If the Forgotten Shore Really Forgotten?

Maybe the Forgotten Shore is forgotten because no one knows how to get to it. For one to find the forgotten shore they must have a map. You may wonder if this map is as difficult to acquire as say, The Secret Laboratory which piece’s go for upwards of 100,000 NP per piece. You may be racked with fear about spending that much precious NP on Forgotten Shore Map Pieces, but those fears are unfounded as the Forgotten Shore map is the cheapest one in the market today. Considerate people on the Trading Post are trading complete maps for as little as 2,000 NP, pieces can be acquired by participating in Anchor Management on Krawk Island, pieces can even be picked up at the Money Tree of all places. All of this and The Shop Wizard pricing pieces of the map at 10 NP a piece, makes the Forgotten Shore one of the most easily accessible maps in all of Neopia. Play a couple games of Kass Basher and you’ll be able to pick up the complete map and join the legions of Neopians lining up on the shoreline, digging through the sand so they can strike it rich.

What magical properties does this shore have that these items, some of considerable worth, wash up on this particular shoreline? Treasure chest emerge from the sand almost daily, mounds of sand that contain doubloons pop up, coins wash up on shore, how does this happen? Is there some eccentric millionaire that travels down to the shore every morning to bury some minor riches for some lucky Neopian to find? Is the Forgotten Shore a magic portal that produces these items from thin air once a day? Did some Faerie enchant the shoreline so it would produce items to attract Neopians so it would no longer be forgotten? They say that the dangerous coral reefs that surround the shore have been the demise of many cargo ships and the treats that surface on the shore were cargo on these destroyed ships. But these perished ships couldn’t possibly provide this unending pool of riches. These questions abound as to the origin and meaning of the so called Forgotten Shore. The only thing that can be known for sure, is that we probably won’t ever know how the mysterious shoreline came into our world.

A completed map allows a Neopian the ability to dig through the Forgotten Shore once a day. Every day the shore could be hiding any number of doubloons, amulets of multiple powers, Draik eggs, Morphing potions, a secret avatar or nothing at all. It’s extremely common to make the journey down to the Forgotten Shore only to find that there is nothing of interest to be found that day. But none the less everyday Neopians line up and down the shore to search for their next fortune. But with this many eager hands grasping at the shoreline, it begs the question; is the Forgotten Shore really all that forgotten? It may have certainly started out as a forgotten area of Krawk Island but the name seems rather unfitting in this day and age. Pieces of the map one needs to visit the shore are so common and easily obtainable that almost everyone knows about the existence of the previously lonely piece of coast line. But is having the shore locked behind a map, albeit a cheap one, really enough to refer to it as forgotten? The Veiled Shore or the Illusive Shore might be more fitting names than Forgotten. After all, when the people of Neopia discover something, they let other knows and the new circulates. When Neopians turn their sights on something names like forgotten or lonely or even hidden seem to loose relevance.

But perhaps the name Forgotten Shore isn’t as superficial as it seems. Maybe the forgotten part of the Forgotten Shore doesn’t refer to how many people know about it, or even remember it. The area is littered with destroyed ships that met their fate on the rocky reefs that surround the area. There’s no question that the destroyed skeletons of these cargo ships would bring sadness and despair to many of the inhabitants of Krawk Island. Maybe the Forgotten Shore is more of a wishful title? Maybe it is the wish of the inhabitants of Krawk Island that the shore and events that occurred there be forgotten. If that is so, are we disrespecting their wishes by plundering their shores for fortunes? If the people of the Island wished so much that the shore and the despair that still lingers there be forgotten, is it not rude to insist on going there and digging through the sand for your next draik egg? Perhaps the next doubloon you pick up will come along with a ghost aisha, grumbling slightly and scribbling words of displeasure on the walls of your neohome.

Next time you decide to pay a visit to Krawk Island’s Forgotten Shore maybe stop to think about the area you’re gazing upon. Of course the shore holds possibilities to strike it rich with a morphing potion or a silver doubloon. But where do those possibilities come from and what had to occur for these items to reach you? It’s the duty of every free thinking Neopian to decide what they choose to believe. So the next time you find yourself on that coastline maybe stop and consider why you think the Forgotten Shore is forgotten. Regardless of why it is called the Forgotten Shore, it remains open to those with a map in their possession. So maybe you should go and overlook the Forgotten Shore and decide for yourself, why you think it is forgotten.