Ultima I [pic: bard] The first tale... Warm sunshine streams down from above, and the breeze is gentle and sweet. On the wind is carried the sound of a lute... You look to see a lone old bard seated in the shade of the trees on the outskirts of town, conversing quietly with several villagers. You come closer, adding yourself to the circle of townsfolk. To the sound of his lute, in a soft voice, the bard begins to spin his tale. [pic: castle] This is the first of our tales. It took place in a time now long, long ago... In a time when this land was still called Sosaria...still fractured...still ruled by a number of feudal lords. Our forefathers loved this land - tilled its earth; made their homes atop it; and died upon it. Many lived lives of peace; others, of strife. Conflict between the rapacious feudal lords was constant, but for the most part, the days of peace remained unbroken. But when did it all end...? When did the hand of evil lash out at our beautiful land of Sosaria, so abundantly blessed, and rain down upon us calamity after calamity? [pic: orcs] As the people were assailed by endless catastrophe, horrible beasts ran rampant through Sosaria's villages, often leaving little but ruins in their wake. These were all caused by the appearance of Mondain - the name we now have all come to despise. The monsters he unleashed besieged the castles and burned the villages to the ground. The people fled their homes in panic, and the feudal lords cared only about protecting their own keeps. Only one among them - a deeply wise young king by the name of Lord British - dreamt of a Sosaria united as a peaceful realm... [pic: Barbarian] A hero was summoned by the king's own hand, and a hero answered his plea. The chosen one now set out on the king's quest - to vanquish the great evil of Mondain! [The end is a repeat of the beginning, as you probably guessed.] Ultima II [pic: spacetime wizards] Our next tale begins decades after the hero of the first tale vanquished the wizard Mondain... ...when there blossomed a time of languid peace so idyllic the preceding Age of Darkness seemed but a dream. The people forgot the terror and hardship of the past, and the kingdom continued to flourish anew. During those decades of peace, a means of traveling through time was discovered and made great contributions to the kingdom's cultural and technological development. On occasion, there were rumors of the dark magician Mondain's resurrection - of an apprentice he had who held fearsome power...but each time some brave soul would venture to the ruins of Mondain's keep and report that there was nothing to be found but rubble. [pic: Minax] But the demonic apprentice rose to power before the people knew it, and once again monsters swept over the land. By the time the people opened their eyes, it was already too late; the land resounded with the cries of wild beasts - their nightmare was reborn anew! In the depths of their despair, a figure appeared before the people...the image of a witch bedecked with jewels. SHE was the heir to Mondain's dark power, and her sinister might surpassed even that of her master. Her name was Minax. [pic: skull] The witch's dark power rent time and space itself apart. The people were beset by terror the likes of which they'd never known, and the spectre of evil crept over the hearts of even the pure and righteous. Even without the witch's provocation, the people fell to fighting amongst themselves - eventually taking arms against each other. Humanity marched ceaselessly down the path to its own destruction, until finally, in the year 2111, a great catastrophe laid waste to the Earth itself - now reborn as a planet held in the thrall of evil. The witch's victory was absolute, and the people's only hope rested in time travel... To traverse space, go back in time, put an end to Minax, the source of all this evil - and thereby erase this timeline leading to our extinction! [pic: Lord British's camp] And so, to undertake this perilous journey through time and space and bring down Minax, a hero was once again called forth. Standing before the Time Door, the gateway between the ages, the hero was overwhelmed by the waves of gratitude that flowed forth from Lord British and the survivors. Lord British addressed the hero: "Never forget that the hopes of all within this time - as well as those of countless others! - go with thee!" Ultima III [pic: village] The third tale begins with the defeat of Minax and the eradication of her world of darkness. Her evil completely purged, the hordes of orcs that had been terrorizing the countryside vanished to parts unknown. The kingdom once again enjoyed a time of comfortable peace. One day, one of the adventurers who continued to stand guard against evil brought back from the ruins of Minax's keep a stone slab engraved with odd writing. From what the wise priests and druids of Yew could decipher, the slab seemed to have been used in a spell of awakening - cast by the dread Mondain and Minax. But who or what had been awakened - whether it was human, inanimate, or demon - was a riddle not even the most learned of priests could solve. [pic: death from the skies] Time passed again; the decades flew by. The kingdom had lived in uninterrupted peace - a peace that was gradually broken by a series of inauspicious events. It began with the sudden appearance of a comet that glowed red in the night skies beside the light of the twin moons of Trammel and Felucca. The star of ill omen broke apart in orbit, showering the earth below with debris. The fragments gouged the earth, and from its depths erupted an unearthly cry. Earthquakes came to plague Sosaria, and travelers were once more threatened by swarms of orcs. The people fled their towns, seeking the shelter of caves and castle walls. Even travel on the high seas was imperiled by the appearance of dangerous sea creatures and pirates. Evil had spread across the land once more! [pic change: Isle of Fire] Amidst the terrible quakes and cries of the earth arose an ominous island surrounded by a sea of lava. There were reports of those who claimed to have seen a castle beyond the rising steam, but no one believed them. But wise Lord British, who felt evil emanations