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The **Sehto gym circuit** is rigged.

Specifically, it's rigged against the people taking it, and, a bit like the Kobayashi Maru test in Star Trek, you're not going to win it. The entire idea of the gyms on the way to the last one is to discourage people from even //trying// to get all the way through, and then they're mopped up by [[Legendaries]] and then they're in trouble.

Why would anyone want to play Sehto if they're going to lose? Because losing is entertaining. ...for the players. Not for the characters. :3 You're invited to compare this to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Cthulhu_(role-playing_game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'s appeal.

===== Order ===

The Sehto gym circuit does not inherently demand any particular order (other than [[place:Taqnateh]] by necessity being the last and denying anyone battle trying to tackle it first). Nonetheless, it is commonly traversed as follows:

===== #1: Njoty: Path Badge =====

  * **Place**: [[place:Njoty]]: [[place:Njoty:Pterygotamorphic Pokémon Science Center]]
  * **Leader**: [[character:Cecile Madhukar]]
  * **[[Types|Specialisation]]**: Bug and Poison
  * **[[Pokégym rules|Rule preference]]**: Knock-out-only moveset <del>turn-based</del> 2/2 or 2/4

Njoty's pokégym exists to weed out the people who would be weirded out by a //regular// pokébattle if they saw it unfold in earnest. As such, it has no particular lesson in mind for the Sehto-aspiring //I want to be the very best// pokétrainer, other than "//Yep, so, pokémon battling. This is how it goes. Sure you want to do that? Well, okay, have fun.//"

It's the only pokégym traditionally simply passed on from generation to generation, but that doesn't stop the gymleaders from equally traditionally having better things to do than battling. Like all gymleaders, they're aware what the gym circuit eventually leads up to. So far, none of them have cared to be outraged one bit, it's quite far removed from their point on the map and circuit, after all.

{{ :path-badge.png?direct&100|}}
In most continuities, the Path Badge is a metallic, stylised dragonfly pin, its tail bent to the left only to end in a wicked scorpion's stinger. It's intricately crafted - a small work of art - even if the colour itself is entirely unexciting, almost dull.

In others, it's taken on the black and yellow warning guise of a wasp, and its tail is additionally segmented, as in the image depicted here.

===== #2: Nahla City: Dust Badge =====

  * **Place**: [[place:Nahla City]]
  * **Leader**: [[character:Terry Kiran]]
  * **[[Types|Specialisation]]**: Rock and Ground
  * **[[Pokégym rules|Rule preference]]**: Standard spontaneous <del>freeform</del> 2/2

Nahla City's pokégym is where it gets serious. If you've ever found yourself asking why rock pokémon don't just crush the life out of other pokémon and call it a day during battles given their immense weight and sturdiness, this pokégym's answer to that is "//What do you mean? That's exactly what they do.//"

In short, expect to lose a pokémon here, unless you already know the lesson it exists to teach you, which is that pokémon battles occasionally result in //dead pokeymans//. Alternatively, learn to withdraw your fainted pokémon from the battlefield //very quickly// to avoid more grinding to a pulp than is absolutely necessary to win the fight.

If you're still serious about doing the gym circuit after this point, you are commonly considered insane and fair game for what you're setting yourself up for.

The pokégym is firmly in the hands of trainers that have been through Taqnateh. Jagdish insists, even if the type of person he tends to instate here is rarely happy with their position, be that as a deathbringer or as a cog in the gym circuit wheel.

{{ :dust-badge.png?direct&100|}}
The description of the Dust Badge as it was described in various continuities is a bit absent - pinkgothic hasn't really had the muse to log-dive for it. A real life version of the Dust Badge that's been used as a model for it ever since it was created is an earthy colour, with stalagmites and crystals growing from its base.

===== #3: Nightclaw: Glint Badge =====

  * **Place**: [[place:Nightclaw]]: [[place:Nightclaw:Helix tower]]
  * **Leader**: [[character:Naomi Charna]]
  * **[[Types|Specialisation]]**: Dark and Steel
  * **[[Pokégym rules|Rule preference]]**: <del>Standard</del> freeform 1/4

Nightclaw's pokégym is comparatively tame, but exists to teach you that the environment can and will be rigged against you. Specifically, fighting for the Glint badge is done in complete darkness. Whether or not lightbringing moves like //Flash// can be used, or whether they're banned and constitute a battle loss, is plotline-specific.

