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Gijinkas are enigmatic creatures that have sat prettily somewhere between a human and any species of Pokemon for as long as, if not longer than written history dates. It's a mystery as to where they originated – the origins of one line of gijinka, too, may not be the same as another – or how they came to be. All that is known is that they've been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years, often trying to live under the guise of human beings. It's hard to say for certain what constants there are across all gijinkas, seeing as many differ in what powers they may have or what “Pokemon parts” they may exhibit. Most gijinkas, however, are able to wield at least a fraction of the power that their species of Pokemon does. A Charmander gijinka, for example, can create and manipulate fire, although the strength of their control over said fire will differ between this Charmander gijinka and that. One may have a tail while another may only have hair the color of a Charmander's scales. An Espeon gijinka, as well, is more likely to have psychic powers that a normal human. A Morelul gijinka can summon glowing spores to confuse their enemies. The list goes on and on. In addition to this, they also tend to have aversions to types that weaken them. A fire-type gijinka, for example, is more likely to fear water, and a bug-type gijinka is more likely to find themselves weary of birds. One constant across all gijinkas, however, is that they are more resilient than the normal human being; stronger immune systems make them less susceptible to diseases and more likely to recover, and blows that would incapacitate a human being may be shaken off (depending on the strength of the blow, that is).[break][break]

In the past, gijinkas were widely feared and ridiculed by human society, thought to be freaks of nature and “unnaturals”. This led to most gijinkas living in isolation or in hiding. Despite as much as a tenth of the population being made up of these gijinkas, fewer than one percent were ever known to be what they were. More recent history, however, has increased the number of gijinkas, albeit often through inhumane means. Team Imum, for years before they were made public and tore through the region, went about kidnapping civilians from the streets and preforming experiments of various types on them. Some of these resulted in artificial gijinkas through a very painful process. Some were reconditioned to later help in Imum's rampage; others escaped or were later liberated during the Imum war and have spent the rest of their lives as gijinkas against their will. A smaller company, in the more recent past, has discovered how to make artificial gijinkas through less painful and more humane means, offering “gijinka procedures” to the common man so that those who wish to become a gijinka could, despite their human heritage - but the procedure is still a long one, with many draw backs, and few outside the elite have the money to afford such a thing. The increase in the gijinka population, the sorrowful tales of those who were turned against their will, and the knowledge of where the species can come from have all served to make them better known amongst their human peers. This hasn't gotten rid of the extreme prejudice, however, between humans and gijinkas, nor has it done anything to smooth out tension between natural born and artificially made gijinkas. One could say that things are better than they've ever been for this group, now that they're being made known to the public – but “better” doesn't necessarily always mean “good”.

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The Pokemon League was created by the national Pokemon Association some many years ago, taking root in nearly all regions of Pokearth to this date. The League can be separated into two phases that anyone with a legal trainer badge (also issued by the Pokemon Association) can partake in: the Pokemon Gym Challenge and the triennial Pokemon League Tournament. Eight (give or take) gym leaders are assigned to various gyms across the region where they can be challenged at nearly any time by those who wish to do so. Those who beat the gym leader in battle or otherwise earn their respect through different means will earn themselves a special gym badge. Because gym leaders are so powerful, it's very rare for a single trainer to collect all eight gym badges. This does not mean, however, that it's entirely unheard of. Gym Leaders themselves are appointed by the Association, often by taking incredibly challenging battle-oriented tests of skills (for example: knocking out multiple high level Pokemon within a short time limit and without losing a single Pokemon). Other times, highly respected individuals may be offered the gym leader position by Association council members. It's by these means that the Elite Four are also chosen, although criteria for Elite Four members are much higher. They are, after all, a critical part of the Pokemon League Tournament.[break][break]

Every three years in Eirenhyre City – or the designated League spot in other regions – the Association hosts a massive League Tournament that any legal trainer, whether they have a single gym badge to their name or no, may participate in. This is split into a series of preliminaries, the finals, and then the Tournament's victor's shot at the champion title. On the off chance that a trainer has managed to collect all eight gym badges, they are allowed to skip the preliminaries and are put directly into the finals. Trainers battle each other until one alone has made it out of the finals. From there, the single winner is allowed the chance to take on the Elite Four and Champion in a series of rapid fire one-on-one battles. Should the victor be able to beat all five, they are crowned the new League Champion. Should they fail at any point, they are simply crowned the winner of the Tournament and the champion keeps their title for another three years. Elite Four members and the champion may be challenged at any point between League Tournaments, and should the champion lose, they are allowed to relinquish their title to the trainer who beat them, but in almost all cases, these Tournaments are where new Champions are witnessed taking power.

