Vanishing Point - The Gameworld

The Basics

The setting of Vanishing Point is an alternate-universe version of Kanto, drawing influences from both the video-game and anime depictions of the region. This version of the setting has been designed to create a unique and cohesive roleplaying experience, and we hope it'll allow our players to tell different sorts of stories than other games in the Pokemon universe.

Kanto at a Glance

Kanto is a large and geographically diverse region, with mountains in the north, plains and forests in the central region, and archipelagos jutting into the southern ocean. The climate is generally temperate, with relatively pleasant weather regardless of season; between the good weather and the natural beauty of the region, outdoor activities are common hobbies in Kanto, and ecological awareness is high. The cities are built in harmony with their surroundings, and the numbered Routes connecting them are constructed to accommodate both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. (Cars aren't uncommon in Kanto, but bicycles are a more popular form of transportation for all ages.)

Pokemon are the lifeblood of Kanto, serving as companion animals, helpers, and in many ways fellow citizens. (That they also serve as a part of the region's food supply is a difficult reality; mundane animals and plants have long made up the majority of the Kantonese diet, and in recent years the popularity of Pokemon as food has fallen off further, but it seems unlikely to ever disappear.) Most households have at least one companion Pokemon, and many people first join up with Pokemon companions as children, beginning lifelong friendships.

Given the importance of Pokemon training in Kanto, particularly successful trainers tend to become celebrities and public figures; while the region's official capital is Saffron City, in many ways the real power rests in the secretive and remote Pokemon League headquarters on the isolated Indigo Plateau. The league's main local representatives, the Gym Leaders, have a standing somewhere between being local heroes and public officials, and the League often functions as a sort of shadow government, although usually a benevolent one.

The Team Rocket Scare

Up until ten years ago, the recent history of Kanto had generally been peaceful, even sleepy -- and then one criminal group set out to change that. At first nothing more than sightings of stranged, uniformed figures skulking outside cities, the gang known as Team Rocket soon made their presence known with a string of Pokemon thefts, targeting young or inexperienced-looking trainers traveling the major routes. Most of these attempted thefts were unsuccessful, but the few successful Pokemon abductions were still enough to make Team Rocket front-page news; Pokemon theft was vanishingly rare, considered taboo even by Kanto's normal criminal culture, and previously occurring only as isolated incidents. That a gang had apparently organized specifically to steal Pokemon shocked all of Kanto.

Kanto's police forces were quick to mobilize against the Team Rocket threat, and soon various police forces managed to arrest a few of the Team's low-level "grunt" agents; when faced with the legal repercussions of their actions, most of these grunts were all too eager to testify in exchange for a plea bargain, and the resulting intelligence led to raids on more and more Rocket safehouses. At last, the police tracked down the head of the organization -- Giovanni, then the well-respected Gym Leader of Viridian City, who had used the Team as part of a farther-reaching plan involving embezzling and black-market cross-region trade. That the distinguished Gym Leader could have been involved in a plan designed to prey on the region's most vulnerable trainers caused massive public outcry, and the Pokemon League was quick to disown him.

After Giovanni's arrest and subsequent conviction, the remaining Team Rocket cells were quickly rounded up and scattered, and to this day most members of the organization remain imprisoned. Those who aren't -- all low-level grunts -- have generally relocated to other regions, since the social stigma against former Rockets is still very strong in Kanto. To have been a Rocket is to be worse than scum, and perhaps as a result, not even the most base of petty criminals have made any attempt to revive the organization.

The Decline of the Indigo League

Team Rocket may not have done a great deal of material damage, but the true aftereffects of their actions were felt in the minds of citizens across Kanto. The Team had broken one of the region's unspoken laws by harassing young trainers on their Pokemon journeys, and it made parents and children alike nervous -- what if there were copycats? Was it just not safe out there anymore? On top of that, the fact that the leader of Team Rocket was a Gym Leader undermined the public's faith in the League system, convincing more would-be trainers to stay home.

No Team Rocket copycats sprung up, but the number of children beginning training journeys plummeted anyway, and recovery has yet to arrive; the journey rates eventually plateaued again, but the drop was severe, with many of the gyms going for weeks or months without a challenger. To the League's chagrin, many of the Gym Leaders didn't much mind this change of events, now free to focus on their own training or pet projects. It seemed the era of the great Kanto training journeys was dying with a whimper, and the League had no idea what to do about it.

