Alola!

Hula — has cultural and religious significance, not just entertainment, there are male hula practitioners 

Four gods — Alola has four Tapu, one for each island, but there are a lot more Hawaiian gods and they aren’t limited to one island exactly. The gods usually aren’t portrayed as omnipotent/omnipresent, nor are they absolute moral leaders. Similarly, Alola’s Tapu are immortal guardians of their islands and it’s best not to mess with them, but in the end they are individuals.

There are a lot of demigods and spirits in Hawaii and it would make sense for Alola to have something similar, but I’d have to put a lot of thought into it before writing about those.

Kahuna — the word in Japanese is Island King and I like the implications of that for the role of kahunas in-universe rather than trying to apply the definition of real-life kahunas. For the purposes of the blog, the Kahunas are “kings” of their respective islands in the sense that they have the responsibility and authority to protect and nurture the island. Hala is a priest and he does care for the island’s spiritual needs as well as the physical.

You might have seen vaguely-Hawaiian islander chiefs who live in the lap of luxury with everyone else as their slaves, but that’s,,, not really accurate. The ruler’s job is to provide their people without everything they need.

Kapu — the code of conduct in ancient Hawaii and where Pokémon got the word Tapu from. I don’t know all the theology behind it but just know that there is one.

Colonization — If you get the chance to read about the colonization as written by native Hawaiians, do it.

I don’t think Alola was colonized by Unova. It may have been colonized by Kanto/Johto, but I think the Japanese influences are more because of immigration.

munday meme from last october

     When I tell people in real life about tumblr rp, I usually call it “talking to my internet friends” or more specifically, “writing with my friends.”