Curse of Maraqua

Curse of Maraqua is a Plot which took place between March 15, 2005 and June 10, 2005, revealing the long time dormant world of Maraqua. The plot follows the path of Garin, a pirate who stumbled across the long lost land.

Plot summary

The story of Maraqua centers around an Usul named Garin, who is the captain of a fierce pirate ship with his first mate and also best friend since childhood, a red Kyrii named Jacques. His life is full of plunder and adventure, and he lives with hardly a care until after he and his crew rob a wedding. This provokes the rage of Captain Scarblade, terror and master of the Five Seas of Neopia. Scarblade seeks out The Black Pawkeet to extract his revenge.

Meanwhile, beneath the sea, a Maraquan Aisha by the name of Isca, whom Garin knows from only a brief glimpse of her during his childhood, dreams this. Isca and Caylis, orphaned Maraquan sisters, were recovered by King Kelpbeard while he was looking for survivors after the attack on Old Maraqua. Upon bringing them into his court, it is discovered that Isca has the ability to foretell things in her dreams that greatly aid the citizens of Maraqua. Caylis later begins to be tormented by nightmares of disasters that always come true. The citizens of Maraqua believed Caylis was the cause of these catastrophes and Kelpbeard was forced to exile her. After Isca dreams of seeing Garin, the Usul of her childhood, in grave danger, she ascends from the depths of Maraqua to the surface. This is breaking the law of King Kelpbeard, who decreed that none were to mingle with the "surface-folk."

On board the Pawkeet, a fight rages between the pirates of the Black Pawkeet, and those of The Revenge, the ship captained by Scarblade. Jacques insists that they must abandon ship, for their forces are outnumbered. While Jacques is making his way to the skiff, Garin is knocked out and sent plummeting to the waves below. In his effort to reach his unconscious friend, Jacques's skiff is destroyed, and The Drenched take him as prisoner.

Isca saves Garin and takes him to New Maraqua, where he discovers the amazing underwater city and steals a dagger from there, made out of Maractite ore. Once he is recovered, he returns to the surface in hopes of finding information about Jacques and his crew. He finds one crew working at a local pub and began relaying his time in New Maraqua, not know that a member of Scarblade's crew had overheard the conversation and left to inform the captain.

Below sea level, Isca dreams of Jacques, captive of the Drenched, and she returns to tell Garin of this. Garin and Isca plummet below and travel to the caves where the three witch sisters of the sea, otherwise known as The Drenched, live. A struggle ensues, and with some help from a wandering sea monster, Garin and Isca rise victorious with Jacques having been rescued. Garin promised Isca after being prompted by Jacques, that he will help her with her new visions of a danger approaching New Maraqua.

Garin and Jaques were abducted later to a remote island where they are reunited with the Black Pawkeet crew. Escaping from the prison, they re-commandeered their ship and head out to prevent Scarblade's invasion of the underwater city. However, when Garin (along with Caylis whom he found on the way) returned to warn the king of the upcoming invasion, Kelpbeard blamed him for likely leading the evil pirates right to their doorstep, and sentenced him to imprisonment. Believing Isca for helping Garin, as well as breaking the decree many times, he banished her along with her sister.

As the war began, Garin escaped from the guards to find the Aisha sisters and soon his crew, and help turn the tide in the battle. Kelpbeard entered the fray as well, facing off against Scarblade himself. With his crew overwhelmed, Scarblade called a retreat, vowing to one day return. New Maraqua was victorious, preventing the same fate of the old kingdom.

With his trust in the surface-folk restored, Kelpbeard made Garin's crew honorary citizens, and lifted the exile of Isca and Caylis as redemption for his misjudgments. While the former accepted, and latter decided she grew more comfortable with the outside world. Garin returned to his crew, rather preferring the pirate life over Isca's offer for a life of luxury, and sailed for more adventure.

Participation

As well as being able to chose whether to side with the pirates or Maraqua, users could chose whether to become a warrior, who could fight the enemies that were released in the Battledome and earn points that way, or to become a supporter. Supporters earned points by retrieving requested items, playing Maraquan games, or handing in special war tokens given out by random events.

Battledome

Those who joined Maraqua fought the pirates, and vice versa. Each player was placed into either rank one, rank two, or rank three based on how well trained their Neopets were. In each wave, there was an opponent corresponding to each rank for each side, and only these could be fought. All players could fight the boss characters. Opponents could be fought an infinite number of times, but with each win the opponent became progressively stronger.

