Poll: How many of you understand the story/event?

[Guest]

Hail: Starting from the time you could get the large blackrock, and faster skill gains, up to an including the current event, How many of you know the story line, and what is actually going on?

I have no clue. All i know is that Evil Blackrock Destroys Evil Shadowlords, and this makes no sense at all. If you know, them please enlighten the rest of us, or just me if i am the only one.

 

[imported_Sarphus]

Actually the part you know is wrong lol

Blackrock isn't evil... it's just a powerful reagent that can be used to do evil things. Think of it as a GPS-guided bomb... not evil, but could be used to do evil or to do good.

This storyline has been unfolding for about 2 years. As much as I remember... inu the crone started spouting doom and gloom for various cities and whatnot. From there, we started seeing blackrock and blackrock elementals spawning. We then located a highly concentrated outcropping of blackrock with the enhanced skillgains.

Inu's vision has been pretty accurate, but also something you don't generally understand until after the event happens.

Ophidians invaded 3 of our cities.

Strange visitors came to haven and awarded people with prizes in exchange for blackrock. Shortly thereafter old haven was destroyed and new haven created.

Demons corrupted a moongate and used it to portal a demon invasion into magincia consequently destroying the city (much aided by the greed of players).

At some point dark wisps made an appearnace (possibly a scouting mission) in moonglow lyceum.

The dark force that is the puppet master behind this orchestra of destruction was unveiled when chronos the archmage activated his blackrock detector and opened a portal to an alternate time moonglow. We are battling an alliance between the shadow lords and whoever they can convince to join their cause. We don't know what their cause is yet, but we know they are fighting against the time lord and possibly wisps. The shadow lords have corrupted wisps, fallen warriors, demons, etc at their disposal in the current battle in the moonglow time tear.

I'm sure someone can fill in the many gaps in my cliff notes here.

It's hard to remember everything that happened in the past 2 yrs or so.

 

[imported_Cyrah]

Could someone who knows please tell me if I did not log in a character on April First they do not get the neat gift box?

It seems so. On mine anyways.

Was that the real joke?

As for the story, I sorta understand. Truth is, someone I care to, some I do not.

 

[Otis Firefly]

actually blackrock and the arma spell go as far back as the discovery of the lost lands ( dellucia and papua) the second age...it was the zog cobal ( now known as the FOA, followers of armaggedon) who sought to destroy the world using blackrock givin to them by some wisps and the armaggedon spell, they casted the spell, made some serious earthquakes and busted the paths into the lost lands open, in uo, that is where we first learned about the arma spell and blackrock

 

[Guest]

Nice recap. There were also the battles in Ilshenar such as the Shadow Void, and the trial of Ricardo in Yew, etc. It would be nice to thread all of it together. Nice job.

 

[Repowski]

More on the Armageddon spell

http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/Armageddon

 

[imported_Sarphus]

Another thing I forgot about was the wisp dungeon. Remember that invisible maze in the wisp dungeon where we talked with that one wisp.

I think that ties in with why the shadowlords are commanding dark wisps. It looks like a faction of fey critters sided with the shadowlords and another faction of them sided with the time lord.

 

[Emil Ispep]

Yea, Otis is on the right track.. Back in fall of '99 (when the green-robed seers still existed) the Armageddon spell everyone loves casting so much; was cast by the FOA in an attempt to destroy the world, but instead opened paths to a lost world (T2A). Later expeditions into T2A would reveal the dungeon Khaldun. There were also a few events involving 'dark wisp' summoning and blackrock pentagrams too. (maybe to talk to the wisps to get the correct knowledge of the armageddon spell??). Shortly after the attempted casting, the 'FOA Leader' was arrested and found out to be impersonating one of Lord British's high-mages. (i think there was even a corpse of the real mage in the bottom of Shame for a while back then..) There was supposed to be a trial for the FOA Leader, as he was in a cell in the Yew prison for quite some time but he dissapeared. (escaped to T2A maybe..??) There were even a few peices of original Blackrock obtainable during these events as well. (graphic of a bauble, shadow dancer grey colored; and a gem-sized peice which had teleportation charges). There were also many agents of the FOA running about through the land. Martoo Saul, Junin Prince, and the human Jou'Nar to name a few.. (I did enjoy the whole Jou'Nar story.. being a corrupted Paladin from Trinsic who is exiled from the city.. returns to slaughter many nobles/paladins.. gets killed during the whole FOA fiasco.. and comes back a year or two later to over-run the city as an undead lich).

