Ambrosia



Ambrosia, sometimes known as the "Lost Continent," is a mysterious land appearing in Sosaria and later Britannia. Once the site of a now extinct civilization, the strange isle and the ruins upon it have figured on occasion into the adventures of the Stranger who eventually became the Avatar.

Early History
Little is known of the people who settled Ambrosia, but legends purport them to be an advanced and powerful race, who managed to tame the forces of nature such as that they could reconfigure their physical beings to suit their needs. The Gargish people, in their earliest legends, make mention of their world, regarding it as a sort of Edenic paradise and a symbol of good fortune, and believing the entire island to have been formed from the husk of a fallen meteorite.

There are conflicting reports of what eventually led to this culture's destruction, but it appears that the continent, in it's earliest iteration, fell prey to natural disaster, destroyed either by another hail of great meteors or lain low by a mighty whirlpool which dragged it into the sea.

Age of Darkness
Whatever the cause of Ambrosia's fall, it was rediscovered briefly during the time of Exodus, after the Stranger and their companions, on the advice of scattered sailors who claimed to have weathered the still extant maelstrom, braved the waters of the whirlpool and made landfall on the lost world. Here, the hero found the ancient Shrines of Truth, and was able to harness their technology to bolster their own skills in preparation for battle against the hellspawn. Also in this desolate realm lay the Four Cards - devices which would were critical in enacting the daemon-machine's destruction.

Age of Armageddon
After Exodus' defeat, Ambrosia was not seen again for many centuries, with sea-farers encountering whirlpools in the nascent years of Britannia foundation finding themselves upon the shores of Cove or lost within the depths of the Underworld. Many years later, however, Ambrosia resurfaced in the Britannian ocean, and during the Avatar's quest in Ultima VII, the hero had cause to journey to its shores once more - seeking the rare mineral,  caddellite, which lay within the remnants of the meteors which had once wracked the island.

On the re-arisen Ambrosia, the hero found no trace of the archaic shrines that once dotted the landscape, although an abandoned tower, possibly of ancient origin, stood over the island's bay. Notes found therein indicated that one of Britannia's mages, seemingly driven mad by the disrupted ether, had previously sought refuge there. Curiously, the lonely isle was now also home to a strange fey being, known only as Kissme, who claimed herself as a descendant of the original denizens of Ambrosia. Although her puckish and flighty nature left her ill-equipped to detail the history of her people, her vague recollections of Ambrosia's heyday and the of meteor storms which destroyed it offered tantalizing clues as to the realm's past, and her existence itself proved an enigmatic testament to the people who had come before her.

During the Great Cataclysm in the late Age of Armageddon, Ambrosia was destroyed once again, sinking beneath the sea. The increasingly separatist gargoyle population of the realm eventually sought refuge from Britannia's human populace, and calling upon the myths of their forefathers, constructed a city named in honor of the lost land, settling in a great mystical dome deep beneath the sea.

Inhabitants

 * Hydra Brothers
 * Kissme

Trivia

 * Ambrosia is the name of the sweet-smelling food of the Gods in Greco-Roman mythology.
 * In the NES-Port of Ultima III, Ambrosia is home to strange and beautiful flowers, which the Stranger may pick and give to Sherry in exchange for a Heart Compass.
 * In Seiji Tanaka's manga re-imagining of Ultima III, Ambrosia is the home of the mystic "seals" which awaken the magical powers of the four heroes. It is also the site of a major battle between the protagonist, Genji, and Mondain.