Region of Ishtar

The living book dragons were inspired by the pun Bookwyrm.

#78 and its evolutions are based off Chinese Dragon. It starts as a snake, like Chinese Dragons are said to, and become one of three types of Long.

Fucanglong were associated with volcanoes, so it’s Dragon/Ground.

Shenlong brings rain, so it’s Dragon/Water.

Pikrychu is a Jerboa, specifically one of the genus Jaculus.

The Guivre line was inspired by four dragons from the mythology of France.

The Guivre itself is based off of fairly ordinary serpent dragons said to inhabit France for a while. It then evolves into three unique French Dragons.

Finally gonna answer these.

Undecided, though I may make it sort of similar to the slate from Breath of the Wild. Stone artifact that is simultaneously advanced technology.

I do not.

I like making the ones based off various mythology dragons. I like having a dragon pop into my head, and going “Oh, this type combo could work. I should add it to the dex.”

There aren’t any gyms or trials. Instead there are Elder Challenges. There are many Elders, but there are Type Elders. These must be challenged, though the nature of the challenge is up to the Elder.

Credit for the second image goes to flyingviperart on deviantart!

Ishtar once again, with a review on a wonderful little snake, and the milk powered venomous wyvern it becomes! That’ll make more sense in a second, trust me.

Vypar is a pure Poison type snake Pokemon, based on the mythological Gwiber, which starts life out as a viper or adder. Vypar is obviously based on the former, and would be pretty standard fair as far as snake Pokemon go, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. More snake Pokemon isn’t a bad thing. All snakes are good snakes.

Gybwe is a Poison/Dragon type, being based on the rest of the Gwiber myth. The myth says that when a viper/adder drinks milk it becomes the Gwiber, but not just any milk, breast milk. Gwibers are serpentine wyverns with wings and legs, with a snake like head and a pair of large fangs. Gybwe’s also sporting some feathers here and there, which is cool. Feathered serpents are cool. To go with its myth, Vypar only evolves into Gybwe under certain conditions. Vypar needs to be in a party with a member of the Elusine line. I won’t go into detail on that one here, that’s for a later review obviously, but it’s the only Pokemon in the region that could possibly give Vypar what it needs. A good connection go the mythology here as usual.

Today’s Ishtar review is a mix of folklore, related life animals, and a theory to tie them together! It’s the Plume line!

Plume is our first stage, based on a simple pheasant. A Normal/Flying is about as common a type as it gets, but it’s one that works for a non elementally aligned bird, so I’m okay with it. Plume is a simple name as well, but it’s one that works, especially with the feathers a pheasant has.

Kuill is where it gets interesting, turning from a Normal/Flying into a Dragon/Flying feathered serpent. This may seem like a strange jump to make, but let me explain. kuill is based on a Welsh Feathered Serpent, a type of serpent that preyed on chickens. The accounts talk about it like it was just a normal animal, not like it was some mythical creature. This lead to the theory that it was a real creature, with the feathered serpent part being an exaggeration of what it actually was: a pheasant. Pheasants are completely capable of attacking and killing chickens, and we’ve exaggerated things into monsters before, so it’s not hard to believe the same happened here. Besides, a winged serpent with feathers is just a good design on it’s own, the folklore and theory just make it better.

Today is our “early rodent” family of Ishtar, and as always, there’s a dragony twist!

Minirpent is the first stage, a Dragon/Normal type. It’s a fairly standard four legged, winged dragon, being based on the mythological dragonet. The dragon was a small one, and Minirpent, as it’s name implies, is one as well. Minirpent is roughly the size of a child, which isn’t small per se, but for a dragon? Definitely.

Dimiagon is next, not changing too much from Minirpent. The main difference would come in the increase in size, now about the size of an adult. While bigger than Minirpent, it still is smaller than what you’d expect from a fully grown dragon. It’s got a few Poison attacks in it’s roster, referencing the poisonous blood the dragonet itself had, which is a small but nice touch.

Back to it after a couple days without one! Today it’s a mix of mythological creatures, dinosaurs, and our early bird!

Phorm is the oddest first stage early bird Pokemon by far. The reason being, well, it’s not a bird. The Phorm line is based on the Phoenix, and something left out in pretty much every depiction is the fact that they start life a worms. Yup. Phoenix start out as small worm-like creatures, and Phorm is just that. Phorm is a pure Fire type worm, with a mouth shaped like a beak, and colored red and gold. It’s definitely not what you expect from the early bird Pokemon, but I’m all for subverting the usual formula.

