A Brief History of Neopia: Part 2

“Why didn’t Amira just say yes?”

“Why was Bonju ever allowed to be part of a crew?”

“Just what is The Stuff, and how long do I have before it gets me?”

This, then, is the second half of Neopia’s twisted history. Last time we delved deep into the Brain Tree’s pulsating memory and uncovered the story of how Neopets came to Neopia. From there, we charted the rise of the Lost Desert, and the fall of Dr. Sloth. We ended our story with a fearsome battle between Meridell and Darigan, with Kass losing out. So now, join me as we walk back in time, for the next and final chapter in Neopia’s history, if you will.

A Couple of Caves

The pirate Captain Bloodhook took it upon himself to ‘procure’ the legendary gem named the Mermaid’s Tear. Bloodhook took the gem from an old man and sailed in his ship the Black Pawkeet to the Pirate Caves, where he stored the stone.

Bloodhook was a feared pirate, but he did not count on the efforts of Hannah, the old man’s granddaughter. She single-handedly infiltrated the caves and recovered the Mermaid’s Tear. Bloodhook found and confronted the young Usul, but she evaded him and detonated his stash of dynamite, burying Bloodhook alive.

Hannah quickly gained a reputation as a successful explorer, and this prompted a Gelert named Kanrik to approach her. He claimed to be searching for a cure to his sister’s illness, which could only be found in a Lost Desert tomb. Ever eager for more adventures, Hannah accepted. Together, they reached the tomb, but Hannah became cursed with an ancient seal known as the mark of Ta-Kutep. At this moment, Kanrik revealed his true intentions. He worked for Neopia’s Thieves Guild, and had used Hannah to gain access to the contents of the tomb, the Bringer of Night.

Kanrik left Hannah for dead, but the people of the Lost Desert nursed her back to health. The curse’s mark was burnt into her skin, and soon took its toll; the curse was far from gone. Hannah set out immediately for revenge; no one crossed her and got away with it.

Hannah tracked Kanrik to Terror Mountain, where she met Armin, a member of the lost Bori race. Meanwhile, taunted by visions of Masila, a member of the Thieves Guild, Kanrik freed the Bringer of Night from his coffin. The Bringer attacked the Thieves Guild camp, summoning icy beasts to fight for him. The thieves fended off the Bringer long enough for their leader Galem to strike a bargain with him, and for his crimes, Galem cast Kanrik out of the guild.

Galem and the guild continued their trek into the mountain, hoping to use the Bringer to locate the mythical stone known as the Heart of the Mountain. At that time, Kanrik met Hannah and Armin. Together they searched for the rest of the Bori, keepers of the stone. Both groups reached the Heart at the same time, where the frozen Bori waited. As Armin woke his people, war commenced. Kanrik and Galem met in combat, and Galem fell, defeated. In the end, it was the small Bori Armin that bested the Bringer, and freed his people from its shadow.

Soon after the battle, the curse took full effect on Hannah, and the Bori took her to Taelia the Snow Faerie. She removed the curse, but the mark remained. Kanrik meanwhile took control of the guild in Galem’s place, and an outcast Masila vowed revenge on Hannah, stalking her from the shadows.

The Pirate’s Life

With the defeat of Captain Bloodhook at the hands of Hannah, his ship the Black Pawkeet gained a new crew and captain. Garin took up the mantle, with the assistance of his friend Jacques. Together they sailed the seas seeking adventure. It is safe to say, they found more than they had hoped.

A run in with a Captain Scarblade and his ship the Revenge proved pivotal for the destinies of all pirates in Neopia. Scarblade had stolen the title of captain from Captain Dread, the Kiko that had destroyed Maraqua. Scarblade captured the Black Pawkeet and its crew, with only Garin escaping thanks to the help of a mermaid called Isca. She took Garin to the depths of Neopia’s oceans and New Maraqua, a secret town founded by King Kelpbeard after the destruction of the old city.

For a while, Garin stayed there in secret, though concern for his friends soon lured him back to the surface. There, he promptly freed his crew and ship from Scarblade’s clutches using a Maractite blade he stole from New Maraqua. Whilst Garin’s crew gained their freedom, Scarblade gained the knowledge that Maraqua lived on. A race of sorts began between the two crews to reach Maraqua first. Garin intended to warn the aquatic people, while Scarblade desired their destruction. With the help of Isca and her misunderstood twin sister Caylis, King Kelpbeard received warning just in time. As Scarblade’s pirates reached New Maraqua, Kelpbeard ordered a counterattack. The battle raged for hours on the ocean floor, but Kelpbeard himself cast down the pirate lord. With his crew diminished and captured, Scarblade fled aboard the Revenge, and Maraqua was freed from the terrible curse placed upon it by Captain Dread.