Rank	Maraquan Army		Pirate Crew		Difficulty
Wave One 1 point per win
1	Maraquan Lancer		Pirate Scout		7
2	Maraquan Chef		Pirate Helmswoman		100
3	Maraquan Foot Soldier		Petty Crewmate		250
Wave Two 4 points per win
1	Maraquan Sergeant		Pirate Avenger		15
2	Maraquan Blade Specialist		Pirate First Mate		300
3	Enraged Maraquan Mob		Pirate Brute		600
Wave Three 8 points per win
1	Maraquan Charger		Pirate Bomber		37
2	Grand Commander		Cannon Master		475
3	Maraquan Shieldmaiden		Pirate Champion		1100
Wave Four 12 points per win
1	Swordmaster Talek		Benny		80
2	Garin		Quartermaster		850
3	Goregas		Ships Cook		1500
Final Boss 10,000 points
N/A	King Kelpbeard		Captain Scarblade		100000

Prizes

Prizes were released on June 14, 2005. The total points players collected from defeating opponents in the Battledome were spent in the Curse of Maraqua War Prize Shop, where 6 items were available to be bought, all 6 different depending on who users fought for. A 7th item was available for both sides, the Maraquan Sidebar. Four exclusive Avatars were also released, only one of which could be acquired depending what the user did during the war.

Trophies were also awarded to users showing who they fought for, were a Battler or Supporter, how many points they collected and their rank.

Maraqua
Warrior
Commoner 1 - 4	Initiate 5 - 9 Soldier 10 - 24	Defender 25 - 49 Legionnaire 50 - 99	Preserver 100 - 299 Vigilante 300 - 499	Myrmidon 500 - 999 Centurion 1000 - 1499	Strategist 1500 - 2499 Kelpguard 2500 - 3999	Vindicator 4000 - 4999 Waverider 5000 - 6499 Commander of the Tides 6500+
Supporter
Servitor 1 - 4	Follower 5 - 9	Assistant 10 - 24	Helper 25 - 49 Supplier 50 - 99	Contributor 100 - 149 Reinforcer 150 - 299	Ally 300 - 400 Partian 401 - 552	Disciple 553 - 649 Advocate 650 - 999 ???? 1000+
Pirates
Warrior
Landlubber 1 - 4	Bilge Rat 5 - 9 Swabby 10 - 24	Sailor 25 - 49 Sea Dog 50 - 99	Cannoneer 100 - 299 Navigator 300 - 499	Cutthroat 500 - 999 Swashbuckler 1000 - 1499	Mariner 1500 - 2499 Buccaneer 2500 - 3999	First Mate 4000 - 4999 Captain 5000 - 6499 ???? 6500+
Supporter
Urchin 1 - 4	Pickpocket 5 - 9	Thief 10 - 24	Plunderer 25 - 49 Grog Runner 50 - 99	Taskmaster 100 - 149 Brigand 150 - 299	Raider 300 - 400 Smuggler 401 - 552	Pillager 553 - 649 Quartermaster 650 - 999 Marauder 1000+

Trivia

• Even though the Water Arena turned into a hidden link for the duration of the plot, the plot's war was taken place in the Water Arena.
• Kanrik and Hannah marrying in the second page of Chapter 2 of the plot comic was used as a joke. Apparently, it was a coincidence that this plot was right after the Hannah and the Ice Caves plot.

External links

• Plot Info: Curse of Maraqua, Curse of Maraqua Recruitment Center, Curse of Maraqua War Prize Shop
• Neopets TCG: The Black Pawkeet, Caylis, Chasm Beast, The Drenched, Garins Redemption, Goregas, Isca, Tears of Caylis, Walk the Plank, Captain Scarblade, Garin the Foolish, King Kelpbeard, Old Maraqua, Benny the Blade, Jacques the Swift, Maractite Trident, Swordmaster Talek, Underwater Discovery, Iscas Necklace, Maractite Armour, Maractite Axe, Maractite Shield, Maractite Sword, Something Will Happen
• Complete List of Curse of Maraqua Neopets TCG Expansion Set
• Caption Competition: #571
• Editorial: 174, 179, 186, 190, 237, 262, 264, 276