Professor Poplar
THIS THREAD IS A WIP
Thread owners are Variable Nonsense and constantLogic.
THIS THREAD IS A WIP
Thread owners are Variable Nonsense and constantLogic.
Professor Poplar
- ⊙ General
✾ Obey the ToS!
- Always obey Gaia's ToS and any rules set out in any thread you're participating in!
✾ Don't whine or beg.
- Neither of these things will get you what you want. If you want to participate in the
shop, hang around and be active! Active lurkers and regulars will get things much
faster than whiners.
✾ Please be courteous!
- "If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothin' at all." Please endeavor to be nice
to other shop patrons; you don't have to be friends, but don't flame or talk behind
others' backs in this thread.
✾ Stealing is wrong.
- Never take any art that doesn't belong to you, and don't edit any images without
permission. Never claim that you have created any of the shop's art unless you are
the artist!
✾ Read, read, read!
- There's a lot of information available on the front page of the shop. Make sure you
read it!
✾ The staff is here to help.
- If you have a problem, a question, or some kind of issue or misunderstanding,
contact the staff about it. We're here to help! Never be embarrassed to ask us
anything!
- ⊙ Roleplay
✾ Always be respectful.
- Above all else, remember to be respectful to your fellow players. Treat them as you
would have yourself be treated.
✾ IC drama =/= OOC drama.
- Please remember that in-character actions and feelings do not necessarily reflect
out of character actions and feelings. Just because characters clash, doesn't mean
that the players have to fight! IC drama is good for plot and development, but don't
let it leak over into OOC!
✾ Don't roleplay things you don't have.
- Characters are pretty flexible here, but never RP as having pokémon you haven't
obtained yet! Until you have bought or won a pokémon and gotten its image, that
pokémon doesn't exist!
✾ Traded pokémon are no longer yours.
- If you trade a pokémon to another user, that pokémon is no longer yours. You
have no say in its personality, actions, etc. If you trade a pokémon that belongs
to a character, make sure you remove that pokémon from that character's roster!
✾ Anyone is allowed a student.
- There is no questing associated with this, as there is no art and very few guides.
All you need is to fill out a quick mini-form in the guild. We simply want to make
sure that all students are appropriate for the setting - unless you are given
permission, all characters must be students within the academy, no less than ten
years, though there is no upper age limit.
- ⊙ Sales and Events
✾ Don't offer things you don't have.
- If you don't have an item, don't bid or offer it. If you don't have gold, don't say
that you do.
✾ Don't discourage others.
- Never talk about how much wealth you have during auctions. Don't pine and guilt
others over flatsales or free events. Never try to intimidate others or discourage
them from entering any event in any fashion.
✾ Don't be a sore loser.
- No one wins all of the things all of the times. If you don't win what you want in a sale
or event, it's perfectly understandable to be upset! However, don't take this out on
other patrons or the shop staff themselves! There will always be other chances!
✾ Items are acceptable payment.
- For bribes and auctions, you can offer items over 100k in value at 90% of Average
Market Price. Gold is the only payment option for flatsales, flaffles, and raffles.
✾ Payments must be sent within 48 hours.
- If you can't make this window, send a trade ahead of time so we know you have
the funds (i.e. for flaffles you may be out of town for the ending).
Professor Poplar
Eleventh of February, 2014
Updated shop layout.
24/1/2014 Updated shop layout with new graphics.
22/1/2014 Started working on shop layout.
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
- Around fifty years ago, it wasn't uncommon for Kantonese children to leave their homes
- and embark on a what was commonly called "pokémon adventure". These usually involved
heading off into the wilderness with only a loyal companion, typically household raised,
on a long journey to explore and discover the world. It was, in a way, a coming of age ritual;
pokémon trainers and fanatics just weren't considered "real deals" unless they'd seen
the world with their own eyes. In many ways, it wasn't exactly flawed thinking.
Experiencing things for oneself certainly does have its benefits on the psyche. However,
over time some very serious problems began to crop up.
- First of all, most trainers were fairly young when they began this expedition. The
widely accepted age for parents to see their curious children off was around ten. Leaving
in that way at that age meant that many trainers never received any sort of formal
schooling, which in turn created a very noted lack of education in much of the population.
In addition, many young trainers did not travel in groups, relying only on their pokémon
for protection and, often, companionship. While many would argue that companion
pokémon were excellent protection, monitoring studies showed many young "adventurers"
never returned home... or anywhere, for that matter. Bright-eyed but uneducated about
the world they were so eager to explore, many of these children would fall prey to wild
pokémon - never realizing just how dangerous the world around them could be.
- Secondly, the above factors weren't unnoticed by greedy and manipulative adults.
Various "teams" across regions - certainly not isolated to Kanto - would recruit these
young hopefuls into a criminal life, promising them power and wealth while pressuring
them into their own tight-knit groups with little hope of leaving should they change
their mind. Over the years, this lead to an enormous increase of "team"-related activity
and heavy cross-region war. This, of course, was a great danger to all members of society,
not just impressionable young recruits.
- All taken in, it shouldn't come as any surprise that, one day, the people had enough.
- Kanto had never had much in the way of government. The people were generally
peaceful and self-sufficient, and local mayors, elders, and law enforcement tried their
best and hardest to keep things in order. Local gym leaders and the Pokémon League were
the closest thing to "federal government" that the area had ever had, so in the end that
was exactly who ended up creating and enforcing the acts necessary to stop the early
demise and corruption of youngsters.
- Fast forward to modern day.
- After a rather rocky start, the regulations settled in and lives were bettered overall.
