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What's The Deal With Darigan Citadel?


by littlehector

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Floating high in the sky above Meridell sits an ominous, shadowy land that many people fear. It seems to always be in a shroud of purple and black, and the history of the place is immensely terrifying. This place is known as Darigan Citadel, and it is ruled by Lord Darigan. The Neopets that come out of it tend to be a dark purple shade with black features, horns, and scales, many of them having teeth sharp enough to pierce skin. These Neopets are harmless now, and as friendly as any other, but it wasn't always that way.

Darigan Citadel started off as a peaceful, prosperous land with a booming economy and a positive social scene. All the residents were very happy, and since they were living in the sky they had a full on natural defense system. They maintained good relationships with surrounding lands and never really had a worry in the world, until one day...

It all started with a lie coming straight from the mouth of King Skarl, the ruler of Meridell. King Skarl told a story about how Meridell had not always been prosperous, how it was once riddled with famine and disease with its people starving. He sent off a team of knights to get help from the surrounding lands when the knights came across a Seer, someone who could see things normal people could not. This Seer told the knights there was a magical orb out there that could cure all of Meridell, and that orb was in the Darigan Citadel. Skarl did not reveal that this orb had actually belonged to another kingdom, or that he stole it away from them. Skarl sent his knights along to steal it, to bring Meridell into good fortune, but this left Darigan Citadel in disarray.

Without the orb, Darigan Citadel and its residents began to deteriorate. The Neopets there became gnarled and monstrous, completely savage, and things took a turn for the worse. Even their leader, Lord Darigan, was affected deeply by this curse. Previously, Darigan Citadel had no army, they had great relationships with everyone and had no reason to think misfortune would fall upon them, but now times had changed. Lord Darigan put together an army and they stormed Meridell, attacking the castle to get their orb back to restore peace to their floating land.

The war raged between Meridell and Darigan, involving people from all over Neopia. Many were on the side of Darigan, believing that the orb should be returned to its rightful owner and that the theft was wrong and deserving of war. All of the support led Darigan Citadel to victory and they were able to return the orb back to its rightful spot, but things didn't clear up from there. It was thought that the orb would heal the citadel and fix all the problems, but it wasn't working.

The magic, you see, was being controlled. It was being controlled by Lord Darigan himself, and that magic was all being focused down on Meridell to destroy the land in an act of revenge. The residents of Darigan Citadel were not okay with this, they did not want to destroy Meridell because they had their orb back, and they wanted to maintain a peaceful relationship, so the army joined with Meridell to take down Lord Darigan. With all this power against him, Lord Darigan was defeated and he disappeared into a flash of light, but there was collateral damage: in the frenzy the orb had also been destroyed, splitting in two and ending its power.

With an absence of a leader, and the task of rebuilding their society, Darigan Citadel was in shambles. This made it fairly easy for someone to step into power, and that person was Lord Kass. Lord Kass did not have the best intentions though, and was very much interested in revenge. He was able to start a large propaganda campaign blaming Meridell for this whole disaster, if they hadn't stolen the orb in the first place the citadel never would've been cursed and the orb wouldn't have been destroyed. So war began once again between them and Meridell, causing even more destruction.

During this battle a lot of information came to light, specifically about something known as "The Three". The Three were evil beings that lurked around in dark hooded cloaks and were able to use some type of magic to gain influence. Lord Darigan had actually fallen victim to their spells, and they used their power over him to wage war against Meridell after the orb was recovered. It seems their mission was always to take over Meridell, as they were also the ones who influenced Lord Kass into attacking the farming land once again.

When the fight took a turn for the worst for Meridell, with their hero Jeran being defeated, a miracle happened. Lord Darigan, thought to be dead, re-appeared and joined the fight. Though now that he was no longer under control of The Three, he fought on Meridell's side in an attempt to reclaim his kingdom and destroy Lord Kass and The Three. He was able to do so, reclaiming his spot as Lord, and Kass was vaporized by The Three for failing them. Since that day, Meridell and Darigan Citadel have been operating under a truce and mutually helping each other prosper. Peace has been restored and all is good for both lands.

Darigan Citadel is still a very intimidating presence to those who don't know the full history, and who don't realize it is a peaceful and well-meaning land. They have had a very tough history, but it is more than a decade in the past now. Although, just because it happened so long ago doesn't mean there isn't a small but persistent sense of fear in the hearts of the residents of both the citadel and Meridell. The fear is that The Three will again appear and attempt to cause havoc to both lands, attempting to establish their own kingdom and a base in which they can take over all of Neopia. Let us hope that never happens, or we will be in for another long stretch of dark days.

 
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