The Provinces of Ulthuan | The history of Ulthuan | The Dragon's Guild | Religion | Training in Ulthuan | Miscellany
Obviously pokémon play a large and important role in Ulthuan as they do in any area where their training has become a regular feature of everyday life. However, it should be noted that the pokémon trainer in Ulthuan is subject to totally different rules to those of other areas of the world, for example Kanto.
Most of the more well-known countries whose economy revolves around pokémon tend to issue a licence to all above a certain age, this allowing them to catch and train as many pokémon as they wish. This is not the case in Ulthuan. A trainer will find that their licence allows them to actively train up to fifteen pokémon at any one time and no more, although there is no upper limit to the number allowed to be kept as pets provided adequate provisions are made for them. This is to ensure that trainers only add pokémon they actually want onto their team as opposed to the 'catch-em-all' ethos of other areas that often finds pokémon captured but not actually given much contact with their trainer, just for the sake of said trainer saying 'yeah, I own this species'. It is generally considered far fairer on both trainer and pokémon this way, for with such a small limit the trainer has little choice but to pay attention to every creature they have on their team.
Ulthuan does not on the whole subscibe to the PC interface other realms use to manage teams. Partly this is because a trainer's collection is simply not allowed to grow large enough to warrant such storage methods in Ulthuan. And partly it is because so many trainers in Ulthuan enjoy having their companions around them at all times that the installation of the system is not seen as financially viable - it is estimated at only a quarter at most would actually take advantage of the storage system. Pokéballs, however, are in common useage as a transportation device. Many trainers use them to keep their partners out of the way for reasons of space or security.
Everyone knows how the Pokémon League operates in other countires. The championships in Ulthuan are slightly different. The concept of gyms and
badges, for example, does not exist within Ulthuan. Instead trainers compete directly within large-scale tournaments held at irregular intervals at
various high-profile areas within Ulthuan. Examples of these tournaments include the Pegasus Games, the Griffon Games, the Unicorn Games and the
ever-popular Dragon Games.
The tournaments themselves are spread over several rounds and are generally preceded by large-scale training events designed to assist the competitors
in preparing their pokémon for the upcoming battle. They tend to take place in large, pre-prepared ares like those at the various Gates and,
unlike more mainstream tournaments, are based around one-on-one battles only. The final winner is generally held in high regard as the champion of a
particular event although has no obligations to uphold their title at a later date. Prizes tend to be pokémon and/or items that could not be obtained
by any other means (Dratinis in particular are a popular prize in these tournaments given that their evolution line is held in high regard throughout
Ulthuan).
It is an interesting by-product of Ulthuan's appreciation of the pokémon as a distinct entity that quite often it is
the actual battler rather than the trainer who ends up the most famous from winning one of these competitions.
A few words should probably be said about those pokémon whose strength comes from forced, lab-based conditions. Genetic research in the field of pokémon is at a far more advanced stage in Ulthuan than in many other areas of the world. The sort of experiments that created Mewtwo, for example, are performed on a far greater scale and genetically modified pokémon are a fairly common sight, be they altered by their trainer for various reasons, a result of illegal experiments or just lab rejects adopted by people who wanted to give an abandoned pokémon a home. The most well-known genetics programme is ran by Team Rocket, who much prefer to strengthen a pokémon artifically to know moves and skills they wouldn't otherwise learn.
The majority of the trainers in Ulthuan are young adults of both sexes. Of course, there are some exceptions, but it is very rare for anyone below 15 years of age to obtain a trainer's license (about as rare as non-humans being given such a license. There have been a few cases.)
Many trainers tend to develop a connection with their own pokemon and it's not very rare for a trainer to learn to understand their speech (it is, however, VERY rare for a trainer to easily understand a pokemon he or she doesn't know very well, even if it's the same species as one of his/her own). However there are those who have a harder time understanding their pokemon, and there are also many who refuse to acknowledge pokemon as sentient beings and, for that reason, they're completely unable to understand them.
This group started out as a branch of the Dragon's Guild, but have since become mostly independent (the main authorities are Guild members, but they'll stick with the DT if they have to choose between the two). The Dragon Tamers run the main Adoption Center in Caledor, as well as a store named the Reward Center. They also hand out trainer's licenses and organize a variety of activities for pokemon and trainers, and they are tasked with protecting pokemon from abuse. However, during the last few years they've had to spend about half their time protecting their homeland from various threats and, due to the efectiveness of (most of) their actions, they have been given authorization to operate all across Ulthuan in times of crisis.