May I request some headcanons for Nabatea and Agartha, before the mole people went apeshit and tried to kill god?
I'm really sorry,
I really tried my best, but unfortunately I never really thought a lot about Nabateans and Agarthans before the Nuke Wars !
But here goes -
From what we can see in the opening CG (Sothis's FB?) there used to be buildings and skyscrappers like our modern ones. Sothis apparently brought "elevators" with her from her spaceship - wherever she came from - since they are mentionned in the Holy Tomb.
So I guess before the Nuke Wars they'd be pretty advanced, more than what I usually write about/play in terms of background cities - save for maybe Xillia's Elympios, where you are warped from a traditional medieval (albeit with a lot of central asia imagery!) magitech world to a world where people live in buildings and complain about their government and taxes lol
Granted if Sothis brought Nukes, elevators and IA (to make robots!) I suppose Agartha should have make a fucking giganormous jump in time/the technology tree, so maybe they adapted to it quite fast, spent 5k years getting used to it - to the point where they now complain about their taxes - or didn't get used to it, and the second they managed to get their hands on high-end weapons/nukes, they started vaporizing other countries.
Granted, given what Solon says to the Summoner in FEH, I'd rather believe the original Agarthan World - with their shiny Sothis tech - was closer to Elympios, thus to our own, than some sort of steam punk/ultimate technological one.
(in B4 Thales was a random salaryman who filed papers every day, until he decided to join a terrorist group to rule over the world, because his firm wouldn't give him free healthcare)
Now, as for Nabateans...
I'd say the first "city" they lived in - near Sothis's landing site - was still the Oghma Mountains, but it wasn't the Zanado Village we see (in ruins) in the game.
What their first settlement looked like then? In the FB, we see Sothis overlooking a lot of people from a city below, and there's a huge tower behind her - but it's still a desert.
I wouldn't say all those people looking to her were Nabateans, some humans would also be there - maybe the city was fitted with elevators and travel commodities and stuff to accomodate humans? (remember, Rhea can jump 50 meters in one jump, even after her 5 stars resort vacation in Enbarr, so I'm pretty sure Nabateans don't need elevators!).
So as much as I want to copy-paste the fantasy lands of Shangri-La and Shangdu (per Marco P), given the tower and the setting, I was thinking of something more in lines with the “mythic Babylon”, the tower of Babel in the background and the Hanging Gardens etc etc. Pre Nuke Wars, the Nabatean Settlement would be a hub, not of trade, but a site of pilgrimage and where people, humans and nabateans, could freely move in and out, etc etc.
Sothis would gift her wisdom and tech kind of freely, and everything was well (or so she thought)
Of course it would create "difficulties" with the humans who were busy filling their taxes and wondering about healthcare, because in Nabatean land, people are free to come and go, they can get food for free, water etc etc, without paying taxes or being part of a community/society like Agartha is (tfw Nabateans, with their magic, don't need agrary planification, roadworks, reforms and what not, they plant whatever they want, use magic to make it grow and share the fruits with everyone who wants some. Thales's dental care? A Light Dragon could heal his cavities without needing him to pay any insurance or something).
Nabateans can live more "easily" than humans because they are different and have their magic to help in their daily lives, happens what happens, Nabateans are seen as "superior" to humans and asked to rule, or at least are looked up to.
Agarthans with their complex socio-political (?) organisation see more and more of their people refusing to pay taxes and participate in the life of their city/state to migrate to a land ruled by lizard hippies who can afford to be so generous because their magic is, well, magic. Nabateans are thus, inherently superior to humans, and that's not something that makes people happy - especially humans.
Their first reaction would be to flatten the rest of the world, to display their might and show everyone that no, they're still in the game and are more important - or maybe they can also live as "freely" as Nabateans do, if they have randoms from other cities to work for them (let them be the ones to pay the taxes).
The conflict grows, some people run to the Lizard Hippies for protection, which prompts Agartha to try to nuke them - they want to be the ones on top in Fodlan, and not be subservient to some other party - and here goes.
As for their cultures...
