PCPP Game Guide 2/PCPP_GG2.iso/PCPP/faqs/ultima.txt

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Ultima FAQ                              Version 1.3 06/12/95

This   FAQ   is  in  no  way  affiliated  with  Origin.  All
information within this FAQ is from the author, contributors
or  from books. Any comments concerning this FAQ can be made
to the author at [e-mail] and please have the  words
"Ultima FAQ" in the subject.

The  purpose  of  this  FAQ  is  to  ask and answer some the
quesions that come up when one plays the Ultima series (from
Ultima  I  all  the way to the current Ultima VIII:Pagan, or
any of the Worlds of Ultima games).

These questions do not pertain so much to how to  solve  the
game  in particular but is more to try to make sense of some
of the inconsistencies that  exist  within  the  story  line
between each game.

This  FAQ  does  contain the odd bit of information that may
act as a spoiler to some of the surprises that exist  within
the  Ultima  games. A warning will be placed just before the
spoiler to help those avatars keep their innocence. :-)

I) Why an Ultima FAQ?

Q: "Why would you want to waste your  time  trying  to  make
sense  out  of  a computer game, why not just play and enjoy
it"?

A: "I am not doing this to read any deep meanings  into  the
Ultima  games. I enjoy just playing the games like thousands
of others do but I find it  fun  and  entertaining  to  find
plausible answers to some of the story line inconsistencies.
To me it is like writing a story which allows  me  to  enjoy
playing  Ultima  in a different way. Furthermore the purpose
of this FAQ is not to make the story of  Ultima  believable!
It  is  a  fun attempt to make sense out of the storyline. I
will not attempt to cite historical and scientific  accounts
of  time doors actually existing on Earth like in they do in
Ultima II as that is neither important  or  the  purpose  of
this FAQ. The Ultima series is fantasy and this FAQ seeks to
make that fantasy more enjoyable".

Q: "Are there not books out there that already  answer  many
questions concerning Ultima"?

A:  "The  two  books  I have (The Official Book of Ultima by
Shay Addams and Master Ultima by  Ralph  Roberts)  are  both
very  good  in  terms  of  helping  the  reader complete the
individual games. But what this FAQ is to do is answer  some
of  the  questions  concerning  the story line which in many
places is very inconsistent. So I  see  this  FAQ  having  a
unique purpose".

Q: "Which Ultima games does this FAQ apply to"?

A:  "All of the following:

Ultima I
Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress
Ultima III: Exodus
Ultima VI: The Quest of the Avatar
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
Ultima VI: The False Prophet
Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Serpent Isle
Ultima VIII: Pagan
Ultima Underworld I: The Stygian Abyss
Ultima Underworld II: Labryinth of Worlds
Worlds of Ultima I: The Savage Empire
Worlds of Ultima II: Martian Dreams

Since  the second and third trilogies are more consistent in
terms of storyline there isn't as great the need  to  answer
many questions concerning those games. As well the Worlds of
Ultima games are  more  like  "side  adventures"  that  have
little  to do with the Britannia/Guardian theme so they will
not be focussed on too much in this FAQ. If people  do  have
questions or answers concerning any of the Ultima games they
can e-mail them to me to be entered into the FAQ".

II) Questions and Answers to the Ultima Storyline.

Q: "In the first trilogy there existed up to five  different
races  available  to  players.  They  were  humans, dwarves,
elves, bobbits, and fuzzies (who  appeared  only  in  Ultima
III). In Ultima IV and onwards only humans were available to
play  with.  What  ever  happened  to  the  dwarves,  elves,
bobbits, and fuzzies"?

A:  "A  combination  of  factors eliminated these races from
further Ultimas:

i) The continent of Sosaria was transformed  between  Ultima
III and IV. Many people of all races were killed due to this
violent transformation, but because these other  races  were
less populous than the humans they had a more difficult time
surviving.

ii) In Ultima IV and onwards these other races  still  exist
within  Britannia  but  play  a  non-role  because  of their
reduced numbers, self-induced isolation, and because of  the
dawning of human achievement".

Note,  however,  that  in  Ultima  Underworld I, Dwarves are
re-introduced. As well we see in Ultima VII new races appear
such  as  the Emps and the Faeries. We could assume that the
Fuzzies from Ultima III evolved into Emps while  Elves  from
Ultima I through III became the Faerie race.

Q:  "How  do  you explain the presense of high-tech weapons,
armor,  and  vehicles  in  Ultima  I  and  II  despite   the
fantasy/medieval  atmosphere  of  both  games? As well, from
Ultima III and onwards these high-tech items do  not  exist,
how do you explain their disapperance"?