Until Ilshenar was released, thats pretty much all you saw regarding the FOA/Blackrock/Wisps.. then the Wisp dungeon was unveiled. Nothing really pointing to active events, but an interesting place to check out =).

And then no mention really until around when Haven was destroyed (it still is destroyed.. seriously.. I can make a better city out of Legos..) and the large peices of Blackrock and the elemental kin were in T2A.

As far as the current event goes, I can only offer speculation. IMO, when you go through the gate, and into Darkglow, you really enter a 'snowy scene of Moonglow'.. which would explain the blackened circle area..

haha great April Fools Devs.. j/k.

Thinking about Ultima Lore and such, maybe when you step into the corrupted rift, you are taken off your 'shard' of the Gem of Immortality, and go to a much darker 'shard' from the Gem when it was shattered.. or perhaps a peice of your 'shard' was 'chipped off' somehow.. (the first nights events, with the "yellow" players??) and its collapsing in on itself??.. I'm not sure.. All I know is on Pacific, no more Shadowlords (got my robe), 1 or 2 demons at a time.. at MOST.. and the respawn rate of everything else seems to be slowing..

About all I can think of... correct me if im wrong on any of the info, or post some more if you remember these events from the golden ages of UO..

On a side note, I have 'a guildstone' for 'Followers Of Armageddon [FOA]"

 

[imported_Spiritless]

The event has been dragged out for so long. You'd really have to be, err, "a dedicated player" (kind term

) to follow along with the plot.

Personally, I have no clue of the significance of most of it.

 

[utilitron]

I think the difinitive source for blackrock information, and possibly what is going on is here in the codex of editable wisdom (Ultima Wiki)

Especialy this:
"Another property of Blackrock is, that it can block the ethereal waves, which enable magic. This means that a big enough amount of Blackrock will disable any kind of magic, as long as it is based on ethereal waves. "

This might explain why you cannot cast spells outside the ruins of the blackrock detector.

 

[Guest]

Not really, but Sarphus helped some with his post above. I find Inu boring so I don't pay much attention.

 

[imported_Sarphus]

I remember the FOA event... I don't think it ties in with our current event, though. Sure, both events use blackrock, but FOA is a cult with the plan to destroy the world. The shadowlords are a seperate entity with an unknown desire.

I remember guarding the box that supposedly had BR in it around the clock (trinsic). I even have screenshots of that on a really old computer

I think our current BR event is completely centered around the shadowlords and their unknown intentions. All we know is that they both desire and fear blackrock.

 

[imported_Sarphus]

<blockquote><hr>

Not really, but Sarphus helped some with his post above. I find Inu boring so I don't pay much attention.

[/ QUOTE ]


well she is kinda bizarre... she seems to always be talking to things you can't see.

 

[imported_Prince Erik]

On behalf of most of the players in UO :

What's to understand? Kill stuff, take lewt, hope for uber goodies. Whine if you don't get enough of em.

Actually thanks for the thread, I was trying to keep up and understood some of the pieces but not the scenerio as a whole.

-P.E.

 

[Guest]

I have a fairly good grasp of the current plot, I believe. As much as can be expected. I believe the whole idea is to be cryptic, and unfold information as we move along.

 

[imported_Sarphus]

I think you're right... more and more of the old plot elements appear to be tieing together, though. I have a feeling that it's all going to unfold into the release of SA.

