A Traveller's Guide to the Nishiri Region - my Pokemon region

Preface - Where it Began, and Where We Are Now

      The Nishiri region began as a simple idea for a project. But over time, the idea grew into something much bigger. Something that although my stories haven't reached, I've decided to share with the world.

    Back in 2019, I had ambitions to start a project,more specifically an interactive pokemon story. But I never ended up following through with this idea... But the region I came up with wasn't scrapped. Instead, I focused on fleshing it out. The original concept of the region was founded on what I came to view as the unwritten rules of a Pokemon region - town names being all one cohesive theme, links to real life mythology in their pokemon lore, and most of all, a gimmick tied to the lore of at least one of its legendaries. And now, I'll go over the basics.

Town Names and How I Decided Them

       The town names come from taking the defining traits of the towns, usually two words, and blending them together after translating them to Latin. Most of the towns are designed to reflect the typings of not only the Gym Leader that corresponds, but also the pokemon found in and around that area. For instance, I'll explain to you probably one of the first towns and why it's named what it is.

       Ferrocordia City is a city that's the second biggest one in Nishiri. Ferrocordia City is known for its history with producing steel, but more than that, an inventor in the town's earlier history made a form of artificial pokemon known as the Artot line, mechanical humanoid robot pokemon that run on a form of clockwork, similar to the mythical known as Magearna. Some scholars even believe the mythical is what inspired the inventor to construct this ancient artificial pokemon. With the focus on Steel even reflecting in the town's type, the town was therefore named Ferrocordia City, from the words "ferro" (iron) and "cordia" (heart), making the translation of the name Iron Heart. There are similar thoughts behind the rest of Nishiri's cities and towns, but there is a couple towns whose names are simply just one Latin word that describes it perfectly. One such aptly named town is Palmarium City. Palmarium translates simply to "wonder", which fits the bustling city's technological marvels and beautiful points of interest. Palmarium is a wonderful place, so its name simply translating to "wonder" is perfectly apt.

The Story of Nishiri

      Nishiri has a past that not only pays homage to a real life nation's origin, but also a past that would justify, were a fan game made in Nishiri, the appearance of homages to other regions. Nishiri is multicultural, but takes a strong inspiration from Nordic myth in its legendaries, as well as Greek, some locations even bearing names akin to that of Greek gods and goddesses. This was mostly due to the fact that I've always been attracted to Norse mythology, and in fact found their culture so interesting that it inspired pokemon. For years I've held an esteem for the world's folklore, and Nishiri is very much a prime example of that being showcased quite plainly. Not only did I take what I knew about a long-gone religion and turned it into a Pokemon plotline and world, but I took other legendaries who are similarly tied to other mythologies and give them more lore as they exist in Nishiri.

The Gimmick - Odyssization

       What is Odyssization, you ask? Well, I'm glad that although you didn't actually ask me, I can explain anyway. Odyssization is the concept of a pokemon taking on a new form and changing type akin to Mega Evolution, but there's a firm twist to how this works. Odyssization only works on pokemon who have inherited traits of a pokemon from ages gone by. These traits are usually genetic, and can appear as physical appearance or even things such as increased speed, stamina, or strength. I did mention Odyssization is tied to a legendary, and I will cover that later - but the most I will say about it here is that this legendary appears minor to begin with - but appearances can be deceiving.