A: "Prepare yourself for a long-winded answer:

In   Ultima  I  Mondain  the  Wizard  was  intent  on  world
domination.  He  was  also  intent   on   conquering   other
civilizations.  Using  his  magic and power, Mondain altered
the dimension doors (the very same  ones  that  allowed  for
Lord  British  and all later heros to enter Sosaria) so that
they would allow him to enter  a  point  in  time  into  the
future. In this new dimension Mondain encountered and became
allied to an alien race who too shared Mondain's thirst  for
power.  With  these  new  alies  Mondain intended to totally
conquer Sosaria and many other dimensions.  Adventurers  and
earlier  heros  managed  to use Mondain's time door to steal
some of the weapons, armor and transport  that  belonged  to
the  aliens for the defense of Sosaria. Merchants eventually
got a hold of some of these items as well and began to  sell
them  to  those  who could afford them. Thus the presense of
high-technology became common in Sosaria.

In Ultima II the game takes place no longer in  Sosaria  but
on  Earth.  This  change  of battleground alone explains the
presense  of  bi-planes,  blasters,   reflect   armor,   and
spaceships  among  other  things. The presense of time doors
upon Earth is something that will be explained later.

In Ultima III the battle has shifted back to Sosaria (though
a  radically  different  place than before) and we find that
the high tech items of the earlier games  no  longer  exist.
The  only  explanations  for this lie in the actions of Lord
British who had decided to do away with  these  items  since
their  potential  for  evil  was far too great. He felt that
these items  posed  a  threat  to  the  natural  balance  of
Sosarian  life.  Besides  with  the  death  of  Monain,  the
dimension door to the future had closed and these  high-tech
items  could  no  longer be recharged/repaired thus limiting
their usefulness. You can bet that the merchants  were  sure
upset!

            <<< SPOILER ALERT BEGINS >>>

Yet  Ultima  III  does  have  an  element of high-technology
within its story. This is based on the fact that  Exodus  is
actually  a computer! It seems likely that Mondain and Minax
had worked together and combined their black magic with  the
sciences of the future dimension opened by Mondain to create
Exodus".

            <<< SPOILER ALERT ENDS >>>

Q: "Why do the continents change so drastically in the first
three Ultimas"?

A: "The only change that does actually take place is between
Ultima I and III, since Ultima II is played on Earth and not
Sosaria. Sosaria as found in Ultima I consists of 4 seperate
continents, with townes, castles, and dungeons found on each
one.  The change to the world as seen in Ultima III is quite
radical since it changes to a world of two  continents,  one
of which has Lord British and various towns, while the other
is largely uninhabited.  It  seems  that  the  loss  of  two
continents  can  only  be  explained by some kind of massive
cataclysm (perhaps a comet hitting the planet, or  the  last
dying  magical  wish  of  Mondain)  which totally gutted two
continents and transformed the others.  The  continent  that
Lord  British  lived on (which became Sosaria in Ultima III)
was spared in large part  due  to  his  magical  power.  The
hidden  continent of Ambrosia was created when the cataclysm
submerged the continent, seperating it from Sosaria.

In Ultima II the geography  changes  radically  because  the
setting  takes  place  in four different time eras of Earth.
The reason for the change from  Sosaria  to  Earth  is  that
Minax  wished  to  destroy the planet that produced the hero
who killed Mondain. Minax accomplishes this by creating time
doors  upon  Earth to go into the past and future and set up
the conditions for a nuclear confrontation. It was the  goal
of  the hero in Ultima II to defeat Minax so that the future
created by her would not come to pass.

The transformation of Sosaria in Ultima III to Britannia  in
Ultima  IV can be explained by the ending of Ultima III when
the heros kill Exodus. Following the death of Exodus,  great
natural   catastrophes   took  place  which  was  due  to  a
self-destruct mechanism that would be  activated  if  Exodus
was   ever   destroyed.   The   catastrophes   consisted  of
earthquakes and volcanic explosions killed many  people  and
also transformed Sosaria into what is now Britannia".

Please  also  note  that Ambrosia returned in Ultima VII and
that Serpent Isle  itself  is  one  of  the  four  Ultima  I
continents.  Thus those original continents of Sosaria still
play a role in the Ultima series.

Q: "How do you explain the presense of Lord British on Earth
during Ultima II when he belonged in Sosaria"?

