[UO Herald] New Fiction - Rise of the Scalis Pt. 1

[UO News]

A letter to the King of Akalabeth, recovered from the Lyceum archive, author unknown

Estimated date of writing: 30 years pre-Britannia

To my liege and King, Your Majesty, with my revered obedience,

It is with great ire and revulsion that I cogitate upon the actions of Fawn's merchant navy, and great fear toward what yet may come as consequence. This, of course, being of no fault of His Majesty the King, but of my own abhorrence for the grievous brutality exhibited by these maritime merchants several years ago. Witnessing the fate of Mr. Nelson shall forever haunt me.



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[Cear Dallben Dragon]

pretty neat. I wonder if this is a letter to British, back then there were many kings, British being only one.

 

[Crysta]

It is.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

The King of Akalabeth was Wolfgang, Mondain's father.

 

[Trebr Drab]

Yeah, got to say I liked it.

 

[Crysta]

But "30 years pre-britannia" would imply some time later, when British was considered in charge.. wouldn't it? Since it wasn't re-christened as that until sometime after Exodus I believe.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Ultima I takes place in the 24th year of Lord British's reign. By then, British was ruler of 'The Lands of Lord British.'

Britannia came about after the Gem of Immortality was shattered, though we didn't see that until Ultima III (since Ultima II happens primarily on Earth).

 

[Crysta]

But I don't believe it was called Britannia until after Exodus was defeated, as part of the reformation and beginning of the Quest of the Avatar... til then it was just Sosaria. If i'm wrong on this, im sorry.

 

[Viquire]

But "30 years pre-britannia" would imply some time later, when British was considered in charge.. wouldn't it? Since it wasn't re-christened as that until sometime after Exodus I believe.

you are thinking "post"-the rise of British, Britannia.

"Pre" would be before the troubles that brought war and consolidation, via Lord British.

 

[Nonel]

Also it states "estimated date of writing", which would mean to me that it was someone of modern Britannia dating it to pre-Britannian times.

Much as we use BC now, though of course there was no BC actually during the BC days Lol

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

You are correct about the land being renamed 'Britannia' after the defeat of Exodus (about 30 years after).

The Ultima timeline is a bit screwy here, since almost 300 years pass between Ultima 0 (Akalabeth) and Ultima IV. However, Akalabeth ceased to exist as a kingdom with the death of Wolfgang...or potentially Mondain, if you allow regicide to gain the crown.

Lord British is who you play in Akalabeth (Ultima 0) and by the end you earn the title of Knight/Lord when you slay the balrog. How British gained his own kingdom is a bit murky in the lore, as it doesn't appear to have been retconned in.

So "30 years pre-Britannia" would put it well after the dissolution of Akalabeth and 20 years after the death of Minax. Here's where an author's artistic license comes into play with regards to a very retconned Ultima timeline. Since the "King of Akalabeth" isn't named as Lord British, and one would have to wonder why it’s phrased that way if it were British, we can guess it may well mean Wolfgang. This would make the Scalis very old.

However, the author used a town name: Fawn. This city didn't exist on any maps until Ultima III, and later in Ultima VII, Part II. Which would place the story after Ultima I, and most likely after Ultima II.

British was a Lord and Champion Knight of Akalabeth, but lore never states he was its king. So again, it pretty much boils down to artistic license.

 

[Nonel]

Fawn existed in Ultima I. It was after the rebuilding of the second Fawn that the first Fawn became known as "Old Fawn". Since the author of the letter is writing in his own present, "Old Fawn" as it existed at the time would simply be "Fawn".

Edit: If it said "30 years pre-British" it'd probably make better sense.

Edit: The author of the letter mentions the City by the Sea. That was Old Fawn, or "Fawn" at his time of writing.

 

[Martyna Zmuir]

Der yes, sorry, I forgot about the Fawn/Old Fawn weirdness.

Saying pre-British would make the most sense, and definately place the story pre-Ultima 0.

Thus Wolfgang should still be King.

 

[Sir_Bolo]

Keep in mind that the events of Ultima II-III-IV never happened in the history of Sosaria in UO! The unification of Sosaria as Britannia happened much earlier in UO, shortly after the Shattering in Ultima I.

Therefore, in UO "30 years pre-Britannia" simply means "some time before the Shattering". This could be either before Ultima 0 (when Wolfgang was King of Akalabeth), or after Ultima 0 (when Lord British was ruler of Akalabeth).
So the date is inconclusive to identify the "King of Akalabeth"

 

[Basara]

Well, at least the fiction makes me feel less guilty for wanting to fight Scalis....

 

[Evlar]

Artistic license and, EA can't use "Lord British" by name, as RG retained the copyright.

 

[Hildebrand]

Well, at least the fiction makes me feel less guilty for wanting to fight Scalis....

Yes indeed! It's sounding like not just another mindless monster.

 

[Trebr Drab]

Lord British is who you play in Akalabeth (Ultima 0) and by the end you earn the title of Knight/Lord when you slay the balrog.

Doing some research, are you sure about that?
According to Akalabeth - The Codex of Editable Wisdom, a Wikia wiki for Ultima and Ultima Online:

In the game, the player character visits Lord British and is instructed by him to kill certain monsters. The final mission is to kill a balrog, and after this has been accomplished, Lord British proclaims that "thou hast proven thyself worthy of knighthood". ​

Somebody's got to be wrong.

Still researching some stuff. There's some very interesting things I'm onto that seem heavily related to recent events over the last few Earth years in our Sosaria.

 

[Sir_Bolo]

Reading part 2 of the story, the King of Akalabeth is almost certainly identified as Wolfgang:

"After a great battle off the coast of Fawn," Yero continued, "a king and his two youngin's commanded it return to the depths and not be seen again."

Wolfgang had two sons (Mondain and an unnamed first-born).
Definitely not Lord British.

 

[Trebr Drab]

Reading part 2 of the story, the King of Akalabeth is almost certainly identified as Wolfgang:

"After a great battle off the coast of Fawn," Yero continued, "a king and his two youngin's commanded it return to the depths and not be seen again."

Wolfgang had two sons (Mondain and an unnamed first-born).
Definitely not Lord British.

Agreed that it's Wolfgang.
I like this story and history behind it, for several reasons.