Hi there! I'm Syphran the Maraquan Meerca, and I'm here to tell you all about
my home town, Maraqua! I know everything there is to know, and soon so will you!

Now, New Maraqua is a very cool place to live! There's so much to do here, and so much to see. You couldn't possibly see it all in one day, or even two! I think that to see most of Maraqua, you'd have to live here!

Before rubro_sanguine took me in, I used to live here in New Maraqua. It really is a great place. There's tons of shops and space to run around in, and even a very exclusive restaurant.

The first stop on our tour of Maraqua, guest, is the Maraquan Battledome Items shop! This shop is full of great weapons for you to use in the battledome! They are nearly all made of Maractite, a special type of material which has a special power. It can cut through water with no resistance at all! It's amazing! Here are some of the fine weapons made of Maractite, you may have already heard of them:

Are you brave enough to challenge someone wielding these beauties?

Pssst- Maraquan rumour has it that these beautiful weapons can get you an avatar if you use them correctly!

Our next stop is the Collectable Seashells store. This is where you can buy lots of beautiful seashells, all of them rare and amazing. I used to have a big collection of them, but they all 'disappeared' *glares at rubro_sanguine, who whistles*

Aren't they amazing?

Next up is Kelp. Ah, Kelp. The land of delicious food, sumptuous deserts and people complaining about the lack of avatar. Oops...don't think I was meant to say that *cough* Um...like I was saying, Kelp is very exclusive and only the most celebrated and notable citizens of Neopia can dine here. Although maybe that's a lie, since rubro_sanguine got in last week.

Anyway, once inside you have several courses to choose from. You can start with an appetiser, followed by a main course, then dessert. Cocktails are also available too. This restaurant, however, isn't for those whose purses are full of cobwebs and dust. Oh no! Even eating the cheapest items on the menu (Tropical Fruit Bowl, Spicy Radish Salad, Kelp's Signature Ice Cream and a Thornberry Brew) will set you back a whopping 60,500NP!

Yum Yum!

The Maraquan Petpet Store is a great place, if you're looking for a new friend for your beloved pet! There are so many to choose from, and they're all so adorable. I have a bubblebee myself, so that makes me slightly biased towards them. The others are cute too, I suppose. *hugs Chichette* This shop is certainly more interesting than the Neohomes place. There's nothing to say about that place!

Awww!

So here we are in the Maraquan Ruins! If you're thinking of painting your pet Maraquan, then I know just the place you should go! The Bubbling Pit is a place where you can see all the pets in Neopia in their fishy forms. Personally, I think you should all paint your meercas Maraquan. We're a lot of fun, you know, and we can ward off the pant devil with our spikes! Maraquan Cybunnys and Gelerts are pretty too. And the Maraquan Buzz is pretty cool, although you might want to be careful you don't mistake them for a prawn. That wouldn't be good.

The best place in the Ruins is the Underwater Fishing Caverns. This is a great way to kill some time, if you don't mind keeping very still. Personally, I hate fishing, but rubro_sanguine says that's only because I can't sit still for more than two minutes. You can find some pretty cool things in there, though. Like driftwood. Or an old boot. Or a Giant Squid. Or- what? A giant squid?! COOL! *makes mental note to try fishing more often*

Pretty, but rare

Now, rumour has it that if you go down to the Ruins today, you're in for a big surprise. If you decide it'd be a good idea to go exploring around the Ruins, think again. My friends and I decided to do that, and we had the life scared out of us! Out of nowhere, this giant Maraquan Slugawoo jumped out at us and shouted "GO AWAY!". Let's just say that none of us were in the mood to argue.

Now, Maraqua has a very interesting history. How many other towns can say they've been invaded by pirates twice, and beat them once!?

Yeah, that's right. A long time ago, when I was just a young meerca, Captain Scarblade and his crew of miscreants sailed into Maraqua and began an invasion! The battle raged for a very long time, before Scarblade won. The town was completely demolished by a curse the pirates placed upon the town, and the people of Maraqua fled.

Or so Scarblade thought. While it is true that many did flee to safer lands, a brave band of citizen began the long and arduous process of rebuilding the town. They made it bigger and better than it had ever been before, and soon the old inhabitants came back. Maraqua became a thriving town, and started up its tradings with other countries again.

Somehow, Scarblade caught wind of the rebuilding of Maraqua. He was enraged that the Maraquans had dared to defy him. So he brought his troops back into the town. But this time we had the advantage of the maractite I mentioned earlier! It meant we were a lot more equal to the pirates. The battle kept going for even longer than before. We defeated as many pirates as they did our civilians. Swordsmaster Talek and King Kelpbeard kept morale up in our troops, and we defended our city proudly.

In the end, King Kelpbeard and Scarblade ended up in a dramatic one on one battle! The tensions were as high as the stakes, and all us Maraquans prayed that our fearless leader wouldn't be defeated. They fought a long time, before Scarblade left. We didn't technically defeat them, but it was pretty close.

Now I was clearly on the Maraquan side, but rubro_sanguine wasn't! She wanted the pirates to win! I don't know how she could betray me and my people like that! Eventually, I decided to forgive her. She does buy my food and toys, after all.

Now you've seen the wonders of Maraqua, maybe you'd like a little taste of the city for yourself? Of course you would! So why not paint your beloved pet Maraquan?

There are several ways to get yourself a beautiful, delightful, simply divine Maraquan pet. The first, and most obvious, is to get yourself a Maraquan Paint Brush. These can be purchased from the Trading Post on Mystery Island. Beware though, they cost several million neopoints. Pricey indeed!

Your next option is to buy a morphing potion. These are magical potions, which you can feed to your neopet. They do exactly what it says on the bottle and turn your pet into whatever the name of the potion is. For example, a Maraquan Meerca Morphing Potion will turn your pet into a delightful, well behaved Maraquan Meerca like myself *rubro_sanguine snorts* Shut up, rubro_sanguine! These are a far cheaper alternative to the Maraquan Paint Brush, and have the added bonus of changing your pet's species as well! However, at present, only acara, techo, mynci, meerca and gelert morphing potions are available.

The last possibility is to receive a visit from the Fountain Faerie. This kind faerie wanders around Neopia, offering quests to those she sees deserving. Fetch her what she wants, and she will grant you a swim in her Rainbow Pool. This magic pool will change your neopets colour to almost anything! This includes Maraquan, so you should all take your pet there if you get the chance. However, these quests are EXTREMELY rare, and random, so you might never get one. Oh dear.

Maybe I should introduce you to a few of my friends. These pretty pets have all been blessed with a shiny, or in my case spiky, Maraquan coat. They are NOT up for adoption, sale or anything else. Their owners love them, much like rubro_sanguine loves me *hugs rubro_sanguine* I currently only have room to link to a maximum of two for each species, so if you're a species that has spaces left, feel free to ask me to add you.