to remove a consciousness from the world make her outright refuse to fuse demons. Bio: Theme Song: (not required, but I figured it would be nice to have the option)
Team of Mons: - Jack Frost.
Name: Belladona Hotsuin Age: 16 Appearance: (Clothing Choice Only, she normally looks the same as Maribel, since they share a body) Powers: - Dragon Stream (Much more competent than Maribel. Able to borrow a portion of it to increase her abilities, but cannot direct it otherwise.) - Star/天狼 Form (Sirius A/賊星) (The Meteor) - She harbors a secret unbeknownst to anyone, even herself. - Skill Crack (Requires her phone) - Stat Powers Weaknesses: - Mental Illnesses [Retrograde Amnesia, Severe OCD, Dissociative Identity Disorder ("Maribel")] - Genuinely too cruel of a person (It's seriously problematic) - Has a hard time making and maintaining connections or relationships of any kind with anything, especially non-humans. - Stat Weaknesses - Cannot use Cracked Skills without her phone. Stat Powers - Natural Agi-class Magic - Natural HP-type Healing-class Magic - High Physical stats - High Curse Resistance Stat Weaknesses - Zan-class Magic - Ailment-class Magic - Low Magical Stats Other Skills - Talented with the use of almost all melee weapons, almost all firearms, and hand-to-hand combat. - Able to very quickly and competently fuse demons. She has no reservations against doing so. Bio: Theme Song: (not required, but I figured it would be nice to have the option)
Team of Mons: - Baphomet. Only allows itself to be summoned by and/or obey the orders of Belladona. Maribel does not even know that it is a demon in her stock.
Spirit Photography - The ability to channel magic into lenses to see beings and forces otherwise invisible (or otherwise incomprehensible) to the naked eye. Works with just about any solid transparent material and allows for pictures to be taken of anything revealed. Requires a bit of manual tuning to focus on different aspects, though it allows Alcaeus to see ghosts without being blinded by high concentrations of ambient mana or vice versa.
Bullet Photography - The ability to capture active instances of magic using cameras, thereby erasing them. Works on spells in motion, including non-physical attacks of pokemon, digimon, demons and humans. Requires charging the camera for half a dozen seconds before each shot. Charge time for the next shot is halved if he captures the caster of a spell in the same photo as the spell. Not capable of stripping objects of enchantments or siphoning magic out of pokemon, digimon, demons, people, objects, or areas. Not capable of interrupting spellcasting. Can't actually erase a physical bullet.
Knows the following "spells":
Purify - Sends out a sparkling projectile that cures the target of any status ailment. If it successfully cures a status condition, Alcaeus heals himself.
Flatter - Causes unnatural confusion within the target by complimenting them. The sentiments of the compliment are magically understood regardless of language barriers. Also buffs the target's magical capabilities. Alcaeus insists the compliment is just a verbal component.
Swagger - Causes unnatural confusion within the target via dismissive gestures such as a scoff or bored sigh. The gesture can be verbal; if so, the sentiment is magically understood. Increases the target's physical attack.
Future spell learnset, listed in (loosely) planned order:
Tarunda - Lowers the target's attack for a while.
Dia - Small heal
Safeguard - Protects all allies from status conditions for a while.
Recarmdra - User dies. All allies who have died recently are revived.
Media - Small heal to all allies
Light Screen - Erects a wall of light to suppress magic damage for a while.
Reflect - Erects a wall of light to suppress physical damage for a while.
Diarama - Medium heal
Sukukaja - Increases the target's speed for a while.
Kouha - Small light damage
Dekunda - Removes all debuffs from all allies
Amrita Shower - Cures all allies of all ailments
Mediarama - Medium heal to all allies
Matarunda - Lowers the attack of all enemies for a while.
Boom Bubble - Fires a sphere of compressed air at a target.
Diarahan - Large heal
Hex - Ghostly attack that fires purple wisps at a target. Deals double damage if the target has a status ailment.
Recarm - Revives target with some HP.
Mediarahan - Large heal to all allies
Masukukaja - Increases the speed of all allies for a while.
Kouga - Medium light damage
This list is non-exhaustive but I intend to go through it slowly. I may or may not pick up speed as I get to the parts of the list that are just a matter of progression.
Weaknesses: Ice magic. In terms of SMT stats, low Strength and Vitality.
