Cut Material in Serpent Isle

Ultima VII/2 is a great game, no doubt about that. However, in the process of creating the game, Electronic Arts set Origin a deadline which made it virtually impossible to implement all the featers of the second half of the game. So the plot had to be made slimmer. This of course created numerous plot holes. Many of these cut element can be found, at least in fragments, in the usecode of the game, since it would have been to burdensome to remove it completely instead of simply igoring it. Other things are reconstructed from what is found in the game.

Cantra's healing
After Cantra is returned to Monk Isle and resurrected, she is mad, her mind having snapped under the stress of the Bane. However, unlike with the Companions, it is impossible for the Avatar to heal her, regardless which water is used. Why isn't the cure working on her after it did on the others?

Actually it was supposed to work. Her healing is in the usecode of the game but can't be activated. The Avatar was propably then given the task to return her to her mother Harnna in Monitor, which would mean an interesting confrontation with the Wantoness Bane. However, all this was lost in the haste to meet the deadline.

Claw Isle
Claw Isle is a big island, very prominent on the map... and the Avatar can never visit it. The only way to get there is cheating, or to find the cheat teleporter in Monitor. Going there reveals an empty, primitive village, strange cat statues and half-finished caves. Obviously there had been plans with Claw Isle.

The mystery was solved when one ex-employee of Origin told fans what they had planned. Essentially there had been two different, possible plans:
 * There was supposed to be a Kilrathi (from Wing Commander, thus continuing the East Egg from Ultima VII) stranded there. Since he was so advanced he was considered a god to any primitive people there.
 * The cat statues represent an almost extinct tribe of cat-like beings, with the chief being Yurel. (Yurel’s art was used as the cat-creature in the Silver Seed.) He was going to be an ally of the Avatar for a brief time, and he was supposed to be a tragic character who saw that the end of his people was near. However, saving them proved impossible, creating a somber and dark mood.

Bigger Cities
This is no plot cut, but nonetheless interesting. Originally it was planned to let Moonshade and Fawn have another layer. Overhead walkways, elevated decks and every building had multiple floors. However, the engine was unable to cope with the very high object count, so the layer was removed shortly before shipping the game, without any plot lost.

Door in Skullcrusher
The is one big door in Skullcrusher which can't be opened in any way. Removing it with the hackmover or teleporting through with cheats reveals an empty corridor system with a set of stairs leading into the ocean. Clearly the programm had planned something with that door, but the deadline made it impossible to create whatever it was.

Under Bane Law
This is the biggest plot cut in the game. It was soley caused by the deadlyine and changed the whole second half of the game.

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