What do I need to read?
Did you read the rule "Don't be an ass"? If so, then we're good. There's so many rules and systems here that we don't expect people to know all of them from the start. It's fine to go back later and refer to the dex pages to figure out what's supposed to be going on.

That's a nice thought, but what do I need to read to get started?
Plot, Setting, OOC, Game Rules from the InfoDex, and the ClassDex entries for whatever class you end up choosing. The rest, you should genuinely treat like a game. You'll benefit from skimming the battle rules, but it's 100% okay to learn as you go. Everything makes a lot more sense after you're past the tutorial stage.

...When does the tutorial stage end?
Your first scourge battle. Good luck! Feel free to ask questions of whatever mod or agent is running the scourge battle. Mods, obviously, know what's going down, and hades agents are all experienced members of the site.

What class should I pick?
The one that seems most interesting to you. In the end, all of them are good in a fight.

Tell me about Trainers.
Trainers are meant for combat. They level up the fastest, and they hit the hardest, fastest, strongest, bestest. They advance by gaining badges; each badge comes with a benefit that enhances their leveling potential or their capabilities in battle. They take a few badges to start ramping up.

Tell me about Breeders.
Breeders, unsurprisingly, are meant to breed strong pokemon. The more eggs they've successfully bred, the stronger they get. Their battle capabilities reflect having happy pokemon in tip-top shape. The first few egg clutches are a breeder's toughest hurdle. It takes a long time before they're as good in a battle as other classes, but they get there eventually.

Tell me about Rangers.
Rangers start with one pokemon partner and can fight themselves by drawing ranger signs, which mimic pokemon attacks. They get stronger by collecting ranger signs, and they eventually end up with three partner pokemon. They scale steadily and are powerful at any level, but collecting signs is no easy task.

Tell me about Researchers.
Researchers collect pokedex entries for both regular and scourge pokemon. As they accumulate dex entries, they learn how to teach their pokemon to overcome their natural limitations. Keeping track of dex entries is a chore, and they don't have leveling steroids to support a large pokemon team, but researchers are the most versatile class.

Tell me about Hades Agents.
You can't play a hades agent until you're already to Lake Pax, but they're people that the scourge have chosen to serve. Like some sort of twisted ranger, they have one scourge partner and can use ranger signs. They can hold their own in a fight, and with their scourge partner, they're a challenge for any class, even at the highest levels.

Tell me about Civilians.
You can't play a civilian until you're already to Nerio City, but they're just anyone living in Kohaku that isn't a part of the Eos Program. They have various job paths to pursue, which make them useful to have around, but they'll never even come close to matching any other class.

Choosing a Starter
You can choose based on what suits your character's personality, or the pokemon you like best, or whatever other reasoning, but ideally you'll have a starter pokemon that learns a good mix of attacks early on in their natural moveset. Early on, you'll want to spend your money on daycare or eggs, not TMs. Picking a starter like beldum or gible will pay off on the long run, but consider pokemon like zubat or munna, who learn a good variety of moves early.

Leveling
t's not smart to drag out battles just to win for the sake of winning. You get good exp for losing too, so it's more efficient to move onto the next encounter. This is particularly true for scourge battles, especially hades agents. The exp you get for winning is insane, but the exp for losing ain't so bad.

Breeding
It's good to specialize! Pick an egg group or two and stick with them. You want to maximize egg output early on (to get past the bumpy 0 egg breeder stage), so just breed commons until you start stacking bonuses to mating chances. If you want to breed rares, remember that your mating chances increase if the parents are the same species.

Baby's First Scourge Battle
Don't be afraid to run. There is no shame in that.

Collecting Ranger Signs
If you feel aimless while trainers work on their first badge, researchers beg to get dex entries, and breeders obsessively tally their eggs--well, you're supposed to be getting your basic signs. You can get them for free by constantly getting new poke assist pokemon in every thread you start, but you can also just thread out the basic prompts. Either way, you gotta thread.

Team Composition
Double and triple battles are pretty common here, so pay attention to how your pokemon mesh together. Just like in the games, type coverage is important. Unlike the games, support moves and dedicated support pokemon are potentially a must. Don't be caught dead without a wishbot. Safeguard is vital. Mist can turn the tide of a battle.