Bio: After graduating from the university of Hawai'i with a degree in theobiology and discovering his nascent magical potential while doing volunteer work throwing beached Pyukumuku back into the sea, Caeus decided to become a pokemon trainer. It seemed logical to do so at the time; It would look better on his resume compared to just being a lab assistant if he becomes an academic theobiologist, and he could use a pokemon companion for field work. To that end, the first thing Caeus did was to purchase a MAGAMI-brand Digivice, which came with a starter Digiegg, thinking it cheaper to catch a wild pokemon with its help rather than looking into pokemon breeding or even adoption fees. Considering his pickiness, maybe it would have been if he had gotten a less fancy digivice model, but he liked the digivolution management features and its ability to load abilities onto other digivolutions. Eventually the Digiegg hatched, and after caring for Nyokimon and later Monimon, it eventually digivolved into Monmon, and he was ready to capture a wild pokemon. The reason he was willing to wait so long, of course, was that he wasn't satisfied with the pokemon he could find around him. Even after digivolving into Monmon and visiting some hiking trails full of pokemon, nothing there caught his eye. Perhaps he was unfairly comparing them all to the adorable Pyukumuku he had been familiar with, but since he had learned to recreate their purify ability, and since both he and Pyukumuku were generally incapable of direct combat, he thought taking one along with him would lead to an imbalanced team. At the least, he got to take plenty of wildlife photos, some of which he managed to sell to a local magazine after it caught the eye of one of his friends. Eventually he made a habit out of doing that, and for a while that's all he did. It was during this time that he found that he had a somewhat unique affinity for camera lenses. It certainly didn't hurt to have as a photographer.
It was during a visit to the uninhabited islands further down the archipelago that he had a chance encounter with the rainbow serpent of Australian mythology. Although perhaps far from home, it is, after all, the rainbow itself, and Hawai'i has plenty of those to go around. Moist air from the ocean loses temperature as it rises over mountains, generating rainclouds from the precipitation, causing Hawai'i's mountains to be some of the wettest places in the world. Hell, there's a rainbow on every license plate. It might as well be Yurlungur's home away from home. Although, since Yurlungur tends to avoid populated areas, Caeus had no way of knowing this. All he knew is that there was a cool-looking pool of rainbow water to take pictures of.
Yurlungur isn't known to be a particularly wrathful deity, though like any sleeping snake, it's not exactly wise to disturb. What, you're going to find a glowing rainbow pool and not touch it? The stick he used to test it didn't disintegrate, so that means it's safe to touch, right? It's not like he drank it. No, it's none of your business if he was thinking about drinking it or not.
"wHa'DdYa ThInK yA dOiN'!?"
In awe at the beautiful serpent floating before him and the fact that, yes, it actually talks like that, all he could think to do was what he's been training to do for the past few months.
He took a picture of it before it was too late.
"EeHEEEEE!"
With an annoyed screech, it attacked, and Monmon, still quite young and inexperienced, couldn't hope to defend him against Yurlungur. Bullet Photography, as useful as it was, took too long to charge up against repeated attacks, and he couldn't defend Monmon just by erasing bullets, much less defeat Yurlungur in the process. Caeus did manage to slow Yurlungur down; at first he tried to reason with it, which mainly didn't work, which turned into begging and flattery, which surprisingly did work, at least for a while. Eventually, however, Monmon was defeated, and, at least wanting to guarantee her safety, he tried to send her, along with the pictures of Yurlungur, over to the magazine publishers via email. Unfortunately, his digivice didn't seem to have that feature, but since the email was already written up in the heat of the moment, an idea came to him. He sent the images, then warned Yurlungur that, were he to be killed now, people would know that Yurlungur did it. Its multicolored faces would be all over the news, sensationalized as a violent deity, which in turn meant that it wouldn't know peace, whether because it was seen as a danger or because the news forced it to change its very nature.
Yurlungur paused, then laughed, then called Caeus a "lItTlE rIpPeR". Upon asking for clarification, it said it was "fAiR dInKuM" and then asked why Caeus was "pOkIn' 'RoUnD mE bIlLaBoNg". Solely inferring from context, he explained that he was a photographer, and got into his line of work while looking for interesting species of pokemon to catch. Yurlungur then said an incomprehensible string of phrases that sounded vaguely insulting ("yA jUsT a DrOnGo FoLloWiNg FuRpHy FeR bLoOdY gAlAh!") before straightforwardly offering to come along with him. A wildlife photographer was perfect for boosting its reputation and literally showing off its colors. Plus, if Yurlungur followed him around a bit, Caeus wouldn't be able to spread any untoward rumors about it.
It went much as Yurlungur planned, and it enjoyed some time in the limelight. Its relationship with Caeus also became known within the business. Although not exactly regarded as a combat savant, having a minor deity at his beck and call while also being a magician and a digimon tamer made him a relatively ideal candidate for investigative journalism regarding the situation over in Japan. He wasn't fluent, but his conversational Japanese was actually pretty usable, so after some time spent brushing up on it and training - during which, Monmon acquired its first Champion Digivolution - he set off. Maybe he'd have better luck looking for a pokemon over in Japan.
Yurlungur Weaknesses and Resistances: Weak to Fire and Dark. Resists Electric, nulls Ice, drains Water. Statline: High Vitality. Above-average Agility and Luck. Low Strength and Magic. Knows the following skills:
Mahashibaboo - Chance of inflicting paralysis to all foes.
Brain Jack - Chance of inflicting brainwash to all foes.
Venom Breath - Chance of inflicting poison to all foes.
