Halloween 2k6: The Zurg

Halloween 2k6: The Zurg was an event that took place in 2006.

This event was unique in that it was primarily user driven, with staff playing the roles of the NPC's. Most of the story happened either publicly in Towns, on the Forums or was contained within several different guilds. Unfortunately, very little of the plot points were formally recorded by the staff themselves.. With most of it never making it into the manga. This left many things unexplained in the narrative, and following the event plot became a near impossible task for the average user; which resulted in the events extremely mixed reception.

Cows

On October 9, 2006, cows and bulls started appearing all over the world maps and were featured in a section on the world page.

"Tarnation! Rancher Bill's idiot son left the gate open again! How in the blue blazes are we supposed to get them critters back in their pen? Oh well, let's just let 'em run loose for a while. Plenty of grass out there for 'em to graze on. I'm sure the locals won't bother 'em none. Yeah, I reckon they'll be fine, unless... now wait just a gosh-durned minute, what the heck is that thing in the sky?"

On October 17, 2006, cows began to disappear and were replaced by crop circles at the Durem Caves North, Great Wall of Gambino, Barton South and Barton East.

The Number 19

Prior to the Event there was mass hysteria concerning the number 19. Speculation started from small factions of Gaians on theories about Ron Bruise, the Aliens, and many other things about the event. An announcement brought attention to these theories and on October 30, 2006 an Interview Transcript with the aliens was posted along with Ron Bruise.

UFO's

UFO's started showing up around Gaia Towns as a part of the Halloween 2K6 Event. 12 UFO's and 1 Mothership were seen on some occasions. The UFO's would usually float above random Gaians scanning them with their beam. The Mothership would appear usually in Towns with a Fountain. The UFO's would usually tell Gaians about their plots, such as that they were going to eat us, and a popular one "Help Us, Help You."

Energy Drinks

Following up to the events two energy drinks popped up, first Gambino, inspired by the Buckin' Bino in the "Young Man and the Sea" comic, decided to introduce a Red Bino Energy Drink, which was shortly matched by a mysterious Zurg Energy Drink from the Aliens.

Annual Halloween Party

On October 31, 2006 The Annual Halloween Party started. Two drink stands were set up, one

selling Red Bino and the other selling Zurg. Which can also be found sold in the Barton Boutique. During the event the normal Trick or Treating event was in play where like normal users could get Grab Bags from collecting candies from Shops and from Towns. The Halloween Forum this year allowed for Humans to Tip Cows and Zap Aliens, and Aliens to Probe Cows, and Probe Humans.

Full Event Story

(Editor Shallotte: *Rewrite, editing, and information correction in progress*)

A long time ago there was a great war that divided the Zurgian people. As they fought amongst themselves for dominance and power, eventually the Zurg homeworld was destroyed and became inhospitable in the conflict. Seeing that the damage could not be reversed; The Zurg were forced to flee their home, dividing and becoming nomads as they traveled across space to find a means for survival. One day, a Zurg named Moof would rise and unite all the divided Zurgian people once again in peace- becoming a hero and a legend in the process.

In the future(Present day); the Zurg would witness the explosion of energy released by the separation of Gino and Johnny K. Gambino. And so, they decide to set a course for Gaia in search of the source.

October 9, 2006, cows, crop circles and and UFO's began appearing all across Gaia- causing confusion and hysteria amongst the userbase. As halloween approached ever closer; Gambino began a selling Red Bino Energy Drink's in an effort to raise money to rebuild his mansion. Mysteriously, an alien vendor behind 'Zurg Energy Drink' would oppose his efforts and attempt to compete for his sales.

Gambino would eventually win the sales war and succeed in rebuilding his mansion; throwing a huge Halloween Party for all(Sponsored by Red Bino) in celebration. It is then discovered at the party that Liam was triple-timing Sasha, Vanessa and Moira. As the party-goers partied on, the mothership would fly overhead and blast through the roof of the mansion- attempting to abduct of all the attendees, including Liam. Enraged at his supposed 'escape' from them; Sasha, Vanessa and Moira engage in a violent tug of war with the Zurg by pulling on the tractor beam, which results in the Mothership crashing through the roof of the mansion. Mother emerges from the ship and greets the surrounding Gaians; claiming that they 'Come in Peice' as Gambino formally welcomes the Zurg to Gaia.