Movesets
You have ten moves. That sounds like a lot, but type coverage, buffs, debuffs, and status ailments are all super important. It's better to sacrifice type coverage (about three offensive attacks is probably enough) to have a good assortment of status ailments and debuffs.

No one knows how to win. I don't know how to win. The rest of the staff team don't know how to win. We're all in the dark here.

We're supposed to figure it out. We--as in, the entire site. Various tools for defeating the scourge are planted around the site. There's powerful NPCs that don't seem to really be doing anything, if you want to recruit them to fight a glorious last stand. There's mysterious landmarks and relics, if you want to discover their secrets. (We don't know their secrets. Whoever comes up with the coolest secret first gets to have it be site canon.)

Can the scourge by sealed away by solving an ancient puzzle? Maybe. Can they be defeated by rallying every damn character on the site? Perhaps. Can you liberate every scourge territory of Kohaku and starve the virus to its death? Good luck. Can you invade then Land of Nightmares to cut then head off the snake in the Distortion World? Seriously, good luck.

Any plan--even if it's crazy--could potentially work. What matters is that it's cool, and that it's a good story that involves everyone's characters being cool. Any ideas that basically come down to one Mary Sue saving the day will be shot down. Frodo throwing the ring into Mt. Doom is cool, but it's a solo adventure. We're not a solo site.

Defeating the scourge is the endgame at Kohaku. You can start seriously considering how it can be done around lv90 or so. Before then, you can't really do much besides try to keep the scourge from spreading and saving scourge-claimed lands. Conversely, after lv100, there's not much else for you to do besides figure out how to put an end to the scourge once and for all.

Character retirement is a misnomer. It's basically the opposite of retiring.

You have the option, once you reach Sol City, to "retire" your character. A retired character remains 100% playable, although the intention is that they're not quite in the limelight anymore.

A retired character takes on extra duties. They become a gym leader, a professor, head of a breeder society, or just some random guy giving away free stuff to bright-eyed, bushy-tailed adventurers.

It's easiest to replace a currently existing NPC, but if you have your own ideas, you can talk to staff about them. If it's reasonable, there's no reason we won't allow it.

Retiring requires discussion with the staff about what role you want your character to take. Your options are generally limited by your activity and availability.

There are two types of retired roles: freebie and duty.

FREEBIE roles are for characters that replace NPCs that do weekly/monthly giveaways. These are low commitment, and if you're absent or late on handing things out, we'll just roll the freebies for you.

DUTY roles are for characters that replace NPCs that thread with player characters. These roles are usually for each class' progression. You generally need to be very active and dedicated for these, although there's some wiggle room.

For example, if you want to be an early gym leader, you're going to have a lot of challengers. If you want to be a late gym leader, then your gym won't have as much traffic. If you go on hiatus, the staff will either post as generically as possible to complete your active duty threads, and we'll have the ex-gym leader show up for any new challengers while you're out. We do not want to roleplay your character for you, but we will to keep people for getting stuck on your duty threads.

Retired characters are not out of commission. They are still eligible for the lv100+ quests, and they can still continue advancing in their class.

If you cannot keep up with your character's duties, your character will be un-retired.

The level cap can be surpassed.

Once you have arrived to Sol City, the endgame phase begins. Endgame refers to the point where your character is done with the bulk of the content intended for their class. You are, by endgame, a badass--but you can still be badasser, or even badassest!

If you meet the requirements, you may unlock level 100+ content by starting a [challenge] thread in the Land of Nightmares. You do not need to win the [challenge]. In fact, you will probably lose.

Lv150 is the hard cap. There is no going above Lv150.

Levels beyond 100 don't give anything except an indicator of greater strength.

Upon hitting lv100, pokemon with mega evolutions may remain in mega form, if you so choose.

Upon hitting lv150, a pokemon may learn any one attack of your choice, assuming it makes sense. Your Bisharp can learn Secret Sword. Your Bisharp cannot learn Spore.

REQUIREMENTS FOR LEVEL 100+
At least TEN scourge battles
At least FIVE hades agents know your name
Trainers: ALL badges
Researchers: 500 dex entries
Breeders: 300 eggs
Rangers: 50 signs
A completed [challenge] thread in the Land of Nightmares

Hades agents and civilians can NEVER exceed lv99. Hades agents already have scourge pokemon operating at double level (to a max of lv198), and civilians are simply not meant to ever be that cool.

