Creation Guide

• Name - Many pokehumans assume full names (first + last name) when they take on a human identity. This is especially the case for pokehumans that are integrated in human society or for pokehumans that hold jobs. Some keep their nicknames from their trainers/owners if they had any, or choose a similar name.
• Pokemon - There is no species cap or limit, so don't be afraid to choose a pokemon that already exists in the group! The only restriction is that members and mods cannot use legendaries to create characters. Characters can be shiny, as well other naturally occuring color variations (see 'character appearance' below).
• Age - Age should be the character's apparent age, and doesn't have to be their literal age-- especially since the dittech alters age a bit (a 5 year old mightyena is considered an 'adult' and will take the appearance of an adult human instead of a 5 year old child. The mightyena's lifespan will also become stretched to match the rest of a human's lifespan).
• Gender - The dittech can also change a pokemon's gender while converting their physical form to a human! This is just something to keep in mind for transgender/genderfluid/intersex/agender/etc pokemon and humans. Their outward gender is most likely to match their identity preference without requiring surgery/hormones. Their sex in pokemon form will likely remain the same however. The listed gender in the app should be the gender identity, not the physical sex of your character (although adding that too is fine).
• Affiliation - All dittechs by default are registered with Pokemon-Amie Company. Registration holds basic identification information of the pokehuman, and is used to hold pokehumans accountable by PMA-Co, who tries its best to monitor its community. Alternately, Pokehumans can go to Apellon Corporation to hack their dittechs. Pokehumans registered with Apellon are not bound by any liability to their actions. They will be allied with Apellon in that case, however, and it is frowned upon to own a hacked dittech.
• Level - We do not track levels in PMA. Please do not list levels on your application. As far as evolution, pokemon can evolve prematurely (without hitting level requirements) but it affects them physically.
• Occupation - Your character's job can be anything in any region. Your backstory should describe how your character got their job. Your character may also work for either PMA-Co or Apellon.
• Residence - Your pokemon can also live anywhere in the world. Additionally, TelePorts allow instantaneous travel between regions/cities, and are installed in pokecenters (they are about as secure as airports), so your character can technically live in a different region from their job. Amie Isle (founded by PMA-Co) is a popular place for pokehumans, and a lot of pokehumans also reside in Lumiose (the center for Apellon).
• History - pokehumans cannot presently know/interact with their previous trainers/owners, in that humans should not know that pokehumans exist. The dittech was founded 12 years ago, and the character's timeline should reflect this. You can check Story and work in past group events into your character's history as well. Your history should include how your pokemon obtained their dittech, how they adjusted to human life, and how they settled in their location/occupation/affiliation.

Creation Rules

• Members start with one character. There is no character cap or cost, but there is a 2 month cool down to character creation. The 2 month cool down can be bypassed with a slot pass, purchased with ribbons.
• For existing members: When making a character, submit the application to the Member Applications folder or the NPC's folder. A moderator will comment on the app if it needs any changes, and will automatically deduct payment or reset cooldowns..
• Fan Characters from other works are not allowed-- although, recycled characters are fine! Do not make references to places or things that do not exist in the pokemon world (making up your own home town is fine. Using the home town from Naruto is not fine). Characters whose designs are heavily inspired by other works may also be rejected.
• All main characters (non-NPC) must have a dittech. NPC's can be normal pokemon OR pokehumans.
• Legendaries are not allowed, from moderators and members alike.
• There are no species caps. There can be any number of the same species of pokemon in the group.
• Ghost pokemon are still 'alive,' and though they may have an expanded lifespan, they are not immortal. They may be reincarnations of souls, but are not literal ghosts.

Character's Appearance

• Pokemon colors can vary in shades, though drastic changes will be rejected (magenta colored Ivysaurs, for example).
  • Shiny pokemon are accepted, however we will be more critical of shiny applications seeing as shinies are a rare occurrence.
  • Albino, leucistic, piebald, and melanistic variations are also accepted, and treated the same as shiny variations. Pinkan is not accepted as a permenant coloring, as it is a temporary status, and refs should show the normal appearance of characters.
• Human colors should be logical. Skin tones cannot be purple and blue, for example. Hair colors are canonically drastic and natural in the world of pokemon, and so hues like green or blue hair is acceptable. The point of the Dittech is to allow pokemon to blend in with humans, so keep this in mind!
• Human forms can, however, reflect pokemon forms in coloration and appearance. Minor problems (fangs, eye coloring, markings) are called 'glitches' and can be quite common and brushed off. Zorutechnology (a dittech upgrade) allows for holographic accessories that appear like wings, tails, or other appendages, and may be purchased with ribbons. Please view more about the dittech here.
• The age of a pokehuman relies on the physical age of the pokemon upon first using the Dittech (ex. A Poochyena puppy would be just a child, a full grown Poochyena dog would be a full grown adult). However, using the Dittech excessively to assume human form will a) lengthen the lifespan of a pokemon that typically doesn't live as long as humans or b) shorten the lifespan of a pokemon that typically outlives humans, to an average of about 80 years.
• Characters age in real time, like the group. We won't force people to roleplay in the same timeline however-- feel free to do rp's in the past or in the future.