 

[Guest]

The stories are like a good TV show that gets announced it's going off the air, and so the writers rush to stitch together a Frankenstein rush-job of a finish. Then the ending makes no sense. Then they come out with a DVD movie to tie up loose ends.
Is SA going to be the DVD we're waiting for?
EA, please hire a writer! Programmers writing stories is like oil and water.
I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Guest]

Theres a story line? I just thought it was a bunch of random happenings.

 

[Otis Firefly]

your absolutly right, and the guardian was also the main enemy at the finale of the uo beta

 

[Otis Firefly]

this is just some info found about the guardian in one of the uo games..also mentions followers..we saw one of them as a red healer in magincia..

Ultimately, the Avatar learns from the Timelord that the Guardian is an evil extradimensional entity, a powerful being that enters into worlds and proceeds to conquer them with his god-like powers. The Guardian is also revealed as the source of the crises plaguing Britannia: 3 blackrock generators that focus his power into Britannia's dimension are causing magic-users to go insane, disrupting the moongates, and allowing him to speak into the minds of Britannia's people.

The Guardian is also revealed to be the true force behind The Fellowship, an aggressively proselytizing organization that has used its seeming benevolence to infiltrate every facet of Britannian society. While most members of the Fellowship believe the organization is merely a path to enlightenment, the high-ranking members know the truth: every member of the Fellowship is actually worshipping the Guardian as their god.

The Guardian has been using the Fellowship to construct a massive Black Gate on the Isle of the Avatar, which would allow the Guardian to physically enter Britannia from the Great Ethereal Void and conquer the land.

 

[imported_Lord GOD(GOD)]

rtlfc

What I don't understand is we got told (by Draconi I believe) that the people who were there on the first day will continue to see bonuses the longer they are in the rift, however the BNN article tells us to avoid going in there.

I like the event but it seems directionless.

 

[imported_Coppelia]

I didn't understand anything else than evil foes are attacking Moonglow, I kill them I get loot and I save Moonglow.
If there's more subtility, there's not even the beginning of a clue that it would be different than just kill the spawn.

I didn't see any other side than players versus monsters.

 

[imported_Lord GOD(GOD)]

Ah ok.

It'd still be nice if we knew what we were doing had some kind of point, so far it's been:

Day 1: Get told to come back on day 2
Day 2: Event starts
Day 3+: Continue farming items rightly or wrongly using blackrock as/when it lets you with no indication that your making any progress.

With maginica there was a point, your supposed to be saving the city from the demons (or helping blow it up). With this it just feels like theres no reason to it.

 

[imported_Cyrah]

Some programmers were excellent with stories.

 

[Guest]

This storyline requires a lot of thought. It is much more than just a hack and slash events. I believe a large majority of the clues lie in the threads of life and fate.

Also, if you have done research on the Shadowlords, and know who Sutek is, and who -might- have been the bloodied man who came out of the rift, that's another clue.

And finally, if you know what a vortex cube is capable of doing, there's another clue.


I can see how this can be seen as a 100% hack and slash event. However, I'm willing to give it a 50/50 on hack and slash vs content. You just have to actively find the content. Which, in my opinion, is more enjoyable.

 

[imported_OldAsTheHills]

<blockquote><hr>

rtlfc

What I don't understand is we got told (by Draconi I believe) that the people who were there on the first day will continue to see bonuses the longer they are in the rift, however the BNN article tells us to avoid going in there.

I like the event but it seems directionless.

[/ QUOTE ]You are worried about game mechanics while I worried about why!
The event was mostly about alignment! Choose your side! It was a three way conflict!
You know how Evil wins in this event? Just do nothing! The best strategy is to
kill all monsters types equally! I really careless about items looted from monsters,
unless they are needed later! Maybe...

I took many dirtnaps... ok thieves give me back my regs.
*stares*
Yahaxithonix

 

[Guest]

...

An inanimate object cannot in itself be evil. It is the use to which the object is put that is good, neutral or evil.

The ONLY alignment that Blackrock can take is Neutral as it does not have any control as to the purpose it is being used.

