Where do you think the Ranger Union fits into the Pokemon universe? When a new region opens itself up to the world, do the Union and the Pokemon League need to duke it out to decide how the region joins the gov’t, so to speak? Or does the region get to decide on its own?

Well, is there only one Pokémon League (or only one Ranger Union, for that matter)?  I always got the impression that, with the exception of Kanto and Johto, each region had its own League which was more or less autonomous.

Anyway.  I only ever played the first Ranger title, so take anything I have to say with a grain of salt, but my understanding was that Fiore has a Ranger Union and not a Pokémon League for cultural reasons more than anything else.  People in Fiore don’t train Pokémon.  It’s just not a part of their way of life; they have a very different relationship with the Pokémon that live in their region.  Why would an organisation that is primarily responsible for Pokémon trainers and competitive Pokémon battling want to be involved with anything that happens there?  Likewise, the Ranger Union exists to deal with problems in human/Pokémon relations that would be handled by high-level Pokémon trainers in regions that have them.  Their purposes and activities don’t really give them any reason ever to be in competition with each other, as far as I can see.