Character Abilities

• Background stories can justify strength. Generally, pokemon trained by loving trainers are the strongest, followed by abused but strictly trained pokemon, followed by casually trained pokemon, followed by pet or companion pokemon, followed by wild pokemon.
• A pokemon may evolve prematurely, but they often suffer physical or mental consequences from being forced to evolve. Your character may be under leveled for their evolution stage, but their long term growth will possibly be stunted in some manner, especially if the gap is drastic (they will probably be stronger than their previous evolution, but will never achieve their full potential). This can be reflected in small handicaps. This scenario often occurs when pokemon are forced to evolve under stressful conditions. This event can occur to a character during their backstory, or can be made to happen by purchasing a character evolution for an existing character who does not meet the level requirement to evolve. There should be reasoning for their evolution.
• Pokemon moves can be learned (regardless of level) if it is possible for the species! Moves that your pokemon can learn can be found here. Egg moves, tutor moves, and TM's are acceptable too.
• Pokehumans can use moves in human form.
  • Ditto transformations retain ditto's face. Ditto transformations as a human retain the original human's face.
• If a pokehuman is badly wounded, they will revert back to pokemon form. This is a safety feature of the dittech (pokemon forms are generally harder to kill than human forms) however it can be deactivated (if the pokehuman's lifestyle includes a lot of fighting (ex. professional boxer) and publicity, it may be disabled). Pokemon in human forms can also use their powers, but should be reluctant to use them in plain sight of normal humans.

Character Backstories

• Once you've decided on a pokemon, you can decide whether or not you'd like your pokemon to have the Dittech in their possession. Your character can have any range of involvement in the human world- whether they only partake occasionally, or if they live active lives with a dwelling and job.
  • Characters may live anywhere in the pokemon world, though a majority of activity occurs in Kalos.
  • Additionally, there is Amie Isle, which houses purely pokehumans and has a lot more freedom of lifestyle.
  • All locations in the world are accessible through TelePorts, located in pokemon centers. They have the same security level as airports.
• Pokemon can have any jobs that exist in the real world. Struggling pokehumans can seek help from others.
  • Pokemon-Amie Company is the most well known in the pokehuman community. Your character can take a job as an associate, a distributor, a researcher, or participate in one of the three branches. PMA-Co's three branches deal with assisting other pokehumans in areas of their life. See: Pokemon Amie Company
  • Apellon Corporation is a recently emerged entity. It is more self-serving than PMA-Co, and is an option for ambitious pokehumans who don't mind stepping on some toes to get what they want. See: Apellon Corporation
  • Amie Isle provides many opportunities for pokehumans to start a new life of their own among other pokehumans, without the element of forced secrecy about their pokemon identites. Pokehumans on Amie Isle can start their own business freely, or be hired by others.
  • Kalos has many different lifestyles available for pokehumans, as long as they keep their pokemon identities a secret from other humans. PMA-Co's three factions make life possible in all areas of Kalos, assisting in housing, education, and finances, while Apellon has set up mainly in Lumiose and 'underground'.
• Humans are not aware of the dittech's existence. Pokemon should not be receiving their dittechs from humans. Pokemon should be receiving dittechs from:
  • Charitable pokehumans
  • Recruiting corporation members
  • PMA-Co sponsored dittech distributors
• Humans cannot be used as characters (main or NPC). They can be used in character's backgrounds, and submitted in artwork/literature depicting a character's backstory, however.
• Video Game Terms such as the following are not literal elements of the PMA universe, and should be avoided in backstories:
  • IV's & EV's, Stats - instead, describe the character's literal strengths/weaknesses, inherited or earned.
  • Shiny - be careful with shiny pokemon status. Though called shiny, shiny pokemon are not any rarer than albino/melanistic, and should be treated as any other color variation.
  • Levels - An OOC term, but not an IC term, pokemon do not have literal levels in the world. A pokemon would not boast being "Level 85."
• Likewise, certain behaviors practiced by gamers is not always a thing in the universe:
  • Mass breeding for shinies and IV's should not be common. Unethical breeding practices are outlawed, and reckless care of pokemon is socially unacceptable seeing as humans and pokemon have a special bond in most cases. Meanwhile, special breeding of very strong veteran battlers or special pokemon (like IRL breeding practices) would be acceptable, but would not be mass produced.

Mega Evolution

Two partners, each in possession of a mega stone, are able to mega evolve together. These stones are specially created by PMA-Co to bypass the human-pokemon relationship needed in standard mega evolution, and instead compensate by combining the energies of the two participating pokemon.

These pokemon temporarily combine into one form (ex. much like DNA digivolution from digimon, or Gem Fusion from Steven Universe), two minds sharing a more powerful and capable body. Because of the nuances between everyone’s relationships are different, these mega evolutions are all unique, even if two different pairs of the same species were to combine. Two pokemon of the same species combining also lends itself to a further evolved and more powerful form.

Mega Evolution only lasts for five or so minutes before becoming unstable, and requires a recovery time of about half a day. A pair can train to extend the duration or shorten the recovery time of Mega Evolution.

References can be submitted to the Mega Evo Refs folder.

NPC's

What is an NPC? What makes them different from a regular character?

NPC's are meant to be used as background or side characters. They shouldn't have a majority of the focus in PMA, but are there for background and story fodder. An NPC should be related to an existing character (friend, family, etc), and CANNOT stand alone (else they're considered a regular character).

NPC's allows you to make side characters (note: NOT main characters) without requiring a dittech. NPC's used in art will generate ribbon and achieveent rewards the same as regular characters, but might not be able to be used in events. NPC's do not count in activity checks (you don't have to do additional requirements for NPC's).

NPC's cost 1 bronze ribbon instead of the full gold ribbon cost of a new character.

What if I get really attached to my NPC and want to use them a lot?

You can upgrade your NPC to a regular character for 1 silver ribbon. Because we'll be evaluating NPC's the same as normal characters, there is no re-evaluation required. Alternately, you can use your character creation slot if you do not have a cool down in effect.

You can find the NPC Template Here.