Build: I can see Nathaniel summoning artifacts from hometown legends with this, or at least facsimiles of such. Fluff-wise, this will most likely be expressed by him “finding” where the treasures are “buried” and calling them up from the ground there. At the end of the story, they “return to the earth.”
Exile: I feel Nathaniel would mostly use this power to exile intruders into his hometown, or to prevent them from getting in in the first place. Of course, he could also use it to kick out a member of the town who’s hurt others, and basically make them no longer be recognized as belonging there.
Less often, he could use this power to create a place where people have no sense of community with each other, where they are naturally set apart. Or perhaps a place that is not wild at all, where there is no space for herds of Mareep to roam. I’m not sure why he would do so, but he could.
Wake: When used, this opens someone’s eyes to the importance of community, and helps them see why Nathaniel values his demesne and Treasures so much. They generally gain powers related to searching, protecting, or rarely attacking without hurting allies.
Ride: Nathaniel would only use this power in the direst cases, due to the cost it sustains. He would only use it with his Treasure’s full cooperation as well. He might combine it with Treasure Possession in order to get in contact with two of his Treasures at once, which would likely only happen if things were extremely dire.
Let’s see how these new powers work for building Nathaniel!
Man, his choice of Un-element makes these powers seem a little villainous, don’t they? Then again, the same could be said for a lot of this Arc’s powers.
Transform: This lets Nathaniel transform one of his Treasures into a creature of the community. Quite literally, it lets them become more easily accepted by other members of the community, and have little or no trouble fitting into said community. It probably also makes it easier for them to cooperate with others and keep track of the general rumors and stories flying around. Possibly with supernatural knowledge, even.
Flame of Wonder: In my mind, the manifestation of community is something like lightning bolts connecting people, at least partly due to Nathaniel’s connection to the Storm God. He can send these bolts into people to tie them into the community, or perhaps maintain them as a sort of communication system.
Deepen the Mystery: This lets Nathaniel give places the feeling of his small shepherding hometown. Plants grow more wild, or change to something more suitable for grazing. Mareep start appearing more. People in the region gain a feeling of knowing each other more personally, no matter how large it is. He can also manipulate those spaces through his connection to his hometown.
I don’t know what the mystery at the center of a transformed place is, but something tells me that it has to do with Nathaniel’s memories, when he was young and carefree. Perhaps there’s a ghostly image of him, Ninda, Brian, and Macy, just freshly started on their journey.
Control: Well, this is kind of odd to think of for Nathaniel, at least partly because PTU characters already get so much to play with, and I want these powers to fit his theme at least somewhat.
Macy the Carnivine gains the ability to sink her roots into the ground and control the plantlife in the region, as well as sending vines shooting out of the ground that she can manipulate more finely. With enough practice (or a higher Arc) she might even be able to sink into the ground completely and emerge somewhere else. This power is most likely used to search for those members of the community who have gone missing.
Brinda the Zapdos gains the ability to sense the position and movement of other Electric-types. The higher-levelled versions of this power might allow them to sense the thoughts and emotions of those Electric-types, or direct their movement to some degree. This is usually used to keep track of the Mareep, or to herd them at higher levels.
Gideon Faust, if he does become one of Nathaniel’s Treasures, will likely get some kind of “smiting” power, allowing him to burn a large swath of enemies without hurting any allies, or the land beneath them. Admittedly this is drawing more from the AU where all members of Quan’s Hope become deities, but eh…*wiggles hand*
Kimber Folchart, if she becomes a Treasure, will likely get some power to freeze someone cryogenically, and later reawaken them from their frozen sleep as well. This idea is also drawn from the “deity AU,” but it could also be used to save critically injured people while transporting them.
Since OJ’s been doing it for a while, I figured I could try it as well. Nathaniel Berger has already read as Sickly Shepherd to me, but this doesn’t really fit him as currently stands. But I’m not going to let that deter me!
Don’t let him know I’m sharing his last name with you. He’s abandoned it. Ten years ago, he was a child of ten, a shepherd boy who’d left his home to go on a Pokemon journey. He’d captured a Cranivine threatening his flock, you see, and she was tame enough, but the Mareep were still nervous around her, so she had to go. And now that she was bonded to the boy, it seemed cruel to separate them.
