One War or Two? by celestialdaemon |  |
MERIDELL - These days, it seems there is but one thing on the lips of the Neopian
community. It is not the Advent Calendar. It is not the Battle Ducks. It is
not even the Plushie Paint Brush or the Battle Dung. Yep, you guessed right--it
is the first war since the Invasion of Sakhmet--the Meridell War.
But what makes this war so different from the Tyrannian and Sakhmetian wars
is that this war gives you a chance to decide weather to be a loyal, fearless
warrior of justice, or a fearsome, rebellious warrior of destruction. That's
right--this is the first ever Neopian War that lets you choose the side you
fight for.
For those who have been away from Neopia over the past few weeks, or have
simply not been following the Champions of Meridell plot, let me give you a
brief summary of what each side is fighting for, why they are fighting for it,
and how we Neopians got caught up in all this (you may skip this part if you
are up to date on the latest plot.)
The Champions of Meridell plot centers around Lisha, a young yellow Aisha
in owlish glasses, fascinated by anything to do with swords, sorcery, and basically,
Medieval times, and three of her friends and NeoQuest rivals: Morris, a green
Quiggle obsessed with the NeoQuest Hero, Boris, a blue Blumaroo who can't get
enough of Count Von Roo, and Kaelyn, a red Zafara who idolises Kauvara. The
four visit the local Museum on a class field trip (which is kinda odd since
Neoschools haven't been released yet), where our heroine is shown an ancient
painting of the legendary knight, Sir Borodere, by a elderly Nimmo historian.
Suddenly, she recognises Sir Borodere as an older version of her long lost brother
Jeran, who mysteriously disappeared one day while playing hide-and-seek with
Lisha.
Intrigued, Lisha and pals decide to investigate the old ruins where Jeran
was last seen. But just when Lisha is about to give up, she sees her companions
mucking about, and when she tells them to behave, she threatens them with her
plastic wand. Then, somehow, she sends herself and her buddies though a portal
to the corridors of a castle in a land called Meridell (at this point in the
plot, a link to Meridell becomes available to the rest of Neopia).
When she tries to explain her situation to the castle guards, they place
the quartet of adventurers under arrest. But on the way to the dungeons, when
three (or maybe four, I forgot) hideously mutated Neopets attack Lisha, her
friends and the guards, the brave young pets prove their worth by fending them
off using no more than a wooden sword, a vial filled with a simple potion, and
a supposedly plastic wand.
The guards are astounded by the young fighters' skills in battle, and then
take them to the throne room of wise old King Skarl, where Sir Borodere (a.k.a.
Jeran), who is now the king's finest knight, remembers that he went though a
portal to the castle while playing hide - and - seek with Lisha as a child.
King Skarl then tells our heroes that a threat is coming to his kingdom, why
it is coming, and how they can help.
We flash back to a time when Meridell was but a barren wasteland where
no crops would grow, no rain would fall, and no sun would shine. King Skarl,
desperate to help his people, sent his finest knights (Jeran not included, for
some reason) to search for someone who - or something that - could help them.
After many months of searching, they came upon an old Kyrii sorceress who told
them of a legendary Orb, with the power to bring infinite prosperity to the
kingdom of any ruler who possessed it, as well as where to find it. When they
returned with the Orb, the dark clouds in the Meridell's sky suddenly cleared,
and soon, Meridell blossomed before Skarl's squinty little Skeith eyes.
Once the story is over, the king tells the four school - aged heroes that
he suspects that the mutants who attacked Lisha and friends have come to steal
the Orb for themselves, and that it must be protected at all costs.
Later, it turns out that, in reality, the Orb was stolen from Lord Darigan--the
ruler of the kingdom the mutants came from--by Skarl's knights, and when a bunch
of octopus--like tentacles emerge from the ground, it becomes clear that he
has returned to reclaim what is rightfully his, and that the war the Neopets
Team promised us has finally begun. At this point, you get to sign up with one
of two armies--the Meridell Army or the Darigan Army.
'How creative', you are probably thinking. 'If you don't want to be a goody
two - shoes you don't have to be, and if you don't want to be a thieving rebel
then you don't have to be either!' Well, wrong! In my opinion, having two sides
to choose from does nothing but cause conflict between the members of those
two sides.
If you don't believe me, just look at the Articles on the war in Issues 68
and 69! Some are more one - sided than others (I'm not going to name names like
a certain person who made a certain rude comment about a certain other person's
foot in a previous issue... ggrrr), but all of them stir the cauldron of hatred
for the members of the opposite side, even if it's just a little. In short,
the only real war is not being fought on the plains of Meridell. You are watching
it happen as you look at the Articles page of The Neopian Times.
Can you imagine what life would be like if everyone always gave in to peer
pressure? Let's imagine a huge wave of articles telling you to visit the Turmaculus
on a daily basis came out and that everyone who read them listened to them.
Obviously, thousands of Neopets would cry mountains of tears because they lost
their beloved PetPets, but less obviously, even if you only ever got on the
good side of this colossal Turmac, the high - level PetPets would quickly help
their owners squash those whose PetPets were lost to the Turmaculus bloated
stomach like bugs (no offence to Buzzes) in the Battledome.
And did I mention that a great deal of popular NT (Neopian Times) writers
and Battledomers are on the supposedly 'evil' side, Darigan? Imagine what life
would be like if everyone on one side were prejudiced against everyone on the
other. Friendships would be lost, threats would be made, and people would be
frozen for insulting each other.
For example, take child_dragon, who is in my opinion, the most original NT
author of her generation. She and I on the verge of a great friendship that
started with only a few simple fan mails, and not once have we mentioned the
fact that we are on opposite sides (well, except when I asked her for permission
to use her name for this article...). If I were prejudiced against her, I would
not be able to read the stories that give purpose to my life on Neopets.
And picture this scenario. You try to transfer a pet from one account to another
via the pound, but someone else who is on the opposite side to you adopts him/her
before you can get to him/her. And because you hate everyone on the opposite
side to you, you can't Neomail the new owner of your pet to tell him/her to
give the pet back. Although you miss your pet, you decide that avoiding those
on the opposite side is more important than getting him/her back. And after
awhile, your pet's new owner is frozen, meaning you've lost your chance to get
poor little NeoSweetums387346 (or whatever your pet's name is) back forever
- and all because you're prejudiced against those on the opposite side!
And now it's almost Christmas and how do you plan to spend it? By wrecking
one innocent kingdom or the other while insulting members of the opposite side
in between battles, that's how! Christmas is well known as 'The Season of Goodwill'
and frankly, I don't see blasting Meridell/Darigan to smithereens as any form
of Goodwill, even if it is for the good of your homeland. We can only hope that
after the war, the Neopets Team will realise the oversight they made and never
feature the option to choose sides in a war again.
So why don't you prevent two wars, rather than one, breaking out and just
accept that each side has good points and bad points? |
