THE AVATAR
These were mere words, British knew. The people, he sensed, needed a champion, a person whose very actions defined the virtues. He, Lord British, could not be this man, for his lot was occupied with affairs of state. No, the people needed someone else in whom they could invest hope and around whom they could rally. They needed someone to pursue these virtues without rest, under the specter of constant failure. They needed an image of themselves. They needed an Avatar.
British did not know what lay at the distant end of the Avatar's quest. He sensed only that the quest was both vitally important and doomed to failures slight and grand. The journey, he knew, would be the reward. In so venturing, the Avatar would bring what was seen in the darkness of the spirit eye to the light of day wherein the people might see the Virtues for themselves. In the Avatar, they would share virtue, and these Virtues would be honored throughout the kingdom.
ADDENDUM
Since the founding of the Virtues, the Avatar has endured many tests. He has succeeeded. Too, he has failed. Yet, in the changing moons, Lord British has seen the spiral downward of the Virtues and in them the imperilment of the Avatar. The Virtues can no longer stand on their own. They have begun to fail. The people must catch them, right them, and carry them forward.
What of the Avatar? The skies remain closed on the subject, save this: his time in Britannia draws to a close.
The Tapestry of Ages
From: Ultima IX: Ascension
THE TAPESTRY OF AGES
From a high wall in the Museum of Britannia hanges an immense painting on which is told the tale of the Avatar. Since the brith of Britannia, the Order of the Silver Serpent has defended the Tapestry of Ages day and night, from penury to prosperity, across winter and summer. Yet, the Tapestry changes. On the eve of each return of the Avatar to Britannia, a new image magically appears on the canvas in arresting color and bold stroke, foretelling the challenges that stand between the Avatar and his departure from us. No one has witnessed the artist, the paint applied by forces unknown to all. Close examiniation by our finest artists has failed to reveal the print of a single brush stroke from a mortal hand. Lord British himself professes ignorance, for he claims that the story of the Tapestry draws its color and stroke from the tides of Virtue flowing from the land itself.
Like our fair land and her noble Champion, the story lain on the fabric has blossomed over the centuries, from the Age of Darkness through the Age of Virtue and into the present, the Age of Enlightenment. From the upper reaches high on the wall, the tale of the Avatar has spread, story by story, across this imposing canvas to te furthest corner that hangs no higher than a man's reach. For even the plainest among us can see: there is no more room in the tale of the Avatar.
This, then, is his story. By connection to this land that draws him back time after time, it is the story of Britannia.
THE FIRST AGE OF DARKNESS
Wherein goodness gathers, so too must evil. As Lord British sought to unite Sosaria, our ancient fatherland, under the flag of goodness, the wizard Mondain defied his decrees. The evil mage summoned the forces of darkness and drew them into war with the forces of goodness. With the gem of immortality, Mondain's terrible reign over the land appeared final till a traveler from another world destroyed the gem and Mondain's spirit contained within it. Thus began the tale of he who would, in time, become the Avatar.
THE REVENGE OF THE ENCHANTRESS
The freedom earned by the departed traveler was soon to vanish as well. Mondain's lover and disciple swore to avenge the death of her mentor. Stoked by the fires of black magic and revenge, the Enchantress Minax summoned the forces of evil to old Sosaria and spread them like locusts across the land. She and her minions did not stop till they had bridged time and space to reach the land of the traveler. Goaded into action, the traveler fought back, driving the evil hoards from his place of peace across the divide between his world and Sosaria to the heart of their power. Minax' enchanted castle wherein he doomed her to join her lover in eternity.
EXODUS
Evil begets evil in more perverted forms. Exodus, bastard child of the evil mages, wrought the despair in his abandoned heart across Sosaria. Mastering even more evil forms of the black arts, Exodus tore goodness from our people and spat it back in our faces. On the verge of anarchy, the land called to the traveler who arrived and banished the last of this family line to the Pit.
