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Description
6/3/2022 NOTE: This is an upload/update from THE FUTURE!!! If you want to check out the original uploads, the reposted version of that is over here !

**********

The Dawn Horse Pokémon
"It gathers only the spiciest herbs and berries for food, stoking the fire in its gut to fuel its powerful flame breath. A delicious meal rich in very hot spices is the best way to win over its loyalty."
"When in battle, the pads on its hands glow red-hot, igniting things it touches. Its kind were once part of an ancient lineage, and its closest living relatives are PONYTA, BLITZLE, and MUDBRAY."

Type: Fire
Height: 1'8"
Weight: 15 lbs
Ability: Blaze (Rammed Earth*)
Evolution: SHAOHIPPUS --> Level 18 --> CHALIKURE --> Level 35 --> HUOSHANGMA
Egg Groups: Field

Basis: A nondescript prehistoric equid (e.g. Eohippus, Propalaeotherium, etc.) with some influences from ancient Chinese attire.
Name Origin: SHAOshang (烧伤 Shāoshāng, "burn" in Chinese) + EOHIPPUS

Moves Learned: Tail Whip, Ember, Flame Charge, Stomp, Rock Smash, Scorched Earth*, Take Down, Assurance, Flamethrower, Inferno, Fire Blast, Head Smash, High Horsepower, Flare Blitz, and starting moves Tackle and Growl.
Notable Other Moves: Notable TMs include Bulldoze, Embargo, Will-O-Wisp, Brutal Swing, Dig, Fire Fang, Screech, Calm Mind, Fire Spin, Sand Tomb, Stone Edge, Flamethrower, Hone Claws, Fire Blast, Revenge, Smack Down, Tail Slap, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Power-Up Punch, Dazzling Gleam, Safeguard, Dragon Claw, Rock Blast, Focus Blast, and Wild Charge. Notable egg moves include Body Press from Miltank; Megahorn from either form of Rapidash; Hammer Arm from Ursaring or Rhydon; and Heavy Slam from Mudsdale or Copperajah. Notable tutor moves include Fire Pledge, Blast Burn, Low Kick, Block, Sandstorm, Mud Shot, Incinerate, Iron Tail, Spite, After You, Stealth Rock, Iron Head, Zen Headbutt, Shadow Claw, Beat Up, Throat Chop, Stomping Tantrum, Earth Power, Dual Chop, Drain Punch, Superpower, Knock Off, Rock Slide, Flame Charge, Double Edge, Brick Break, Solar Blade, Reflect, and Sunny Day.

Base Stats:
HP: 60
Attack: 45
Defense: 55
Sp.Atk: 45
Sp.Def: 55
Speed: 45
TOTAL: 305

* Rammed Earth: Absorbs Ground-type attacks to boost its Defense. (Compare: Storm Drain)

* Scorched Earth
Category: Status
Type: Fire
Power: N/A
PP: 20
Accuracy: N/A
The user sets the ground ablaze around the feet of the opposing team. The flames will burn opposing Pokémon that switch into battle. (Compare: Toxic Spikes.)

**********

At last, a long overdue update from yours truly, and one I've been looking forward to posting but couldn't get the time to until now! Say hello to the new Fire starter of the Sundo region, Shaohippus!

I'll admit, the decision to replace my Fire starter was a difficult one. I LOVE reptilian Pokémon designs with all my heart, almost as much as avian ones, and a naga starter would've been perfect for a Southeast Asian region - had I not had the perfect self-indulgent Water-starter line already for Sundo, I'd have gone with a sea snake instead. Generally speaking, though, the design principle for the starter sets seems to be that for any given personal taste, only one of the three different families would probably be 100% appealing to them - a maximum of two lines perfect for someone would probably be the best the set can achieve. Variety is the source of appeal for every set of Pokémon designs for a given region, so the starters need to embody that. I'm still sure I could make the snake fire starter line work, but it overlapped with one of the legendaries being a giant multi-headed serpent, and the original concept that stuck with me the most always was going to be a strictly North American one. At the same time, I had a different starter line for an upcoming project that I was struggling to get to work properly, only to realize that the most economical way to solve both problems at once was to switch the two lines around. So the Ratthlerm line will be part of that upcoming project, and even if the evolved stages won't be the same as previous incarnations, I'm sure he'll be more at home in that in-progress region when I get around to it! In his place, I promptly installed the other Fire starter line, based on horses and some of their extinct next-of-kin, and... well, it actually worked a good deal better! It helped that I already had a design for the final form that only needed a couple of tweaks, but I'll get to that later.