Special note: Breeders are also capped at lv150. However, with their class ability, they effectively max out at lv160. They may record their level as 160, but remember that they are technically still lv150.

Over a thousand years ago, an ancient civilization reigned over Kohaku. They were dreamwalkers, weaving between reality and dream as if they were one and the same.

Like all dreamers, they were explorers. They believed in the limitless. By toying with the limits of reality, they tore open a portal to another dimension. Through it, they found the Distortion World--they found the Shining City.

The city was a land of plenty. What was wished for, the land provided. They felled its trees, mined its earth, and sapped dry any worth that belonged to the city. The dreamwalkers built their towns and temples in Kohaku with the Shining City's blood and body. Eventually, there was nothing left to take. The dreamwalkers abandoned the Shining City, and the land was left alone with nothing.

The Shining City became the Land of Nightmares. It wasn't dark so much as it was empty--bodiless, voiceless, and wanting.

The Land of Nightmares entered Kohaku through the portal to Lake Pax. It was only ether and air, all that could be sustained by a once all-powerful sentience. It sought company. It sought unity, for its people to return to it once more.

The people wanted power (they always did, and they still do), and the Land gifted it to them its power. What it touched became corrupted with darkness--violent, rageful, and hungry. They were unworthy hosts, it decided, but they had a purpose.

The first scourge was meant to purge the betrayers.

The dreamwalkers were quick to react. The first scourge was swift and dangerous, but so were the defenders of Kohaku. They sealed the portal as best they could, hiding it away for centuries to come. Slowly, they stamped out the existing scourge one by one.

It was an imperfect solution. It was only a matter of time before the scouge returned, and so the dreamwalkers abandoned Kohaku. They scattered into the Dream World, never to return.

The scientists of Pax Institute were on the verge of an impossible breakthrough. They had synthesized an artificial version of the pokerus virus--one that they were certain would show results far surpassing the natural pokerus. They called it "the gift."

They had created a super serum that increased growth and development. Their serum was technically a parasite, but it was a beneficial one. In theory, it devoured the pokemon's mental and physical inhibitors. Without its natural limitations, the host pokemon would then increase to potentially infinite power.

Their first experiment was a failure. Their second was a success. A docile test subject became a powerful battler within a day. The subject's skin darkened and began to glow. The scientists were overjoyed.

By the next day, the gift had spread. The scientists' joy turned to horror. Pax Institute held a variety of pokemon as assistants, companions, and test subjects. Every one of them became infected. Driven mad from hunger and bloodlust, the pokemon attacked and devoured anything that crossed their paths.

Mad, wild, and uncontrollable, these pokemon became known as the scourge, suffering from a condition referred to as the hades virus. The hades virus doesn't seem to be genuinely a virus. It lives even without a host; it multiplies on its own; it effects symptoms so severe that it cannot possibly be a mere virus.

There are no firsthand accounts, but the virus has a sentience of its own. It whispers, sometimes loudly but generally so subtly that a pokemon doesn't even notice its presence. It offers unlimited power and a new world order. It's up to the infected pokemon to accept their offer--or turn it down.

There are four varieties of scourge:

The REJECTED HOSTS are the scourge pokemon that are barely sentient. They hunt and feed; there is no more meaning to their lives. If you asked them why, they generally can't even form a response. Their mind and body rejected the virus' offer. Rejected hosts are by far the most common variety of scourge.

The COMPATIBLE hosts are the scourge pokemon are intelligent hunters. They are cunning predators and sometimes highly sophisticated personalities. They have little memory of their pre-scourge past. They accepted the virus' offer, but for whatever reason, the virus found them insufficient.

The IDEAL HOSTS are the hades agents' partner pokemon. They retain their free will, their memories, and their sentience. They accepted the virus gladly, and the virus did the same in return. There are exceptionally few ideal hosts.

The PERFECT HOSTS are few are far between. They are the hades agents themselves. The hades virus targets pokemon specifically, and only the most compatible humans are susceptible to it. Perfect hosts retain complete free will. There are only as many perfect hosts as there are hades agents in play.

The Dream World is not an out of character area. It is, to be fair, a location where various site sundries and character accounting takes place--but it a real location.

The CITY OF DREAMS is an ancient establishment that predates modern Kohaku. The people of Kohaku have always used it as a central meeting place to conduct business and trade. Conduits in the Dream World make it possible for physical goods to be transferred in the dreaming. For obvious reasons, this is an incredibly efficient system.

