As said before, the original title of Story of Arceus was 'Team Shalost', which obviously would be the name of the team when they joined. At this point the ornate, flowery etching design of the logo, the badge and much of Arceliaze's trimmings has already been finalized. This cover depicts what would later be breezy plains with a generic double-peaked mountain range which would later be Windscorch Mountain.

And yes, that lil collection of huts in the distance is 'Arceliaze' at this point. No Arceali Valley yet.

So in this version I thought the questionnaire would be redundant. After all, the questions are only for a player to get to learn what their Pokemon species will be - in a comic what's the point? Thus, we jump straight into Richard falling and being told the only information he'll be allowed by Arceus. At this stage there's no hint of the 'technological' angle of the Arceus scenes, so it's all very straightforward at this stage.

If it's good enough for Red Rescue Team then it was good enough for me. Thus, our partner for this story, a Cyndaquil, is just...wandering out in the middle of a barren field for no reason and happens to come across a passed out Mudkip.

A very anthropomorphic mudkip that moves like a human.

For some reason.

Naturally, since EOS left as much of an impact on me as it did basically every other PMD fan, I copied the 'timid coward' partner trope wholesale. Team Shalost's partner fit the bill being both a huge crybaby and massive fan of the guild (because obviously there'd be a guild).

Reading this old 'discovery of the new body' scene, I wonder if I made Richard a two-legged Mudkip simply to make moving around easier for him. Trying to move on four legs would probably be a nightmare for a human.

It's worth pointing out that 'flat field + distant trees' was, at this time, a very generic nature background for me to draw - the fact this became Breezy Plains is basically just a coincidence. Later on I'd have to recall the kind of background I drew for this scene and try to make it all work on a single map.

At this point there was no concept of humans being a mythical cryptid (even though it's clear the partner is aware what a human is).

This doesn't really mean anything - once again this was the story simply copying common tropes left and right.

Here we finally get the partner's name - settling with 'Kalseari' at last.

Ultimately, what's a PMD story without amnesia?

The previous backstory of this Richard is something I remember which I'll get into later. However, I'll say that I believe at this point there wasn't much a purpose to the amnesia other than to, again, follow tropes of a PMD story.

SOA starting with amnesia persisted to the current version, of course.

Yes. That dinky lil burg was Arceliaze. It was meant to be sized slightly bigger than Treasure Town / Pokemon Square.

But wait! Look, it's an early version of the Arceali Valley! And this version of Arceliaze looks bigger than the cover. What's going on??

Well, funny thing about this comic is that, as I was writing and drawing it, the scope and size of Arceliaze kept growing and growing. Keep an eye on the background in the next pages - you'll watch Arceliaze transform into its final design before your very eyes!

Wow, look at that, a Title Drop far in the past.

It should be noted: at this point, all that existed of Arcea was Arceliaze and this one field. No other locations nor landmarks were thought of yet. In fact, there was really no story outline - this comic was essentially being written on the fly.

For the most part, the actual Story of Arceus has changed very little - the only difference is that this version includes mention of Griatina, Palkia and Dialga being created to uphold the forces of the universe.

One of the writing tips my mother gave me about religion and mythology that always stuck with me was this: A very typical origin myth typically involves a god/entity making a perfect world and then mortals screwing it all up.

Taking that to heart, the Story of Arceus has Arceus making a perfect world that mortal Pokemon muck up, leading to Arceus to deliver divine retribution. Then he stopped, lived with Pokemon for a time, then departed 'home'.

At this point, the Conduit is a leader that was appointed by Arceus.

At this point, there is no Paradise in the Story of Arceus nor the mythology - Arceliaze is built where the god slept when he lived among Pokemon (meaning the Arceali Valley is a natural formation in this version of the story).

You'll also notice the design of the castle changed as Kalseari was telling his story. It's looking closer to its final design now.

Here we see the rather weak justification for Kalseari helping Richard. Basically 'just because'.

We also see an early version of the One Truth monument. Funnily enough, I've never drawn the top of the One Truth monument in the modern day - it's always cut off the frame.

You'll also notice the buildings right now are all wood and thatched roofs, despite the One Truth monument being in the middle of the Market District.

Well, watch close...

Ta-daaa~! Arceliaze just ballooned in size out of nowhere!

Now we have The One Truth Square, which has changed very little in all these years. Even the One Truth monument hasn't changed much.

We also see Olistia as a Gardevoir (a reference to the Gardevoir from Red Rescue Team). The use of Escavelier guards has also carried over to the final version. The idea of the Conduit meeting the human amid a crowd in the One Truth Square has also remained unchanged.

Here we see more shots of the One Truth Square. It's funny seeing these and realizing how little Arceliaze has changed in over a decade.

Also, the pictures shown in the final version of SOA don't quite convey how enormous the One Truth monument is.

In truth...I just forgot how big it's supposed to be. Looking at this page is surreal...honestly, I kind of like this thing being this HUGE.

Make no mistake, Olistia was still absolutely an antagonist in this version of the story. So the concept of her being kindly to her appointed human in their initial meeting definitely carried over.

Not so much her being unaware of his name. Frankly, I'm not sure I remember how Olistia factored into Richard reaching Arcea. It's clear she was at least notified he was coming, but whether she had a direct hand in it happening? I'm not sure.

Again, there was no plan in this version - I was winging it.

I believe Olistia was perfectly aware Richard was a human - she's simply putting on an act for Kalseari.

That said, the idea of coming to Olistia specifically to get Richard's memory back was something that carried over to the final version - it served as an easy reason to get the human to Olistia faster.

So what's with Olistia's reaction? And what's with the shapes in the background?

In this version of the story, rather than Olistia pretending to be unable to unlock the human's memory, this is her reacting to seeing Richard's human memories.

Richard used to be a member of Team Rocket. Surprise! The humans in this early version come from the canon Pokemon world! Richard would turn out to have been a horrible, abusive monster to Pokemon during his Team Rocket days. This concept of the human being from the canon Pokemon  world carried over in spirit to the final SOA, where Avery remembers Pokemon from his past...even though he comes from real-life Earth.

And here we see the nerdiness of Kalseari come forward, something that, somewhat, carried over to the final version of  SOA in Vizon.

This is also the final released page. Yup, that's as far as I managed to get in the original version! That's what happens when you barrel forward into a hand-drawn comic with absolutely 0 plan.

There's one final page that didn't make it out of the outline...

Here we see that the name 'Sarfallinus's Guild' was decided upon here. Though at this point the guild is specifically considered a group of 'government-funded bounty hunters'.

So it seems the Guild being used as a Conduicy police force was always a thing.