coming from the island, ordered an investigation. But the team never returned from their destination. There was but one survivor... Gravely wounded, the researcher kept muttering to himself in his delirium: "From the depths of Hell...He comes for vengeance! He awakens...we cannot allow it! Hurry... He must be stopped... Hurry...to the Isle of Fire!!" [pic change: Call for All the Heroes of the People] Once more, Lord British decided to call forth a hero to combat the crisis the kingdom faced. But the task with which the heroes were charged was difficult indeed. Monsters roamed the earth fearlessly, while innumerable dungeons lay waiting to swallow them whole. Even worse, they had no knowledge of the nature of their foe. They had only one clue... A clue left on the deck of a sailing ship whose passengers had disappeared, as if spirited away by demons...a single word, written in blood..."EXODUS." Ultima IV [pic: ankh] Britannia has weathered three ages of darkness - at the hands of Mondain, who vied to rule the world through the power of his magic jewel; of Minax, his pupil, who manipulated the very fabric of space and time in an attempt to bring about the apocalypse; and of the dreadful Exodus, asleep deep within the bowels of the earth, whom their curse threatened to awaken. Four valiant warriors were summoned and set out on a quest to vanquish Exodus. At last, they have finally sealed Exodus away. [pic: victory at sunset] Exodus's castle crumbled, marking the long-awaited end of the age of darkness. Like a howl from hell, what might have been Exodus's death cry ripped through the land. But there was no longer any need to fear. The age of darkness was no more. [pic: Castle Britannia] Under Lord British's just rule, Britannia entered a golden age. The towns thrived, and smiles graced the faces of the populace. The people no longer lived in fear of the threat of monsters. Hardship and terror had become things of the past. [pic: Lord British & advisors] The philosophers of the Lycaeum, however, issued words of warning. Were these crises not precipitated by some nameless unknown lurking within the hearts of the people? As long as it remained unconfronted, this peace would one day be broken. [pic: moongate] And so, through of the moongates powered by the twin moons of Trammel and Felucca, the king sent forth a message. Yes - to summon one worthy enough to undertake this quest of the Avatar. [pic: ankh] This message was sent out into the celestial void above Britannia, across the dimensions. The moongate will shed its pale light before the one who senses its message - and whosoever receives it must venture forth on its journey. But this is not a privilege conferred by mere chance. This is as fate ordains - this is destiny. Ultima V [pic: Codex symbol] Britannia greeted the coming of the Avatar with an age of peace and prosperity it had never before known. The shadow had now cleared from the faces of the people. A Great Council was convened, and the very foundations of Britannia's government were reformed. The dungeons were sealed, and their fiendish monsters disappeared from sight. Several villages sprang up around Castle Britannia to join Britain; the ports were kept ship shape, outfitted with lighthouses, and traffic on the high seas resumed safely. Finally, in an attempt to spread its words of wisdom throughout the populace, the Codex was installed within a shrine. [pic: Great Council] The mages of the Great Council assembled and levitated the Codex up from the depths of the Abyss, and the tome was placed in sacred keeping within a shrine. In the process, though, something transpired underground... [pic: underworld] A great underworld was discovered beneath Britannia. Clearly, the ascent of the Codex had created a vast underground network of caverns - with which the foul legions of monsters once again made their presence known. [pic: Lord British and entourage] The Great Council decided to send forth an expedition - led by Lord British himself. The expedition descended into the dungeons, headed for the underworld. [pic: empty Council chamber, ominous shadow] However, the expedition disappeared. Even Lord British himself failed to return. Without their king, his castle and kingdom plunged into despair. And so, the government fell into disarray. [pic: Codex symbol] Britannia's government has changed. Without Lord British, the spirit of the Virtues has become twisted, a mockery forced upon the people. And Shamino, Lord British's good friend and former traveling companion of the Avatar, senses a great power spreading over Britannia. And so, heedless of the danger to himself, he seeks to call the Avatar forth once more... Will his message finally reach the Avatar? And so, perhaps, yet another fateful journey lies ahead... A Message from Lord British [A short audio greeting from Robert Garriott is included in the FM-TOWNS Ultima Trilogy I II III Collection, with both English and Japanese on- screen text translations. The Japanese translation, however, doesn't exactly match what good ol' LB is saying (which in turn doesn't exactly match the on-screen English text, but that's not our beat, man).] Travelers in the land of role-playing games, welcome to the worlds of Ultima! I, Lord British, bid fair welcome to ye who hast so graciously answered my summons. The journeys ye are about to undertake - Ultima I, II, and III - were the works that raised the curtain on the wonderful world of computer role- playing games - and form the foundation of my Ultima saga that doth continue to this day! In thy adventures, ye will visit many places and encounter many people. For thy journey to be a success, ye must vanquish many foes and travel to the very depths of the earth! We hope ye dost enjoy my world of Ultima, brought to you by the advanced technology of FM-TOWNS! *************************************************************************** Translation by R. Capowski, 10/10/11, and is unaffiliated with Richard Garriott, FM-TOWNS, Origin, Electronic Arts, etc. Address all complaints regarding poor Early Modern English to RACapowski@sceneryrecalled.com. Also, yes, the Ultima V intro mentions twice in a row that the Codex was installed within a shrine. I don't know.