Story
"Wars have come and gone, yet the soldier stays eternal."
As it was created by nature, the Seafoam Islands were originally nothing more than two large islands interconnected by a vast underwater cave system. But then came a terraformation project that drastically reshaped the region, destroying the cave system and turning the Seafoam Islands into a U-shaped archipelago with a shallow lagoon in the center.
The purpose of this terraformation project was to create a home for a new and controversial Gym system. The Leaders of the new system possessed badges that had an actual combat effect on a Trainer's Pokemon, instead of merely compelling higher-level Pokemon to obey a Trainer. For example, the Camo Badge possessed by Chris Ganale had the effect of active camouflage on a Trainer's Pokemon.
The Republic of Seafoam, commonly known as just Seafoam, is and always has been a militant organization. From the time of its terraformation and colonization, military technology and development has been foremost on the minds of Seafoam's leaders.
Yet another fundamental element of the Seafoam hierarchy is its Elemental Masters. For this, perhaps, a history lesson is in order.
The coming of the Dark Wars over twelve years ago signified the coming of Armageddon. War raged across every planetary landmass for four years, laying waste to the land. However, despite the military forces of the Rockets being sorely outnumbered by that of the League, the Wars remained a stalemate for year after year.
Until one day, Armageddon arrived. The forbidden gateway to the Astral Plane was opened by the leader of the Rockets, and the ensuing tide of demonic outcasts from Creation ravaged the planet, demolishing entire armies on both sides, razing civilization, and resulting in the deaths of three-fourths of the world's population, and the loss of technology to almost the entire world.
Only Seafoam was spared the devastation that wrought the rest of the world. To this day, speculation remains as to why this was. Perhaps the small size of Seafoam did not attract the attention of the Forbidden. Any loyal son or daughter of Seafoam would tell you that it was their resounding military strategy and technology that kept the demons at bay.
However, all will agree that it was the intervention of Fate that kept the world from facing total destruction. When the Astral gateway opened, the Masters awakened. The reason of their awakening is also highly debated, ranging from divine intervention, ecological reaction to the intrusion of the Forbidden, or even evolution taking a leap of faith.
Studies since the end of the Dark Wars have shown that all human beings possess the fundamental power of a particular Element within themselves. This power most often manifests itself in mundane ways, such as tolerance, or lack thereof, to opposing Elements, or a personal strengthening in line with one's Element.
However, there are certain individuals who are more than merely augmented by their Element. These beings can control it, bend their Element to their will. They became the Masters.
There is no mystery to the fact that the intervention of the Masters, whose enhanced Elemental prowess enabled them to fight off the Forbidden bare-handed, brought about the salvation of mankind. With the death of the Rockets' leader, the Astral gateway was once again sealed, and the survivors of the five-year-long Dark Wars began to rebuild their shattered lives.
At the end of the Dark Wars, the world was divided amongst two major power centers: the Republic of Seafoam and the Indigo League. After the collapse of the unified League forces that existed during the Dark Wars, it was Indigo that came out with the majority of the world's territory. Seafoam, though its technological might far outweighed that of Indigo, had no interest in controlling any territory besides their own, and installed a naval blockade around their archipelago to keep interlopers out.
Human civilization managed to scrape together a living out of the ashes of the Dark Wars for the next six years. But once again, war began to loom on the horizon. In the six years of relative peace that followed the Dark Wars, the Indigo League became a tyrannical regime that oppressed its member states, forcing its people to wallow in the wreckage of the Dark Wars while Indigo City itself became a shining monument of prosperity.
Because of this unequal treating, a number of League Masters broke away from the League, taking with them their loyal armies, idealists, and political dissenters, forming the Rebellion and once again plunging the world into war. What the Rebellion lacked in numbers and technology, it made up for in heart and strategy. The Rebellion scored a series of victories on numerous fronts, confounding League strategists with their hit-and-run tactics.
However, the League's Masters were not fools, and counterattacking League forces quickly made the Rebels pay for their victories. And the League had the ultimate trump card: the Forbidden. Unbeknownst to the Rebel leadership, the League began to reposition its forces to open the Astral gateway, using a number of high towers as focal points to open the gate to all three levels of the Astral Plane, which was never achieved during the Dark Wars.
The Rebels quickly learned of this plan after a successful raid against a League outpost, and immediately positioned their most powerful Masters to counteract this plan. Unfortunately, the Rebels were unable to stop this plan, and the first gateway was opened, plunging the world into total darkness and unleashing the same hell that had been present at the close of the Dark Wars.
In the meantime, Seafoam had remained largely neutral in the war, with the exception of providing war materiel to the Rebellion. Despite this being common knowledge to both sides of the war, the League did not dare launch an attack on Seafoam, knowing that it would be suicidal to draw the wrath of the more powerful military nation. Unknown to the League and Rebellion, however, Seafoam had been discreetly placing small teams of commandos throughout the contested war zone, drawing in information on a war Seafoam knew it would inevitably be drawn into.
That time came sooner rather than later. Reeling from the failed attempt to stop the Astral gateway from opening, the Rebellion's power center was left scattered and opened to the crushing attack dealt by the League to the Rebels' South Lavender Base. Hundreds of Rebels died, as well as several high-ranking Masters. The survivors of that attack fled south across the ocean, into the safety of Seafoam's naval blockade.
The League took this for what it was: Seafoam's inevitable entry into the war. Almost immediately, the League's naval forces began to raid the blockade. Expectedly, the League navy got its a** handed back to it in a wicker basket.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the Rebellion and Seafoam began to plan a daring offensive that would, in theory, bring about a swift end to the war. As this was happening, a covert group of Rebel and Seafoam Masters was inserted into Indigo City in an attempt to soften the enemy capital and assassinate the League Master.
While that operation carried out, the massed Rebel and Seafoam armies struck the League in force, landing hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the southernmost beaches of the League territory in an amphibious invasion the likes of which has not been seen since 1944. Despite the ferocity of the League defense, the Rebel forces were quickly able to establish a foothold and force their way inland, putting the League on the defensive all the way to the gates of Indigo City.
As the shadow barrier that had protected Indigo City from the Forbidden and enemy attack alike came crashing down, Rebel forces smashed their way past the League forces trapped outside the dome and battled into the city.
Unfortunately, right on their heels came the second-level Forbidden, which had been released just days before the amphibious invasion. Rebel and League military leaders quickly realized that their only chance to survive was to band together against the demonic hordes, and did just that.
The ferocious last stand held by the massed League and Rebel forces around the Palace resulted in more casualties than almost the entire war had cost, but ultimately paid off. With the death of the League Master, the Astral gateway was sealed, and all the Forbidden were banished back to the Astral Plane.
In the aftermath of what has come to be known as the League Wars, the tyrannical League regime was replaced by a new government, headed by several of the highest commanders of the Rebellion, League, and Seafoam. Though it is a charter member of the new governmental system, Seafoam prefers to involve itself in that organization as little as possible. The naval blockade is no longer strictly enforced around the archipelago, yet the presence of the Seafoam Navy remains strong in their territorial waters.
