Stonjourner
Bell poculum
Overview
Much ancient wisdom has been lost to modern man. In ages gone by magicians wielded elemental energy using methods that we are only just beginning to understand. Chief among these mages were the fairy, ghost, and poison elemental bloodliners. The greatest of them could bind souls into clay and stone, alter the bodies and minds of their enemies, and open portals to other worlds. For centuries most of these claims were dismissed as embellishment, but some of them have since been replicated with technology, elemental bloodliners, and pokémon.
Stonjourner were essential to the greatest ancient rituals, from the ambiguously historical Ultimate Weapon of AZ to the binding of spiritomb, and opening of gates to the realms of ghosts and fairies.
This is due to stonjourner's unique properties letting them act as batteries and circuits for elemental energy, safely harnessing more power than a single human or even pokémon could.
The exact rituals of the past are lost. Modern researchers and poison elementals have only managed to replicate very simple elemental tricks. The method of stonjourner's creation is every bit as mysterious as the rituals they were used for.
Eccentrics, astronomers, and astrologers can find stonjourner to be good companions. They are quite loyal, docile, easy to care for, and can hold their own in battle. Elemental bloodliners of all types often appreciate their ability to temporarily enhance their bloodline's powers.
Physiology
Stonjourner are classified as pure rock-types. Magic has associations with ghost-, poison-, and fairy-types Stonjourner also seem deferential to fairies and willing to form ritual circles for them. They are also strongly aligned with the moon and sun, traits common in fairy-types. Nevertheless, stonjourner are not actually proficient in wielding fairy elemental energy without assistance. They also lack the mischievous temperament of many fairy-types. It is unlikely they gain a secondary fairy-typing in the future. Stonjourner are similarly lacking in the common traits of ghost- and poison-types.
Stonjourner's body is primarily composed of a trilithon with sandstone posts and a bluestone lintel. The lintel has a face made of white chalk that can move freely across the stone's surface. The face can take on any pattern but is usually set to resemble a crude human face with eye and mouth markings. Smaller bluestone plates are stacked on top of the lintel. Small 'arms' consisting of three linked plates extend from the sides of the lentil perpendicular to the posts.
Stonjourner do not have joints or connective tissue. Nothing holds them together save their own terrakinesis. This gives them a wide range of motion. The bonds between the pole and lintel are strong enough to withstand several tons of force. It still takes several hundred pounds of force to separate a plate from another plate or the lintel.
Stonjourner are naturally slate gray throughout their entire body. Sometimes the bottom of the poles will appear brown as they spend most of their life partially buried in the dirt and mud. This can stain the exterior. Stonjourner sometimes have runes carved into their legs or projecting out of it in relief. The most common runes are axes and daggers, but lightning bolts, waves, concentric circles, wings, and something akin to a double helix have also been documented. Sometimes the runes are very small or faint. Other specimens have very prominent runes.
X-rays have revealed 'veins' of a metallic substance inside of stonjourner's poles and lintel. There are also crystalline structures in the lintel and plates stacked on top of the head. What purpose the veins and crystals serve is presently unclear. Both tend to crumble apart shortly after a stonjourner's death.
Stonjourner are one hundred and six inches tall and weigh 3,109 to 3,205 pounds. They almost all have uniform proportions with the difference in weight being due to the difference in carved and protruding runes as well as the origin and composition of any replacement material (see Illness).
Behavior
Stonjourner are usually solitary and sedentary in the wild. They prefer to stand in the soil and watch the movement of the sun, moon, and stars. On cloudy days when the sky is not visiblee they pay more attention to other organisms around them. They usually only move to get away from predators or natural disasters. Stonjourner can move quite quickly when threatened or rushed, but they usually move less than once a month.
Twice a year, on the summer and winter solstices, all the stonjourner in the area will move to a central location. There are usually twenty stonjourner per megalith, but sometimes deaths and abductions will temporarily or permanently reduce the number. All the stonjourner will form a perfect circle aligned to the sun at sunset on the winter solstice or sunrise on the summer solstice. Their plate arms will be linked together to complete the circle. When all twenty stonjourner are present they will stand almost exactly one meter apart from one another.
After the solstice has passed, they will disperse to their own sky gazing positions.
