introduction

So it is that after two attempts at war with Meridell, the forces of Darigan have yet to salvage our pride and glory that we had once so rightfully own. Bah! Peace. We are still paying the penalty for the fault of that rotten Skeith the Meridellian peasants call 'king'. None of us has yet to be able to truly walk in and out the Grooming Parlour or Uni Clothing without being searched for weapons or stolen items first. Even that Cybunny look at us funny when we're at the Plushie Shop. "Yes, I'm Draconian and I love plushies. Is there a problem? -_-".

Is it right? Is it fair? Is it... Neopian?

*kicks the Turtum who said "Yes" and watches at it goes flying out of the Citadel window*

So... shall I then indulge with you a little secret? It is something that I would wish to present to Lord Darigan himself; a little idea that it could lead to another Draconian and Meridellian war... with a high chance of a Darigan WIN this time. Then, we shall finally bask in glory of victory, and instead of being a mere curator of a tragic history and clerk for a shop that nobody dares to go into... I shall be named as the NEW DARIGAN WAR GENERAL!

MUAH HA HA HA HA haack!!! GASP!! CHOKES!! *spits out stray Mootix* Grr...

But of course, before we even begin to think about another invasion, we must learn from our past mistakes. So let us look again at the tragedy that has transpired from the past two wars (please excuse me at this point. I often get a little watery eyed and choked up here).

historical analysis

Darigan vs Meridell I : Champions of Meridell | Relive the battle

And to think we could have won this one. And we did! At first thwarted by a Lupe who has been on our hide for years. Then a bunch of kids who happen to accidentally travel back in time forced us to rethink strategies. Then, when we finally got the Orb, it made Lord Darigan mad and out of control.

We end up sharing the orb with Meridell *slaps forehead*.

What we did right Catching them off guard (All of Meridell except Skarl and his men who stole the orb, knew nothing about us). Focusing on the Orb, and just the Orb alone. Sending out cute drackonacks to war during the first wave. Awww... Winning it the first time. What we did wrong Sleeping on the job and letting prisoners escape. Losing focus on the real purpose of war (ie the Orb) and getting distracted by other silly ideas (eg conquering Neopia. Okay, it's not THAT silly of an idea, but still...). Going completely bonkers in the head and becoming a Spectre of what you really are. Losing it the second time.

Darigan vs Meridell II : Battle for Meridell | Relive the battle

I have to give it to Kass; he knows strategy. His air based attack on Castle Meridell was a work of pure genius, and his war machines are impressive. His idea for using Morguss's spell was a great one as well, but it seems that Morguss's magic was unsatisfactory in the long run, and when the spell that rendered the Meridellians useless lost its grip, Skarl immediately ordered a counter attack.

The rest of the story is just too painful to recap... *sobs*

What we did right Being a genius strategist. Propaganda, propaganda, propaganda . Building ultra cool weapons of mass destruction. Taking out the kingdom's biggest hero. What we did wrong Being a stupid genius strategist. Sending out giant spyders to war during the first wave. Ewww... Putting trust on the wrong Zafarra. Letting The Three control you. Messing with Lord Darigan.

*blows nose and wipes tears away with a Ghostkerchief* Sad, oh so sad... :(

DMWIII: tHE War of Worlds

I'm sure by now you truly understand the magnitude as to how close we are to achieving glory. Ah, those were truly dark times... What? You already know what happened and just want to get to the idea? Hmm... impatient, I see. Ever considered painting yourself Darigan? Hehehe... Very well. I shall proceed to tell you what I have in mind. So my idea is to create a massive campaign that directly or indirectly involves the following worlds along with it: Faerieland Maraqua / Krawk Island Haunted Woods Brightvale Roo Island Lost Desert / Qasalan Yes, that covers nearly ALL of Neopia.

In this campaign we will have resources, allies and avenues from all over Neopia. It is a massive strategy to undertake, but one that I believe can lead to much success. But we will also have to new enemies to contend with and new dangers to risk. I believe, though, that such hazards will not be too great to overcome.