Fearnix is the Fire/Flying Phoenix Pokemon, resembling an eagle. Like Phorm, it’s primary color is red, with gold as the secondary color. Fearnix looks like an eagle, because that’s what phoenix look like. They aren’t even described with similar features, it’s straight up said that they have the same size and shape of an eagle. Fearnix would also have an extra long tail and crest, just to add to the magnificence of a big red and gold eagle

Sporting an awesome name is Fenitheft, who takes the phoenix into a different direction, from Fire/Flying eagle to Fire/Dragon…super ancient eagle. Fenitheft is based on a species of raptor known as the pyroraptor, and let me just get it right out of the way, a raptor Phoenix is awesome. Replacing Fearnix’s beak is a raptor’s toothy maw, and the tail and claws of one as well. Fenitheft doesn’t have any real connection to the phoenix, but the dinosaur it’s based on has pyro in the name, so there’s at least an attempt to connect it to the fire theme of the phoenix.

Today we have the only other Bug type(as of now) in the Ishtar region, the the Vermis line!

Vermis comes first, with a design based on a mix of giant earth worm and old school beastiary depictions of worms. The Dragon type comes from two things, one being that “worm” was the name used for dragons in several languages, and two, they were considered Serpents, and serpents are the basis of most mythological dragons!

Olgoihol is based in the much more specific Mongolian Death Worm, a cryptid native to the Gobi Desert is Asia. Olgoihol has both a stronger connection to it’s Dragon typing than Vermis, and a looser one. Being based on a specific creature may make the connection stronger, as the Mongolian Death Worm shares traits with mythological dragons, but it also has a looser connection since we’re not entirely sure if it’s believed to be a dragon by the people who believe in it. It’s a hard call, but I feel comfortable in allowing this Dragon typing. Plus, the Mongolian Death Worm is known for its poison and electric shocks, so it would probably learn a few of those type moves by level up!

At the end is Roncit, and like Olgoihol is based on a cryptid, but with some real life thrown in. Half the inspiration is the dragon milipede, that bright red fellow, which works well with Plgoihol’s inspiration, as the Mongolian Death Worm is usually depicted as bright red. The second piece of inspiration is the Con Rit, a giant aquatic milipede that is believed to be the inspiration for Vietnamese dragons. these two are a good choice, as they together very much justify the Dragon typing here, but that’s not the only mythological reference here. A unique ability would belong to Roncit, one that would allow it to absorb Dragon type attacks as either HP or stat boosts. The reason being that in Chinese mythology, milipedes are among the only thing they fear, as they crawl up the dragons nose and, uh…eat their brains. Yum

As with many regions were stepping into the more common Pokemon, in this case the early evolving Bug type. However, the native Ishtari Bug Pokemon are scarce so what we have stands out more than usual. Such is the case with today’s Pokemon, the Lepidrak line!

Lepidrak is first up, being based on the dragon head caterpillar, so it’s a long awaited Bug/Dragon. It’s prime Pokemon material once again, the creator has a knack for picking out what to use here. Lepidrak has far better in store for it than a normal dragon head caterpillar. The name is extra clever too, being a mix of Lepidoptera and drak which make a perfect name when put together. I might actually do a post on some of these Fakemon’s names, since I can actually ask the creator what inspired them if I need to.

Geord is the usual coccoon evolution these early Bug types get, but with an added twist. Being a Dragon type, Geord doesn’t have any normal coccoon, no. Geord’s coccoon is made out a geode! The coccoon stage can be pretty bland usually, looking at you Cascoon/Silkoon, but combining it with something inherent to it’s half Dragon nature is a great idea, especially with mythological dragons and their fascination with gemstones. It’s something we haven’t seen before with these stages.

The final evolution of Lepidrak shouldn’t be anything special, but once again the Ishtar region pulls through, and Locii is a great package all around. Design wise it’s based around a rather infamous picture of some kind of dragon, the fourth image, that has baffled many people with what it’s supposed to be, with many thinking it’s some kind of locust. However, a suspicious similarity was discovered with the hummingbird hawk moth, and looking at them side by side, yeah I can totally see it. Locii wouldn’t be one over the other, but a mix of the two, with the horns from it’s first stage being present as well. The end result would be a horned fluffy locust moth dragon, and come on, who doesn’t want that?