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pokemonbiologyirlthetabletop · 5 days ago

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Piplup, Prinplup, & Empoleon

Piplup (#393)

Gloriavem parvavem

General Information: Piplup the Penguin Pokémon and one of the most beloved Pokémon in the world. They’re small, round, cute, trainable, courageous, and at all stages they are excellent members of the family and highly valued as partner Pokémon to trainers and Rangers alike. At this stage of life, they are poor walkers and are often seen falling down—but this won’t stop them, the Piplup will simply puff its chest up and keep going.

Piplups average at 1’4 feet (0.4 M) tall and weigh about 11.5 pounds (5.2 kg).

Habitat: Despite their evolutionary line’s bold resemblance to Emperor Penguins, the fact of the matter is that Piplups nor any of their evolutions are ice-types, and simply cannot withstand the harshest of Antarctica’s winters. Instead of being found in giant colonies within the continent’s interior, they are found in colonies along the coastlines of Antarctica and in the lower latitudes in the southern portions of Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the surrounding oceanic islands. They are only native to the Southern hemisphere.

Life Cycles: Piplups are born near the coastline as singlets each Fall in the Southern hemisphere to a dedicated and loving pair of parents. They will spend the first year of their life being lovingly protected by their parents, who will switch duties every few days. The Piplups are born away from the water to evade the predators found there, but in a couple weeks are brought to the sea in order to learn to hunt, swim, and dive. These first several weeks/couple months of a Piplup’s life are the most treacherous, when predators from all sides are looking to eat a fatty, tasty baby bird that doesn’t know how to survive yet.

By the next breeding season that summer, Piplups are able to fend for themselves, but will still seek the protection of the older/larger members of their colony.

Piplups are most commonly eaten by Glaceons, Cryogonals, Sharpedos, leopard seals, Articunos, and Antarctic birds of prey.

Behavior: Piplups are prideful Pokémon who value their independence and ability to fend for themselves, and despite their popularity this can cause problems with its trainer since they are incredibly strongwilled. They will even refuse handouts from humans that they don’t trust, and don’t generally enjoy being pampered. But despite their willfulness, Piplups are friendly, courageous, highly intelligent, and social creatures that get lonely easily. They may not enjoy handouts, but they will work together to solve common goals, and will forcibly take care of sick or injured members of the colony whether they like it or not.

Diet: Fish. They may also eat other sea creatures when fish are harder to find, but they eat fish. May occasionally enjoy some kelp for the fiber.

Conservation: Threatened

Relationship with Humans: Piplups have been beloved by humans ever since their discovery(s) by different cultures throughout time, but especially once the Europeans found them and brought them back to Europe. They are a useful companion to seafolks and sailors alike, and their prideful natures and beautiful elegance and overall cuteness make them agreeable to aristocrats, too.

Of course, not all cultures took them in as pets, and many in the southern reaches of the world would hunt Piplups for sustenance, too.

In the modern age, Piplups are a popular starter Pokémon given out by the Pokémon League Foundation. In large part because of this, they are common in households the world over, but most especially in colder regions of the Southern Hemisphere. Many find their prideful natures endearing.

Additionally, Piplups face predation at the fangs of invasive Glaceons at untold and unchecked numbers. These Glaceons were brought in by human explorers to Antarctica.

Classification: Piplups are related to Eiscues, but in the grand scheme of the penguins are relatively unrelated, with their last common ancestor being several millions of years old. They are in the order Sphenisciformes with all other penguins. Its species epithet, “Parvavem” means “little bird.”

Prinplup (#394)

Gloriavem solitariam

General Information: Prinplup is a deeply prideful Pokémon, and the evolved form of Piplup. They are skilled divers who can hold their breath for up to 10 minutes at a time, they are graceful swimmers in icy waters, and they have a song that sounds like the roaring tide.

Prinplups average at 2’7 feet (0.8 M) tall and weigh about 50.7 pounds (23 kg).

Habitat: They are found in the higher latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, particularly along the coasts of southern South America, Southern Africa, and Antarctica, but also on the surrounding oceanic islands. In the winter, solitary individuals have been seen as far North as the Galapagos Islands, but the events are few and far between, and none have set up a permanent residence there.

Life Cycles: Prinplup are in that stage in life where they consider themselves better than everyone else and want to forge their own path in the world, so they do. Their extreme self-centeredness makes them fully unsuitable for living in a colony or working as a team with others. It’s at this point in their life that Prinplups will migrate all across the Southern Hemisphere and even a little into the Northern Hemisphere at the Galapagos Islands, but the equator is too hot even in winter and no sightings of wild Prinplup have been seen past this point of the globe. On these travels, Prinplups learn about themselves, the world, and their place in the world, and grow humbler as a result. They even learn to forge friendships (or rivalries!) with others not of their kind, or perhaps end up creating new colonies or joining others. When they are ready to return home or make their own, the wisdom they learn as a Prinplup will set them up for great success as an Empoleon. This migratory urge is also key to genetic dispersal of the species and ensures that inbreeding is minimal across the colonies.