 

[imported_Lord GOD(GOD)]

<blockquote><hr>

You are worried about game mechanics while I worried about why!

[/ QUOTE ]
If it affects which side I'm on then yes.

<blockquote><hr>

The event was mostly about alignment! Choose your side! It was a three way conflict!

[/ QUOTE ]
How do you chose which side your on?

<blockquote><hr>

You know how Evil wins in this event? Just do nothing! The best strategy is to
kill all monsters types equally! I really careless about items looted from monsters,
unless they are needed later! Maybe...


[/ QUOTE ]
Our moonglow isn't actually being attacked, the moonglow in the time rift is where the monsters there dwell anyway, so if anything we're raiding them and their defending.

Maybe BNN is right and it's our continued presence in their version of moonglow which will provoke them to come through.

 

[Guest]

TTL: Where is Minax? I miss her so...

 

[Shelleybean]

I don't understand it. After dying repeatedly and spending lots of insurance money, I have to question why I would continue to do so. I'd like to know if am I battling against evil or siding with evil.

 

[Guest]

rather than retype

 

[Sir_Bolo]

I understand everything.

 

[Gildar]

One particular storyline that leads directly to this event is, more or less...

<ul>
[*]Ricardo steals the Scion from the Ophidians.
[*]Ophidians retaliate.
[*]Some Ophidian Brood Queens discover ways to use a pillar of Blackrock to create Ophidian Berserkers, and crafted one pillar in each facet within the Terrathan Keep.
[*]Britannians destroy both pillars, scattering small pieces of Blackrock all over the place.
[*]Three of the bits of scattered Blackrock expand into full veins in The Lost Lands in each facet, others make smaller veins throughout the world. People obtain large pieces of Blackrock from the full veins, find small pieces of blackrock mining everywhere. Full veins have Blackrock creatures (elementals, slimes, and vortexes). Some mining near small Blackrock causes Blackrock elementals to appear. (Dec 1, 2006)
[*]Wexton starts Blackrock Detector prototype construction (Jan 12)
[*]Wexton starts Blackrock Detector construction (Feb 23)
[*]Suspicious traders gather up Blackrock in Old Haven (Apr 20)
[*]Blackrock Explosion (incomplete Armageddon spell) destroys Old Haven, warps in New Haven from "the future" (May 7)
[*]Raid on suspected FoA gathering in Blood Dungeon (presumed to be the initiators of the Old Haven explosion) (May 1)
[*]Blackrock Detector construction delayed due to Mages Guild fears (Jul 27)
[*]Blackrock Detector construction gets Royal Funding (Aug 3)
[*]Blackrock Detector construction completed (Mar 27)
[*]Blackrock Detector construction unveiled, fails to work (Mar 2)
<ul>[*]Words of Power to activate: Bet Wis Ex (Locate, a Level 1 spell in Ultima Underworld)[/list]
[*]Blackrock Detector re-activated, fails to work again (Mar 29)
<ul>[*]Words of Power to activate: Bet Wis Ex (Locate, a Level 1 spell in Ultima Underworld)
[*]Vortex Cube starts to glow, letting out a blinding light
[*]Everyone in the nearby area is transported to an alternate Moonglow. Everything in the nearby area has a partially destroyed copy of itself created in the alternate Moonglow.
[*]Fallen Ethereal Warriors, Fetid Essences, and Dark Wisps fight against those transported to the alternate Moonglow
[*]This is where I'm lost...
I know that at some point the Time Lord comes in and talks about returning things to how they should be. I know that the three shadowlords show up and say stuff. I know that Wexton and another man die. Sutek recognizes the other dead man. I know that a corrupted moongate appears where the Blackrock Detector was, leading to the warped version of Moonglow.
I don't know the order of this, however, nor the details on exactly what happened.
[*]People re-enter the warped Moonglow to continue fighting Fallen Ethereal Warriors, Fetid Essences, Dark Wisps, Daemon Berserkers, and Ethereal Shadowlords
[*]People utilize the Armageddon spell to assist in destroying the Ethereal Shadowlords
<ul>[*]Spell is much easier to cast in the warped Moonglow area[/list]
[*]The Armageddon Spell stops working (at least as easily) in the warped Moonglow area (supposedly - I have not yet heard enough to confirm this [behind on my UHall reading, and lacking play time])
[*]People find Threads of Fate and Life off of corpses in alternate Moonglow.
[*]Those with Spirit Speak are able to utilize the Threads of Fate and Life to have short visions.
[*]People fine Planeswords and Planeshields off of corpses in alternate Moonglow. No use has yet been found.
[/list]
[/list]

