MERIDELL - Meridell, land of food-based games, Illusen and many other things.
It is also very, very strongly suspected that Meridell will be the scene for
the next war. Just look at the "Invasion of Meridell" game, or the current Meridell
plot and it becomes very hard to imagine how Meridell would manage to stay out
of a war. They don't appear to have a very skilled diplomatic corps, after all.
And so I decided to start training my pets and prepare them for the oncoming
battle. Not for fame, nor glory, nor money, but simply because it seemed to
be the right thing to do. To fight alongside the Meridell good guys against
the evil invaders.
And then there appeared "Champions of Meridell" part
8. And all of the sudden, I'm not so sure whose side is the "right"
side in this conflict.
For those of you who haven't been following the plot, a quick summary. In
part 8, the ruler of Meridell, King Skarl, reveals that, once upon a time, Meridell
was not the happy place it is now. Poverty, disease, famine and general unpleasantness
prevailed. So a desperate King Skarl sent out his bravest knights to go find
something that would save his kingdom. These brave men and women did indeed
set out. And when they returned, they took an orb with them. But not just any
old orb. No, this was The Orb, a mystical artefact with the power to bless the
land with wealth, health, food and general happiness. And so, with the Orb in
his possession, Skarl's kingdom blossomed. But then the Invaders arrived. And
they want the Orb.
Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? We fight the Invaders so that they won't
get their hands on the Orb, so that Meridell will stay the happy place it is
now. Meridell is good, the Invaders are bad.
But then, one very important question arose within me: Just where did that
Orb come from? Did King Skarl's knights simply spot it lying next to the road
in a ditch somewhere? Probably not. Artefacts with untold mystical powers are
usually quickly spotted. Someone had the Orb before the knights took it with
them.
And guess who used to own the Orb? That's right: the Invaders. Now I don't
know a lot about the place the Invaders came from. But my guess is that their
land used to be perfectly fine until the Orb disappeared from their realm. Now,
the land of the Invaders is probably just as miserable as Meridell used to be.
My bet would be that the Invaders followed the knights back to Meridell, where
the battles ensued that are now known as the "Invasion of Meridell".
And can you blame them?
Without asking, Meridell knights stormed into the Invader lands and took the
Orb, plunging it into misery and despair.
Now you might be wondering why I think the Invaders owned the Orb. Perhaps
the Faerie Queen makes these Orbs and hands them out to poor lands indiscriminately.
Perhaps it was one of Doctor Sloth's failed experiments, that he had designed
the Orb to bring despair and decay unto the lands instead of happiness.
This could all very well be, but it leaves one question open: just how did
the Invaders know where to look for the Orb? If I were to get a magical Orb
that would grant me untold fortunes in both material and immaterial ways, I
wouldn't go about telling everyone. I would lock it safely inside the largest
vault I could find. King Skarl probably did the very same thing. This being
so, the Invaders couldn't have possibly known about the Orb and its location,
unless they knew where it was and one day discovered that it wasn't there any
more because a certain group of knights had stolen it.
King Skarl said that the Invaders came to steal his Orb. I think that they
came to take back what is rightfully theirs. Therefore, when the war arrives,
I think I'm just going to be standing on the sidelines. And unless someone enlightens
me to the exact nature of the Orb and the Invaders, I may even start cheering
for "their" side. | 