A:  "Lord  British  used the portal to come back to Earth to
help the hero of Ultima II to defeat Minax. Since Minax  had
plans  to  destroy the Earth, Lord British worked to prevent
this by summoning the hero and then providing support during
this  battle  on Earth. When Minax was defeated Lord British
returned to Sosaria to help in its rebuilding. It was likely
during  this  time  that Lord British also recruited many of
the future Avatar Companions, such as  Dupre  and  Jaana  to
invite back to Sosaria".

Q:  "Why  is  it  in Ultima I-III players steal, cheat, kill
"innocents", and commit other non-virtuous actions, yet that
all changes in Ultima IV and on"?

A:  "In  each  of  the  first  three  Ultimas, players found
themselves in a  time  where  survival  was  of  the  utmost
importance.  Because  of  the great threat that the Triad of
Evil represented to Sosaria amd Earth little importance  was
placed   on  virtues  and  principles.  Thus  players  found
themselves doing some un-avatarish things such as  stealing,
lying  or  even  killing  "innocents" (Remember the Clown in
Ultima I)! Despite what traditional history tells us, it was
not the Avatar who saved Sosaria and Earth from the Triad of
Evil, but it was other brave individuals who  sometimes  had
to  do wrong things for the right reasons. (Stealing food in
Ultima II was a necessity if the  player  wished  to  live)!
This  all  changed  after  Exodus was defeated and a new age
came into being. Lord British rediscovered the ancient  ways
of  Avatarhood  that  existed in ancient Sosaria, and called
out for the players to now embody this new philosophy.  Thus
the  eight virtues and the three principles became a new way
of living for Britannia, its inhabitants and its visitors.

This theory runs in conflict with that posted by  Batlin  in
his  rendition  of  Britannia  history  (as  in Ultima VII).
Batlin states that the Triad of Evil  was  defeated  by  the
Avatar  and  that  he  never commited any non-virtuous acts.
This makes little sense as  one  of  the  main  purposes  of
Ultima  IV  was  for the player to actively strive to attain
Avatarhood which is something the player never had to do  in
the  first trilogy. Furthemore having a human Avatar playing
a role in the first trilogy makes no sense as players  could
choose  to be any race or class they wanted. It is unfair to
assume that all of the Ultima series has to be formed around
the   Avatar  character.  Surely  throughout  Sosaria's  and
Britannia's history there must have been  other  heroes  and
heroines".

Q:  "Why  does  the  magic system change so much through the
Ultimas"?

A: "All of the same basic spells appear in each Ultima. (for
example  there  is  a  magic  missle and blink spell in each
Ultima) Some new ones are created due  to  progress  in  the
magic  arts,  while  some  old  ones are lost. It seems that
spell components were  abundent  in  earlier  times  (Ultima
I-III)  such  that  if  you  needed something, it was easily
found along the countryside. After Exodus was destroyed, the
lands  went  through  violent  change  and  spell components
became harder to come by. It thus became more  expensive  to
collect these reagents and thus players were now charged for
them which is a practice that began in Ultima  IV.  Also  in
Ultima II players were also charged for acquiring spells but
we must remember that this epsiode took place on Earth, were
magic  is rare and to practice it is expensive. Think of all
the props that David Copperfield must buy! ;-) Seriously the
presense  of  magic  on  Earth  during Ultima II can only be
explained by the presense of the time doors which linked  up
Earth  and  magical  realms  such  as Sosaria and the Age of
Legends. From Ultima IV and onwards the magic system remains
relatively  stable  and  only  seems to change if the player
moves to a different land such as Pagan.

It is important to not that in Ultimas I  and  II  an  often
used  spell  was  the Prayer spell to call upon the aid of a
personal deity. This is  unique  since  in  Ultima  III  the
Priests  seemed  to rely on the power of truth instead. From
Ultima IV onwards  there  have  been  no  signs  of  deities
existing  or  playing  an  active  role  in  the  history of
Britannia. Possibly the deities of Ultima I and II  did  not
survive  the  cataclysms  that  shook Sosaria from Ultima to
Ultima".

Q: "How  would  you  explain  the  changing  of  professions
between  some  of  the  Ultimas?  For  example  in Ultimas I
through III there is a Priest class yet there  is  not  such
class  in  Ultima IV and onwards. As well how do you explain
the changing of professions by certain characters,  such  as
Shamino  being  a Ranger in Ultima IV but in Ultima V and VI
he is a Fighter"?

