Sheri Groleau - Vertebral Art

General Setting and Translation of Mechanics

The overall approach of this project has foundations in supporting in-game lore, in particular the canon production of synthetic Pokemon (MewTwo, Type: Null), repeated notions in the PokeDex that Pokemon arise from humans in some way (especially ghosts), that humans share some abilities with Pokemon (particularly Psychics), and the suggestion in Japanese lore text that at some point in the past humans and Pokemon were one and the same, with humans arising later and Pokemon being suggested to be a form of missing link in human evolution.

Conspiracy and the ambiguity of “what is best left buried” are the primary themes of this project.

Sections: Setting | Silph Co. | The Pokemon League | Pokemon ownership and culture | Ditto, a threat

Future sections: PokeBall / capture technology | Evolution - stones, trading, age, and stress

Setting: Prior to the appearance of Pokemon, conflicts raged across the globe to settle humanity’s disputes. However, fighting with human lives was not acceptable. Machines were all that was permitted to wage open war. As conflicts grew, sputtered, split, and spread, the inefficiency of AI-driven machine warfare was increasingly lamented. Leaving machines to destroy each other in the name of their nation eventually resulted in stalemates produced by inflexible programming reaching “logical” conclusions on either side, leading to inevitable strategic mirroring. Although mankind as a biological species was not able to enter war, something less than human but still able to think freely, unrestrained by binary computer logic, could go in mankind’s place to gain an edge by virtue of flexible, unpredictable, free thought and strategisation.

Silph was an industrial science and supply company that produced and delivered high-grade organic and inorganic material with the brightest minds at the helm. Silph built machines, and later, armed with the kernel of “human but not quite enough to qualify,” engineered prototype strains of obedient, conceptual “human animals” to fight mankind’s machines in the name of mankind. Radical changes to the human genome spark wild “magical” abilities - production of oils that combust on command, the manipulation of water via molecular magnetism. These new weapons are deployed in secret, transported to the front lines by pocket-sized mass-to-energy containers hard-coded to be compatible with the patented and copy-written warped genetic code of these creatures. War was interesting again, but the result was global scarification and waste. The world “outside” became an alien landscape uninhabitable and nontransversable to humanity.

With the collapse of natural flora and fauna and an exponentially increasing tally of species either extinct or dying, Silph was tasked and commissioned to engineer a solution to the problem it helped create. Its “human animals” would be genetically refitted to undo the damage, engineered to filter toxin- and carbon-choked air into oxygen, altered to convert dust-blocked solar energy into usable power, designed to do mankind’s work where mankind could no longer step.

Cities were raised high above the barren earth with purified air, water, and soil dredged up from below to be reinstalled miles above ground to remake what had been ruined. The human genome, manipulated and reformatted to purpose by the might of Silph, gave rise to the revival of species integral to the ecosystem. “Grass,” crafted from the DNA of Homo sapiens, grows green and verdant. “Birds,” engineered from human genetic code, sing in blue skies filtered by half-sentient filtration sacks of human skin and cells. The general populace, with careful guidance and conditioning, is none the wiser as the mistakes of the past are slowly built over and erased. The “human animals” that helped mankind reach its goal of domination over itself are remade in the image of extinct, loving non-human companions, their obedience and loyalty as foundational as the day they were created. Mankind is friends with itself.

The world people see is not what actually exists under their feet.

Silph Co.: Silph, now Silph Co., is the reason “Pocket Monsters” (“Pokemon”) exist and are responsible for their creation as a race of sub-human “human animals.” In the same vein, Silph Co. is also responsible for the consumer culture cultivated around “Pokemon.” Silph Co. continues to create Pokemon, but many strains have developed on their own from proto-species that have been left to their own devices by either accident or on purpose. The creation and promotion of the PokeDex is an arguably underhanded method made by Silph to have its many wayward creations properly catalogued after all this time. What survived and what didn’t? Well, the intrepid spirits of10-year-old children and enthusiasts will find out for them.

Once the origins of the Pocket Monster was forgotten, Silph Co. allowed itself to fade into the background, but remained watchful of its species’ success. It kept control of the Pocket Monster culture as a supplier of Pokemon accessories, medicines, and various technologies. The Devon Corporation was created as an arm of Silph Co. to keep accusations of monopolisation in the Pokemon industry to a minimum. The false competitor fed its earnings directly to Silph Co., who kept the immense profits to buy out or silence any budding competition from other established companies.

