Lore of the Pokeverse: Pokemon.

Part One: What are Pokemon like in this world?
Pokemon are, much unlike game canon, where most are feral and more like many fan canons, anthropomorphic creatures, for the most part. They are sentient as humans are, however, they seem to form a bridge between animal, human, and possibly the energy of this universe, with many in the egg groups that correlate to animals having some animalistic instincts in them, such as a rockruff chasing his tail, or a feline pokemon, such as litten, getting on all fours or simply hunching over to arch the back when feeling threatened.
 
Many of the magical attributes of pokemon relate to their biology. For example, water type pokemon have a water organ, either a second stomach or a specialized organ in the body, such as a pair of organic “jets” seen on the lower back of sharpedos, to allow them to create water from moisture in air, store water they take into their bodies or create, or eject said water with varying force for various reasons, whether it be to clean the internals of the pokemon, to fight, or to douse a fire. How some pokemon use moves outside their typing or biological possibility, for example, nearly every pokemon being able to learn toxic, is still unknown.

 
Part Two: Do Pokemon Have Cultures?

Why yes, pokemon do have cultures of sorts, based in how they are like in nature, and the environment they are from. Their sorts of culture is also affected by the various social constructs they have in nature, for example, meowstic are matriarchal, for the females are the ones who fight much of the time while males protect the children, and lycanroc are social, as they are pack pokemon. Many, if not all of these cultures conflict with post-classical and pre-21st century human cultures, for example, acceptance and encouragement of those who are LGBTQ+ are common in all pokemon cultures, conflicting with Sharia Law in the middle east, western christian fundamentalism, many cultures that put a certain perception of masculinity first, and multiple others. 

Many pokemon cultures have their own celebrations as well, for example, in most European Pokemon Cultures, alongside celebrating Christmas as Humans do, as to integrate with Human society(and often also for the candy canes), Eurasian pokemon from Kalos all the way to the furthest reaches of Siberia have their own holiday, Winterbliss, a week-long event of great festivity, which often results in drunk pokemon and some pokemon gaining weight from binging on food, alongside many eggs ending up being made with what goes on during these festivities.

A majority of pokemon cultures, especially in mountains, urban areas and coasts, are noted for their rather profane and colorful vocabulary, much of which is NOT to be heard by polite company.
One common source of conflict between pokemon cultures, even within the same area, is collectivism VS individualism, for example, many pokemon who don’t live in packs or far into the wilderness in Kanto and Johto are collectivists who value power and worth, and view those who fail to fit in as failures, while those in Hoenn are more freespirited and believe in guilding one’s own fate as they go, across boundless oceans, lands with no end, and infinite skies.

Part Three: Do Pokemon Die, and how do others mourn them if they do?

Sadly, yes, most pokemon, like many living things, do in fact die, from a variety of causes too. Such as being killed by humans or wild animals, even being killed by other pokemon, overexertion literally destroying them, illnesses, and old age. Some pokemon do not die from old age, for example, Golurk and Bronzong, as long as their bodies can function, live forever. Some pokemon do not leave corpses when they die of natural causes, for example, some fire types will perform a final firing when they die, in which all lifesigns cease, and the flame sac swells up and explodes, cremating the pokemon automatically.

Many pokemon cultures do in fact mourn their fallen, for example, among the European Alps’ Iceclad Clans, when one of them dies, pokemon who knew their fallen brethren will gather favorite things of the pokemon, be it a favorite food such as lingonberries, to be served as part of the traditional funerary feast, or a favorite thing such as the pokemon’s favorite shirt or weapon, to be buried with them, or in place of a body should the body either be unrecoverable or lost. 

Part Four: What do pokemon eat?

Pokemon eat a variety of things, as all are omnivores. However, some have preference for certain foods. For example, a deerling will find a nice salad with balsamic vinegar and cherry tomatoes more appetizing that a cut of prime rib, and for Lycanroc, this is often vice versa, however, like humans, this mostly comes down to personal tastes, when outside of a wild setting.

Pokemon also often eat many things humans find either inedible or unpalatable. For example, the Aron family line is known for consumption of ferrite, iron, whatever you wish to call it, and any alloys made of those, such as steel. Many forest pokemon also consume things such as wood, some can even get picky and prefer different types of wood, such as a chespin retching at the idea of eating cypress, but gladly eating cedar, finding balsa wood bland, and absolutely adoring the taste of lacewood.

Due to their strong immune systems, many pokemon can also eat things not recommended for humans, such as raw eggs or poultry, both of which are commonly eaten by sneasel.

Pokemon cuisine itself can also be a hit or a miss with humans, such as the Kalosian Dish known as Everything and Everyone, a stack of multiple cheeses, meats and sauces, served with whatever plants one can gather from farms or wilderness. This one is an example of a dish popular among humans, while another bit of cuisine, a globally made drink commonly known as schlop, is a drink most humans DESPISE, made of of old berries traditionally, alongside rotten bark, old leaves and insects, and if made in an urban area, loose cream, runoff from a butcher’s if applicable, ketchup water, and napkin squeezings, all fermented in a clay pot, tin can or hollowed out fruit for about 3 weeks.

Part Five: What is pokemon biology like?