Shaohippus himself is, first off, very much unlike the other horse Pokémon before him, partly because I wanted to distinguish him from both the canon Poké-horses and the other horse-based Fire starter fakemon out there (and believe me, the Chinese zodiac Fire starter fan-theory has led to a lot of them). Having him be bipedal was a conscious design choice and one that will make thematic sense once the full line is posted, but for now, take note of the three hooves on each hand and foot. As this line was based on extinct horse relatives as well as actual horses, I decided to make it a sort of chronicle of horse evolution (at least at first), with the first form resembling the earliest forest-dwelling proto-horses with toes instead of hooves, such as Eohippus and Propalaeotherium from the Eocene period or Mesohippus and Archaeohippus from the Oligocene. The evolved forms would, in theory, lose a hoof with each transition until we get a single-toed, properly horse-like form in the final stage... at least, that's what everyone would think. As with many, many other Pokémon families, and as with evolution in real life, this little pony can just as easily go in a very different direction...

Anyways, since I'll likely give the Ratthlerm line a different competitive role and possibly even a different typing when I do return to it, I decided to use the same stat spread I'd given the base stage previously so it wouldn't go to waste, with only the movepool being updated. New TM/egg moves list aside, I cobbled the movepool together from a mix of Ponyta, Mudbray, and fellow hoofed Fire-starter Tepig. Tepig lends Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, Flame Charge, Take Down, Assurance, Flamethrower, Head Smash, and Flare Blitz; Kantonian Ponyta provides Growl, Stomp, Inferno, and Fire Blast; and Mudbray supplies Rock Smash, High Horsepower, and Superpower. Completing the level-up moveset is a new entry hazard move, similar to Toxic Spikes except instead of poisoning opponents it sets them on fire. How fun! A whole bunch of TMs, egg moves, and tutors of the Ground, Rock, and Fighting-types along with some Electric attacks round out this moveset, and the latter might prove useful in the evolved forms especially. So stay tuned for the reveal of the evolved forms of this line either tonight or this weekend - and prepare to be surprised!

Pokémon © Nintendo
SHAOHIPPUS is mine!

Description
6/3/2022 NOTE: This is an upload/update from THE FUTURE!!! If you want to check out the original uploads, the reposted version of that is over here !

**********

The Dawn Horse Pokémon
"It gathers only the spiciest herbs and berries for food, stoking the fire in its gut to fuel its powerful flame breath. A delicious meal rich in very hot spices is the best way to win over its loyalty."
"When in battle, the pads on its hands glow red-hot, igniting things it touches. Its kind were once part of an ancient lineage, and its closest living relatives are PONYTA, BLITZLE, and MUDBRAY."

Type: Fire
Height: 1'8"
Weight: 15 lbs
Ability: Blaze (Rammed Earth*)
Evolution: SHAOHIPPUS --> Level 18 --> CHALIKURE --> Level 35 --> HUOSHANGMA
Egg Groups: Field

Basis: A nondescript prehistoric equid (e.g. Eohippus, Propalaeotherium, etc.) with some influences from ancient Chinese attire.
Name Origin: SHAOshang (烧伤 Shāoshāng, "burn" in Chinese) + EOHIPPUS

Moves Learned: Tail Whip, Ember, Flame Charge, Stomp, Rock Smash, Scorched Earth*, Take Down, Assurance, Flamethrower, Inferno, Fire Blast, Head Smash, High Horsepower, Flare Blitz, and starting moves Tackle and Growl.
Notable Other Moves: Notable TMs include Bulldoze, Embargo, Will-O-Wisp, Brutal Swing, Dig, Fire Fang, Screech, Calm Mind, Fire Spin, Sand Tomb, Stone Edge, Flamethrower, Hone Claws, Fire Blast, Revenge, Smack Down, Tail Slap, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Power-Up Punch, Dazzling Gleam, Safeguard, Dragon Claw, Rock Blast, Focus Blast, and Wild Charge. Notable egg moves include Body Press from Miltank; Megahorn from either form of Rapidash; Hammer Arm from Ursaring or Rhydon; and Heavy Slam from Mudsdale or Copperajah. Notable tutor moves include Fire Pledge, Blast Burn, Low Kick, Block, Sandstorm, Mud Shot, Incinerate, Iron Tail, Spite, After You, Stealth Rock, Iron Head, Zen Headbutt, Shadow Claw, Beat Up, Throat Chop, Stomping Tantrum, Earth Power, Dual Chop, Drain Punch, Superpower, Knock Off, Rock Slide, Flame Charge, Double Edge, Brick Break, Solar Blade, Reflect, and Sunny Day.