Silph Co. retains a considerable library of patents and copyrights related to Pokemon culture, from PokeBalls to PokeCenter and “Box Transfer” technology, and more. As a result, Silph Co. controls almost every commercial facet of Pokemon culture imaginable, creating disparity and classism, quashing independent business. Silph Co. does not share its secrets, arguably for the better considering the state of things in modern times, but this is considered the best option because any other options are not entertained.

The Pokemon League: The Pokemon League is, in essence, a stakeholder showcase and culturally-rooted and supported commercial for Silph Co. and its assets. The League is advertised as a “celebration of Pokemon culture” but is ultimately a highly choreographed reinforcement agent for the world-spanning and heavily enforced industry that is the selling and marketing of the “human animal”, the “Pocket Monster.”

Pokemon ownership and culture: The ownership and further “training” of a Pokemon is a luxury and in many cases is considered a symbol of wealth or potential connections, especially should the owned species be “exotic” or otherwise special. Pokemon are regarded in equal measure as pets, companions, tools, property, and ornaments. The genetically ingrained loyalty and faith of a Pokemon allows for this gamut of treatment to exist with only marginal and occasional resistance. The extensive obedience exhibited by Pokemon regardless of their lineage or ancestry, often going against the instincts of self-preservation, allows humans to create and maintain this system of companionship and exploitation. Strict manipulation of this trait is maintained through controlled breeding programs, culling, and conditioning.

Pokemon have largely replaced the human workforce, with Pokemon undertaking the role of labourer and tool, and their human handlers being their foremen and managers. Reliance on Pokemon as a source of labour has created a culture of excess in many areas, with local or even national income revolving around the use, exploitation, importation, or exportation of Pokemon as commodities.

The flexibility and reliance on Pokemon creates a culture of exploitation and abuse, some of it unintentional. Pokemon are categorised in relation to their purpose:

- companionship

- work / industrial

- livestock / livestock equivalent

- exotic / entertainment

- wildlife

- pest

Those species listed as companions are often considered the equivalent of pets. Those listed as working or industrial Pokemon are employed in the same vein as people or are seen as tools, but not given working rights. Species listed as livestock or livestock equivalents are produced and raised for food or other related or commercial byproducts such as fur. Species that are considered a part of the exotic or entertainment set have no intrinsic value beyond their rarity or appeal. Pokemon regulated to wildlife are considered equal to general flora and fauna, but may be included in the previous categories in some cases. Finally, species listed as pests are seen as problematic or hazardous to humans, domesticated, or commercial Pokemon.

Pokemon are considered all but completely integral to daily life. Pokemon are everywhere and there is almost no instance where a human being will not encounter or otherwise interface with a Pokemon whether by accident or on purpose. Pokemon permeate fiction, culture, travel, learning, and society at large. The removal of Pokemon from the general function of human life creates a vacuum of experience and ability that impacts both social and industrial infrastructure.

Ditto, a threat: Ditto is a rare and illegal Pokemon that is to be exterminated on-sight. Why? Because Silph Co. said so - enough times that it’s regarded as true and correct. If a Ditto is seen, it is to be reported, and destroyed. Ditto are proclaimed as dangerous, ravenous, capable of hiding in plain sight, and are a fountain of blood and gore once discovered. Despite being largely no different than any other Pokemon that feeds off of other Pokemon or human beings, such as Ghosts, and being capable of forming a companionship relationship with a trainer as can any Pokemon, Ditto is an exception in the minds of the populace because “common knowledge” enforced by Silph Co.-produced and backed PSAs have determined it to be true. Silph Co.’s personal campaign against the Ditto exists because Ditto can undo the elaborate obfuscation of history the company has performed to keep the perception of the world’s Pokemon culture people-friendly. Ditto carries with it all of the genetic information of every Pokemon currently in existence and ever will exist, because all Pokemon are built from the human genome. This is what allows Ditto to breed with any Pokemon regardless of “fertility”, a fact that is hidden from the greater public, and, theoretically, could create a human-Pokemon hybrid. While Ditto creating a hybrid out of errant genetic mashing (via consumation of organic material) is only a theory, the mere existence of the theory itself is enough justification for Silph Co. to call for all known instances of the Pokemon to be exterminated in the name of the maintenance of Pokemon and the corporate colossus that perpetuates its culture.