Neha Patil (Editor)

The Ancestral Trail

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The Ancestral Trail is a now out-of-print partwork magazine that was originally published by Marshall Cavendish in the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, parts of Europe and New Zealand between 1992 and 1994. There was also a computer game compiled in both DOS and Amiga formats.

Contents

The Ancestral Trail Partworks were then based on a manuscript initially written by Frank Graves, which split into two halves of 26 issues each. The first half partwork adaption, written by Fergus Fleming, takes place in the Ancestral World and describes Richard's struggle to restore good to the world. The second part, written by Ian Probert, takes place within the Cyber Dimension. It deals with Richard's attempts to fight evil while also attempting to return home. Each issue centered on an adventure against a particular adversary, and each issue ended on a cliffhanger. The Partworks were also published in several languages like in Germany (Im Reich der Urwesen) and Italy (La Storia Ancestrale).

The Ancestral Trail was illustrated by Julek Heller and Adam Heller. Computer-generated graphics were provided by Mehau Kulyk for issues #27 through #52.

Setting and characters

Richard, on his way home, slips and falls, causing him to black out. When he wakes, he is in the Ancestral World, where he meets an old man named Golan. Golan explains to Richard that he is the prophesied "Chosen One" and that the Ancestral World is being destroyed by a being known as the "Evil One", and that he is close to winning the battle against the forces of good.

Golan is a Guardian and the Keeper of the Life Force, which is contained in the Tree of Life through seven Life Force Pods - each pod possesses a different Life Force. Six of the seven pods have been stolen, and consequently six Guardians have been captured. Only Golan's pod remains, but he is severely weakened. He sends Richard on a quest, which he must complete in twenty six days, to recover the missing Life Force pods and free the captured Guardians and their forces.

The basic expository beginnings of the story aren't featured in issue 1 of the series but in a special four-panel folder that was included with the first issue.

Richard (First appears in the Introductory Folder)

  • Richard is the ordinary boy who is plucked from his normal life to save the Ancestral World. He has oddly coloured eyes. Golan explains the philosophical importance of this: Richard's green eye sees the good side of life; his grey eye sees the evil. Only Richard, therefore, can restore the balance between good and evil.
  • Orkan (First appears in the Introductory Folder)

  • Orkan meets Richard almost as soon as he begins his journey, crossing paths as Orkan falls back from the forces of the Evil One. He is searching for survivors of the Final Battle when he joins Richard's quest. A half-pig, half-man creature he eventually becomes the Guardian of Common Beasts at the end of Richard's Ancestral World adventures.
  • Melek (First appears in Issue #1)

  • Before the Evil One arrived, the aged dwarf Melek of Antona was a scribe in the Ancestral City. After the Forces of Evil corrupted his world and his people, Melek fled the Ancestral City with two books that become invaluable throughout Richard's journey. One of these, the Book of Prophecies, saves the group on more than one occasion. Melek becomes Keeper of Sacred Runes and the leader of his people after the Evil One's defeat.
  • Golan (First appears in the Introductory Folder)

  • Golan is the ancient Leader of the Guardians and also the Guardian of Landsmen, and the only Guardian not to fall under the Evil One's influence. He summons Richard to his world and sends him on his special quest to rid the world of the Evil One. He equips Richard with a tunic that turns him invisible, and a powerful amulet, to help him on his quest. Golan remains with Richard in spirit throughout his journey through the Ancestral World and the Cyber Dimension.
  • The Evil One (First appears in Issue #52)

  • An all-powerful evil being whose existence and motivations are never explained. He has designs on both the Ancestral World and Earth, and his plane of origin is the Cyber Dimension.
  • Robo (First appears in Issue #27)

  • Robo first encounters Richard almost as soon as he appears in the Cyber Dimension, and follows him on his journey. Unbeknownst to Richard, Robo is actually programmed by the Evil One to eliminate Richard if he succeeds in finding all the Omni Pieces. Richard has to convince him to override his own programming to survive. Robo hates Teeza from as soon as they meet and treats him with contempt from then on onwards.
  • Teeza (First appears in Issue #43)

  • Teeza is a marsupial/monkey-like creature called a Wigmat, who joins Richard's journey after Richard defeats a machine who eats his people. Teeza, like Robo, can also hold Omni Pieces and becomes invaluable to Richard when Robo is lost for a portion of the journey through the Cyber Dimension.
  • The Ancestral World - issues 1-26

    Issue synopses are from the blurbs of the actual issues.

    The Cyber Dimension - issues 27-52

    Richard is pulled into the world of the Evil One before he can return home to Earth, and must survive the futuristic hell that is known as the Cyber Dimension - a metallic world where machines rule and carbon-based organisms cannot survive. The Cyber Dimension is populated by evil robots and machines who obey the Evil One. There are also peaceful, silicon-based organisms called Wigmats, who are persecuted by the evil machines.

    He teams up with the seemingly friendly robot Robo and, later in the story, the cute Wigmat Teeza, and must collect seven Omni Pieces - little glowing metal shapes which, when brought together at just the right place, open doors to other dimensions. He can use the Omni Pieces to return home to Earth - but the Evil One can also use the Omni Pieces to open a gateway to Earth, leaving it ripe for his conquest.

    Issue synopses are from the blurbs of the actual issues.

    Series extras

    Each issue contained numerous things to do when finished reading the main text - this included interpreting prophecies, spotting hidden sprites, playing card games, board games, and creating one's own map of the Ancestral World part by part each fortnight.

    The monsters from the Ancestral World were based on real legends. Cards featuring information and stories on various monsters were given away with the first half. The monster cards were replaced in the second half by 'Techscan cards', which told the reader about various scientific principles and theories.

    Various tasks were included in the issues including spotting hidden artwork, such as the characters of Shoomi and Shoobi, two friendly creatures who quietly followed Richard on his quest and who could be seen around two times in every issue. Fragments of the Evil One's mask and random other 'canon' paraphernalia were also hidden in the background art.

    Competitions

    "The Power of Evil" was a competition running from Issues #1 through #26 where a letter block would appear in each issue. Once each letter was collected, an anagram needed to be solved. The competition prize was an Atari 1040 ST computer for the first half of the magazine's run, and a Sega Mega Drive in the second half.

    References

    The Ancestral Trail Wikipedia