A: "The Priest  profession  transformed  over  time  between
Ultima I, II and III from that of a god following profession
to one that follows the way of truth. Many of the spells  in
Ultima  III were truth oriented. For example they could turn
undead since living death is an  untruth  and  their  second
most  powerful  spell  Zxkuqyb  unleashed the power of truth
onto all enemies. In Ultima IV and on truth is  one  of  the
three  Principles upon which the Avatar's virtues are based.
The Priests' dissappearance was due to the  fact  that  evil
was mostly banished from the land which made their existence
as a distinct profession  unesassary.  Instead  their  order
disbanded and turned to forming towns based on the virtue of
truth. Some towns created were Moonglow, Trinsic and Yew.

Shamino and others likely changed thier  profession  due  to
neccesary  circumstances.  Each  of the eight professions of
Ultima  IV  ended  up  congregating  into  the  three  major
professions of Ultima V and VI. It looked like this:

Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, Shepherd      -->     Fighter
Bard, Tinker                            -->     Bard
Mage, Druid                             -->     Mage

The reason for the change was to  have  each  of  the  eight
professions  embody the three Principles more than the eight
Virtues. The Fighters embodied Courage, the  Bards  embodied
Love, while the Mages embodied Truth. This took place due to
the pressures of the three Shadowlords who tried to  corrupt
the  three  Principles  in Ultima V. The people of Britannia
and the Avatar Companions responded by strongly  emphasizing
the three Principles in an effort to combat them".

Q: "What is the time lapse between Ultima I-VIII"?

A:  "The time lapse is given while the reasons for the lapse
follow:

"The first era  begins  with  the  Triad  of  Evil  and  the
resulting  Three  Ages  of Darkness (A.D.) Time was not kept
during this difficult era so these ages are identified  only
as  1st, 2nd and 3rd A.D. This era ends with the founding of
the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom.

1st  A.D. The First Age of Darkness  : Mondain the Wizard
2nd  A.D  The Second Age of Darkness : Minax the Enchantress
3rd  A.D. The Third Age of Darkness  : Exodus

The second era involves the establishment of the  Principles
and  Virtues  as  embodied by the Avatar. Thus the this time
was called the Ages of Virtue (A.V.) Time  begins  with  the
founding  of the Codex by the Avatar. The "+" means that the
resulting adventures happened around the time noted.

123  A.V. The Quest of the Avatar
139  A.V. Warriors of Destiny
161+ A.V. The False Prophet; Savage Empire; Martian Dreams
190+ A.V. The Stygian Abyss
360+ A.V. The Black Gate; Labyrnth of Worlds; Serpent Isle

Since Pagan is in a different dimension from  Britannia  the
time line changes no longer applies. We can assume Pagan has
some unknown time line of their own. We can call  this  time
the Guardian's Age (G.A.)."

...  G.A. Pagan

Q:  "Is  it  possible to tie in the history of Ultima to the
Wing Commander universe"?

A: "Sure it is. In fact in Ultima VII there  are  references
to the Kilrathi! To explain this would not be too difficult.
It would be safe to say that Earth would  not  be  the  only
place  that had portals connecting to Britannia. Surely some
of the planets within the Kilrathi  empire  also  had  these
portals  as  well.  Furthermore  we could make an assumption
that it was the  Kilrathi  that  Mondain  recruited  in  his
efforts to conquer Sosaria in Ultima I! As well there is one
reference of them in Ultima Underworld  II.  Unscramble  the
name  'Trilkhai'  who  are  the  creatures  who  dwelled  in
Killorn's Keep and asked you to uncover their true  identity
and you get 'Kilrathi'."

III) Future Questions.

These are questions I am attempting to work on but need your
help and opinions in how to answer them. Also this is also a
area where your questions could be put forward for others to
ponder.

What are the  origins  of  the  Avatar's  Companions  (Iolo,
Dupre, Shamino, etc) and where did they come from? Also what
are the appearance record for all possible characters  since
Ultima I?

Why  is it that people from Earth (Lord British, The Avatar,
etc.) age at a slower rate then people in Britannia?

Thanks to Elias Nordling I now have a time line for  Ultima.
I am challenging other Ultima fans to enhance this timeline.

IV) Conclusion.

I will be adding to this FAQ as time goes on, and as I think
of new questions to be  answered.  I  would  appreciate  any
feedback and/or contributions to this FAQ. Hope you enjoy!

I would like to thank the following for helping me with this
FAQ with their contributions and ideas:

Lawrence Abrams Dan Fabulich    Allan Mills     John  Sabean
Jason Sprague   Mike Marcelais  Janne Siren     Aubrey Chen
"The Avatar"    Elias Nordling

Chris Billows [e-mail]