Stonjourner gatherings tend to bring together most of the fairies in the area. The combination of a large, perfect circle and a major celestial event is irresistible to the fairies. The fairy-types are also fiercely protective of the stonjourner as a result. Attempting to remove one can earn the ire of a nearby florges, ninetales, mimikyu, whimsicott, or klefki.
The gatherings in Alola take place in Ula'Ula Meadow. Old legends mention gatherings in the Haina Valley or at the base of Mt. Lanakila. The Ula'Ula Meadow is a much safer location for them due to the abundance of fairies keeping them safe from their most threatening predator in the region: garchomp.
The meadow is usually sealed off during gatherings. The fairies are at their most excitable, and thus most dangerous. There is ongoing litigation around the legality of the closure as certain mystic sects believe they have a religious obligation to attend the gatherings. Even if it becomes legal in the future the authors of this guidebook cannot recommend attending. Fairies in large numbers often attempt to one-up each other's pranks. Gatherings of fairies are also commonly often used for bargaining. Exercise even more caution than usual when interacting with florges during these times.
Stonjourner typically make every effort to return to their home for gatherings. They may be willing to leave the islands for short periods of time, but when the solstices approach. they will run as quickly as possible in the direction of Ula'Ula Meadow. If they hit an ocean, they will become extremely agitated and attempt to negotiate their passage back to Ula'Ula. Trainers planning to permanently leave Alola should comment to semiannual trips back to the islands or release their stonjourner.
Husbandry
Stonjourner only consume anything when injured (see Illness). They do not produce waste or drink. They also do not draw energy from emotions or life force. While stonjourner, like most pokémon, are very slightly radioactive, it is not believed they are powered by a nuclear generator like metang and metagross are. At present it is believed that stonjourner survive off of elemental energy they are imbued with from battle or rituals. It is unclear how best to feed them in captivity. Because they rarely signs of hunger or fatigue, even after decades in human care, the issue may be moot.
Stonjourner do not have a great many other requirements. They prefer to stay still and watch the sky. From time to time they enjoy talking to their trainer and teammates through a translator, but their warped sense of time means that they can go months between conversations without noticing they were ignored.
The only teammates stonjourner dislike are large lithovores like tyranitar, rhyperior, garchomp, and metagross. Smaller lithovores will usually be ignored or reprimanded with a powerful kick. This does make them incompatible with some of the strongest rock-types, hurting their viability on monotype teams.
Stonjourner enjoy the company of extraterrestrial, fairy-type, or magic-adjacent pokémon. Clefable, as an alien, fairy, and magic-adjacent pokémon is their favorite companion. Golurk is also well liked as another magically animated golem. Golurk from Haina Valley have even been known to visit the stonjourner in Ula'Ula Meadow.
Trainers from an elemental bloodline will want to be more social with their stonjourner. If it becomes friendly enough with them, the pokémon may enhance their abilities. Psychic, rock, and fairy bloodliners may be able to speak directly to the stonjourner themselves. Others should rely on a translator pokémon. Primarina and florges are fairies and thus a good choice. Mismagius are a good backup translator for the magically inclined.
Stonjourner are usually fine traveling with humans as long as they are allowed to observe the sun and night sky as much as possible and go home for the solstices. Like most rock-type mineral pokémon they are long lived and low maintenance, if a bit lacking in personality.
Illness
Stonjourner can patch up most injuries by replacing the lost material with new rock. They prefer the new material be as similar as possible to the original but they are not picky. Stonjourner can use terrakinesis and an unknown energy manipulation technique to fuse new stone onto the original frame. It will take a few weeks to regain full mobility in new stone. They can usually reabsorb any stone that was cut away. Only pulverized or lost stone cannot be reintegrated.
Injuries to the lintel are far more serious than injuries to the plates and legs. Lintel injuries can take months or years to fully heal and the pokémon may be unable to move properly or attack during this time. Thankfully the lintel is reinforced with a constant stream of elemental energy, making it far harder than the legs to pulverize. The only observed deaths in stonjourner have been from serious fragmentation or pulverization of the lintel.
Finally, stonjourner can very easily be overloaded with elemental energy. They are essentially batteries and circuits meant to quickly charge and move charge between adjacent stonjourner. The most powerful rituals involved a constantly flowing circular stream of energy throughout the entire megalith. When they are alone this charging speed can backfire as the pokémon quickly absorbs more than they can safely handle, temporarily burning out and losing the ability to properly channel energy or move. They can slowly vent energy into the ground if injured in this way, restoring functionality without structural damage in a matter of hours.
