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National Neopolitan Museum Archive: Champions of Meridell |
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Merridell was hinted at in the first few months of 2002. First a few games and then two new pets, the Draik and the Ixi. Meridell's discovery comic was introduced on July 23, 2002. Here we are introduced to a group of friends who are magically transported to a medieval themed world.
Act One
Chapter One - The Beginning...
Over the next couple of weeks we will be telling the story of how a (not so) distant part of Neopia was uncovered. Our story starts with a heroic Lupe defending himself from the attack of twisted, evil creatures, while at the same time, in a small school on the outskirts of Neopia Central, a very similar battle is taking place...
Well I guess we should introduce you to the heroes of the story! Lisha, the
Aisha who had valiantly defended her friends from the bullies, and Morris the
Quiggle, head out on a school trip the next day. The trip was to a boring museum...
but Lisha (being interested in that sort of stuff) had been looking forward
to it for weeks!
As Lisha looked at the painting, a cold shiver ran down her spine. She recognised the Lupe in the painting... childhood memories started flooding back to her... but how could it be??? The painting was hundreds of years old...
It was that fateful game of hide and seek, more than five years ago. Lisha
never did find her brother, even though she had searched for days and days in
the woods.
The next day Lisha knew exactly what she had to do. Her brother Jeran was not lost, he had found something that fateful day, something that nobody else had ever found. Lisha's heart raced, she knew it all along... the legendary land of Meridell had not been destroyed all those centuries ago... it did exist, she knew it!
Gathering up her friends, she traveled due east, heading towards the ruined
old castle where she and her brother used to play.
At this point, we are introduced to Meridell...and Act One closes.
Act Two
Chapter Five - Meridell Castle
Our story resumes in the throne room of King Skarl, king of the land of Meridell.
He has summoned his greatest, strongest knight, Jeran to an emergency meeting.
Lisha and friends were on their way down to the dungeon... when suddenly...
What were these strange creatures? Would Skarl have the answers???
Chapter 7 - The Court of King Skarl
After fending off the strange attackers, our heroes now have to explain themselves
to Meridell's mighty king.
Chapter 8 - The History of Meridell
King Skarl thinks he knows why the attackers are terrorising the peaceful land
of Meridell. A long time ago, things were not as they now are...
Chapter 9 - The Citadel Approaches
Many miles away, to the north, a dark shadow fell over the land. An evil citadel,
floating in the sky, slowly drifted towards the castle of King Skarl. Unbeknownst
to the citizens of Meridell, the golden orb that kept their land lush and beautiful
was stolen from Lord Darigan many years ago. Skarl had lied, and now Darigan
was returning for what was rightfully his...
Midway through, this medieval kingdom (named Meridell) was attacked by the floating citadel city of Darigan who wanted to recapture a stolen orb.
For this war, we experienced another first: choose your side. This war pitted two rival armies (Meridell and Darigan) against each other and the winner was determined solely on the battledome outcomes rather than a pre-arranged plot.
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Meridell
vs. Darigan |
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It's official - Meridell is under attack, and brave heroes like yourself are needed to join in the battle. Will King Skarl fend off the attackers, or will Lord Darigan reclaim the orb that was stolen from him and plunge Meridell into darkness??? It's up to YOU.
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The opponents if you fought for Meridell |
The opponents if you fought for Darigan |
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When the dust settled and the battle points were tallied, Act Two closed with the victory going to Darigan...or so we thought.
Act Three
Darigan is seduced by the power of the Orb. Absolute power corrupts absolutely?
Chapter 12 - The Yellow Knight Escapes
Somebody has to warn Meridell...and not all Darigans like the new way their lord looks...
Lord Darigan is cornered...and collapses when the Orb rejects him? And then it splits in two? erm...ok...
Final boss of the war:
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Spectre of Lord Darigan |
Listed in the chart below is a day by day account of the war:
Taken directly from the News pages from November 20, 2002 through April 22, 2003 Note that some links may be outdated and no longer functioning as a result. |
20th November What is this??? King Skarl has just heard reports of a Floating Citadel to the north of Meridell. A huge fortress of evil is headed in his direction... what could he, or Meridell have done to deserve this?
22nd November
25th November
THE WAR HAS STARTED - Yes, from his floating citadel, Lord Darigan has commenced attack on Meridell. His orb was stolen by King Skarl years ago, and now he has come for it back. Who is at fault? Who is truly good and truly evil - well its up to you to decide. You can sign up for whichever side you want at either Meridell Castle or The Darigan Citadel.
*KA-POW* You can click here to see how the battle is going! It is updated in real time! The first challengers have entered the battle. From the heights of the citadel, scary Drackonack Petpets have landed and have started to chew up the Meridell ground. Morris the Quiggle has entered the fray armed with his wooden sword and fake lupe ears.