Nightclaw's gymleader history varies, though given the mild-mannered nature of its rules is a slot that's easy to fill, thus reasonably frequently run by people who've been through Taqnateh. Nightclaw's gymleader tends to be quite loyal to the cause.

{{ :glint-badge-from-front.png?direct&100|}}
{{ :glint-badge-from-top.png?direct&100|}}
{{ :glint-badge-from-back.png?direct&100|}}
The Glint Badge's initial canonical description is lost to the aether in the same way the Dust Badge's is. Continuities described since 2014 are happy to use the real life Glint Badge for reference, though, which is a dark blue, red-speckled serpent wound around a light blue crescent moon.

===== #4: Pyu Ivvi: Feather Badge =====

  * **Place**: [[place:Pyu Ivvi]]: [[place:Pyu Ivvi:Zubat Cove]]
  * **Leader**: [[character:Tove Zipporah]]
  * **[[Types|Specialisation]]**: Flying and Dragon
  * **[[Pokégym rules|Rule preference]]**: <del>Standard</del> freeform 1/3 and loss by touch of Zubat

Pyu Ivvi's pokégym is... different. While it's entirely possible to win by normal rules, almost all pokémon battles here are decided by Zubat impact - though despite the swarm of them that inhabit the cavern the gym is set into, that's not as trivial as it sounds, since they're obviously sentient beings that have no interest in running into things.

Somewhat contrary to the feel of Sehto's gym circuit in general, Pyu Ivvi's gym is //actually quite fun//.

Its involvement with Taqnateh is comparable to Nightclaw's.

{{ :feather-badge-underside.png?direct&100|}}
{{ :feather-badge-top.png?direct&100|}}
The Feather Badge's description is also lost in the sands of time. It'll be somewhere; //pinkgothic// did write all of them down once. She's fairly certain it looked a lot like the version of it that she made in real life, though - a creature with very basic short but serpentine body with one wing feathered and the other wing membranous.

===== #5: Ehqaj City: Haze Badge =====

  * **Place**: [[place:Ehqaj City]]: [[place:Ehqaj City:PokéGym]]
  * **Leader**: [[character:Rose Kaiki]]
  * **[[Types|Specialisation]]**: Water and Grass
  * **[[Pokégym rules|Rule preference]]**: Standard <del>freeform</del> 2/4

Ehqaj City's pokégym, huge aquarium aside, is quite a regular pokébattle, though it's the first that (if circumstances allow) sets out to prove that pokémon trainers are part of the playing field and need to guard themselves against area effects and distractions.

The pokégym of Ehqaj, like Njoty, is quite rarely run by people who've been through to Taqnateh. They're still in on the setup, but due to their vicinity to Vale and Taqnateh - both in gym circuit 'order' and physically - tend to be a little more negatively affected by the whole thing and would probably appreciate if the whole thing just went away. (Since the people who engage Ehqaj's pokégym //tend// to have been through Nahla City, trainers usually don't elicit enough sympathy to make the gymleader consider a rule breach.)

{{ :haze-badge-against-background.png?direct&100|}}
{{ :haze-badge-in-palm.png?direct&100|}}
Canonically, the Haze Badge's shape is that of a stylised leaf in a mildly unnatural, but rich green, with a highly reflective low sphere set into its center, its hue lost somewhere between transparency and blue, like a large, elaborate raindrop captured and frozen in time. (The real life version of the badge depicted in image here is a decent approximation of it.)

===== #6: Kzye City: Pyre Badge =====

  * **Place**: [[place:Kzye City]]: [[place:Kzye City:Magma Chamber]]
  * **Leader**: [[character:Keith Sirius]]
  * **[[Types|Specialisation]]**: Fire and Electric
  * **[[Pokégym rules|Rule preference]]**: Playing-field freeform =/~ and lost pokémon are confiscated

Kzye City's pokégym is the gym circuit's one and only warning not to accept pokébattle rules you're not comfortable with. It's easily the most difficult pokébattle in the circuit to master, since it combines many of the prior lessons into a single experience - pokétrainers being part of the battle and the environment being rigged against the challenger as the most prominent.

Depending on trainer reactions to the confiscation (which happens regardless of overall battle outcome), the gymleader may decide to give them back - the lesson is learnt either way, after all, so usually, only the smug and uncaring will not have their pokémon returned.

