Battle Club#
Summary#
A shard of Prism island’s culture, the Battle Club provides a structured place for ‘morphs to battle for improvement and enjoyment, and doubles as a social gathering point for its members. Despite being one of the oldest ongoing groups on the island, Battle Club is not spoken about openly. Tightly run at an administrative level, it is not intended as secret; it is simply not meant to be advertised, and membership is extended by current members after an internal vetting process if a potential participant shows interest. Dedication to combat is expected, and though the pain is real, exceptional attention and organization has been developed around making injuries impermanent.
Tenets#
Elevate and pass skills.
Self-improvement, not self-harm.
Perform one role at once.
Battle against Battle Partners only.
It’s over when it’s over.
Heal immediately after battle.
Only commit to Healing without doubt.
Do not overburden Healers.
Nothing illegal.
Take sex elsewhere.
Nudity allowed.
Respect. No gossip about the club.
Battle Club is invitation only.
Description#
A shard of Prism island’s culture, Battle Club provides a structured place for Pokemorphs to battle for practice and enjoyment, though is primarily extends beyond the casual, offering specialized, remote locations for full-out combat that resist the greatest of what morphs can throw around. There is no official schedule, all members coming and going as they please, though the administration does try to help coordinate meet-ups upon request. Likewise, the highly informal group has no membership fee, though does eagerly take donations to upkeep facilities and purchase items.
While not secret outright, Battle Club is not intended as public or spoken about openly either: Guests without interest in becoming participants are generally unwelcome, and membership is grown by scouting people with potential interest, invitations made after an internal vetting process if a potential participant shows interest.
Skill acquisition is regarded as the sole purpose of the club, with function as a loose cluster of communities and social gathering point for its members as ancillary; it explicitly holds alliance only to its own continuation, offering no protection for members in trouble, legal or otherwise: All problems stay at the door with their bearer. Likewise, Battle Club refuses to generate problems, extremely strict about handling battles properly, preventing injury, and following both the spirit and letter of the law, with violators swiftly ejected.
Battle Club is a group held together by mutual love of combat, indulging in the age-old Pokémon sport of learning to better strike and blast other creatures while avoiding the same to one’s self. The members tend to make a distinction between a “battle” and a “fight”, the former being defined as combat interaction, the latter being a personal struggle involving violence. The differentiation in vocabulary isn’t enforced, but is pervasive as a matter of clarity; fighting isn’t allowed at Battle Club, and any problems are expected to be left at the door. Being a known member of an illegal organization is a fast way to be expelled, but members also tend to not ask such personal questions, and generally don’t see surveillance as much of their business.
Personal issues are expected to be left behind as well; while the struggle to improve one’s self is seen as vital, Battle Club does not exist to enact harm, and attempting to use it to be harmed is a path to being spoken to sternly if not banned instantly. In some ways loose clusters of small overlapping communities, the members do care for one another; everyone has powers of some kind and shares at least the singular goal of improving them, and growing to know one another is not just inevitable, but culturally welcomed.
Administration is strict, with members- especially known veterans- expected to pitch in to maintain facilities, though time is highly valued and chores tend to go to those who are supernaturally skilled at them. Likewise, donations are always welcomed, though the bulk of funds tend to come from wealthy members. The group is run tightly, expulsion for breaking rules swift and final; acting even slightly out of line is enough to attract the attention of many trained eyes. Administrators would like nothing more than the elimination of their work so they can return to battling.
Great lengths are taken to prevent injury, to the point Battle Club has had zero accidental deaths in its entire run, though permanent harm has still occasionally resulted. Members ultimately are responsible for their own level of participation, but a role known as “Healers” are required to be present and dedicated to a single battle at a time, stopping the match the instant they deem fit or feel overburdened, immediately restoring their wards after each.
Civility and respect form the true core of the rules, members understanding that no tenets can truly cover all situations, just like there’s no perfect preparation for combat. The culture of the club is strict yet permissive, gentleness and nurturing existing off the fields, critique plentiful and critical, but little quarter given to shaming. Nudity is allowed, body commentary beyond anatomical and battle-related is unwelcome, and sex is off-limits entirely.
Battle Club views itself as an important faction for preserving Pokemorph history, serving a repository for techniques; more than one morph has poured their knowledge in for the sake of having it retained and iterated upon. In a similar way, it sees itself as in an ancillary sense as an intentional melting pot for Pokemorph culture, Pokémon and human features often facing off in lengthy philosophical combat on the sidelines, members intending to develop how Pokemorphs might ultimately act and represent themselves.
History#
Created organically early in Prism Island’s history, Battle Club simply happens to be the largest and most carefully staffed battling group that remains; while no less than two dozen emerged as Pokemorphs made Prism Island their home, it is the major legal one that happened to withstand the tests of time, developing a more consistent rule-set and administration as it grew until it became what it is today. The intentional overgrowth and takeover of a chunk of the northern forest where the largest battleground is stationed was conveniently secured before land ownership laws were fully settled, making the legal acquisition of the space relatively trivial when the time came. The group does its best to not create historically relevant events, and has done an excellent job of staying out of the light for the length of its existence due to its few but strict policies.