The ISLAND OF DREAMS is an ever changing landscape, although the general locations remain constant. The pokemon encountered in the Island of Dreams tend to be quirky or disconnected, too vibrant for reality, but many people prefer to train dream world pokemon. Once captured, they are perfectly real and competent in battle.

The TREE OF DREAMS is a mysterious place. It grants wishes, and it is the only instance where the intangible gift of a heart's true desires can manifest even in the real world. Normally, when given something conjured up by your own imagination, it stays in the Dream World. The inference follows: the Tree of Dreams has a power that goes beyond imagination.

The LAND OF NIGHTMARES exists in three worlds at once. It has a physical presence at Lemures Circle in Kohaku. It circles the City of Dreams as a dark moon. However, it's true location is in the Distortion World. Most of it is not any sort of hell; it's simply eerie, mostly empty, and subtly wrong. Some may find it peaceful.

You can live permanently in the Dream World, but it would require your physical body to be comatose. Once your body dies, your soul goes with it. The deceased cannot remain in the Dream World.

Injuries in the Dream World have no physical effect, although there may be residual psychological effects. Dying only causes the dreamer or wake up. This has made the Dream World an ideal place to train pokemon.

The Dream World responds to the will of the dreamer. A particularly imaginative and determined person could brainstorm themselves roughly anything. However, it disappears after they wake up, and nothing they conjure up can be removed from the Dream World.

The Dream World will create imaginary people, but they behave like NPCs in an old school rpg game. They are incredibly generic and unconvincing. They tend to respond to inquiries with the exact same canned response. They are obviously neither real nor important.

The Land of Nightmares is slightly different. If entered through Lemures Circle, a person exists there physically, in which case, injuries are very much real. A person could stay there forever. Death would be very final. If entered through sleeping, the Land of Nightmares is only a bad dream and the usual Dream World rules apply.

The Land of Nightmares is weaker than the Dream World. It cannot provide much for its visitors, but what it can provide is always real.

Kohaku has a particular take on legendary pokemon.

There is only one true version of each legendary pokemon. They are gods, or close to it. Some of them are all-powerful, others are minor deities are best.

These pokemon are so powerful that they can (often involuntarily) create splinters of their own soul. These splinters are weak shadows of its true self. If created intentionally, they're meant to be an additional set of eyes and ears. If there were real business to take care of, the legendary pokemon would appear in all their glory, not through a minor avatar.

Sometimes, a legendary pokemon can be captured. If captured, the actual legendary pokemon escapes--it cannot be restrained by any mortal device. However, a splinter of its soul remains. That splinter can be raised and trained.

Sometimes, a legendary pokemon can be cloned. If cloned, the clone is itself a splinter of the legendary pokemon. The legendary pokemon is immediately aware of its existence. The clone can be raised and trained.

Training a legendary pokemon is different from a regular pokemon. They will only remain in existence so long as they see reason to. Perhaps they agree with the character's cause, perhaps they're curious, or perhaps they're genuinely loyal to their trainer.

For every level gained, a legendary pokemon must also acquire one +♥. If the legendary pokemon falls more than two ♥ short, the legendary pokemon loses interest in their trainer and abandons them.

Legendary pokemon gain one level per battle won, regardless of experience rules. They do not gain any experience for losing.

We reserve the right to remove your legendary pokemon from play for any reason.

The Year of the Scourge

JANUARY
• 14th - The scientists began work on synthesizing an aritificial virus to remove the natural limitations on pokemon development. (In game terms: they wanted to remove the IV/EV and level cap.)
• 27th - First experiment is a failure that dissolves Subject One into a pile of black, viscous goop.
• 28th - The Rift appears.

FEBRUARY
• 7th - Second experiment is a success! Subject Two shows immediate signs of increased potential. Increase in violent behavior concerning.
• 8th - Subject Two breaks out of isolation cell. Artificial virus is highly contagious. Pax Institute is a morgue by nightfall.
• 14th - The scourge arrives in Decima Town.
• 15th - Decima Town is overrun.
• 19th - The scourge arrives in Bacchus Town.
• 22nd - Kohaku University begins work on a cure.
• 28th - Bacchus Town is overrun.
• 30th - Diana invents the virus ball that captures scourge pokemon. It's rapidly concluded that scourge pokemon cannot be tamed.