Agartha would be MAGA - and hell bent on making Agartha great again, even if it means they have to flatten other humans to do so, but some people just wanted to live normal lives and when the Agarthan lifestyle was too much for them, they safely ran away to Zanado 1.
After the realisation that Nabateans can do things they do because they have magic and all, some Agarthans would really be obsessed with developping new technologies to finally be "superior" to them (funded by, as you can guess now, lot of taxes).
Why couldn't they just accept Nabateans were different and leave it at that?
Because Agartha would have been a very prideful nation, maybe it was the leading one on the continent before Sothis landed, and even if they were the first with whom she exchanged tech - they were at the “top”. Growing jealous at Nabateans who are inherently “stronger” than them causes them to try to gather more and more allies - nuking some in the way - until the Nuke Wars.
For Nabateans in Zanado-1, life was pretty chill, some humans came and asked for their help, they provided and I suppose before humans started to do human things, there used to be several humans living in Zanado-1 (which prompted them to build elevators and all).
There were a lot of humans and half-humans there, still, was Zanado-1 an utopia? Well... I don’t think so. Just like Nabateans aren’t evil because they have pointy ears, I don’t see them “good” because they have pointy ears, they are people, and people can be good or bad regardless of their race.
So, of course, some Nabateans would get cocky and grow arrogant (tfw modesty isn’t Sothis’s forte) and some might see humans as inferior, or things who need their help - obviously, because humans always need help and guidance. Maybe those ones would leave Zanado-1 and try to spread “civilisation” or “help” some other country, and they’d be the ones “revered as gods” the interview mentionned.
Of course some of them were happy living with humans, and I HC there used to be a lot - well not a crapton but more than 10 - hybrids in Zanado-1, showing that at least, some Nabateans thought humans were fine enough to be “life partners” or to get babies with.
Until the end Sothis wanted to believe in coexistence, and how Nabateans and Humans (and herself!) could live in Fodlan, she even named her last born in the way the most hostile humans - Agarthans - name themselves and tried to raise her as human does, being called “Mother” instead of “Progenitor God” and all.
But things don’t happen like expected, she didn’t foresee how humans from Agartha would resent her because of the imbalance of power between her kind and, well, their own kind and in turn grow fearful, or how her attempts to “help” would be seen as scorn instead, from a being who flaunts her power over powerless people.
Morale of the story?
Uh... a lot of power imbalance creates resentment and fear? Maybe the Nabateans should have tried to adapt their lifestyle to the one humans had, or not provide a free utopia to everyone who asked, idk.
The playable (lel) Nabateans wouldn’t have lived long in Zanado-1, Cichol would maybe have been a tad bit younger than current Flayn, and Rhea would have been somewhere like as old as a kid who entered elementary school a few months ago and still needs a plushie to sleep when the first Nukes were launched.
As a result, Rhea wouldn’t remember well Zanado-1 - but she remembers hiding in what would become the Holy Tomb to hide from the “flashing lights” outside, but Cichol would remember it better as pre-teen (maybe that’s where he got his tendency to give lectures, he saw older brothers giving lectures and providing advices and counselling to humans who asked?), Indech would have been part of the forces Sothis had with her to fight against the Agarthans while Macuil would be at that age where he is in his dinosaurs phase, save that dinosaurs was “magic”, and he never grew out of it.
Macuil would remember Zanado-1, only because it was the place where he was supposed to do a lot of “magic” and learnt how to do it and how it was his kind’s gift from the Progenitor God (cf magic meta) but then humans turned it against them, and they suck.
(Then Zanado-2 happens and he’s pretty sure they’re ultra sucky).
📂 (Give me one about Ozpin and his students if you can, please!)
Send “📂“ for a random yet completely useless headcanon I have (Hell yeah)
While the series focuses on team RWBY, Ozpin’s attention to them is really nothing out of the ordinary. He takes great pride in his role as the ‘strange Uncle cryptid’ of Beacon Academy, appearing out of nowhere to give profound advice to wavering students before disappearing once more like a coffee-scented dream.