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While they are called gijinkas, the truth is that these legendaries-in-human-bodies are not gijinkas in the traditional sense. A true gijinka is based entirely on biology; legendary gijinkas are based on housings of the soul. Centuries ago, the Unovan dragon of truth discovered a means by which to force her soul into a human vessel. In this day in age, the knowledge has been spread throughout the legendaries and, for reasons unknown or unique to each legendary, they have decided to take on human forms. Like their reasons, however, legendary “gijinkas” and how they function vary on a case-by-case basis. Some have chosen to take over empty vessels, dead human bodies that they have chosen to reanimate for their own purposes. Some have chased the human soul out of the body or otherwise crushed it for complete control over the body. Some still have somehow merged themselves with the original owner, creating an amalgamation of the original human and the legendary that took them over. Appearance-wise, the only changes that may be made are entirely in eye and hair color. Only rarely do the legendary's “parts” appear on the human's outward appearance. These “gijinkas” are entirely capable of using their original powers, however, albeit a bit weakened compared to how they would be in their usual god-like forms. Jirachi may still grant wishes and Mesprit still reigns over emotions – that has not changed. Legendaries can sense each other even in their human forms, and many have already seen the vessels that others have taken on, although whether or not certain legendaries recognize that “sense” for what it is completely depends on the legendary in question.

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The quickest way to break laws is to know what there is to break. While walking you through the entire list of laws in the Lyeant region, we figured it beneficial to make note of some particular laws that are either oft broken or deviate from our own “norm”. Murder, of course, theft in any form, assault, and the like are all still frown upon and punished heavily – former members of Imum can attest will to this – but others aren't as black-and-white as one would think.[break][break]

Trainer cards are issued to interested parties are a relatively young age. While simple spars are fine in the youth of the region (aspiring trainers battling it out with baby Pokemon) and the occasional scrap fine between those who are not registered trainers, in order to formally battle any member of the League and in order to battle for money or sport – you know, the old “travel across the land, searching far and wide” and battling trainers along the way sort of thing – one must be able to show an Association-issued license. Obtaining one isn't difficult at all, and can be done so from as young an age as ten. Those prone to unnecessary violence or particularly unstable mental conditions may be denied access to one on a case-by-case basis, but plenty of criminals have been found to have licenses post-arrest. Revocation of trainer cards is a particularly rare occurrence; those who have used Pokemon for theft or battery may have their card suspended, but typically only those who use their Pokemon for crimes such as murder or treason find their license indefinitely taken away; not that many get out from behind bars early enough in life to see it make much of a difference anyway. Because the difference between a “friendly fight” and an official “trainer battle” can be a little hard to determine, most laws regarding trainer cards are kept rather flexible. Truly, so long as you aren't cage fighting or battling once your card has been taken from you by force, you've little to worry about in this regard.[break][break]

Fire arms of virtually any sort are strictly prohibited across the region, both from a safety standpoint and because of the adverse affects their presence alone can have on nearby Pokemon. Pokemon exposed to guns are often seen to become more agitated, much more prone to violence, and the number of casualties caused by Pokemon reacting to the weapons are higher than the casualties caused by the weapons themselves. Weapons like knives, swords, hammers, brass knuckles, and so forth don't appear to have the same affect – or, if they do, not nearly to the same degree – and are typically allowed with varying levels of regulation. It's still pretty uncommon to see someone walking around with a katana in hand, but in comparison to our own version of Earth, skills with more elaborate blades are far more prominent.[break][break]

Human trafficking is, in truth, entirely non-existent, replaced, instead, with the equally heinous trafficking of gijinkas. Despite their more or less unspoken nature to the public, poor, captured gijinkas have been bought and sold in the region's underbelly for generations, some even bred specifically for the task. Because of their odd nature, many are thought of as less than human and Pokemon kind alike – prized either as breathing trophies or treated as monsters fit for nothing better than labor, depending on the owner. With the existence of gijinkas recently having been brought to life, this specific slave trade has been forced to slow even more, although it's not unheard of for gijinkas who haven't kept their nature very well hidden to disappear in the night – and end up in some very cruel hands.

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It's been not quite two years since the official fall of Team Imum. With their reigning leadership – admins and leader herself – disappeared like a fleeting puff of smoke, its members were left to scatter, many falling into the hands of the law and suffering due punishment for their terrible crimes. It was only after just over a year of bloody conflict, however, that victory was secured, the “Imum Wars” lasting just that long. Worse, still, is that a single year was not enough to contain the organizations evil. Imum's actual age remains something of a mystery, with different members throwing out various numbers as shots in the dark toward its point of origin. Crimes previously unsolved – missing persons, company arsons, stolen Pokemon – have been linked back to members of Imum as early as four, perhaps five years prior toward their official reveal and the start of the war. To this day, victims of horrific experimentation and condition have been liberated from abandoned laboratories, many of them thought to have died years ago. Perhaps only the original leader, Nymah, could say when the group first officially formed together underneath her vision. Its age, then, disappeared with her: knowledge never to be known, and a woman never to be seen in life or in death.