Like the Nahla City gym, Kzye's is firmly in the hand of people who have been through Taqnateh.

{{ :pyre-badge-against-background.png?direct&100|}}
{{ :pyre-badge-in-palm.png?direct&100|}}
Canonically, the Pyre Badge is shaped like a stylised corona of a sun with a circular cut-out where the moon would be during a solar eclipse, with an equally stylised lightning bolt spinning around its attached axis within.

When pinkgothic was making badges in real life she took a completely different approach based on the fine detail that she didn't think she could sculpt a lightning bolt out of clay without it turning into a disaster. You're welcome to use that as a template, she's certainly happy with how it turned out.

===== #7: Vale: Vale Badge =====

  * **Place**: [[place:Vale]]: [[place:Vale:PokéGym]]
  * **Leader**: [[character:Yarver Bakema]]
  * **[[Types|Specialisation]]**: Fighting and Normal
  * **[[Pokégym rules|Rule preference]]**: Knock-out-only 1/6

Vale offers a very environment-based pokébattle - the place has labyrinthine qualities. Other than that, though, it's a rather straight-forward pokémon battle, though the normal typing of many of Yarver's pokémon make his a very offensively-geared line-up that's difficult to beat.

Marking the only reasonable way up to Taqnateh, Vale's gym is exclusively in the hands of people fiercely loyal to the cause.

{{ :vale-badge-against-background.png?direct&100|}}
{{ :vale-badge-in-palm.png?direct&100|}}
In most continuities, the Vale badge was something simple, but the description is still not at this wiki's disposal yet and probably won't ever be, since //pinkgothic// is too lazy to log dive. The version you can use as a reference is the one she made in real life, though: A yin-yang with its two dots made to be holes. (//Rehchoortahn// threaded something through it and wore it as a necklace for a while.)

===== #8: Taqnateh: Astral Badge =====

  * **Place**: [[place:Taqnateh]]: [[place:Taqnateh:Cathedral ruins]]
  * **Leader**: [[character:Jagdish Tsukinaka]]
  * **[[Types|Specialisation]]**: Psychic and Ice
  * **[[Pokégym rules|Rule preference]]**: Knock-out-only moveset turn-based 1/6 plus a charming lifewager

The Eighth gym battle is designed to be unbeatable. Jagdish 'cheats' by being friends with a selection of Legendaries, be they [[Legendaries|originally from Sehto]] or not (such as the legendary birds of Kanto, [[pokemon:Vendetta]] and [[pokemon:Mew]]). Anyone actually insane enough to accept the terms of battle (//"If you win, you get the Astral badge. \o/ If you lose, you lose everything, including the right to your life."//) will thus simply be added to Jagdish's pokétrainer collection and then mercilessly put through the [[Legendaries|legendary Council]] to decide their fate, which he then tends to execute with admirable efficiency.

{{ :astral-badge-flipped.png?direct&100|}}
{{ :astral-badge-flippable.png?direct&100|}}
{{ :astral-badge.png?direct&100|}}
There used to be a description of the Astral Badge, but again, //pinkgothic// has been too lazy to log dive. Something that looks absolutely nothing like its past canonical version but welcome to be used as future canonical reference is the real life version of the badge. (Also, yes. Yes, the badge //exists//. It's even //given to people// occasionally. Just not for regular reasons.)

Jagdish is the undisputed leader of the gym circuit and all other gym leaders. He frequently receives support in the form of money and food from the closest friends he has in the circuit, something he rather relies on. His role as pokémon-chosen [[Arbiter]] makes any sort of act of mutiny doubly unlikely; but at the end of the day, most of the gymleaders think he's a pretty okay guy with some pretty okay ideas and deserves some support.

===== Gym Leaders =====

The current gym leaders rank from 'loyal supporters of the circuit' to 'indifferent almost to the point of opposition' as follows:

[[character:Yarver Bakema]] → [[character:Keith Sirius]] → [[character:Tove Zipporah]] →
[[character:Naomi Charna]] → [[character:Rose Kaiki]] → [[character:Cecile Madhukar]] →
[[character:Terry Kiran]]

The timeline of gym leaders in recent years looks as follows:

{{ :gym-leader-timeline.png?direct |}}

{{tag>[comprehensive]}}