Sit and let me tell you this story, my dear. Hear my words well. This is a story hidden by centuries' past, reconstructed from the bits and pieces of what the people of old have left behind. This is the story of the Ancient Celesticans and the Ten Plagues of Arceus. You might as well hear it now- I'm sure it may serve you some purpose in your quest.
A long, long time ago- long before the clans arrived, long before Hisui had its name and long before the wilderness was filled with wild pokémon, there was It. Arceus. The creator of all. Benevolent and kind and just, it used one of its thousand arms and created the world we know of from nothing but dust. And when it had finished sculpting the land and the rivers and the seas, It began to create living things. Not humans but pokémon. All kinds of pokémon. Different pokémon. Arceus scattered these pokémon to live on the land and in the seas; to fill Its world with color and life. When Its world was filled with pokémon, only then did Arceus create humans.
Arceus would raise these first humans under his holy light and compassion. Those humans- those who to this day have vanished from the earth- were known as the Ancient Celesticans. And before you ask, no. Arceus created other human dwellings as well… but the Ancient Celesticans were special… Different. They were the first to recognize and worship their creator or so the story goes. They were the first to build statues and temples in order to worship their great deity. Their god. And so Arceus gave back to them in return for their sacrifices.
It led the Ancient Celesticans to bountiful meadows and protected peaks. To lush rivers and colorful coral reefs. It gave them fire to cook with and materials to create with. It gave them large minds to think with and words to socialize with. Arceus provided everything that you could possibly think of, my dear. In return, Arceus asked for nothing. The deity would settle upon a humble visage and would watch Its creation secretly from afar, watching from the eyes of cattle or fluttering bugs on a river. Life continued in this way for hundreds of years or so the story goes.
That was until the Ancient Celesticans began to feud with one another. In times where hunger and thirst were myths in of themselves were those with greed in their hearts. Those who hungered for more; yearned for what they didn't have. Those who desired finery beyond what was normal. Those who coveted the riches of their neighbors. When they weren't given that in which they sought, they instead took up arms upon their neighbors. Friends became enemies and only through bloodshed was the first king of the Ancient Celesticans heralded.
No, my dear. Arceus did seek to intervene. Arceus works in mysterious ways much to the chagrin of history. Instead of abolishing the first king, Arceus instead sought after certain humans, giving them the ability to speak to one of Its many facets of power. Those Ancient Celesticans were deemed as seraphs. Prophets. They spoke the word of Arceus and held powers the king could only dream of obtaining. Arceus demanded that a king listen to their seraph and so even as dreams of power and ambition began to seep into the people, the words of Arceus could still find a way into the masses. Those who did not were punished. How? I am not entirely sure, if I am being honest. Even I don't know the whole story.
As life usually does, life for the Ancient Celesticans carried on. For years more, kings died and kings emerged. Humans began to colonize many places around the world- I'm sure you're aware of that fact, my dear. At that time, humans began to hold most power within their hands. Some of them began to make great leaps and bounds in what they could make. Boats that could sail across oceans and seas. Great traps that could catch enough food to feed an entire village in a day… Weapons of destruction too. Arrows and bows and spears. Swords. Axes. Hatchets. Ugly tools. Arceus designed humans and pokémon to live together in harmony but as time progressed, humans figured out how to catch and eat pokémon. That too led to pokémon preying on humans. As more food was caught and as more humans began to group together, more conflicts began to happen by the day. Brothers and sisters and villages began to split themselves apart over food, territory, or even petty squabbles about romances- things of that ilk.
One man- a man named Elegius- was the first to truly question Arceus. He was a humble farmer who had lost his family in a harsh winter. Who had seen countless seasons of war and bitter grudges pass before him. Who had taken part in the sacrifices given to Arceus and who had begun to question whether Arceus truly was a benevolent or faultless god. Whether Its love was unconditional. That is, the man asked this: why would a god create living things and ask them to worship it? Was creating them not good enough? Was worship truly necessary? Did humans need to grovel and give away their earthly possessions in order to not be culled? Did humans need to be subjected to the emotional toil that followed death?
Many questioned Elegius; they found his questioning of It strange. Cynical. Preposterous, even. The sacrifices to Arceus were those of grain or flowers or maybe even woven goods like baskets. The people asked Elegius why he was not content with his life. Why his resolve was to question the very being that had created him. His answer? Earthly possessions mattered not compared to the loss of his kin, his once dearly beloved. Elegius harbored his grudges, questioning why such a benevolent god would invent the concept of death. A horrible thing, death, to let fester among its own creation when many reeked of fear when it finally arrived for them.
