Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the news on a day to day basis. Here are the highlights from the Neopets news page for this month...

From the news page on March 3, 2005:

Gadgadsbogen! Every year the fruit trees of Mystery Island undergo a remarkable change. Some whither and die, others spring up with new and exciting fruits. Some of which have never been seen before. This monumental event is always accompanied by a massive party that carries on well into the night. (March 4, 2005)

The Space Faerie has been added to the How To Draw section. (March 11, 2005)

The first part of the Curse of Maraqua plot has just been launched. This episode you meet Jacques and Garin, two of the heroes. They plan on making two parts live each week. The next episode will go live on Thursday. (March 15, 2005)

There is a new Neoboard for you to chat about the Curse of Maraqua plot. (March 15, 2005)

If you own a Neohome on Mystery Island, you may notice the land has a more lush and grassy new look. (March 24, 2005)

Some Maraquan Coloring Pages featuring Caylis and Isca have been added. (March 24, 2005)

After his attack on the Black Pawkeet, Captain Scarblade has earned his place in the Gallery of Evil. (March 24, 2005)

A quaint little shop selling collectable Seashells has just opened up in Maraqua. (March 24, 2005)

Isca has been added to the How to Draw section. (March 28, 2005)

Even though you haven't heard much about her, Cylara has been added to the Gallery of Heroes. (March 29, 2005)

By popular demand the Neocam will now face people and not plushies. (March 29, 2005)

For all you artists out there, Caylis is now available in the How To Draw section. (March 30, 2005)

Isca, Caylis, Jaques and Garin have been added to the Press Kit. (March 31, 2005)

That dastardly Bruce from the Curse of Maraqua plot has been added to the Gallery of Evil. (March 31, 2005)

Special Days for these months were:

• March - Gadgadsbogen - The Mystery Island festival of fruit!
• Mar 2nd - Uni Day, A holiday honouring Neopia's most vain creatures
• Mar 3rd - Cancelled due to lack of interest
• Mar 6th - Gelert Day
• Mar 14th - Scorchio Day
• Mar 17th - Illusen Day
• Mar 22nd - Chomby Carnival (Chomby Day)

Pets are painted at the Rainbow Pool (on the Main Shops page) with special magic paint brushes. Click here for a list of all pets and their available colors.

v      The Kougra How To Draw pages have been updated to the new look Kougra. (March 1, 2005)

v      Unis can now be painted Desert and Sketch. (March 2, 2005)

v      Get your Ruki in the Gadgadsbogen mood with a new Island look. (March 4, 2005)

v      If you are really lucky, you may get to own a super shiny Robot Gelert... (March 7, 2005)

v      By popular demand they have disabled right-clicking on pet webpages. (March 7, 2005)

v      Lupes and Korbats can now be painted a rather bright shade of Pink. (March 9, 2005)

v      Give your Ruki a funky new look with the aid of a Disco Paint Brush. (March 10, 2005)

v      Bori can now be painted Purple at the Rainbow Pool. (March 11, 2005)

v      Now you can paint your Jetsam a very dazzling shade of white to match those pearly white chompers. (March 11, 2005)

v      Some rather unique looking Scorchios can now be found in Tyrannia and the Lost Desert. (March 14, 2005)

v      Bori can be painted Orange. (March 21, 2005)

v      Kacheeks can be painted Brown at the Rainbow Pool. (March 21, 2005)

v      Chombies can be painted Ice and Grey. (March 22, 2005)

v      If you get hold of a Skunk Paint Brush, you can now paint your Bori with it. (March 24, 2005)

v      Cybunnies can be painted a pretty Cloud pattern at the Rainbow Pool. (March 25, 2005)

v      You can now be the owner of an Orange Nimmo. (March 28, 2005)

v      The Maraquan Jubjub has made an appearance. (March 29, 2005)

v      Techos can now be painted Brown at the Rainbow Pool. (March 31, 2005)

v      The Maraquan Lupe has been discovered. (March 31, 2005)

For those of you looking for the Petpet Puddle, it is part of the Rainbow Pool. When you are on the Main Shops page, click on the Rainbow Pool. At the top of the next page is the link to the Petpet Puddle. Click here for a list of all petpets and their available colors.