There will be several campaign elements to this, namely:

Campaign Elements:Popularity and Propaganda

Kass has done it before, getting a good amount of support from the people of Darigan before he launched his attack on Meridell . However, that alone is not enough. Why just preach to those who already believe? We need to expand our support and following, and this can be done through the following means:

Altador Cup		Darigan Toys
Ah, the home of Yooyoball. Team Darigan Citadel have been consistently showing that they are among the very best, and slowly but surely, have gathered a substantial amount fans and followers. At this rate, getting them to support Darigan beyond the context of sports should be easy enough.		Our little shop at the citadel can be our best tool of support. By consistently churning out really cool toys, and doing so often, there will be plenty of that Darigan vibe that will spread over to the young... or young at heart.
Darigan Games		Darigan Food and merchandise
As off now there are six Darigan or Meridell vs Darigan based games to play: Cellblock, Neopian Battlefield Legends, Invasion of Meridell, Sorcerers' Skirmish, Darigan Dodgeball and Kass Basher. They're easy games to play that gives lots of NPs. Cellblock and Invasion of Meridell even gives easy to earn trophies; perfect propaganda tools of support (Check out 'Invasion's' trophies. They feature Draconians!).		The danger of spreading our word on our own is that... well... who ever wants to hear about what WE say? So hence let others do it for us. Furniture and clothes and Advent Calendar are great support tools for merchandising. Even Meridell is selling our food for us, as part of the truce treaty.. Darigan Hotdog, anyone?
Darigan Disciple *grins*
Who else is more worthy at spreading the word of Darigan and its cause than... me? Why, my shop showcases Darigan, my gallery showcases Darigan, my lookup showcases Darigan, even my pets are Darigan. Surely, I should be awarded for all this, right? Right?

Campaign Elements:Resources

War comes with a heavy price; or at least a good amount of NPs. And yes, loads of weapons. Ponder upon these resource making strategies while we plot to plunder:

Save up		make a deal with King roo
Conventional and old fashioned, but National Neopian Bank doesn't look down on anyone. The best service on every visit; have you ever caught them not greeting you with a "Sir" or "Madam" before? Nice little place to stock up on war funding, simply because we can't quite trust the guards to not sleep on the job anymore. *eyes Vex accusingly*		That bumbling Blumaroo loves to play dice. So offer him this proposal: The amount that he wagers on this campaign will be paid back to him in the same amount times the number that he rolls on his silver die. His wager shall be used to fund the campaign. Minimum ante? Oh, I don't know... perhaps everything he's got? Did you say he needs some convincing? *starts to sharpen blade*
Make Deals at Smuggler's Cove		Break into the hidden tower
As tempting as it is to plan a sneaky hit and run attack on the pirates, it is wiser to make our dealings as how we should: through barter and trade and dubloons. Unlike Roo Island, Krawk Island dwellers are notorious at fights. This fact makes them potentially the best allies to our service, as you will see later on.		Sword of Skardsens, Battle Dungs, Werelupe Claw Necklaces and even a cool plushie replica of Lord Darigan. A place worth breaking into. This has to be done late into the campaign, prior to the invasion or else the Battle Faeries will come upon the Citadel in no time. Or maybe we should just get the Meerca Bros to do it for us.
Recruit new troops
Soldiers are resources too. Getting a full blown Draconian army from within the kingdom would be ideal, but since we are already squeezing the limits of our population, we need to look beyond the walls of the Citadel to have our army constantly at full strength. There are two ways to address this: Converting others to Darigan through Darigan paint brushes and morphing potions, whose loyalty will be unquestioned thereafter, or; Recruiting the residents of Haunted Woods. At least half of them can't be killed, for they are already dead. And they look scarier than us. Does wonders for our ego.

Campaign Elements:Allies and Enemies

We have engaged on a solo campaign for the previous wars, while Meridell have had numerous allies to aid in their eventual victories. Now it is time that we adopt the tactics of our enemies and make alliances of our own. Be aware, though, that with new allies come new enemies.

Below is a list of potential allies and enemies, their corresponding world, and the role they will be playing:

Allies

Jhudhora (Faerieland) Campaign's Arch Mage		Captain Scarblade (Krawk Island / Maraqua) High SEA Commander
The Court Dancer trick proved to us that magic is the way to go in times of war. And if Meridell could have Illusen, why not Jhudora for Darigan? Anyway, she's a purple lover. That accounts for a high percentage in our books.		Meridell is surrounded by water at the north, south and east. Kass failed to exploit this in the previous war, relying heavily on his air strategy, which eventually backfired. We can't leave this gap out again. Throw him a couple of dubloons. He'll say, "Aye".
Meerca Brothers (Lost Desert) Espionage (Retrieval)		Balthazar (Haunted Woods) Specialist (Faeries)
Fyora's hidden tower shouldn't be a problem for them, or else we can settle with the tombs of the Lost Desert. What's more, these guys got the skills but not the brains. The last time we hire someone too smart, she double crossed us. Perfect!		When a herd of faeries come after you, right after you have stolen a few stuff from the hidden tower, who else would you call?
Eliv thade (Haunted Woods) Espionage (Communications)		Brightvale (Brightvale) Campaign Support (invasion)
There is a ghost by the name of Eliv Thade who is brilliant with codes. It would be interesting if he could teach us a system that can help us pass secret messages in between our spies and scouts.		The entire kingdom might back us up, as it is the kingdom of Skarl's brother and rival, Hagan. Oooh... you didn't expect this one, did you? Hehehe...
King Roo (Roo Island) Campaign Support (Finance)		Razul (Qasalan) Overlord of Neopia (don't tell him otherwise)
By this time he would probably be convinced enough. *tests sharpened blade with a strand of King Roo's fur*		Powerful, ambitious, violent and almost immortal. He will be the ace to this campaign... IF we manage to find him, resurrect him and convince him to take to our side by promising him to be overlord of Neopia. Little doubt he will say no on that last bit. Quite honestly, though, I would think that he should be a last ditch effort, because he scares me more than Lord Darigan himself (don't tell Darigan I said that).