Many pondered over Elegius's words even more so when they too lost members of their own families or when they were postured among death's doorstep in their own time. Were the contributions they made in their lives of some purpose or were they only motions planned out by their god? These people- the Ancient Celesticans- they were masters over their homes. They could fish and hunt and even convince the wild pokémon to assist them. Wild pokémon aided in growing crops. In taming riverways. In scooping out stones to help build these elaborate temples and statues. The man- Elegius- looked upon these pokémon who also knew of death. Who also were forced to suffer. Who were eaten and decided that he would question God on their behalf as well.
Elegius, having gathered a large number of sympathizers, man and pokémon alike, was elected to become the next and final king of the Ancient Celesticans. In his rule, this king would set upon every action in order to speak to his god. His people would build a more elaborate temple, one that attempted to reach up into the heavens. To get to Arceus's height. In their cooperation, this temple- tall did it stand- reached into the heavens where the Ancient Celesticans could touch the clouds. In return for their back-breaking labor and out of fear for what Their creation had grown into and were then capable of, Arceus inverted the tower. No matter how much the humans built upward into the heavens, the tower would only ever extend into the ground. Perhaps you've heard the mythical story about the Tower of Sinnoh? Someday if my schedule allows it, I might take you there to that very same tower and we can attempt to see how far it extends into the underground. Yes, my dear. It does exist, I assure you. Now, no more questions.
Next, Elegius attempted to use his seraphs to reach out to Arceus. When his seraphs did not receive any explanation from their god, he found other methods. This ancient king, eager and desperate to speak with his god, began to test out every method he could think of. He attempted to summon his god and failed. He asked his healers to find a way to stop death and cure aging; those obviously failed. When the king could think of nothing else, he did the one thing unthinkable; he sought after the plates of Arceus.
Yes, my dear. I'm aware that we are repeating history. There is a difference as to what we're doing. Shush now.
When Arceus had first set to creating the world, It had used pieces of Its unfathomable body to materialize earth and water and seeds. Many of Its plates lay scattered about the earth instilled with Its mighty power. You could say that Arceus had planted some of the plates in the earth as beacons of sorts. No, Arceus would not die if these plates were taken from It. Rather, they were like extended nerves. Sensitive. Well-hidden. Cumbersome to find and even more cumbersome to gather. Nonetheless, Elegius set about the task.
When Arceus discovered what Elegius and his followers were up to, enraged, It sent visions to Its seraphs demanding that Elegius cease at once. When Arceus would not answer Elegius truthfully once more, the mortal continued on his quest earning the ire of his god. And so, in a fit of wrath, Arceus conceived of the Ten Plagues. It would seek out ten special pokémon and imbue them with heavenly powers- the noble pokémon of course- and Arceus would send them to do Its bidding.
In the first act of demanding Elegius's compliance, Arceus sent the first Lilligant and Basculegion to poison the waters of Ancient Hisui. For the first plague, It would turn them all to blood. All the lakes, rivers, streams, and even the shallow seas off the coast of Ancient Hisui. Nothing was safe. The water, then undrinkable, poisoned any who dared to drink. Elegius, clever as he was, figured out that Arceus was sparing the pokémon from these plagues. He drank the blood from the pokémon he hunted and survived the first plague.
In the second act of demanding Elegius's faith, Arceus called upon the ancient Basculegion and the first Kleavor to summon the next plague; hordes upon hordes of Kricketots. Yes, I am aware that this particular plague does not sound intimidating, nor does it seem like a plague. I assure you; the implications were particularly… grotesque. In ancient times, Kricketots and Kricketunes were worshiped pokémon. They played delightful music and were loved by all; to kill either of them was heralded as a crime worthy of exile. These worshiped pokémon arrived in every settlement in populations unheard of making noise at all times of day. Imagine not being able to sleep, talk, or think for an entire week. Yes, my dear. It was a silly plague. Please bear with me. Elegius eventually ruled out Kricketots being a holy pokémon and so, he and his people descended upon the swarms, eager to finally feed. Yes, I am aware that bug-types are not particularly appetizing. This is only a legend, my dear.
When Elegius had continued his quest, Arceus called for the third plague: a swarm of lice and gnats. Ancient Kleavor and Braviary would introduce hundreds upon thousands of Paras eggs upon Ancient Hisui. They are large now but in ancient times, Paras were far, far smaller- about the size of a pebble as Paras used to be just the parasite- the mushroom. The two nobles would spread these Paras eggs to everything. Crops, linens, cattle, and eventually people. I'm sure you can already imagine how unpleasant it would be to constantly be itchy or sick.
The fourth plague is a continuation of the last- a swarm of flies. At least, that is what the ruins refer to it as. If I were to simplify it, I would call it 'The Plague of Food Poisoning'. Ancient Kleavor and Ancient Sneasler would somehow figure out a way to turn all bug-type pokémon eggs into maggots. As you know, maggots appear on decaying corpses or rotting food. In the fourth plague, maggots appeared in relatively fresh food. One could bite into an apple and only find out hours later that they had consumed a mouthful of writhing maggots and parasites. Many suffered and died from the excessive amounts of… filth that appeared from that plague.