Pokemon biology in this universe is quite complex and varied, and as such, there is an entire branch of biology dedicated specifically to pokemon, with famous professors into the subject including Professor Samuel Oak, Professor Aurea Juniper, and Professor Augustine Sycamore. Many of these professors also focus on certain aspects of pokemon in their research, be it their origins, relationship with humanity, habitats, or the various wonders of the pokemon body.

The DNA makeup of pokemon is quite complex, as they have a quadruple helixed dna, allowing them to take many different forms. This same genetic make up contains redundancies protecting the pokemon and any offspring, hybrids included, from a variety of genetic aligned illnesses such as cancer and illnesses caused by inbreeding.

The immune systems of pokemon are quite powerful, not invincible however. Smallpox, SARS-2 and all known STDs humans can contract are examples of disease that do not affect pokemon in any way. Pokemon can however still suffer from colds, influenza, TB and other respiratory illnesses, alongside heart afflictions such as cardiac arrest and cardiovascular disease, and pokemon can have allergies as well, with illness ranging from irritation of skin to anaphylactic shock.

Pokemon are sometimes put in their own kingdom as they have traits of both plants and animals such as some being able to use photosynthesis like plants, all having sentience and brain activity as a majority of animals do, and are far too complex to be protists, and alongside that, many pokemon seem to be former objects, such as honedge, and stranger yet, many pokemon seem to be lithoforms, being made of, or partially made of, stones and other non-organic materials.

Pokemon are also noted for being quite hard to kill, given that their usual battling involve things that could be outright lethal to humans, be it being crushed by a body slam or a stomp from a larger pokemon, experiencing temperatures in extremes both positive and negative, bitten into by powerful jaws, electrocuted, stabbed, slashed, pummeled, stretched and squished by psychic powers, hit with corrosive fluids, thrown hard, and most infamously, hit with beams of pure energy, crushed by meteors, pummeled by colossal waves, blown up, and thrashed by earthquakes. It has been theorized the energy of all pokemon is what allows them to survive these vicious injuries and various others, such as pokemon such as Chesnaught being able to endure heavy arms fire from armored fighting vehicles.

In a majority of battles, often for fun or competition, the injuries pokemon receive are not horrifically dangerous, and they are able to heal easily from them. It takes an active, brutal effort to seriously injure a pokemon enough to cause permanent damage, especially since a majority of times, torn parts on pokemon easily regenerate, such as sylveon ribbons, and resting and avoiding overexertion will help a pokemon heal up, though use of medicines and surgical stitches can help speed the process up.

Pokemon life expectancy is also notably longer than typical human lifespans, and pokemon are less hampered by their age. While humans can suffer a variety of debilitations such as frailty of bones from arthritis, degrading of the body, and failing mental faculties, many pokemon instead have colors fade, and gain a tired appearance, with occasional cramps and forgetfulness in those who are advanced in age.

Part Six: What are Artificial Pokemon?

Humanity, in it’s typical ingenuity, has in fact created multiple different artificial pokemon, both intentionally and by accident. For example, the pokemon porygon is what comes to mind when people think of an artificial pokemon, and in this universe, that is no different. They were created in the late 80s, and perfected around 1995. Originally these beings, made of code that has been given a physical, “Hard light” form, were basically mindless drones, but as time went on, many trainer-owned porygon and any successors developed from them developed sentience, and many are just as intelligent as any other pokemon today, the sentience being considered a form of “update”.

One accidental creation, and thus also an aesop in itself, was the creation of the pokemon known as trubbish. 

Around seventy years ago, the species that would be known as trubbish were created by mistake, when a company, attempting to, like many others before it, crack the mystery of what one would call the philosopher’s stone, and thus turn metals to gold, suffered another failure, and, not wishing to pay a disposal fee, illegally disposed of the chemicals in secret at a waste facility just outside Nimbasa City. Said chemicals spilled onto the many forms of refuse and garbage within the dump, combining and eventually creating life, trashbags becoming a sort of skin, tubing and piping bones, and glass shards and metal pieces for teeth. Rather alarmingly, the species had advanced from primitive neolithic hunter gatherers that foraged for trash and small animals, to medieval feudalism within 5 years. 

The first contact event with these life forms was around that time, when a trubbish scout of the Recyclable Empire was caught by police growlithe, raiding a dumpster. This led to a series of events eventually leading to the government of Unova ordering a full investigation of the dump, and after barrels with the company that accidentally created them’s name were discovered, and chemicals from within a trubbish were confirmed to be the same as the trace chemicals in the barrels, the company was investigated. Ever since then, trubbish and garbodor have become prolific in landfills worldwide, often chosen as prime candidates to aid in disposal.

However, both are mere examples of life humanity itself has created. During the Second Intercontinental War, and in the years after it, humanity has experimented with pokemon DNA in attempts to make living weapons, a prime example of such a weapon being the M2 projects, which used Mew DNA in an attempt to improve upon and create the strongest pokemon ever.

Part Seven: How are the legendaries in this world?

In this world, Legendary is a broad statement for pokemon known for immense powers, of which there are various types in this world

There are Goldblood, or ancient legendaries, created by Arceus itself. These legendaries are of immense power in their true form, the form some trainers have, however, are mere fragments of the pokemon’s true existence. These legendaries include Arceus itself, Rayquaza, Groudon, Kyogre, Dialga, Palkia, and others.\

Then there are the ascended, former mortal pokemon and occasionally humans, who have ascended to a place of immortality and power, such as Zacian and Zamanzeta, the legendary dogs, and Calyrex.