Chapter Text
Lore Headcanons:
Popular theory going around, since the four "eastern" regions are based off Japan, the people and Pokemon there speak Japanese (or Kantonian). That means the standard for all of the eastern regions is Galarian (English), and some regions have a secondary language. Kalos has French (kalosian), Alola has traditional Hawaiian (Alolan), and Paldea has Spanish (Paldean).
The reason why English is the standard is because of Galar's history conquering different territories, kinda like UK history. They have their own version of the battle of Hastings, and all of the descendants of "William the conqueror" are the royalty of the region. The king/queen does not have any real power, they're just a figurehead. The current "kings" are the two from Sword & Shield (the ones with the stupid hair). Galar gave back most of the land at the start of modernization because of public controversy. Still, there's a certain bias and superiority the english-speaking "western" regions have over the eastern ones. This is because their intense history outshines the others. This "superiority" is especially prevalent in Unova.
Got this idea from the comments in “A frog in the well” by hallmarK (go read that fanfic), specifically in chapter 14. As an actual Canadian, people are really nice and accepting. In schools, we’re taught to be accepting of everyone and have pretty good views and morals. However, there’s still prejudice, it’s just not in your face. It’s very subtle and most people don’t realise it’s happening, so I imagine it’s the same for Kalos. Like, they compare themselves to what’s happening in Unova and team Plasma and think that they’re nowhere near that level of chaos. This leads to them mostly ignoring team Flare’s actions and this gives a big shock when the Kalos Crisis happens. As a region, it may not be as bad as Unova, but there’s subtle bias, segregation and prejudice against “western” region trainers (not the pokemon, they’re too cute for that).
Also, like Canada, Kalos is a multicultural (multiregional?) place, especially in the bigger cities. (I imagine Lumiose city to be this weird cultural mix of Paris and Toronto).
Kanto was the first region to start the gym challenge. This was still when Kanto and Johto were together, it was known as the "Indigo" region. There was no league tournament or official champion, just the elite four challenge. Only one person in history was able to complete the challenge, he's referred to as Red. The elite four were more brutal and ruthless (imagine the elite four from the adventures manga). Once Red completed the challenge, he was officially made as the champion and started working on a concrete league challenge plan. The new system (that's still used today) is this: trainers need to defeat 8 gyms and obtain 8 badges. At the end of the league season, there will be a tournament. The winner has the possibility to take on the elite four challenge (optional). There's no time frame to take it, they just have to defeat all of the members. If they defeat the reigning champion, then they're the new champion of the region. Each region has slight adjustments to this system. After successfully implementing it across all four eastern regions, Red retired at the peak of Mt.Silver. From there, rumours spread about the unbeatable trainer.
Kanto and Johto officially split when Johto started revolting against the “brutality” of Kantonian battling. Many citizens wanted to establish independence. Eventually, things got so hostile that when one of the “Kanto” elite four accidentally provoked a fight and killed a well-known “Johto” trainer, a war started. It lasted 4 years but had heavy casualties. Kanto won the war but didn’t have enough resources to sustain both regions so they separated. But they had still won so Johto agreed to have their champion position shared across both regions.
The champion position is somewhat political as they’re the de facto leader on all pokemon problems. There’s still a prime minister and cabinet, just that they’re more human and resource focused. The champion is not in charge of the economy whatsoever, just the battling aspect.