q        If you own a Zomutt, you can now give it an amazing new Snow, Robot, Brown, or Mutant look. (March 1, 2005)

q        It seems fruits aren't the only thing that is new this year for Gadsgadsbogen. A small furry creature referred to by Islanders as the Meturf has just appeared. (March 4, 2005)

q        Turdles, Hasees, Snowbunnies and Meturfs can now be given an Island look at the Petpet Puddle. (March 4, 2005)

q        Peadacles, Duas and Gallions can now be painted Pink at the Petpet Puddle. (March 9, 2005)

q        When you hear of Grackle Bugs you may think of a crunchy snack sold in the Lost Desert, but we found out today that they can actually make very affectionate Petpets. (March 11, 2005)

q        Slorgs, Kadoaties, Noils, Spardels, Hasees and Turtums can now be painted Maraquan at the Petpet Puddle. (March 15, 2005)

q        Slugawoos can now be painted Island, Mutant and White at the Petpet Puddle. (March 16, 2005)

q        Swabby and Mazzew can now be painted Maraquan. (March 21, 2005)

q        Hasees, Spyders, Unioctos and Mortogs can be given a bright Yellow summer coat. (March 25, 2005)

q        Warfs can now be panted Maraquan at the Petpet Puddle. (March 31, 2005)

This was a particularly hard month for me as some close friends of mine dealt with the loss of their youngest son. Rest in peace, Jeff, and hope you’ve taught the angels some great drum music when we meet again.

The avatars section has been updated.

Work continues on the upcoming museum. This project is rather large, but at least you can get a quick look at it here. Note that these pages are still very much under construction. If you have anything you’d like to contribute, please send it to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu

Avatars have a broad based appeal that touches almost every aspect of life in Neopia. These are the avatars that were added this month. For a complete list, drop by the avatars section of the Chat FAQs. If you know of one that is not listed, simply fill out the automatic comment form.

Games on Neopets are in a constant state of change and these changes are often not listed in the news. Here are the changes for this month:

Here are the new games that were added this month:

a    A new Scooby Doo Compararoo has just been released. Can you spot all the differences between the two images? (March 7, 2005)

a    Starting on the March 20, Animal Planet will be showing a program all about dragons. You can now watch the trailer and play a new game based around the show here. (March 7, 2005)

a    They have a new sponsored game for you to try based on the adventures of Rodney Copperbottom - Robots the Video Game. (March 7, 2005)

a    Bouncy Supreme – play the part of a rather unlucky Jelly Blumaroo who has bounced his way a bit too far away from home, and really wants to get back. Unfortunately a gigantic Pterodactyl has spied his lunch...

a    They have a new sponsor game based on The Incredibles called The Incredibles Split-Shot. (March 14, 2005)

a    Lunchables fans may be interested in playing the new sponsor game: Lunchables Marketplace... (March 14, 2005)

a    They have another game featuring Toontown or you to try - Toontown Gag Order. (March 14, 2005)

a    There is a new game in the Deserted Fairground. Why not try your luck at the Cork Gun Gallery? (March 31, 2005)

Changes to existing games:

A new and improved version of Kiko Match II is now live. They changed the look a little, gave it nicer buttons, a better game screen, that kind of thing… (March 1, 2005)

You can now play Petpet Sitter in all available languages. (March 4, 2005)

You may want to turn off the speakers while playing this game if you are not a music fan or do not like these featured individuals.

Other than that, click away…

Revisiting Maraqua
Remembering the events leading up to this point.

This month, Neopets began the Curse of Maraqua plot which (hopefully) will lead to the rebuilding of Maraqua. This should wrap up the unfinished plotline introduced in August of 2001. For those of you who were not here at that time, this article should bring you up to date on the part many see as "ancient history".

Many of the older Neopians will remember the wonderful underwater world of Maraqua. It was introduced as part of the search for the battledome.

Maraqua was the fantastic undersea kingdom that served as the home of aquatic pets and petpets. It was formed by Transparishield Pods embedded within a rock formation on the ocean floor, covering an incredible 1,850 sq. miles.

One of the prime attractions in Maraqua was its tasty selection of Aquatic foods. Where else could you find delicacies such as Coral Salad, Scoop Chops and Kelp Samosa without paying the high cost of getting them imported?

If you needed something practical, then you definitely wanted to stop by Keikonna the Handy-Koi's Utility Fish Shop. There you could find everything from a Fanfish that'll keep you cool to a Vacuumfish for keeping your NeoHome spotless.