There have also been numerous predictions from Inu the Crone, some strange Moongate happenings, some stuff with the Timelord, and some other little things that strongly relate to this.
There's also the really old FoA attempted Armageddon casting that opened up access to the Lost Lands that links to this, and some other stuff.

 

[Gildar]

<blockquote><hr>

I know that at some point the Time Lord comes in and talks about returning things to how they should be. I know that the three shadowlords show up and say stuff. I know that Wexton and another man die. Sutek recognizes the other dead man. I know that a corrupted moongate appears where the Blackrock Detector was, leading to the warped version of Moonglow.
I don't know the order of this, however, nor the details on exactly what happened.

[/ QUOTE ]
Does ANYBODY know what happened at this part?

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>

<blockquote><hr>

I know that at some point the Time Lord comes in and talks about returning things to how they should be. I know that the three shadowlords show up and say stuff. I know that Wexton and another man die. Sutek recognizes the other dead man. I know that a corrupted moongate appears where the Blackrock Detector was, leading to the warped version of Moonglow.
I don't know the order of this, however, nor the details on exactly what happened.

[/ QUOTE ]
Does ANYBODY know what happened at this part?

[/ QUOTE ]

HMM return things to how they should be eh?Maybe there gonna blow up trammel and malas YAY!

 

[imported_Sarphus]

depending on the alignment of who's saying that statement, it can be a VERY bad thing for someone to say "return things to how they should be"

genocide has been committed on those words...

if it was the guardian saying those words he could be preparing to commit planetecide!

 

[imported_Trebr Drab]

Just adding a note that Ilshenar was destroyed when the Dark Wisps came, and where we mined all that blackrock.

 

[imported_ParadoxUO]

... and dont forget the cloaks of corruption.

Hum, we're told to find and hide the masters notes. Any clue on this one?

 

[Gildar]

I've drawn up a diagram that gives a general idea of what has led to what for this plot (ignoring lots and lots and lots of side-stuff that is not directly impacting current major events).

(warning: very large - 240kb)
http://illandril.net/old/BlackrockPlotDiagram.jpg


Thanks to Coranthe for the dialogs at the end (from here).

 

[imported_Ozymandies]

Has this bloodstained axe and bloody mess always been in this house north of Moonglow?

OZ

 

[Otis Firefly]

NO...you didnt see that...there is no axe and blood mess..was a dream
*hurries to clean up his mess*

 

[imported_Skrag]

In answer to the poll, no. No real idea what's up. And what's more, if I weren't a board-goer I'd barely know these events were related at all. You guys could post the perfect story synopsis in every thread on Stratics and 90% of UO would still never know what was up.

 

[imported_Electrolyte]

<blockquote><hr>

I think you're right... more and more of the old plot elements appear to be tieing together, though. I have a feeling that it's all going to unfold into the release of SA.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've had that same feeling myself for quite some time now

here's hoping we're on the right track!

 

[slasherofveils]

week and a half now, still no clear goal to this story plot :-/

SL's are now back after a week, and if anyone recalls before this event started I believe devs said it would be about 2 weeks of stuff to do.