QUEST OF THE AVATAR
Thus began the Age of Virtue. Lord British united Sosaria under a new name, Britannia. In the shining glory of the new state, the old troubles of the land were forgotten. Peace prevailed, and in it, the land gave forth in plenty. Lord British withdrew from the people who, under his benevolent reign, had found a burgeoning interest in the vast and uncharted landscapes of the mind. When he emerged from seclusion, Lord British proclaimed the Eight Sacred Virtues as the essence of Britannian life. For them, he sought a Champion. As if bidden by his King, the traveler returned and began to explore Britannia, to know her gifts and her hazards. Through tests of the mind and body, the traveler grew to know himself and his uniques power to hold the Virtues. Returning to his King as a pure man, the traveler was proclaimed Avatar of the Virtues, defender of the people, and protector of the land. Britannia had her Champion.
WARRIORS OF DESTINY
In defending the land against outside forces of evil, the King did not tend to the evil that flowers within. Ware of the newly discovered underworld, Lord British led an expedition to seal its portals from which had ascended into Britannia many hideous monsters. From the Gem of Immortality, the shattered vessel of the sould of Mondain, sprung the Shadowlords, spectral creatures from another world. These creatures gained influence over Lord Blackthorn, in whose charge the King had left Britannia. The Shadowlords soon overwhelmed him. When the King did not return as appointed, Blackthorn named himself regent of the Kingdom. Lord Blackthorn declared an inquisition into the enemies of the state. All wer subject to inquiry, and all the belonged to the soul was laid bare before the inquisitors. None of the terrorized citizens suspected the evil that lurked behind the throne. On his return to Britannia, the Avatar discovered a land in flames. He summoned eight companions to lead a rescue of his King. Lord British was found in chains in the underworld, and for his betrayal of the Virtues, Lord Blackthorn was cast into the ethereal void.
THE FALSE PROPHET
Many years of peace were torn asunder when the Avatar, living a quiet life in his own land, was captured by a band of gargoyle warriors and nearly sacrificed. Freed at the last moment by his companions, the Avatar discovered the secret of the gargoyle underworld. After the conclusion of the Avatar's last quest the underworld had begun to collapse, and into Britannia had flooded the gargoyle people. The cleft between the races broadened and filled with blood. As the world roiled in war, the Avatar and his companions sought the source of this conflict. At every turn, they met armed gargoyles opposed to their progress. After many battles, the Avatar learned the terrible prophesy of the gargoyle seers. Their histories foretold of a False Prophet who must be sacrificed, else he would destroy their people. This Propet was the Avatar. Armed with such knowledge, he brought peace between the races, returned to his world, and opened the gate to the Age of Enlightenment.
THE BLACK GATE
As the people flocked to the circle of wisdom, evil learned to speak the language spoken therein. To the false glow of the Fellowship, citizens were drawn, and the Virtues were again corrupted. The Avatar returned to Britannia to unravel the secrets of this mysterious Guild. As its core: deceit and greed. For, it’s master was a vile beast of another world, the Guardian, who sough to subjugate the people though minions drowned in his false prophecies. The Avatar arrested this insidiousness in the land and destroyed the Black Gate, the Guardian’s portal to Britannia. To Serpents Isle, a heretofore land, The Avatar and his companions were drawn. For the victory over evil at Serpents Isle, the price was dear, as his companion Dupre gave the ultimate gift to his cause.
PAGAN
Hurled from the known of Britannia, the Avatar was imprisoned on a distant world within the sphere of the Guardian. A place that defied time and space, Pagan could not be brought to the Virtuous ideals of the Avatar. Lacking innate knowledge of the people and terrain, the Avatar fought a lonely battle. His belief in the Virtues was tested when he summoned the powers of darkness to thwart the Elemental Titans. They were defeated, and a portal to return the Avatar, scarred yet stronger, to his world of peace.
ASCENSION
Here, the paints have been freshly lain. Here, the Tapestry of Ages predicts the future. In reading the Tapestry, once can only surmise the fate of the Avatar, Champion of Virtue.
In the absence of the Avatar on the world of Pagan, the Guardian has thrown Britannia into the hungry mouth of chaos. The image suggests that the lands are burning under the Guardian’s command. Across the defiled lands, enormous columns have sprung and begin to leak evil into the soil. The people are confused in their beliefs and behaviors. It is a dark time when the Avatar returns to battle for the final time. When he does defeat the Guardian, he ascends to a plane beyond mortality, never to return again.
To the Tapestry, the future of our lands beyond the Epoch of the Avatar is unknown.
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