Years later, they still don't, and what was once a disaster is swiftly becoming the status quo. Four years ago, the Vermilion City gym burned down in an apparent act of arson, killing the Gym Leader and her team; the League still hasn't considered it appropriate to rebuild, and so the League route has been reduced to seven gyms and badges, possibly indefinitely. While this has drawn some opportunistic trainers from other regions, even the reduced difficulty of the route seems unlikely to wake Kanto from its slump. The importance of Pokemon as friends, companions, and battling partners hasn't decreased, but it may be that the League battling system is nearing its end.

Transformations and Transitions: The Pokemorph Years

After the difficulties of recent years, nobody in Kanto would have guessed that the next development would be heralded by an astronomical curiosity: a meteor shower in Mt. Moon, one that captured the interest of scholars and local stargazers but very few others. The meteor shower was magnificent, though, and its true impact became obvious a few weeks later, when a group of geologists and ecologists from a Johto university emerged from Mt. Moon, changed into strange hybrid forms halfway between humans and Pokemon, announcing the advent of a new world.

Their arrival was received with skepticism, naturally, but several of the scientists submitted to medical examinations that seemed to confirm their story; even then, they might have been written off as a bizarre fluke of nature if the condition hadn't started spreading. First, a handful of people in Pewter City and Cerulean City fell into a deep sleep and woke up transformed, and slowly but surely the transformations began to spread across Kanto. By the time the media and public had settled on calling the new species "Pokemorphs," they numbered in the hundreds, and their ranks were still growing. Hysteria was beginning to set in -- was this a new plague? Was humanity doomed?

Faced with this bizarre epidemic, the Kanto government was quick to convene in an emergency session, and soon the Resolution on Pokemorph Citizenship was signed into law, confirming that Pokemorphs retained all their rights as human citizens of Kanto. The region's Self-Defense Force was mobilized as well to reinforce local police forces in those areas where panic had set in, and soon, something like a stable status quo had arisen. New Pokemorphs still had a struggle ahead of them, but most of the threat of violence was stemmed.

Time wore on, and as it became clear that transformed Pokemorphs retained their own minds and weren't contagious, society began to accept them. As Pokemorphs began to meet and mingle with their own kind, Pewter City and Cerulean City became their main gathering places, but Pokemorph subcultures sprung up everywhere -- even in the other regions, as the transformation slowly spread. In due time, Pokemorph children were born, proof that this new subspecies would sustain itself.

In the five years since the first Pokemorphs emerged from Mt. Moon, Kanto has come to accept them; this acceptance has been slower in the other regions, but it's happening nonetheless, as Pokemorphs are a factor they simply can't afford to ignore. Whether this creates a new world or simply a more colorful one is still up to debate -- and up to the Pokemorphs themselves.

Pewter City

The central setting for Vanishing Point MUCK is Pewter City, located in western-central Kanto. Before the rise of the Pokemorphs, Pewter was mostly centered around its Gym and its status as the first stop on Kanto's badge circuit; the decline in that circuit meant a decline in Pewter's fortunes. However, the advent of the Pokemorph era has seen it start to recover, as Pokemorphs flock to the city and start to revive its housing markets and local business scene.

By the standards of Kanto cities, Pewter City is relatively small and quiet, but it still has several features of note. Perhaps most obvious is the city's Pokemon Gym, led by Gym Leader Brock; even though the influx of young trainers has ebbed, the Gym continues to serve those seeking instruction in Rock-type Pokemon training, as well as general mental and physical fortitude. Brock himself is over 60 but barely shows his age except in his more peaceful demeanor, and he's often to be found in Pewter's Greystone Park, meditating or simply enjoying the good weather.

Also of note is the northern section of the city, home to Pewter's university and to its famed Natural History Museum. Located here is the laboratory of Professor Auvin, a Natu-Morph researcher hailed as one of the very few "Pokemorph Professors" and experts on Pokemorph physiology and medicine. Although regarded as something of an eccentric, Professor Auvin is generally happy to share her knowledge with her visitors, and many Pokemorphs have taken her up on it.

To the east of Pewter, meanwhile, is Mt. Moon, a forbidding mountain that holds an important place in the Pokemorphs' nascent history. It was here that a meteor shower heralded the transformation of the first Pokemorphs, and it's rumored that many of those 'morphs still live among the native Clefairy here, venerating the mountain and creating their own strange society inside. Little is known about what might be happening in the warrens of Mt. Moon... but it may very well not be good.