((Editor Shallotte: I'm currently this far!))

the Zurg landed on Gaia. Many Gaians feared the Zurg, but some were hostile towards them. There were however some that wanted to be friends with the Zurg.

The scared group became what we now know as GiB (Gaians in Black). The hostile became the Gaian Resistance.

One of the friendly groups started out as Zurg Nation, but later changed to Zurg Hive. Zurg Nation was started by Sorn (11). Another group of friends was called the Believers. The Believers were all about peace and understanding, much like hippies.

Shortly after, Sorn, the leader of Zurg Nation became angry with Flarn (09) for hanging out with the Believers. Flarn believed them to be friends, not slaves or soldiers. Sorn saw Flarn as a traitor and with Zooeep (06) sought out for Flarn. They used poor Narf (02) as bait to lure Flarn out of hiding. Flarn quickly emerged from hiding, begging his siblings not to hurt young Narf. He tried to persuade them in letting him be friends with the Gaians. Sorn, however, was not interested. Sorn attacked Flarn’s ship trying to kill him. When Sorn scanned Flarn’s fallen ship he discovered no life signs. After Sorn flew away, a shadow appeared over Flarn’s wreckage. It was Mother. She took Flarn’s body aboard.

The Zurg Mothership visited and conversed with the Gaians many times. Mother’s favorite spot to visit was 1919. Those who conversed with Mother were from many different organizations. Some allies, some enemies and a lot of observers. Many asked the fate of Flarn, but Mother as she was called, kept mum about him.

Meanwhile in the Zurg Nation, some were against Sorn for his deeds against Flarn. Many celebrated, while the so called disloyal were banned. During this, the Zurg Nation became Zurg Hive. They made themselves a hidden guild.

All of the observers of Flarn’s profile noticed a change in Flarn’s avatar. Flarn appeared to be a Zurg with hair. In due time, we would find out the fate of dear Flarn. In towns, Mother and Zooeep (6) spoke to the Gaians about Flarn’s recovery. Soon we would find out that it wasn’t long before Flarn would make a full recovery and return.

The day came that is eternally branded into many Gaians memories. One day, Mother and Zooeep (6) came to bring news of Flarn in towns. Soon he arrived; he flew into towns in a red ship that looked similar to the Mothership. Flarn, hearing all the screams of his Gaian fans, he fled. Mother placed the responsibility of Flarn’s psychological recovery in the hands of “evil” Zooeep.

A little bit after, Sorn and Omph were conversing when Flarn came out of no where wanting revenge against Sorn. Thusly, Omph defended Sorn, giving him time to flee from Flarn. However, in his final act of courage, Omph was killed by Flarn. He then continued his pursuit of Sorn.

Sorn put up a message in his sub-forum stating that he had left Gaia. He believed that the Gaians influence on him had caused him to become like Flarn before Sorn shot him down. He feared the Gaians were making him weak and he felt the joys of love. This left a problem, the Zurg Hive had no leader. Mother asked Zooeep to take Sorn’s place as the Overlord of the Hive. Zooeep as empress, was much stricter then Sorn. She did not hesitate to ban those her did not abide by her wishes.

The Believer’s leader became worried about Flarn. Many pleaded for Sorn to come back and many tried to help Flarn remember who he used to be. All the happiness Flarn felt was hurting him. In his mind, he wanted others to suffer and feed off of their negative emotions and feelings. He wanted their DarkNRGY, so he called it. Flarn felt his new form was perfect, but deep down he knew that he was not complete. He was slowly dying. Without DarkNRGY, Flarn had nothing to feed on. He had no energy to draw from.

Sometime after, Zooeep announced that Flarn would take over as Overlord of the Hive. This announcement caused a lot of anger. However, Flarn only remained in the Hive for a short time. Slowly his memories of the past flooded his mind and caused him pain. He left the Hive to become a rogue, causing as much havoc and suffering as he could.

Now we come to Christmas. One day, Zoit (04) was flying around in her ship. She looked around and saw a cow in a pasture. Being mischievous, she attempted to abduct the cow. While she was trying to abduct the poor cow, Santa just so happened to be walking by and he saw the floating cow. He decided to investigate. He got out of his mecha suit and went under the beam to get a better look. He got himself stuck in the beam and was floating up with the cow. As they were floating up, they hit a group of power lines. Their minds were swapped. Santa became the cow and well, the cow became Santa.