The spirit of adventure was also quite strong in Maraquan's who would stop by The Underwater Kitchen. This is the original kitchen of Sheytano the Chef, who's always been known for handsomely rewarding those brave enough to take up his challenge and go in search of a few rare ingredients.

Rumor has it that you could spend the night in The Royal Palace. In hopes of generating enough cash to buy himself a new palace, The King of Maraqua agreed to allow guided tours of his stately manor. For a mere five hundred Neopoints, you could receive a guided tour of the King's palatial estate. If you slip him a few thousand NPs when nobody's looking then he would even pull a few strings and see what he can do about letting you stay the night.

In addition to the shops, the Underwater Map (now retired) was associated with Maraqua.

Eventually, the whirlpool stopped on May 31, 2002. The editorial for week 43 of the Neopian Times tantalized us with what we hoped would lead to more on the Maraqua storyline:

Do you plan on doing anything else on the Maraqua area, besides the stopping of the whirlpool, like re-inhabiting it?
All will be revealed shortly...

"Shortly" was rather long in coming, however. Just a couple of days before Lord Darigan first appeared and the first war in Meridell began, Maraqua gained its first new inhabitant on November 21, 2002 a giant cranky slugaroo:

Once again, we all wondered if they would finally get around to finishing that plot line and even speculated on if it would tie in with the Darigan vs. Merridell plot. Of course, nothing was done with Maraqua in that plot, either.

The "Bubbling Pit" is a strange pit, a very very deep pit, from which hundreds of thousands of strange little colored bubbles are emerging.

Nobody has any idea what this hole in the sea floor is, or what it does, but we think it may have something to do with these strange Maraquan Neopets that have been spotted...perhaps it will lead a new part of Maraqua hinted at in the new storyline. And just for reference, the Maraquan Paint Brush was released on June 17, 2003.

For one last treat, click here to see the Advent Calendar animation for the "Rebuild Maraqua" sing-along. I recently found it was still on their servers.

So, you can easily see that this plot has been a long time in the making. Marqua fans are hoping for a clear ending to a story that has been left dormant for literally years. Of course, if this doesn't lead to the rebuilding of Maraqua, we can wait...after this long, we've certainly learned to be patient.

As always, play safe and have fun!

~StaggPub~

Name: Forbidden Plunder
Available: From the Golden Dubloon
Neopet’s Description: More chocolate than you can possibly imagine concentrated in a highly calorific desert.
TNE’s Description: This incredibly chocolatety cake not only has a chocolate glaze...it has a puddinglike chocolate center.

Cake ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted softened butter, plus extra for buttering molds
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 4 large eggs4 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting molds

Hot Fudge Glaze ingredients:

• 1 (4-ounce) bar German chocolate
• 1/2-ounce unsweetened chocolate
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 2/3 cups evaporated milk
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

Butter and lightly flour 6 (6-ounce) ramekins. Tap out any excess flour.

In a small saucepan, bring to a boil 2 inches of water. In a large glass bowl, add butter, chocolate and espresso powder. Lower heat and place bowl over the simmering water. Slowly whisk mixture until the chocolate is almost completely melted. Remove bowl from heat and continue to whisk until all chocolate has melted. Allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, add eggs, yolks, and sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture until light and fluffy and pale in color. Reduce speed to medium-low and slowly pour in the chocolate mixture. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Do not overwork the batter.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Divide the batter between the molds. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place chocolate molds onto baking sheet and place in oven for 7 minutes. If not baking immediately, cover chocolate molds with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 8 hours. When ready to bake, place refrigerated chocolate molds onto baking sheet and place in oven for 10 minutes. The top and sides should be cooked and dry and the inside will be runny.

Using oven mitts, carefully invert each mold onto a plate and let it sit for 10 seconds. Then lift 1 corner of the ramekin and the cake should slip out. Drizzle chocolate glaze over cake. Serve warm.

BEST OF NEOPETS 404s

Some times, you just can't stand another "cookie cutter" help site. You know what I'm talking about...the ones who all use the same format with just different graphics/colors? That's why I was so happy when I came across this site. I had spent hours (literaly) searching for a site that didn't look like all the others.

I found this a refreshing little humor page that uses the funny things already built into Neopets. Great for a chuckle.