- Hopeful trainers, researchers, breeders, and generally anyone interested in a
career involving pokémon are now required to attend one of many pokémon academies
that have been established. Owning pokémon isn't illegal, but battling and performing
commercial acts and services without a license from one of these academies is. All new
trainers of any sort are expected to complete at least three years of formal schooling,
though some researcher and breeder courses can last upwards of ten.
- While there are several, the largest and most prestigious academy is the very first
one created - the Viridian City Academy of Pokémon Education and Guidance, often
referred to simply as "Viridian City Academy." Built on the north side of the city, Viridian
City Academy - or VCA - is a large, sprawling boarding school, designed to give the
most complete experience possible to students while still maintaining a safe and
controlled environment. The main academy is composed of several sections, including
age-sorted dorms, "theater style" classrooms for battling, raising, and researching
courses related to pokémon, "lecture style" classrooms for unrelated general studies,
and a small but functional school mall and recreational zone. The whole of the grounds
is several miles in width and length, with several simulated environments (maintained by
staff and their pokémon). It is complete with imported wild pokémon to create a full
exploration experience contained in the academy grounds. Though they are allowed out
into the city on holidays and during off times, many students find the micro-world of
VCA to be more interesting and rarely leave until they have graduated and are prepared
to take on the "real" world, if they even want to. Some find the academy so engaging
they never leave at all! Such people end up filling the much-needed roles of professors,
pokémon handlers, groundskeepers, and the like.
- VCA prides itself on its thorough coursework and quality of both life and education
offered to its students. It offers services to all trainers, with tuition generally being
income-based for parents, though only those who can prove dedication and a willingness
to learn are accepted. In modern times, getting into the illustrious Viridian City Academy
is truly the dream of almost all Kantonese youth.
- Pokémon are part of daily life at VCA. Whether they belong to the students, the
- faculty, or no one at all, there are plenty of pokémon wandering the hallowed
grounds. While this may seem picturesque, without proper safety it also leads to some
extreme dangers. For example, what if a violent student attacks a student with a
significantly weaker pokémon? What if the victimized students hasn't received one at all?
What's to stop an angry student from burning down an instructor's home? How does a
student with a family-given pokémon of traditionally great strength participate in the
same activities as the students with only a rattata or pidgey?
- VCA has, of course, thought of that.
- In fact, this was a very big issue and challenge during the early conception stages
of the academy, Those working to create the school wanted all potential students to be
able to participate equally, with no boundaries due to class or prior pokémon ownership.
They also wanted those in the same classes to be able to participate in the same learning
experiences without overpowering each other. It was a long standing question, halting
development of the schools for some time.
- The answer came, amusingly, from pokémon themselves, chiefly from the pokémon
machoke, a relatively common sight in Kanto. For ages, scientists refrained from studying
the strange "power save" belts on the creatures, fearing harming them or unleashing too
much power. However, a team of researchers intent on making their dream a reality took
it upon themselves to break through that long-standing fear. In a stroke of brilliance,
they agreed to study only deceased machokes, when they could be found.
- The answer they found was somewhat surprising. The "belts" were in fact inhibitors,
but they were actually made by the pokémon's own body in order to restrict otherwise
exponential muscle growth. This particular material could actually affect other pokémon
as well, much in the same way as the strange "evolution stones" could affect various types;
this power inhibitor stone could restrict the power of nearly any pokémon exposed to it.
The effect was found to be non-permanent, disappearing when the stone was removed
from the creature's vicinity.
- How to use this effectively, however, proved to be a bit of a problem. After all, what
would stop trainers from simply removing the stone from their pokémon's vicinity? The
answer came from concurrent research in the Johto region. Scientists studying the enigmatic
Ruins of Alph and the strange unown within made a startling discovery: when applied to
pokéballs, the symbols within the ruins (consequently the shape of the unown themselves)
could create strange and unusual effects on the pokémon within the ball. For the most
part this was somewhat useless or sporadic, but the two teams discovered that certain
patterns with other patterns on nearby items could cause effects to activate or deactivate,
and that pokéballs made with these activator patterns and bits of inhibitor stone could
restrict certain abilities and power levels.
- The result was what was at first known as an Encryption Ball, though the term Academy
Ball seems to be the more popular.
- This special ball is capable of doing many things, but its primary function is a disabling of a
pokémon's fighting abilities. Most of the time, pokémon held in Encryption Balls cannot
remember any of their battling moves and are generally incapable of hurting others. The
balls don't dent teeth or spikes of course, but they do cause flames to be little more than
bright mist, poison to become non-toxic, and water to puddle like a placid lake. All other
types are affected in similar ways.
- As an amazing solution as this was, it is only part of the balls' abilities. When passing
certain activation glyphs set up in the schools, various parts of a pokémon's abilities can be
"turned back on", but the actual power level could be contained to a certain degree, causing
what would be considered the sought-after equality. A pokémon might be able to fight, but
no "type" effects would take place, in other words no super effective moves. Natural skill level
could therefore be taken into account. When the pokémon leaves such an area, the same
activation glyph "shuts off" these natural abilities, letting students roam with their pokémon
without fear of bullying or harm.
- As in most cases of a new discovery, many people were reluctant to allow their
pokémon to be transferred to such powerful containers. However, as studies proved that no
lasting harm was done and most pokémon didn't mind at all, the populace became more
accepting of the idea. Today, all student owned pokémon on academy grounds are required
to be transferred to these balls.
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
Coming Soon
Professor Poplar
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Professor Poplar
✾ Pokémon is the brainchild of Satoshi Tajiri and is © Pokémon / Nintendo.
✾ Viridian City Academy and all original concepts were created by Variable Nonsense and constantLogic.
✾ All graphic designs unless otherwise noted were created by constantLogic.
✾ All hand-drawn art unless otherwise noted is created by Variable Nonsense.