Evolution
Stonjourner may have a juvenile form. Because none have been created in modern times it is impossible to be certain. The stonjourner themselves do not claim to have a juvenile form, but they are also reluctant to discuss their own creation. Golurk, the most similar known pokémon, does have two documented stages.
Battle
Stonjourner are very durable rock-types. Only the strongest physical attackers can break them and they can shut down telepathic attacks due to their incredibly strange nervous system. They are also quite fast and strong. Specimens can knock out some smaller and frailer opponents in a single shot. Unfortunately, they are very easily overwhelmed by elemental attacks. Most physical attackers still learn an elemental move or two to help out in tricky situations. Small, frail pokémon used in competitive circuits tend to be much faster than stonjourner as well. Their ability to power up nearby allies makes them somewhat useful in doubles, but in singles there is nothing they do that steelix, tyranitar, or aggron does not do better.
This is not to say that stonjourner are weak. There are far more purely physical attackers to be found on the island challenge. Stonjourner can easily wall and wear down many of these opponents. Just be mindful of matchups and keep things simple. A few strong attacking moves is all stonjourner needs. There is a good chance it already knows its strongest options upon capture given their very long lifespans.
Acquisition
The Alolan megalith contains sixteen stonjourner. Seven are currently held in captivity. Nine remain in the wild. Aside from one in Tapu Village and one on Mt. Lanakila, all of them live on Routes 16 and 17, as well as in Ula'Ula Meadow. They are fairly easy to spot given their large size and sedentary lifestyle. Tour guides will often point them out to anyone curious.
There are legal procedures for capturing one of the stonjourner. The Alolan Department of Cultural Resources (ADCR) must first be notified. An employee of the agency will supervise the catch, making sure the stonjourner wishes to travel. The trainer must also make commitments to returning the pokémon to the meadow during solstices. The agency can also veto trainers deemed likely to harm or improperly export the pokémon. Capture is only allowed for research purposes and for trainers on the island challenge. The latter will be expected to release the pokémon at the end of the challenge unless it gives its consent.
Capture of a stonjourner requires a Class I license. None are currently available for adoption. Purchase of stonjourner is legally complex and generally not worth the hassle when some are available for capture.
Breeding
It is unknown how stonjourner are created. The pokémon themselves give evasive, minimalist, and contradictory accounts of how they came to be. They were created by humans, allegedly, but it is suspected that fairy-types assisted. Some conspiracy theorists have suggested they were created by an extraterrestrial civilization. There is no proof of this. The few interstellar wanderers that visit the planet have shown little interest in the stonjourner. The most conclusive 'proof' is the species intense dislike of metagross, one of their few natural predators.
Stonjourner are almost certainly created in batches of twenty. The megalith's members continue to reunite twice a year for millennia. Stonjourner will not join a new megalith, even if separated by an ocean from their home. One stonjourner has been the only survivor of their megalith for over two centuries. Every solstice they trek alone to a hill over forty miles from his usual spot.
The Alolan stonjourner megalith is particularly strange. Local legend places its origin around six hundred years ago when an ambiguously historical sorceress used one to create a spiritomb from a murderous kahuna and her soldiers. According to legend the sorceress came alone from across the sea, fought a monster that may have been a guzzlord, defeated and sealed the kahuna, and erected the wards around lāh Palace. The myths vary on whether she created the stonjourner or brought them with her. In any event, the stories agree that after eleven years in Alola she entered the Haina Valley alone and was never seen again. Her stonjourner remain. Alola's stonjourner often reference 'the pale woman' when discussing their origins, but tell wildly different stories about who she was and what role she played in their creation.
Relatives
Golurk and spiritomb, as man-made pokémon merging magic and stone, are believed to be stonjourner's closest relatives. Stonjourner do not possess ectoplasm and are not especially weak to ghost- or dark- energy. Their relation is more in their construction than their biology. As a result, it is difficult to determine stonjourner's taxonomy. Some scholars lump them with porygon as purely artificial beings. Others put them with spiritomb, porygon, and golurk in a variant class of mineral pokémon. Others still hold that they are ordinary mineral pokémon related to gigalith.
All stonjourner across the world have similar initial compositions. They only vary in the minerals used to heal injuries.