Family Ties

For a time, it seemed that the Lost Desert had put its troubles behind it. While wars raged in other lands, Princess Amira had returned to the throne of Sakhmet, and the city had gone from strength to strength. Peace, though, as is often the case in Neopia, was short lived. A mysterious Prince Jazan who claimed to be from the ruined city of Qasala visited Sakhmet. He brought with him a signed agreement between King Coltzan III and King Razul of Qasala, proclaiming that Amira was contractually bound to marry Jazan. With no evidence of the prince’s heritage and Razul thought long dead along with her father, Amira turned him away. It was a choice she would live to regret.

In an act of punishment Jazan wove powerful Qasalan magic, and teleported the entire city to an ethereal realm. There the cursed and mummified people of Qasala tormented the city’s residents while the monstrous Scordrax breathed down fire upon the city from the skies. In the end, a pair of street thieves named Tomos and Nabile came to the rescue. By deciphering ancient Qasalan ruins (and by a fair bit of breaking and entering) Nabile discovered she had royal blood. With Amira refusing to marry the prince, Nabile stepped in, and true love blossomed.

Though all was thought to be well after Jazan and Nabile tied the knot, the magic of the wedding broke the seal holding back the spectre of King Razul, Jazan’s father. Razul attacked the restored city of Sakhmet, effortlessly defeating Amira’s finest warriors. With a little help from the Neopian public who had been tirelessly researching in the Lost Desert Scroll Repository, Jazan cast down his father forever. This freed his people from their horrible curse, and allowed them to begin rebuilding Qasala. Peace returned to the desert once more.

The Faerie Fiasco

With her 1000 years of imprisonment on the ocean floor over, the Darkest Faerie was free at last. Spreading her evil quickly like an illness, she extended her influence to Meridell, Brightvale and Faerieland (though keeping more clandestine in the latter). In Meridell, the newly appointed knight Tor foiled the efforts of the Darkest Faerie’s minions, while Roberta (Brightvale royalty, and appropriately enough a sorceress) helped stop the Darkest Faerie taking complete control of Faerieland. Tor and Roberta finally met up as the Darkest Faerie and Fyora locked magic. In a last attempt to save the planet, Fyora teleported the adventuring duo to Altador, opening the long sealed land for all to see.

Tor and Roberta soon met King Altador himself and his fellow ruler Jerdana. With their help, Tor and Roberta faced the Darkest Faerie once more. Using Jerdana’s orb to imprison the Faerie a second time, they proclaimed victory for all of Neopia. Eager not to make the same mistake twice, Fyora elected to keep the Darkest Faerie’s stone self closer, giving her pride of place in the city’s gardens.

Though Faerieland and Meridell had been saved, Altador’s problems were not quite over. As Neopia rediscovered the ancient land, the residents found themselves with a severe case of amnesia. It took a bit of super-sleuthing by visitors to Altador, and quite a lot of help from Finneus, the Altador librarian, to undercover the truth. A powerful spell had been cast on the city to keep it from remembering certain key events. Finneus rushed to break the spell and return the memories of the citizens to their rightful state, though in the end, it was not a malicious spell at all. King Altador and Jerdana themselves had cast it, to keep the evil of the Darkest Faerie at bay. To celebrate the restoration of the city, King Altador announced the first Yooyuball tournament for 1000 years, the Altador Cup. Teams from all over Neopia entered, but it was the Haunted Woods that took home the prize. Though they did not know it, for the woods it was the calm before the storm.

A Few Woeful Tales

A mysterious flying ship named the Cyodrake’s Gaze found its way to the oceans of Neopia. Missing its navigator who had blown overboard in a storm, Captain Tuan ordered the crew to weigh anchor. As the ship wandered the oceans and skies, searching for the navigator, Hoban, visitors slowly pieced together the puzzle of his final hours aboard the ship. Eventually the ship’s cook Bonju was revealed to have pushed Hoban overboard. And with his location found, Hoban was recovered. With their navigator found, the ship returned to its origin point – the mountain city of Shenkuu.

Soon after, the young Usul Gilly ventured further into the Haunted Woods (she had been lost in Eliv Thade’s mansion for quite some time). There she happened upon a gypsy camp where she heard a fateful tale, the tale of Neovia. Neovia was a small town deep in the woods whose people were simple folk. One day a travelling salesman by the name of Krawley arrived, selling a magical potion he called Hissi oil that could grant dreams. A Gelert named Bruno was the first to sample it in an effort to become stronger and impress the girl of his dreams. At first the potion appeared to work, and the rest of the town soon tried some. It was then, however, that things took a turn for the worse. The townspeople began to mutate into horrible, grotesque creatures. Blame soon settled on Bruno, and the townsfolk stormed his home. Bruno’s brother Reginald took their sister Sophie to the woods to find safety. There they met the Earth Faerie Ilere, who offered to protect the girl. When Reginald returned to the town, he found that Bruno had fled, and the townspeople were preparing to summon the Spirit of Slumber. They succeeded, and the spirit offered to cure them, but at a price. They agreed, and the spirit cast his magic. By sunrise, Neovia was deserted.

