Ultima FAQ                              Version 1.2 01/12/95 
 
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 cpb@kynes.bison.mb.ca 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  them  in  essense,  but  since  the  author is 
currently playing the second trilogy of Ultima there will be 
a focus on questions concerning the first five games (Ultima 
I, II, III, IV and V). Since  the  second  trilogy  is  more 
consistent  in  terms  of storyline there isn't as great the 
need to answer many questions concerning those games (Ultima 
IV,  V,  and  VI).  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". 
 
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". 
 
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:  "This  has  to  do  with the time era that players found 
themselves in. 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". 
 
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-IX"? 
 
A:  "The time lapse is given while the reasons for the lapse 
follow: 
 
Ten years passed between Ultima I and II. Minax was still  a 
young  apprentice  when Mondain was killed, and thus was not 
powerful enough to get her revenge. 
 
Twenty years pass between Ultima II  and  III.  We  have  to 
remember  that  before  either  Mondain or Minax were killed 
that they had to create Exodus! It seems likely that  Modain 
and  Minax created Exodus early on in their relationship. It 
would take Exodus a long time to mature to the point that he 
would  be  able  to terrorize Sosaria the way he begun to in 
Ultima III. 
 
Thirty years passed between Ultima III and  Ultima  IV.  The 
continents  and  oceans  changed after Exodus's destruction, 
and  in  the  aftermath  Britannia  as  a  civilization  was 
beginning to form. The rebuilding process was a slow one and 
much research was done by  Lord  British  into  the  ancient 
Sosarian  Avatar  Ethic.  When  Lord  British  summoned  the 
players to Britannia it was hoped they would embody this new 
ethic. 
 
Five  years  pass  between Ultima IV and Ultima V. After the 
attainment of Avatarhood and the unearthing of the Codex  of 
Ultimate  Wisdom,  it  took some time for the Shadowlords to 
form into what they became and set out their plan to  abduct 
Lord British. 
 
Another  five  years  would pass between Ultima V and Ultima 
VI. The problem of the Gargoyles took a while to escalate to 
the point that the Avatar had to be summoned again. 
 
Ultima  VIIp1  and  its add-on (The Forge of Virtue) started 
two hundred years  afer  Ultima  VI.  This  gives  time  for 
Britannia  to  become  more advanced such as paved roads and 
larger cities. The Guardian is  at  work  for  about  twenty 
years  corrupting  the underbelly of civilization before the 
Avatar arrives. 
 
Ultima  VIIp2  and  its  add-on  (The  Silver  Seed)  starts 
eighteen  months  after the end of Ultima VIIp1. This is how 
long it takes to dismantle the Fellowship,  search  Batlin's 
belongings and equip the party for the voyage to the Serpent 
Isle. 
 
Ultima VIII starts immedately after Ultima  VIIp2  when  the 
Avatar is transported from the void to the world of Pagan. 
 
Ultima IX will start immediately after Ultima VIII. Based on 
the conclusion of Ultima VIII you are teleported immediately 
into the world of the Guardian. 
 
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"! 
 
III) Conclusion. 
 
I will be adding to this FAQ as time goes on, and as I think 
of new questions to be answered. As well  I  would  like  to 
involve  the  Worlds  of Ultima and Ultima Underworlds games 
into the storyline. 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 thier contributions and ideas: 
 
Lawrence Abrams - Dan Fabulich - Allan Mills -  John  Sabean 
Jason Sprague - Mike Marcelais - Janne Siren --- 
 
Chris Billows cpb@gatewest.mb.ca 
 
 
