Legendaries as Personal NPCs
This is a set of guidelines regarding personal Legendary NPCs.
- Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres: Already exist as NPCs, two of which haven’t been revealed but each of whom is a leader around Mt. Trifecta of their respective piece of land - from a long line of the same Pokemon. They can exist, as a species, elsewhere, and do - so they’re “open” for more creation, but not on the continent of Tao. There might be some on Velle or (other unnamed continents) but we won’t be exploring those in detail probably.
- Mewtwo: Entirely off limits, no exceptions
- Mew: Everywhere but doing different things - this is a very bad choice for a personal NPC as it won’t make sense in the context of Mew’s overall role in PMD-e.
- Entei, Raikou, Suicune: Each already used, but won’t be in the story for a while. They can exist independent of the ones we’ve established in private so far, as they’re not limited to the three alive.
- Lugia: Though more exist elsewhere, this is a very poor choice for personal NPCs, as it doesn’t make sense for any to be around Tao except Merlot right now.
- Celebi: Off limits (Jasmine works for any quirky needs anyway! She can fill any role you want with a Celebi)
- The Regis[1][2][3]: Exist on Velle, not on Tao; use as needed? But I can’t recommend giving them personalities or names
- Latias/Latios: Exist everywhere but are more common off Tao’s continent. Be sparring in their usage!
- Kyogre/Groudon: Only the two exist that have been hinted at already.
- Rayquaza: Only one exists
- Deoxys: No longer exists
- Regigigas: Off limits
- Giratina: Off limits
- Cresselia: Off limits
- Darkrai: Off limits
- Manaphy: More than one exists, but not a good choice as we have one made which will be revealed eventually
- Land Shaymin: You’d need an excellent reason to use one of these, as they exist at the Tree of Life - I can’t really foresee any good personal NPC creation - especially given the lore around the tree, it doesn’t really make sense. However, ghosts of Shaymin work. That is, ghost Pokemon who were once Shaymin.
- Cobalion/Terrakion/Virizion/Keldeo: The musketeers are the last ones on Tao; for elsewhere? Very scarce, and there is only Quillon for Keldeo
- Genesect: Off limits
Does this mean you can’t hint at the existence of all the non-created legendaries? No! You can do what you’d like if they already exist and you understand their canon enough to incorporate them! If you want to write that your Pokemon’s great grandma once found a song written by Shou Mei and it like, cured disease or something, sure! If you want to write that one time Estoc blessed your Pokemon’s father after he’d taken an injury or something, go ahead. Use within reason of established legendary NPCs makes total sense and is totally fine. It’s just that we do have lore/canon in the works for every one of these, and sometimes only one exists, and it doesn’t make sense for more to.
Does that mean we’re gonna yell at you if you introduce some random Reshiram? No, but it’s going to do piss-poorly in judging. That’s it. Make sure your usages are thoughtful and make sense in the context of your story. That’s all we really want. If it doesn’t conform to our canon but is still a fantastic idea, we might just end up rewriting things so your idea works - this happens! But with great responsibility comes the risk that you’ll mess it up - so do your best to be thoughtful if you insist on using legendaries.
These are just guidelines on what are off-limits as far as established canon is concerned. If you want to throw that out the window, the only repercussion is you might do a lot worse in judging or be N/G’d and receive no grading.
