Blasted in storms literal and of shrapnel and fire, drowned in icy waters, the Arctic Convoys were a lesser known but especially deadly and particularly critical front. As great powers strove to drive vital material through contested waters to determine the fate of the continental struggle, the forces of nature were at least as deadly as any weapon in use. Though this tale, little known as it is, brought the former and latter together as a particularly resourceful and devious band of Pokemon, witnessing both the carnage and the plenty on offer, and quickly realising the power of the torpedo, took to robbing both sides.

At first stealing torpedoes from motor boats and recovering others from missed launches in battles, this band of Ice-type Ninetales began to use them first as vehicles to aid in scavenging the littered seas, then to create further wrecks from which to plunder food, fuel and trinkets. These, they began to gather on icebergs created by the foxes own frozen breath, which had themselves begun as a means to collect and store torpedoes and now were steadily coalescing into self-propelled barges filled with goods and war material. Some were even heavily armed to defend from aircraft as both sides began to take note.

Whilst this was a situation which could only ever be temporary, caused as it was by the unusual abundances and inattentions of war, and indeed the eventual crackdown was determined if not devastating - it being very difficult to hit a fox sized target moving at 50 knots with the naval artillery of the time - it nonetheless resulted in the most materially wealthy wild Pokemon in the world at the time, with warm clothing and canned food clearly traded for favour being found on Pokemon for years to come, along with the occasional cache of rusting weaponry with which the surviving vulpine pirate barons secured their power and even resisted human expansion into uninhabited coastal regions, some of whom are said to remain in power even to this day...

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So! I was going through my art folder and I found this picture. I'd completely forgotten about it!

In 2020 during an event that had one world locked down, I dreamt of another. Oh, it was inspired by the histories of the Artic Convoys I'd been reading no doubt. And influenced by my never-ending obsession with Ninetales, no doubt there either! But it was so vivid, and comprehensive (and narrated by David Livingstone, the multiversal legend!) that it was surely a window into another, alternate world. Perhaps the fused history of one of Plaisir's worlds? Possibly, possibly.

And just like another 2020 pic I recently rediscovered and posted, whilst I may have improved since I did this one, I'm particularly proud of it out of all proportion. I'd never really tried to draw the sea before, let alone a stormy sea under troubled skies as ice-foxes surge amongst them! So I learned a lot in the process.

And it's a heck of a vibe.

Seriously, reading about that terrible campaign I have nothing but respect for those who risked so much, in such deadly conditions, when so much was at stake. May they rest with gratitude.