26th November LORD DARIGAN is most unhappy, why is nobody joining his side when he is clearly in the right? Maybe you should think twice before joining Skarl, the betrayer. We have news that the battle will be joined in a few hours time! THE BATTLE HAS BEEN JOINED - Lord Darigan has sent his Draconian Moehogs down to Meridell to fight, and in response a Peasant Militia Mob has joined the fray. To join the fight, select an alliegance in Meridell and then head to the Battledome, and to check the score click the shield above!
27th November THE BATTLE IS JOINED! King Skarl has sent the Green Knight to leave the castle and defend Meridell. Lord Darigan has responded by releasing his shock troops - Draconian Skeiths.
Hubrid Nox has just visited Meridell. He has used his vile magic to boost the hit points of the invading army. Whether this was simply for his amusement, or whether there is some sort of ulterior motive we cannot say.
*CHORTLE* Illusen will be donating items to the Money Tree to help the Champions of Meridell until the end of the battle. Please make sure to take these items only if you are helping our heroes (and not the nasty mutant guys).
Go Skarl! 2nd December
WAVE 4 HAS ARRIVED - King Skarl has dispatched the massive Skeith Defender to protect his castle. Meanwhile, the Horde has swept down from the citadel to join the battle.
NOBODY MESSES WITH MY KING!!!
3rd December
Still unsure about which side you should be fighting on? We are giving you one chance to change sides, but at a cost. Click here for more information.
Help us defeat Meridell!
4th December
Lord Darigan has sent down zombified versions of our heroes to attack the castle... but that's ok because Lisha has joined the battle!!! Click here to join in too! If you want to really teach your opponents a thing or two, you just HAVE to get hold of some of these SUPER POWERFUL snowflakes! (especially the Stone Snowflake)
The snowflakes are now also given out by Illusen as part of her money tree giveaway! 5th December
WAR UPDATE - From his floating citadel, Lord Darigan has cast a rather nasty spell on Lisha, it seems her wand will not be dealing out quite so much damage from now on :)
*fizzle* 9th December 17th December
DEFEND MERIDELL AT ALL COSTS!
26th December
Thank you to everybody who participated, we will be giving out prizes and medals soon enough... however the story is far from over. Give us a couple of days to get everything ready (it is a holiday :) and the plot will continue!
Muhahahaha! 9th January The full extent of the damage on Meridell can now be seen. The Turmaculus is missing, Cheese Roller has been ransacked, and Ultimate Bullseye has been mangled. Oh no! Sorry about the slow plot progression, we promise more soon :)
10th January Oh no! Looks like the destruction of Meridell didn't end yesterday. Poor Illusen had her glade smashed to bits and all it looks like there won't be any games of Guess the Marrow in the near future.
26th February
The conclusion of the Lord Darigan plot is coming
very soon, we promise. The battle is far from over, so we hope you
didn't sell all your snowballs and sticky hands :) Sorry about the
wait, we have been SO busy on other... *secret* stuff.
11th March
So very pretty... 14th March This is just a note to say that if we do possibly have another battle against some gigantic enemy on the site, and I'm not saying there will be, but if we do ... sticky hands and Hubrid's Puzzle Box are totally banned! 17th March
Looks like the Meridell farmer who runs Pick Your Own cleaned up the mess left by Darigan and got it working again! Looks like you may get some special items... but today only (of course)
20th March
THE PLOT CONTINUES - Yes, the penultimate part of our Darigan conclusion
has just been released!!! Click here.
It is a pretty big episode so it may take a while to download (but it's
worth it!)
21st April
LORD DARIGAN IS ATTACKING!!! Using the power of the orb, the evil Darigan is attempting to destroy Neopia, land by land. If you haven't caught up with the plot we have been running, please click here. If you have - get to the Battledome as fast as you can!!! He must be stopped!!!
Something seems to have happened, Lord Darigan's orb doesn't seem to be doing as much damage as it was... could his power be failing him?
In the confusion it seems that Ultimate Bullseye has been repaired! Go Meridell! 22nd April LORD DARIGAN still remains undefeated... help Neopia and join in the battle by clicking here now! Meridell wasn't enough for this evil tyrant - now he wants the entire world!!! Those clever Meridellians have managed to rebuild Turdle Racing, as the forces of Lord Darigan are otherwise engaged!
So anyway, congratulations also to Majal_Kita (owned by featheralley) who delivered the killing blow. The last part of the plot is coming very soon!
GAAAAHHH
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Shortly after this plot concludes, we are introduced to the next plot: Battle for Meridell.
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