Games - Britannia

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	Games - Britannia

Britannia exists in the Ultima Online MMORPG as a series of alternate dimensions, called Shards, based on the original Britannia in the main Ultima series. Shards contain major differences from the original version of Britannia.

Backstory

Shards were created at the end of Ultima I, during the time of Sosaria, when The Stranger destroyed Mondain's Gem of Immortality. Mondain's power over Sosaria stemmed from it being magically "held" inside, the gem. When the gem was shattered, The Stranger noticed that inside each broken shard was a smaller, self-contained Sosaria.

As each shard evolved over time, each took the appearance of later Britannia, without the influence of an Avatar. This created a land of lawlessness, where bandits would frequently roam the land outside of protected towns. Each Brittania grew up with its own heroes, villains, buildings and inhabitants. This serves to explain Ultima Online's many gameplay servers, each with their own subset of platers.

Inconsistencies

Shards could be argued to technically "exist" in Britannia proper as tiny gem shards, housing an alternate reality of Britannia in each. The shards are never mentioned in the main Ultima games, but there are countless gems found throughout the series that could possibly be remnants of the Gem of Immortality. Regardless, Ultima Online is mostly ignored in Ultima canon, due to having no true impact on the series itself.

The explanation of the Shards creation has several inconsistencies with the Ultima storyline. First, Mondain was defeated by The Stranger, who was not yet The Avatar. The opening movie portrays The Stranger as wearing an Ankh, but the concept of virtues and spirituality would not be established until Ultima IV.

The Stranger appears roughly the same as in Ultima IX. In the early Ultimas, the starting character could be a different race, sex, or (starting with Ultima VI) facial appearance than the blonde male typically shown as The Avatar. The Avatar was not established as actually being The Stranger until around Ultima VI and Ultima VII.

The lands of Sosaria were also divided into four main lands, and did not resemble Britannia until after the gem was shattered. These lands were known as Lord British's Realm, The Lands of Danger and Despair, The Lands of the Dark Unknown and The Lands of the Feudal Lords. Unless Britannian land was created the moment the gem was shattered, each shard should mirror the appearance of Sosaria.

The time period in which the Ultima Online series starts to take place seems to indicate a future version of Ultima VII, due to the established cities and dungeons, bestiary, and friendly relation with Gargoyles. If time had evolved roughly the same as it would have from Ultima I to Ultima VII, then the following would have occurred within that time:

No threat from Minax
, Exodus, or the Shadowlords.
Little influence from the Virtues
(the shrines still exist, but little heed is given to them).
A possible discovery and peacemaking with the Gargoyles
No earthquakes caused from Exodus, the Isle of the Avatar, the Isle of Fire, or the Stygian Abyss, which would cause certain land masses to not appear.
No attack from The Guardian
, preventing the major changes in Ultima IX
No discovery of the original lands of Sosaria (including Serpent Isle and Ambrosia), the Time of Legends, some parts of the Stygian Abyss, Earth, Mars, Eodon
, or the worlds in Ultima Underworld II.

There are several books in Ultima Online that explain the Time Lord visiting each shard's version of Lord British. The Time Lord, presumably from the main series, is aware of the existence of the shards as alternate versions of Britannia. This is never mentioned in the main series, though the event having happened some time in the series is a possibility.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Britannia (Ultima Online) ]

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