The fifth plague was the turnaround plague. Pokémon were finally being targeted. In the fifth plague, all human livestock died. Every last body. Those pokémon that willingly left their human masters were granted protection from the nobles; those that stayed with their human masters were slaughtered when more and more food began to rot and cattle became the only source of food. All pokémon from cattle to job-performing pokémon were harvested eventually and those humans that sought to find their cattle died quickly from unexplainable exposure.
The sixth plague was that of boils. Disease. Ancient Lilligant and Ancient Ursaluna would create a pollen-like dust carrying a sickness never before seen in Ancient Hisui. One that killed in hours of displaying symptoms. One that burned through families and lived on without a host for days. It was similar to the pollen that the current Lady Lilligant released but on a much larger scale. This illness, spread to both humans and pokémon, had the potential to maim and disfigure and as a result, the ancient population had been culled by one-third of its former size. Those that survived… Well, let's not dwell on that subject.
The seventh plague was a storm of hail and hellfire. If Arceus could not convince Its people, then It would destroy the very land It had created for Its creations. Ancient Braviary, Avalugg, and Arcanine would call down every last natural disaster known to man. Earthquakes. Floods. Ice storms. Droughts. Wildfires. Anything you could think of, and it most likely happened during this plague. Towns and cities were obliterated. Temples were torn apart. I suspect that many ruins within Hisui have been buried underground due to this particular plague- like the cathedral for instance. You must have noticed how deep it was underground, didn't you? That was no mere coincidence. Or at least, that's if you happen to believe this ancient tale.
The eighth plague was similar to the fourth plague but on a scale unheard of for the entire time humans had existed. It consisted of a swarm of bug-type pokémon on winds that blanketed them upon Ancient Hisui. Ancient Kleavor and Ancient Braviary were the nobles responsible for this plague. It brought about unprecedented starvation and suffering. The bugs descended upon every last field, forest, and home. Trees were stripped of their bark and leaves. Grass for cattle had been whittled down even beyond the seeds. Nothing had been left to cultivate life. I see that look in your eyes. You're remembering when Lord Kleavor was frenzied months past, aren't you? Not to worry. The scale of the first plague puts the current Lord Kleavor to shame.
The ninth plague consisted of three days of total darkness. Tame compared to the preceding eight. In this plague, Arceus enabled alpha pokémon to thrive and take control under the thick storms of Ancient Electrode, Braviary, and Avalugg. In that darkness was a seemingly eternal winter. There was no sense of neither night nor day; only pitch blackness and the sounds of lurking, rabid pokémon. No one dared draw light as it only served as a beacon to summon strong pokémon. People were dragged out of their shelters or attacked at random. Kids and elders went missing even in groups. To this very day, alphas still roam about. Of course, you already knew that.
And last but not least, the tenth plague. At that point, Elegius had managed to collect all of Arceus's plates and had taken them to the very top of the Temple of Sinnoh. This was during the ninth plague when the world was pitch black and freezing cold. Arceus, refusing to speak directly to Elegius, warned Its seraphs that the worst plague would follow should Elegius not bend his knee and disregard the plates. And Elegius, having survived all of the previous plagues, was not so easily cowed. Elegius sent away all of his seraphs and waited. And so, on the last day of darkness when almost every human was asleep, Arceus sent forward the last of Its nobles. It sent forth Ancient Zoroark to carry out the last plague; the death of each and every last firstborn in Ancient Hisui. In the night, the noble and their clan spread to every corner of Ancient Hisui. They would set upon every household swiftly and silently, stealing the lifeforce of every first child in the continent. Elegius, who was awake and who had children of his own, watched the life drain out of his firstborn son before his own soul was taken. With Elegius's death, Ancient Hisui fell to pieces. There are no known records of what Hisui was like after Elegius's death nor what had happened to the Ancient Celesticans after.
What happened to Ancient Wyrdeer? My dear, there was no Ancient Wyrdeer. As a matter of fact, the Wyrdeer line replaced the Zoroark line as the latter's bloodline became so virtually loathed and despised that they were nearly hunted to extinction. The clans tell of ancient Zoroarks being so thoroughly despised and hated, that their corporeal form was hunted to extinction. That is why they all become ghosts. That is why they all harbor such a severe hatred for humans. Why do you think the clans despise them so much? Folktales passed on from generation to generation about the crimes their ancestors committed and the people of Hisui never forgot.
There is still one last mystery to Ancient Hisui. One last question that has yet to be answered; what of those who survived? Why aren't there any Celesticans still living in Hisui? I think it has something to do with the Unknown. I find them at every last ruin site like pesky fleas. Though- my dear- perhaps when it is time, Arceus might provide you- provide us both- with that answer.