With the gypsy’s tale over, Gilly continued into the woods, and soon came across the ruins of Neovia. There she found a locket, and in the surrounding woods the shack of Sophie the Swamp Witch, who proved to be less than welcoming. Forced to spend the night in a cave, Gilly was attacked by a monster which she unintentionally lured back to Sophie’s Shack. Sophie and the monster confronted each other and the witch recognised the monster as Bruno, the brother she had lost ten years earlier during the events of the gypsy’s tale.

Sophie related the story of how Ilere had raised her and taught her, and how every Halloween the spirits of the Neovian people appeared to roam the town. The trio set off to seek the aid of Ilere in the deep woods, which proved just as unhelpful as the Brain Tree and Esophagor. Sophie announced she had a plan to summon the Spirit of Slumber, but she would need his name. It was up to Gilly and Bruno to search the graveyards for the spirit’s bones. Once found, they searched for and found his name in the graveyard’s records to complete Sophie’s potion.

The Spirit of Slumber inhabited Bruno’s body, and agreed to reverse the magic he had cast. The townspeople were returned to life, though they again mutated into the foul beasts and attacked the trio. Bruno was left to face them as Sophie fled back to her shack and Gilly chased Krawley into the woods. While Sophie manufactured a potion, Krawley led Gilly though graveyards and woods to the deserted Meepit Oaks Insane Asylum. There, Gilly found a mysterious flower, and soon met with Sophie. The witch added the flower to her potion as the final missing ingredient, and they both returned to Neovia. With Bruno’s help they held off the mutants long enough to add the potion to the town’s well.

The following morning, Neovia had returned to normal, though Bruno remained changed forever, and Sophie elected to stay in her shack. Krawley watched from the shadows silently, undoubtedly plotting some new evil in his head.

There and Back Again

Finally we reach Neopia’s most recent past, and perhaps one of the biggest mysteries for now. The tireless research of Hugo Fairweather, his daughter Lillian, and their assistant Werther came to fruition. The rambling diary of the hermit Madtongue Murphy was translated from the original ancient Tyrannian, and within its pages were contained an account of him being shipwrecked on an island unknown to modern day Neopia.

Called crackpots (not Chesterpots) by their peers, the Fairweathers only found support in the adventurer Roxton A. Colchester III, who agreed to accompany them on an expedition to the island. Together they enlisted the services of Captain Rourke and his ship, the S.S. Primella. Soon after setting sail for the mysterious Lost Isle, they discovered a stowaway in the form of the young boy, Scrap.

The trip to the island proved more perilous than most. Soon after setting eyes upon the isle a storm swept up the boat and shattered it upon the rocky shore. The group had been marooned, just like Madtongue. As Scrap and Rourke set about repairing the ship with debris from the jungle the others explored the interior of the island. Though the jungle first appeared to be a tropical paradise, it quickly descended into madness. They were attacked from all sides by what appeared to be giant ravenous Petpetpets. They found only brief respite in an abandoned laboratory which confirmed their suspicions before again being attacked by yet more dangerous creatures. Eventually, while running from a giant Moach, the group became separated, with the professor and Werther taking the short route back to the ship. Roxton and Lillian, however, were forced to take the longer, more dangerous route back, taking them though the island’s centre.

With repairs to the Primella complete, the professor’s return heralded the departure of the crew. Lillian and Roxton returned to the coastline just in time to escape, and as the ship sailed back to civilisation, Lillian revealed she had taken a souvenir. It wasn’t much, only a lost species of plant, but it would prove at least some of their story was true.

The excitement of the Primella’s return was short lived, as anticipation for the second Altador Cup reached fever pitch. With an out of training Kreludor giving the tournament a miss for a year, a new team from Shenkuu stepped in to fill their place. Despite their valiant efforts, they only managed third. The title was instead passed from the Haunted Woods to Darigan Citadel, the previous year’s runner up.

A look to the Future

So that’s the history of Neopia, as brief as I could make it… which wasn’t very brief at all, I’m afraid. “What does the future hold?” I hear you ask. Who can say (aside from the Lost Desert Fortune Teller of course)? Maybe the Three will make another bid for domination of the Darigan Citadel after their Yooyuball victory. Maybe Masila will track down Hannah and take her vengeance. Maybe the crew of the Primella will return to the Lost Isle searching for answers, or maybe, just maybe, someone will finally save us from the evil that is The Stuff!

(Note: Points in the Darkest Faerie and most recent Lost Desert plot could be inaccurate. I don’t have access to the Darkest Faerie computer game so I had to get the plot secondhand, and as of the site revamp the Lost Desert plot comics have been broken. *pokes TNT to fix it*)