Thought I'd gather a few ideas that have been shared on the server about the possible mirror world (look at Dark Seattle for more context) equivalent of the Hades Tigers, dubbed the Pluto Pride. These ideas are many and they are weird, so there's probably a whole lot to talk about here. Keep in mind there is supposed to be a lore jam coming soon, so this will probably get updated.
Here's one of the many interpretations we have so far, explaining the namesake:
In this version, Pluto refers to a legally distinct underworld from Hades. Though it is owned by the same person, the real Hades was lost in a bad break up with Persephone, leaving it in her charge. Instead, the old owner decided to exile themselves to the eleventh ring of Hades, a barely functional orbital ring (big space station typically surrounding a planet, in the shape of a ring) which surrounds the dwarf planet of Pluto. This eleventh ring obtained independence and now claims to be the "true underworld".
The Pride part of the name refers to a group of lions (legally distinct big cats). Now this of course refers to the team's mascot, the Sick Gust, the Feeling of Anxiety, the Existence, often depicted as a two-headed lion. But the name, before being that of the team, was the name of Pluto's organisation. To renovate the ring, Pluto did everything in his power. This apparently meant founding a powerful interplanetary crime syndicate, for some reason. Unsatisfied with the number of souls electing to be exiled to a crime syndicate-owned orbital ring floating around a desolate rock, the Pride, as they were now known, decided it was time to rebrand. In doing so, they created what is now a multi-billion company, the Pluto Pride restaurant chain (either Pluto is bad at coming up with original names, or we haven't discussed what this restaurant chain is actually called). This fast-food chain quickly eclipsed any shady reputation the Pluto Pride had earned, although it was still widely known the owners were part of a crime syndicate. This was actually made into one of the selling points of the brand, advertising a much more romanticized and marketable version of the group's criminal activities.
Finally, Blaseball: the Pluto Pride Blaseball Team is nothing but the next step in marketing for the company. The Players are all high ranking officers of the crime syndicate; another opportunity to boost their reputation by earning a family-friendly image! Blaseball is the most popular splort, after all.
Things that are still being discussed (I picked my favourites for the summary above):
-whether Pluto refers to the actual planet, an orbital ring around it, or is just the name of another realm
-Pluto being Hades' ruler's chosen name, the name of their old residence being their deadname
-the Existence was just an ad-libbed spoof of the Presence lol
-the crime syndicate thing seems to be widely accepted, but we should be careful of how we handle it, so that's still in the works. Problem is, making a Roman-inspired team into a crime syndicate will inescapably lead to thinking of Italy's crime syndicates.
-the fast-food chain. A lot of this aspect is up in the air for now. Someone brought up the idea of the restaurants / brand being entirely clown themed, which is. something. More recently there was the idea of a LGBTQ+ themed fast food chain; kind of riffing on the whole commodification of pride thing, but in an actual genuine manner seeing as most of the Pride is LGBTQ+. As mentioned above there is no name set in stone, and none that I've seen floating around. So as far as I know: the crime syndicate, its fast food front, and its sports team, are all named the same thing. Another idea floated around is Shmurmburger, with the eponymous player as its mascot.
-something something tigerbeams something something Heavensmaw Moonrays and Pluto Pride... Priderays... Point is a lot of people have expressed enthusiasm at the idea of forging some sort of relation to the Moonrays, though lore-wise that seems rather difficult. The idea of the rays stealing an artifact from the pride has been brought up, which would lead to a one-sided rivalry.
Now for specific characters:
-Ren Morin being the leader of the crime side of the Pride. Big cat in charge of all the big cats
-Hiroto being integrated into the Pride at a young age, saving her from the horrors of the Hole but plunging her into a life of crime, with her feeling indebted to the Pride, being perhaps the most loyal of the group
-Landry Violence being the poster person, the most commonly advertised and most marketable one of the syndicate
-Moody handling the recipes
-Aldon handling finances
-Mora being entirely aware of the alternate universe stuff and honestly just having none of it
So yeah that's all for now, we also have a pretty nice classic mafia/scifi neon aesthetic going on. Hopefully this will get discussed further and I'll get to update this and then we'll add that to the page!
