The Ancestral Trail
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Name: The Ancestral Trail
Author: Frank Graves
Illustrator: Julek Heller & Adam Heller
ISBN: click here to view the ISBN's of all 52 issues
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Partworks Ltd
Publisher web site: www.marshallcavendish.co.uk
Publication date: 1992 - 1993
Closing date: unknown
Format: A4 portrait colour picture and story part-work in 52 fortnightly parts
Original cost: £1.75 per issue (the first issue had a special-offer price of £0.50)
Prize:
The prize on offer for solving The Ancestral Trail: An Epic Story of Myths, Magic and Monsters was a 1040 ST Atari computer.
The prize on offer for solving The Ancestral Trail: Cyber Challenge in the Next Dimension was a Sega Mega Drive games console complete with the role-play game Shining Force.
About:
The Ancestral World:
Since the beginning of time, creatures of air, land and water have lived in peace in the Ancestral World. Landsmen, common beasts, birds and fishes have dwelt in harmony with insects, reptiles and mythical beasts. Ruled with fairness and wisdom by the Council of Guardians, they have known neither suffering nor the ravages of war. Now an evil spirit has come to this land and is laying waste to all that is good. The Forces of Evil have gained ground fast and many of these peaceful creatures have been killed or have fallen under the Evil One's power. The Life Force of the Ancestral World is dying.
When he who is the Chosen One
Shall tread upon the Ancient Path
And battle there to overcome
The Forces of Dark
Then shall the Seven be restored
And evil banished from this world
So begins The Ancestral Trail. It told the story of Richard, a young boy, who is selected as the Chosen One and transported into a strange world of myths, magic and monsters. He meets Golan, Guardian of the Tree of Life, but the Tree is dying. The life force pods have been stolen and the Guardians have been captured by the Evil One's minions. He sets out on a quest to regain the stolen pods and rescue the Guardians with the aid of the wise dwarf Melek and the courageous common beast Orkon.
Along the way, he encounters both friend and foe alike from Juroot, Guardian of the Bird Forces, Merkat, the heroic Leopardman and Doonar, the swift dolphin, to Zock, the evil cannibal, Baal, the giant spider and Boltor, the bird of lightning.
The quest comes to a conclusion in the final issue with a mighty battle between the forces of good and the forces of the Evil One.
The Ancestral Trail was a twenty-six part adaptation of the book of the same name by Frank Graves. There were numerous features that came with the series that you could collect as the series progressed. These included game cards, a role-play game, a map and Morbane's Book of Monsters & Magic - a collection of information on myths from around the world. You can view some images of the game cards by clicking here.
The main feature, however, was the "Power of Evil" competition to win a 1040 ST Atari computer. With every issue came a letter block to cut out. Once you had the final issue, you would have accumulated 26 letter blocks and you then had to re-arrange them to discover the source of the Evil One's power.
A clue was given in the 26th issue:
Look to your issues - the secret phrase is already there!
After the initial international run that were translated into several languages, which sold over 30 million copies worldwide, a second series was published. This time set in the future, Richard had to do battle with the Evil One's forces once more before he could return home to his own world. As with the first series, it came with numerous extra features, which included a Binary Decoder, a set of Techscan question & answer cards and a cyber chess set. The second series also came with a competition of it’s own.
To solve:
To solve the first Ancestral Trail contest, cut out the letter blocks from all 26 issues and re-arrange them to form a sentence, which reveals the source of the Evil One's power. Complete a simple tie-breaker and submit your answer via post.
To solve the second Ancestral Trail contest, cut out the letter blocks from all 26 issues and re-arrange them to form a sentence, which reveals the fatal flaw in the Cyber Dimension. Submit your answer via post.
In both cases, the contest is open to residents of the UK and Eire only.
Was it solved?:
I do not know if either of The Ancestral Trail competitions were solved.
Solution:
After every issue had been collected, you would have 26 letter blocks. If you then looked at each issue, you would see that the first word of the story in each issue is depicted in the style of a letter block. The first letters of all 26 issues match the 26 collected letter blocks exactly.
When you take the first letter of the story in each issue, you get the following:
DNIMEHTNIYLNOSITAHWTONRAEF
When written backwards, it reveals the source of the Evil One's power:
FEAR NOT WHAT IS ONLY IN THE MIND
I do not have the solution to the second Ancestral Trail competition.
Website Links:
BBC - 'The Ancestral Trail' - a Fantasy Magazine Series
Wikipedia Encyclopedia about Ancestral Trail (Full details / Pictures etc.)