MARCH
• 1st-6th - The Battle of Bellona Hills - An extended battle that effectively wiped out all of Kohaku's ace trainers. Gym leaders sent their best and brightest to represent them, every veteran worth their salt showed up to create an army of the likes that Kohaku has never seen. The scourge defeated them all.
• 11th - The Ranger Union arrives in Kohaku, led by Top Ranger Sa'di.
• 14th - Professor Cypress creates the eos vaccine. Kohaku University still working on a cure.
• 16th - The Eos Program starts recruiting.

APRIL
• 10th - The first known appearance of a hades agent. (It was Cameron in a battle against Thalia.)
• 16th - Eos participants gather at Lake Pax; the first plan of attack since the Battle of Bellona is formulated.
• 18th - Eos participants commence with liberating Bellona Hills. It is an uphill battle.

MAY
• 22nd - Bellona Hills is reclaimed.

JUNE
• 15th - The scourge invade Epona Bridge. Hespera City moves to defend.
• 28th - The scourge invade Nerio City. Nerio City rebuffs them.
• 29th - Epona Bridge is overrun.

JULY
• 1st - The scourge invade Nerio City. Again.
• 2nd - Bellona Hills is overrun by the scourge.
• 3rd - 28th - The First Siege of Nerio City - The scourge have Nerio backed up to Di Manes, where Proserpina sends supplies and rations through the caverns. The situation looks grim.
• 28th - The scourge invade Di Manes Caverns. They enter not from the outside but from burrowing below the earth. The invasion interrupts supply lines and cuts off access to the outside world.
• 30th - Nerio City is overrun.

AUGUST
• 2nd - Casino Aurora is liberated single-handedly by Irene. Because she really wanted her casino.
• 6th - Esme kicks all the scourge out of Di Manes, assisted by the ghosts of fallen champions.
• 6th - Nenia gathers the survivors of Bacchus and marches on Nerio City.
• 6th - 31st - The Second Siege of Nerio City - Eos descends upon Nerio City. Nenia and Esme stand on siege, and the scourge is starved out. Eventually, they devour each other.

SEPTEMBER
• 2nd - Nerio City is liberated. There are few survivors. With the city secure, Angelo immediately abandons his post as gym leader.
• 5th - Mikhail becomes Nerio City's new gym leader.

OCTOBER
• The scourge has been uncomfortably quiet.

NOVEMBER
• 20th - The scourge invade Decima Town. This event has not yet been resolved.

DECEMBER
• 1st - The Eos Program receives fewer and fewer recruits. The Pokemon Association grows concerned.

JANUARY
• It is currently January.

Not here yet.

You don't care who the staff plays. This is the information you really need to know.

Hook
Also, the owner of the admin account. Rolls poorly. Designed battle system; runs very tactical battles. Much easier to win against once it's past midnight.

Vertigo
Fastest poster in the wild west. Rolls even worse than Hook. Does not actually try to kill you in [challenge] threads, even if it looks like it. GMT+8 timezone.

Zulf
Breeds pokemon 24/7. Has good, reliable luck. This is the guy you want rolling things for you. He will get you the rares.

Tuyet
Primarily a user, ads, and graphics mod, rarely mods threads.

Toska
Wasn't on this page for the longest time because Hook never forgave her for the one time that she rolled Neo a Gulpin. Okay roll luck, probably screws up battle rules the most often.

Citrus
Basically the nicest human being on the face of this earth. Busy with school, please be patient.

Godking Togepi
A wild togepi kicked some serious ass. Thalia went camping, and godking togepi proceeded to KO her entire team through sheer luck of metronome and broken status ailment rules. It's generally considered the strongest pokemon in Kohaku.

Sleepy Camerupt
Hook and Tuyet ran a four man battle using (arguably) the strongest characters on the site at the time. It was supposed to be epic. Instead, scourge camerupt fell asleep in the first round and couldn't wake up even after two pages of rolling.

Sudoboobo, aka the tit tree
Why scourge threads shouldn't be modded in the wee hours of the morning.

Pax Crew
Reaching Lake Pax is considered a turning point in character progression. Pax Crew refers to the first set of characters to get that far, and it also refers to an IC tradition to hold meetings to discuss the scourge threat at Pax (eg, the gathering of the Pax Crew).