Lone students must be careful while crossing campus, while groups will only deter him so far if the need is great enough, the isolated student will be entirely at the mercy of when he decides to appear behind them, always behind them, mug in hand, advice on tongue, distinguishable from the numerous cardboard effigies that litter the grounds of campus only in how the advice given is too odd for the students to have hallucinated it, his movements too stunted for one to be sure it isn’t a trick of the light. To look away is to miss his exit, and they always look away, losing sight of him in the blinking of study-strained eyes, the encounter ending as abruptly as it began, leaving the young huntsman in training acutely aware of just how alone they are in a way that had never occurred to them prior.
His advice is never repeated, these encounters never spoken of aloud, yet they are never forgotten.
Firstly, sakuramochi just tastes like you’re eating flowers, obviously, because it’s made from sakura. But that’s just gross! Why do you want to eat flowers? Also they’re literally everywhere just because they look pink and pretty! So unfair! Give kusamochi some love too!
Kusamochi’s way better because the flavour of the mochi doesn’t overpower the sweet filling and actually compliments it. The colour looks healthier too! Way more appealing and delicious!
Okay so @auraphoenix1500 requested headcanons for people in fates having pokemon and listed a couple of their own ideas for the royals (who would have legendary/mythical pokemon) and I decided to just make this into a series for the fates royals
But, because of the fact that I’m a dumbbe bitchhe who loves pokemon headcanons and making teams, I went WAY overboard so now I have to post them royal-by-royal! I started with Ryoma in my list so here u are
EDIT: oh shit this was my 900th post
Ryoma Pokemon Team Headcanons
Team
Zapdos
Arcanine
Makuhita -> Hariyama
Team Choice Explanations
Zapdos
In going with the formula of “each royal has a legendary” I was looking through legendaries and Zapdos just. Really screamed Ryoma from the get-go
This is because of the fact that it’s an electric type, and Ryoma’s sword Raijinto is, well, Raijinto.
Zapdos is also rarely seen, which I felt also connected with Ryoma’s status, as well as the fact that Zapdos is pretty intimidating, and I feel so is Ryoma at times.
Arcanine
I feel like Arcanine is a good choice for him as well because of the fact that it’s also more of a renowned pokemon. It “has a sense of majesty” and “any who hear its bark grovel before it”.
It’s also extremely loyal, so need I say any more?
Makuhita -> Hariyama
My final pick for Ryoma is Hariyama, or rather Makuhita that will evolve into a Hariyama
Makuhita is “very gutsy and never gives up, no matter how many times it is knocked down”, and regardless of the fact that it already fits Ryoma’s personality, I feel like it’s a lesson that they would have wanted to teach Ryoma as a child, and that is why Makuhita would have been chosen for him.
Hariyama is also very large, and intimidating, and I just like the idea of Ryoma having a large team in terms of physical bulk. Hariyama also begin training Makuhita when they get older so I felt like that sort of maturity is something that Ryoma would mirror.
Headcanons
Ryoma first got Makuhita as a child. It was a pokemon meant to help him harness and train his strength, and encourage him to learn hand to hand combat and the restraint that comes with sparring. Since Makuhita is “very gutsy and never gives up, no matter how many times it is knocked down”, I felt that was something that they wanted Ryoma to emulate as crown prince. Having a sparring partner that you trust is important, and as such this way Ryoma always had someone to train with, regardless of where he was.
Due to the origins of his Makuhita (meant as a sparring partner and loyal companion), and the fact that he was also being trained in the way of the sword at the same time... little kid Ryoma named his Makuhita “Bushido”
The two are extremely close, as Bushido is the companion that has been with him longest. They’ve been through thick and thin together, just about everything that could have happened that went wrong happened while they were together. They really are the epitome of pokemon and trainer bonds
Makuhita evolved during a particularly tough battle, during a night the castle was invaded by enemy forces. Ryoma was young, and had been training with a wooden practice katana at the time in a secluded area of the castle. He and Makuhita had been sparring at the time, and in the ensuing battle between Ryoma and the forces that had managed to slip past the others, his wooden sword broke pitifully fast. He couldn’t fight forever with just his hands, and in what he thought to be his final moments, on his back, exhausted and weaponless, Makuhita evolved into Hariyama, and beat the enemies senseless so fast that he hadn’t even had time to process what had just happened.