Base Stats:
HP: 60
Attack: 45
Defense: 55
Sp.Atk: 45
Sp.Def: 55
Speed: 45
TOTAL: 305

* Rammed Earth: Absorbs Ground-type attacks to boost its Defense. (Compare: Storm Drain)

* Scorched Earth
Category: Status
Type: Fire
Power: N/A
PP: 20
Accuracy: N/A
The user sets the ground ablaze around the feet of the opposing team. The flames will burn opposing Pokémon that switch into battle. (Compare: Toxic Spikes.)

**********

At last, a long overdue update from yours truly, and one I've been looking forward to posting but couldn't get the time to until now! Say hello to the new Fire starter of the Sundo region, Shaohippus!

I'll admit, the decision to replace my Fire starter was a difficult one. I LOVE reptilian Pokémon designs with all my heart, almost as much as avian ones, and a naga starter would've been perfect for a Southeast Asian region - had I not had the perfect self-indulgent Water-starter line already for Sundo, I'd have gone with a sea snake instead. Generally speaking, though, the design principle for the starter sets seems to be that for any given personal taste, only one of the three different families would probably be 100% appealing to them - a maximum of two lines perfect for someone would probably be the best the set can achieve. Variety is the source of appeal for every set of Pokémon designs for a given region, so the starters need to embody that. I'm still sure I could make the snake fire starter line work, but it overlapped with one of the legendaries being a giant multi-headed serpent, and the original concept that stuck with me the most always was going to be a strictly North American one. At the same time, I had a different starter line for an upcoming project that I was struggling to get to work properly, only to realize that the most economical way to solve both problems at once was to switch the two lines around. So the Ratthlerm line will be part of that upcoming project, and even if the evolved stages won't be the same as previous incarnations, I'm sure he'll be more at home in that in-progress region when I get around to it! In his place, I promptly installed the other Fire starter line, based on horses and some of their extinct next-of-kin, and... well, it actually worked a good deal better! It helped that I already had a design for the final form that only needed a couple of tweaks, but I'll get to that later.

Shaohippus himself is, first off, very much unlike the other horse Pokémon before him, partly because I wanted to distinguish him from both the canon Poké-horses and the other horse-based Fire starter fakemon out there (and believe me, the Chinese zodiac Fire starter fan-theory has led to a lot of them). Having him be bipedal was a conscious design choice and one that will make thematic sense once the full line is posted, but for now, take note of the three hooves on each hand and foot. As this line was based on extinct horse relatives as well as actual horses, I decided to make it a sort of chronicle of horse evolution (at least at first), with the first form resembling the earliest forest-dwelling proto-horses with toes instead of hooves, such as Eohippus and Propalaeotherium from the Eocene period or Mesohippus and Archaeohippus from the Oligocene. The evolved forms would, in theory, lose a hoof with each transition until we get a single-toed, properly horse-like form in the final stage... at least, that's what everyone would think. As with many, many other Pokémon families, and as with evolution in real life, this little pony can just as easily go in a very different direction...

Anyways, since I'll likely give the Ratthlerm line a different competitive role and possibly even a different typing when I do return to it, I decided to use the same stat spread I'd given the base stage previously so it wouldn't go to waste, with only the movepool being updated. New TM/egg moves list aside, I cobbled the movepool together from a mix of Ponyta, Mudbray, and fellow hoofed Fire-starter Tepig. Tepig lends Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, Flame Charge, Take Down, Assurance, Flamethrower, Head Smash, and Flare Blitz; Kantonian Ponyta provides Growl, Stomp, Inferno, and Fire Blast; and Mudbray supplies Rock Smash, High Horsepower, and Superpower. Completing the level-up moveset is a new entry hazard move, similar to Toxic Spikes except instead of poisoning opponents it sets them on fire. How fun! A whole bunch of TMs, egg moves, and tutors of the Ground, Rock, and Fighting-types along with some Electric attacks round out this moveset, and the latter might prove useful in the evolved forms especially. So stay tuned for the reveal of the evolved forms of this line either tonight or this weekend - and prepare to be surprised!

Pokémon © Nintendo
SHAOHIPPUS is mine!