You'd better look out! Here comes the Guardian!

Herein is a selection of notes and information about Ultima VII, called The Black Gate. To Questions Often Asked...   The History of the Guardian's Assault upon Britannia. In a distant plane, a giant figure sat. For eons it had existed, its sole amusement being conquest and destruction. Now it was bored. The creature extended its powers, sending its gaze through dozens of different continua. Finally its gaze rested upon a small plane, with minimal knowledge of the worlds around it. Soon it would belong to the Guardian. The Guardian observed closely, pinpointing possible threats and dangers. Magic was strong and known to the natives, while the Blue Moongates common to all planes were used for transport. More dangerously for the Guardian's plans, an Orb of the Moons was present, in the hands of the local ruler, a strong wielder of the primitive magics used in the plane. However the greatest danger to plans of conquest was a powerful being called the Timelord, This being, free to move in time, and having extraplanar allies, could prove a threat. The major elements of his plans laid out, the Guardian studied the puny natives closer. Two races lived in imperfect harmony, ideal for causing the friction and hatred Guardian thrived upon. Examining their legends and history, a magical figure common to both emerged, apparently from another world. While no threat to its plans, the Guardian decided it could gain much amusement from the Avatar. First however, its plans had to be set into motion. The Guardian touched the mind of a man named Batlin, one who had lost all purpose in life, shattered by the knowledge that there was no meaning to life and death. Batlin agreed to serve the Guardian, along with his friends, the twins Abraham and Elizabeth. Under the Guardian's guidance, they performed magical rituals, conjuring three magical devices to Britannia. The first, a magic sphere, trapped the Timelord in an extra dimensional space, and disrupted the Moongates and the Orb of the Moons. The second, a cube, allowed the Guardian to focus it's will on unsuspecting minds, and dominate them. The last, a tetrahedron, disrupted all magic, save that of the Guardian himself. For twenty years the Guardian's schemes continued to plan. Batlin set up a powerbase of worshippers, innocent dupes being controlled by the magic cube. The higher ups of this organisation slowly worked to forment strife and dissension among the unsuspecting people of Britannia. Those who had the wisdom to perceive and oppose the Fellowship's real plans were ritually executed. Fellowship members rose to power in all the towns, until members either ruled or were in a position to take power in nearly every settlement. All this was but a small part of the plans, a mere distraction to protect the most important task. Inside the dungeons of the Isle of the Avatar, many traps were set, and great magics were wrought. From the magical mineral Blackrock, a magical portal slowly took shape. Soon it was nearly complete. No power could halt its completion, even were its location to be discovered. The Guardian decided to increase the stakes of his plan. It reached out between the worlds, and impressed his image onto the screen of a computer, one belonging to the Avatar! With a mocking message, the Guardian summoned the Avatar, so that he could enjoy the Avatar's reaction as Britannia was conquered.   Of Magics and Permutations Often a mage may look at a spell, and find that its description does not cover all the useful permutations and effects that the spell has. This section is to note these as far as is known at the time of writing. Of the Linear Spells Glimmer Lasts only long enough to find a better light. Help Can be cast more than once, but costs experience. Of the Spells of the Eight Circles Circle Spell Effect of Spell or Note Thereupon. 1 Awaken All Less wasteful to recast Linear spell Awaken. Create Food The food is not very nutritious. 2 Enchant Creates Magic Arrows and Bolts, permanently. Wizard Eye In dungeons only shows mountains above. 4 Mark Very useful spell. Does not work standing on Carpet. Recall Stones are already marked for the Shrines. Seance Spell is durational, and does not have to be recast for each ghost. 5 Invisibility While the Avatar is invisible, no colour can be seen, but invisible paths are visible. 6 Magic Storm The lightning is randomly targeted, very good. 7 Death Bolt Does not affect undead or dragons (Yay!!) Energy Mist Short range, keeps working until target dead. Mass Might Maximum ability score is still 30. 8 Armageddon All living creatures are affected except the Avatar, Batlin and Lord British. Death Vortex If cast upon the Avatar, the spell lasts longer and does not harm the casters party. Mass Death This spell drains health of caster when used. Summon The creature seems to be invisible, assuming it exists at all.   Herein is a map and helpful notes on the topic of the Cubic Generator used to project the Inner Voice to the Fellowship.   So thou wouldst cheat... If thou wouldst play Ultima VII with cheats running, invulnerable, and capable of rearranging the entire landscape with a wave of thy mouse, this is the right place to look. If thou wouldst defeat the Fellowship and Guardian by thine own efforts, thou shouldst seek elsewhere. When thou doth load thy game, thou must type the following mantra in the archaic tongue of Dos. ULTIMA7 ABCD<Alt255> <Alt255> is the magical way of saying hold down the Alt key and type 255 on thy numeric keypad ~ Paulon. When thy game hath loaded, press that key labelled F1 to see thy options.   So what else is there to assist thee in thy quest to destroy the Black Gate? The best place to start thy journey in search of answers is the Ultima Web Archive. Within its halls, lie maps, solutions, general information, and a Patch spell to improve the music thou doth hear as thou doth travel. A far more detailed map has been created by Kenn Rice, and is upon his Map Pages, while the largest map may be found in the HRUMP. Doug the Eagle Dragon has kindly given a layout of less than vituous things to do in his A Fistful of Ultima 7 page, found here. Houston Dragon has a detailed Who's Who of Britannia for your perusal. If thou hath difficulty in persuading thy computer to run The Black Gate, seek out Gaseous Dragon's Ultima 7 for Beginners page. Note that Gaseous' site provides a program to run The Black Gate in Windows! Should it be that thy 'Saved Game' hath been corrupted past retrieval, mayhap the Saved Game Extractor from Ganesh's Files may help thee. There are other interesting patches there also, including Qfix for Riva video cards. Electronic Arts themselves have a patch available from their Site (select Support then search for Ultima) to correct problems in the game. An alternative to the Music is Newton Dragon's General Midi patch. Most worthy of all means to use the Black Gate is Exult, which doth also now include means to edit the world. One of the best viewers and editors of the realm so far created is the U7Wizard. And should the options of the Cheat Menu seem inadequate to thee, perhaps Lord Empire Dragon's Backpacker's Guide to Britannia can help thee further.     To the Underworld Page Return to the Ultima Page Index. To the Underworld II Page Return to the top