Ever since, Hariyama refuses to be inside of his pokeball, and acts as another bodyguard in addition to ryoma’s retainers. He’s very protective.
Arcanine was next to join Ryoma’s team, and everyone who saw or heard of the event agreed that it was surely a sign that Ryoma was destined to rule. Arcanine had walked straight out of the woods, and into the castle, before licking Ryoma on the forehead.
In truth, Ryoma had been practicing with Hariyama in the woods for some time, trying to find a semi-secluded area, and there was a pokemon that kept eating the lunches they had brought with them. After a few days of this, trying and failing to catch whatever pokemon was moving too fast for him to even see, Ryoma decided that he would just start bringing food for it instead, so he and Hariyama could eat in peace. As such, the Arcanine became attached to Ryoma, and when Ryoma didn’t show up for lunch time one day, he decided to seek him out instead of waiting.
Although his Arcanine seems really intimidating, in truth he’s very, very playful. It lends a certain levity to the seriousness that bogs down Ryoma at times, and helps his Hariyama loosen up a bit. It’s pretty common to see the three meditating together (or well, Arcanine napping between them to keep them warm). Once, it turned out that rather than just meditating, the three had all secretly been napping together. Ryoma hasn’t lived it down since.
Zapdos was the last to join his team, at the same time that Raijinto chose Ryoma to wield it, due to the fact that Zapdos was guarding Raijinto. After an especially fierce battle, Zapdos yielded and let Ryoma become its trainer, and let Ryoma have Raijinto.
The two aren’t like typical trainer and pokemon, they have a very... not unaffectionate, but more professional bond that has a deep level of respect. They’re more comrades than anything, although Zapdos does love Ryoma, and Ryoma Zapdos.
Ryoma is soft as hell with his pokemon. It’s very easy to catch Ryoma smiling proudly at his pokemon, or with this soft, gentle look on his face as he watches them sleep or play.
He is the type of trainer to buy his pokemon toys at gift shops, because he’s like, not a fanatic, but certainly “person who really loves cats and adores their pet cat” levels of love, he just keeps it on the down low because he doesn’t want people to disrespect him.
Artists often paint Ryoma with one of his pokemon (artists quite often argue which of the three represents him best personality wise) while some paint him with all three (how dare you deprive lord ryoma of the posterity of all three of his pokemon!). There’s also quite a few items that shopkeeps sell of his pokemon, just as they do all the royals. From plush dolls to pouches with designs, they have so many different things to pick from.
Where I’m going with that is that Ryoma clearly has a secret stash of toys and items that are based on his pokemon, from a stuffed doll of his Arcanine, to the coin pouch shaped like a Makuhita’s face, to the hair pin of zapdos. He also has quite a few portraits that he’s collected over the years. He rotates them out with the changing of the seasons, since he doesn’t have enough space for them on the walls.
Ryoma keeps doing that thing where you shake the shit out of your dog’s face and watch their face jiggle while laughing, and they let you do it because you’re kind of petting them or they think it’s funny play time to Arcanine. Sometimes if you’re close enough and he doesn’t know you’re there, you can hear him mumbling things like “who’s a good boy? you are!” to it in a bit of a goofy voice.
Ryoma sleeps curled up next to his team, and you literally cannot convince me otherwise. Ryoma hasn’t slept in a real bed in ten years and doesn’t even have one in his room because he and his pokemon just have this giant nest of pillows and blankets. Zapdos gets in first, and curls up, then Hariyama climbs in and gets comfortable. Ryoma then slips in between Hariyama and Zapdos, and Arcanine lies on top of Hariyama and Zapdos so he doesn’t slip into the small space Ryoma has between his largest pokemon, and keeps all of them warm.
Everybody thinks Ryoma’s sleeping arrangement is extremely uncomfortable but in fact it’s the comfiest way to sleep ever.