While Prinplups can reproduce and are known to have love affairs with other species on their journeys, in general, they just don’t, and frankly would be truly terrible parents anyways.

Behavior: Prinplup see themselves as the most important and better than everyone else, which makes them horrendously uncooperative and unable to work together. This is part of the drive that leads them to disperse into the sea for a long time.

On Pokémon teams, Prinplups are not cooperative with other Pokémon, but their desire to be better than others and prove themselves strong and elegant, means that they are still quite excellent at battling. Rangers may have a harder time with the uncooperativeness of these Pokémon than the average trainer.

Diet: Fish

Conservation: Threatened

Relationship with Humans: Prinplups are the aggravating stage of the Piplup family, and a facet of their development that can turn a lot of folks off from ever owning one. Many trainers will abandon their Prinplups because they get fed up with having to actually care for a Pokémon and raise it to become a well-rounded, well-adjusted adult. And something that often gets overlooked in Prinplups, is that it’s not that they don’t care about others, it’s that they lack respect for authority “just because that’s how it is” and see themselves as the main character. It’s why they don’t get along with other Prinplups but can potentially still be a great member of a team if their trainer raises them well and works with their efforts to learn about their own identities, rather than against them. Unfortunately, not everyone gets this memo, and there are a handful of Prinplup rescues that seek to take in abandoned Prinplups and raise them right, even possibly finding them new homes with trainers who’ll love them the way they need to be loved.

With all that said, Prinplups are actually an excellent Pokémon to be on the team of any journeying trainer.

In media, there is a teenaged Prinplup in Tuesdays With Turtwig who is humorously depicted as being rather vain, but who does seem to mean well. Prinplups are often depicted as the stereotypical annoying teenager, but its depiction in Tuesdays With Turtwig is generally considered one of the better representations of teenagers in modern media for its portrayal of the emotional nuances that come with teenagerhood.

Classification: Its genus name “Gloriavem” means “prideful bird” and its species epithet, “solitariam” refers to its loner, solitary nature from other Prinplups.

Evolution: Prinplup evolves from Piplup at level 16.

Empoleon (#395)

Gloriavem rex

General Information: Empoleon is the final evolution of Piplup. It gains the steel-typing, a rare type combination that gives its wings hardened edges that have been compared to the highest quality blades. In the water they are as fast as jet boats, and their steel wings can cut right through ice floes. Some know it as the Emperor Pokémon because of its historical association with Napoleon Bonaparte, and others know it as the Master of the Waves.

Empoleons average at 5’7 feet (1.7 M) tall and weigh about 186.3 pounds (84.5 kg).

Habitat: Empoleons are found in the Southern hemisphere along the Antarctic coasts, as well as the southern coasts of South America, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the surrounding oceanic islands.

Life Cycles: Empoleons are the protectors and leaders of their colonies. They spend much of their time defending their colony from threats, especially the newborn Piplups. They are also almost always the parents of the colony, who work to take care of all of their children together. While their pre-evolutions can reproduce starting at level 15, both Piplup and Prinplup usually just don’t or lack any real opportunity to, and reproduction in these two species tends to really only occur in captivity.

Behavior: They have journeyed the world and have learned who they are and their place in the world, developing a strong sense of self as a solid foundation to their pride, creating what amounts to a well-rounded, courageous, and dependable Pokémon who still retains its base pridefulness. Empoleons frown upon unnecessary battles and prefer to resolve disputes peacefully, but will take up arms to defend their colony from any and all threats—and threats to their pride! An Empoleon has no qualms with brutalizing anything or anyone that dares threaten its colony.

Diet: Fish

Conservation: Threatened

Relationship with Humans: Empoleons gained international acclaim when Napoleon Bonaparte used one as his signature Pokémon during the French Revolution, and was key to his escape from Elba. To this day, the media associates them with war generals, emperors, top trainers, and kings. They are an incredible Pokémon to have on any team.

Outside of the glorification of war, Empoleons have been deeply affiliated with sailors and fishers for countless generations in many parts of the world. Their reliability, speed, durability, and strength have made them vital assets to seafolks, especially those in colder climates.

Classification: Its species epithet, “rex” means “king”, giving it the full scientific name of “King of the prideful birds.”

Evolution: Empoleon evolves from Prinplup at level 36.

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