Goldenflame’s Headcanon: Shrines and Virtue
By Goldenflame Dragon
This is the fourth post in my series of ideas for the Ultima universe that were going to be true in the fictions I no longer plan to write.
The Titans, before they were driven from pre-Sosaria by civil war, created a number of magical artifacts and places. The Codex itself is a Titan artifact, a repository of all the wisdom in the universe. There are also locations around the world that were made into loci of power, and being good beings before the daemons tainted them, these loci held an aspect of virtue.
Thus, when Lord British sought to establish the Virtues in Britannia, the locations of the shrines was no coincidental. The Shrines were raised in places of power, and so the first person to be blessed by all the shrines, and touch the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, became a channel for that power. They were attuned to the Avatar. Therefore, when the Guardian came to take Britannia, he did not just seek to destroy the Avatar, but capture or bind that powerful figure, because in truth the Guardian’s goal was the power of the old titans.
Moongates
Some of this comes from theories in-game, but I formalized some of it and had I think Shamino express it in my Ultima fanfic.
Blue moongates travel between locations within one world.
Red moongates can travel farther, between worlds, but unless the worlds are already connected (ie, the four lands from Ultima I, thus the ability to travel by red moongate to the gargoyle lands in U6, which an earlier entry makes one of the missing lands) if you go through a red moongate you come through… diminished. “Drained of magical power and prowess.” This is my explanation for the Avatar losing all his levels every time he goes home. (This also unfortunately requires retconning the moongates from Ultima IV and V that take you to Britannia to red.)
A black gate can also take you between any two planes, but without limit and without depowering you, thus the Guardian’s need for a Black gate. In my story, for instance, I had an invading army open two gates, one large red gate for the spear fodder, and a small black gate for the leadership and powerful mages.
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