At Christmas, Narf wanted to make up for Zoit’s mistake by giving out presents as Santa. Narf hoped that if he helped Santa, that Santa would return Flarn to his original loving self. Santa, however, thought of this as an interference and thought Narf was trying to take his title. So, he decided to give out presents as well.

Once Gaia's Christmas event was coming to an end, Narf(02)'s appearances increased breifly, while he handed out Watermeat to some lucky Gaians personally. ZH, under order of Zooeep(06), took the challenge of presenting a New Years Ball for Gaia shortly thereafter. Gambino and Ron Bruise showed up, along with Zoit(04), Boing(05), Zooeep(06), and even Flarn(09) made a cameo "PAIN! STOP! TOO MUCH HAPPY!" appearance. The "LIGHTNRGY" (counterpart to DARKNRGY) was causing him a lot of distress. But then Narf(02)'s appearances became more and more rare. It became hard to reach Narf(02), even for Mothership, and everyone was becoming worried. Whats more, Flarn(09) made his will known that he wanted Narf(02) and Sorn(11) dead. These times put the fans of the Zurg at unease, and talks of piece begin. First with a Piece Petition from designergrl, in the Gaian Resistance forum. Zooeep(06) herself instructed all of ZH to sign it, and Mother signed it as well. Striving for piece among the factions, to stop Flarn(09) from hurting anyone and to bring Narf(02) back to Mother safely, a guild(called CIPA, the Center of InterPlanetary Alliance) was formed in order to have representatives from each faction sign an official Piece Treaty. This was done and everyone began taking new steps towards piece.

A meeting was called, for Mother and the CIPA representatives, to show her that we could live piecefully. She offered to rule Gaia with an iron fist to insure piece, but those at the meeting convinced her that we deserved a chance to take care of ourselves. She agreed, and plans were set into action. Gaia Unlimited, a guild created to bring piece, was formed, primarily by KLN, designergrl, and Fuhnetik. There, ZH promoted piece and interaction among all factions. Much took place here, and it remains as ZH's public guild for inter-faction communication. Then came the GU's biggest event, the Watermeat Festival. Flarn(09) needed to be stopped, and Narf needed to be brought back to Mother. Asseres, along with [ Person Man ] and KLN, headed the event as it's organizers. The plan was to bring Narf(02) in, and have Flarn(09) follow, where Sorn(11) would be able to entrap the both of them and bring them to Mother, with ZH and all the Zurg's other allies. The Festival was a great success, the only problem was that Sorn(11) apparently underestimated his own abilities to capture either of his sibling on their arrival. Flarn(09) argued with Sorn(11), while Narf(02) appeared sparingly in Towns to hand out Watermeat, always hiding from view so as not to be caught. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately, the [NPC]'s had to leave early when Flarn(09) obtained Narf(02)'s location, and Sorn(11) had to give chase.

Though these events took place right in front of many Hivers, and others, the actual Manga update depicting the finale of the event didn't occur for several days later. We (The ZH) continued watching for Flarn(09), under Sorn(11)'s direction, guarding all the places Flarn(09) frequented. The Letter Galaxy, 1919, 1019, The Wandering Mind's house, and several others.

After days of watching, and waiting, Sorn(11) revealed that Zooeep(06) would be joining us again(she had been grounded by Mother), and that he was leaving to join ANBU(a ninja guild). On her return, she(06) discovered this, and we were informed that Mother did not approve.

Then the Manga update occured. Flarn(09) appeared when Sorn(11) located Narf(02), and unfortunately, Narf(02) was killed, and Mother came down. The 4 left us then, beamed into the Mothership and flying off. Zooeep(06) and Zoit(04) appeared to us, to say their goodbyes. Zooeep(06) told us the Gate was complete, and that they would use it to get home, and many of the other UFOs showed themselves in Towns, and through PMs, to give us our last farewells, before disappearing into the portal.

Trivia

-On Wed Oct 25, 2006 Admins of Gaia were Abducted, and Alien 09' went missing. Even The Mothership had no clue where he was. On the same day the UFO's became actual Aliens. However, only UFO's 01-10 were made in their Alien forms.

-All Zurg(including Mother) used to share the exact same appearance. The Zurg's designs were later overhauled in the manga chapter The Death of Alien 9 and all appearances going forwards.