It’s a good thing she was with him. Because ten years ago was also when the God-Hunters appeared. As their name suggests, their goal was to kill off all the legendary Pokemon. They didn’t succeed, but they succeeded well enough. And do you know what happens when a ten-year-old tries to fight a ruthless criminal organization?
There was a Houndoom, with jaws of burning flame. It mauled his legs and left him a mangled wreck in a room that was now aflame. If his other two Pokemon hadn’t sacrificed themselves to buy him time, and if Macy hadn’t dragged him out, he would have died there. Even so, he came out of it with a lot of scars, both physical and mental.
He’s only recently emerged from his depression, hearing rumors about the God-Hunters returning, and Quan’s Hope, who originally opposed them, requiring assistance. Slowly, he’s started to heal from the pain. He even has a Fire-type of his own now, Memo the Lampent. And he’s also assisted in the resurrection of the legendary Zapdos, and took the new baby Legendary into his care, raising them back into their full power. Most recently, he and his team helped defeat Zygarde, who had devoured the other Kalos legendaries and created an amalgamation of all of Kalos’ psychic-types, erasing the region from everyone’s memory.
At least part of that fight happened in the afterlife, or at least adjacent to it, and it was there that Nathaniel met the souls of Ninda the Mareep and Brian the Hoothoot once more. He finally got to say his goodbyes and express his gratitude to them. And it’s quite possible that time spent between life and death, and as the guardian of a growing god, could have given him a few new abilities…
His Demesne is his hometown, and the green hills around it where the Mareep graze. Although he hasn’t been back there for so long, it has always been a part of him, a memory alternately sweet and painful. His Un-element is the sense of the community that the place holds. Everyone is familiar to everyone else, for ill or for good.
A Choice of Treasures: Nathaniel’s Treasures are his oldest Pokemon companion, Macy the Carnivine, and the newborn legendary, Brinda. He might also have his teammates, Gideon and Kimber, as Treasures. (Although Kimber might already be a Treasure for Kyurem, who might also have a few points in this Arc…)
Treasure Possession: Close contact with the dead has, well…shaken Nathaniel’s soul loose a little. He can use this power to slip his soul into the body of one of his Treasures, and control their physical actions from there. He can also use this to enter into mental contact with them, although he’s unlikely to use the full extent this secondary power due to it being too invasive. The first time he used this power was most likely an accident, and it’s unlikely that he’ll do it without permission.
Brinda most likely lets him use this power on them most often. It’s a good way for him to temporarily ignore the pain when his old scars start acting up too much, and being in control of their flight is exhilarating to him. They might share mental contact occasionally, since it’s easier for them to communicate this way.
Demesne: Nathaniel gains an inherent Connection of 3 to his hometown and the hills around it. He can use this as a Skill to do things for the sake of the town or hills, as well as for extra effects granted by his Arc.
At Arc 0, he can:
adjust the timing of events in town, so that the holidays seem to stretch on for longer and the cold snaps shorter. He can make the night come later, to give more time to find one lost Mareep.
control the weather, toning down the more severe thunderstorms and herding stormclouds to places their lightning will be wanted most.
At Arc 1, he can:
get an understanding of almost anything going on in his hometown, or even the wilderness surrounding it.
know previously-undeclared facts about the topology, geography, and so forth of his town and its hills.
At Arc 2+, he can:
alter abstract things like the “safety” or “production” of the town.
with a level 6+ Intention, actually completely change how the hills are arranged, shore up a decrepit building, or move houses around.
Did you try turning the blacksmith off and on again?
The Bard: The DM is thinking of something horrible to do to us.
DM: *starts cackling*
The Bard: The DM has thought of something horrible to do to us.
Service Pokemon badges! I really like the idea of service Pokemon, so I decided to add to the tag with these badges, made with this creator!
These are all Pokemon belonging to my RP characters (from different RP ‘verse, though), although only Macy and Aria are “officially” registered in the current timeline. I expect Nathaniel would register Kate and Memo eventually, since both of them also help him out a lot.
This Is a Backup Blog 