Enemies

Illusen (Meridell) Guardian		Fyora (Faerieland) Queen/Commander
Sweet as saccharine, Meridell loves her. In fact, she has fans from far and wide. That Honey Potion concoction of hers is one of the reasons for her popularity. We cannot give her that privilege in our war. To be dispatched off quickly... if can be done at all.		From the moment she finds out that we had broke into her tower, she will come after us along with the battle faeries. We're going to have a handful. Not so sure if Balthazar can handle them now...
King Kelpbeard (Maraqua) King/Commander		Battle faeries (Faerieland) Soldiers
Scarblade shouldn't have a problem in his sea campaign against Meridell. However, Meridell's hope (and Darigan's dismay) lies in the hands and fins of this Koi king. If you think that looking at Kelpbeards Tridents at the Hidden Tower is scary enough, wait till you see when HE use it.		The name says it all. You SHOULD be scared, minion. You should be scared...
Sloth (Far flung nebula) Parasite
Ugh... Actually, he's more of an annoyance. Things will be messy if he chose the period close to to our attack to come and try to invade Neopia... again. As if we're not busy enough already! By the way, he's not that smart. It's just that he commands an army of dimwits...

Campaign Elements:Pre-Strike

Now that we have all the necessities covered, it's time to work out a plan of action on engaging Meridell INTO WARRR!!!! MUAH HA HA HA HA haack!!! GASP!! CHOKES!! *spits out stray Vernax* Grr... I need to call an exterminator... Where was I? Oh yes, plan of action.

This will be done in waves:

first wave Recruitment
At this stage it is time approach our allies and tell them exactly your plans are. Remember: Convince (cough) King Roo. Execute Popularity and Propaganda plan. Hire the Meerca Brothers to do some initial robbing at the Lost Desert and maybe to scout out Faerieland as well. Speak to Prisoner Number 5 and get him to tell you about Jelly World. I know... I know... it doesn't exist. But have you ever heard stories about how people who won't listen to mad men end up regretting it later on? Just get over this step. If anything goes wrong, you can blame everyone else for not "listening" to the mad old Lupe.
second wave Resource and alliance
Convince Jhudora to join forces with you. Convince Captain Scarblade to join forces with you. Start getting great deals at the Smuggler's Cove Recruit troops at Haunted Woods, and/or promote Darigan Citizenship via paint brushes and morphing potions. Start gathering buckets of sludge and mossy rocks from the Underwater Fishing Cavern and shiny obsidians from Moltara. Why? To hurl them over the sides of the Citadel at any incoming attacks, silly!
third wave Espionage
Send a petpet to the Symol Hole (preferably a Symol, of course). Great way to spy on Meridell, and the Glades. They won't even suspect a thing... Send pirates to scout the waters around Meridell. Approach King Hagan about the invasion. He might not actively participate, but he might welcome Draconian troops to be stationed at his castle, making it easier for us to launch a land based attack on Meridell... and on Brightvale later on, hehehe...
Fourth wave Final preparation
Raid Hidden Tower. Final positioning of troops at Brightvale. Get Meerca Brothers to find Razul. Invade Haunted Woods (consider this erm... practice)... *grins*

Conclusion

Heh, seems like quite a plan isn't it? What else can I say? It's foolproof! What else can YOU say? It's Foolproof!

This may possibly be the greatest war in Neopian history. But of course, it will never happen till Darigan decides that this treaty thing just doesn't cut it for us. I mean, when we look this bad and this cool, might as well live it, don't you think?

Well, go on. Tell Lord Darigan about me and my plans. When I'm general, I will let you tie my shoes.

Oh don't worry about the Turtum I kicked. He landed on a soft spot at the Meridell dump.

*Sniff sniff*

Oh, there he is!

Banners

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