Still haven't picked sides (or have we? so vague) and hopefully this whole thing is a precursor for something that makes a little more sense, and with a little more to it then killing endless waves of crap that ninja kills you from 3 screens away with their casting lol

Far as this leading to SA, well that would be awesome, but we also haven't garnered ANY information WHATSOEVER of SA. no release dates, no updated faq or info, no beta announcements, no update to if it will support 2D, etc.

so *shrug* hopefully something happens by this upcoming weekend to string this event story together and put a little sense into our fighting in the portal

 

[imported_Electrolyte]

there are still a lot of loose ends... the blue wisp that appeared after casting armageddon... the weird rifts that the time lord sort of showed up in... the strange behavior of the council during ricardo's trial (still thin there is more there)... it feels like a lot of things are connected (book of truth, candle of love) that just haven't been worked in... lots of puzzle pieces, no picture yet... I hope there is plenty more to come

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

<blockquote><hr>

the Destroyer speaks
*gets out his shears*

No, seriously, let's organize and prune.

*** SPOILERS ***

Q: How can the events over the last two years be organized?
A: I'd divide it into four sections:

* KR Announcement plotline
* Old plotline, setup for major world changes for KR
* New plotline
* Filler


You can consider a new plotline started *now* (though I'll include the events of Magincia.) The old plotline basically supported major worldbuilding changes (Haven, Blood Dungeon, etc), and was split between many different peoples' efforts - hence multiple story branches and differing events.

The new live events team is a subset of the live design team, and we've established a unified goal around this event arc, featuring one final epic event at the end in a few months.

Now, admittedly, the new plotline is very much related to the old one, just as most previous arcs had some influence from the past ones. The old plotline can be considered backstory for this one.

A key difference in our production will be maintaining a single thread to the plotline, and tying up loose ends from last year. I believe there'll still be a lot of freedom and fun in the event, even if it's more linear, with coming changes to certain game systems.

Meanwhile, for those looking for the overarching "hand" that's been causing all the chaos of last year, they're here. Kronos unleashed them. More info soon. Everything else can be seen as their machinations from afar, or their followers'.

Part of the goal for the Live Events page on uo.com is to actually organize this sort of information and make it easy for players to jump into the events without reading half a book's worth of fiction and forum posts. Stay tuned!

Q: Will previous events have influence on the new plotline?
A: Yes. In fact, as mentioned above, the current plotline will at the least tie together everything but the filler events, and it'll do it pretty quickly.

Q: When is the next "major" content addition for the event arc?
A: Publish 52

Q: Will anything be happening until Pub 52?
A: Yes, the rift in Moonglow will continue to present problems and opportunities. Expect weekly or bi-weekly changes.

[/ QUOTE ]

 

[imported_Trebr Drab]

<blockquote><hr>

there are still a lot of loose ends... the blue wisp that appeared after casting armageddon... the weird rifts that the time lord sort of showed up in... the strange behavior of the council during ricardo's trial (still thin there is more there)... it feels like a lot of things are connected (book of truth, candle of love) that just haven't been worked in... lots of puzzle pieces, no picture yet... I hope there is plenty more to come

[/ QUOTE ]

The Britannian council has always been suspect, even going way back to the Sage Winslow days (he turned out to be a member of the FoA) and the trials of the 3 FoA leaders, whose names appear on those stones in the Wisp Dungeon in Ilshenar.

It's a consistent part of the overall story.
Now we see that the Council of Mages in Moonglow discontinued funding this project, only to have the Britannian Council pick it up, leading to these events and the rift.

 

[Emil Ispep]

<blockquote><hr>

The Britannian council has always been suspect, even going way back to the Sage Winslow days (he turned out to be a member of the FoA) and the trials of the 3 FoA leaders, whose names appear on those stones in the Wisp Dungeon in Ilshenar.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sage Winslow wasn't corrupt. He was murdered, then impersonated by the 'FoA Leader'. Skeletal remains with a green staff next to them were at the bottom of Shame/Felucca for quite some time.

That body was the real Sage Winslow.

 

[Guest]

That leads me to believe that there could easily be another imposter. I'm always suspicious of government entities, though.