Other Locations of Note

While Pewter City is the main setting of Vanishing Point, the other cities and towns of Kanto are also available for play. Here are capsule descriptions of the cities as they exist on the VP grid:

Celadon City: The most cosmopolitan city in Kanto after Saffron, Celadon City is the center of the region's beauty and fashion industries. The city is famous for its elegant urban planning and beautiful city center, but a recent outbreak of Grimer and other Poison-type Pokemon in the downtown area has caused Celadon to construct a new Poison Preserve outside of town to contain wild Poison-types. Celadon's Gym Leader is Erika, who in addition to her work in her Gym-cum-greenhouse manages one of the city's best-regarded fragrance boutiques.

Cerulean City: Pewter City's sister to the east, Cerulean City has become another center of Pokemorph population. It's best known for its beautiful beaches and its citywide focus on clean and healthy living; Kanto's finest spas, gyms, and health-food stores are found here. The Gym Leader, Misty, focuses mostly on swimming and lifeguarding lessons for Cerulean's young people.

Cinnabar Island: Kanto's leading vacation resort, Cinnabar Island claims to offer the best of both worlds - stunning volcanic scenery and the greatest attractions man can dream up. There's something for everybody, from the casinos on the Promenade to the rides at the Cinnabar Highlands theme park to the near-deserted bays on the island's southern side. Historically famous for its Wedding Chapel, a traditional location for couples wishing to elope. Gym Leader Blaine has mostly retreated into seclusion, working ceaselessly on the island's amusement park.

Fuchsia City: Fuchsia City is located on the tip of Kanto's southeastern archipelago, a location that has helped its booming tourist trade, but the city's main attraction still remains the Kanto Safari Zone. While the Zone has placed more restrictions recently on Safari Games following Warden Slowpoke's retirement and replacement, it remains a popular destination for trainers and tourists alike. Koga, Fuchsia City's long-time Gym Leader, was recently promoted to the Elite Four, and his daughter Janine has taken over the city's ninja-focused gym.

Lavender Town: This tiny town in eastern Kanto, the home of Kanto's Pokemon Tower, seems nearly timeless. The cycle of life, death, and remembrance goes on here as it has for centuries; the Tower remains the preferred burial location for Pokemon in the region, and the best undertakers in Kanto for both humans and Pokemon have long kept their offices in Lavender.

Pallet Town: The proverbial little town that nobody's ever heard of, Pallet Town has nevertheless managed to be the birthplace of a disproportionate number of champion Pokemon trainers. As such, many view it as a place almost of pilgrimage. The place itself is sleepy to the point of being comatose, but its olde worlde charms ensure a slim but steady stream of tourist attention.

Saffron City: Kanto's capital, where old and new money collide. Saffron City has as many facets as a cut diamond, even if they don't always sparkle quite so brightly. Its university is by far the largest in the region, encompassing the teaching hospital whose Metamorphosis Wing saw the birth of the Des Anges scale. Saffron's other claim to fame is as the world's most psychic city, a boast which centres on the Gym where Sabrina still guides young Psis of all species towards their full potential. Rumours abound that a legendary 'Morph haunts the city's Primrose Place, but as of this moment these remain unconfirmed.

Vermilion City: A small port city on the southern edge of the region, now chiefly famous for being somewhere people go when they wish to go somewhere else. Vermilion has never really recovered from the loss of its Gym some four years previously, and feels like a city with its heart cut out. The local youth have become disenfranchised and disillusioned, and the streets are no longer safe to walk at night.

Viridian City: Densely-populated city on the western edge of the region, famous for its grimy skyscrapers and for playing host to the immense offices of the Kanto Gazette. Viridian prides itself on being a city of trainers, birthplace of the Pokemart franchise and home to the region's largest Gym. As the only Leader to have taken the Nap, Stantler-Morph Scott Coltrane is a passionate advocate for his chosen lifestyle. By and large, the city has lent him its cautious support.

Indigo City: Where the conspiracy theorists would have you believe all the big decisions are really made. This small city-state rests independent of the continents of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, isolated and secretive behind the forbidding Victory Road. Rumours abound about the city itself, but its denizens are an insular bunch. Even when they deign to leave their home turf, they tend not to discuss it with others.