Skara Brae

Description


Skara Brae is city located on an island west of the Britannian mainland and near the forest of Spiritwood. It is dedicated to the virtue of Spirituality and was long home to many of the rangers of the land. It has suffered multiple calamities throughout the ages and has been twice destroyed by disaster.

Generally, the settlement has been home to a few modest merchants and the occasional fisherman, in addition to the rangers for which it is famed. As well as Spirituality, Skara Brae has a reputation for being a city of spirits, and numerous haunting have been reported over the centuries.

A moongate, formerly on the island of Skara Brae itself, has long provided transportation to the inhabitants, although the position of the gate shifted to the mainland during the time of the Guardian's early incursions. Travelling normally, a ferry station has to be used to enter the island.

History
Skara Brae was founded sometime after the destruction of Exodus, during Lord British's renaissance of arts and sciences that heralded in the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment.

Age of Enlightenment
In Ultima IV, with the development of the Quest of the Avatar and the spread of the Eight Virtues, the city became devoted to Spirituality. For some time, it was home to strange monument, the Ankh of Spirituality, which was capable of speech and which could impart knowledge of the Shrine of Spirituality. It was during this era that Shamino Salle' Dacil, who was residing in Skara Brae at the time, first joined with the Stranger in the hero's quest for Avatarhood.

By the time of Ultima V, the city, like most of Britannia's major settlements, fell victim to the Shadowlords. An active member of Blackthorn's Oppression, the archmage Flain, took up residence within a tower in the settlement and Skara Brae's representative on the newly-formed Great Council, Hassad, was driven into hiding to avoid persecution.

Eventually, the Oppression was dismantled and peace returned to the area. By the time that the Avatar encountered it in Ultima VI, it was a largely peaceable settlement of maritime tradesmen, although its tranquility was disturbed at the time by the violent murder of Quenton. Mayor Trenton, the arrogant and petty official who governed the towne during the incident, did little to investigate the death. It was also during this era that Horance, a mage and poet who would later become a central figure in the city's history, first could be found dwelling in seclusion on Iver's Rounding, a small satellite isle named after a famous pirate who found himself beached upon its shores during a storm.

Age of Armageddon
It was Horance who started the tragic chain of events that would lead to the first razing of Skara Brae. Over the years of the magician's long life, madness slowly claimed him, and his specialization in death magics combined with his insanity to create deadly results. Dangerously mad and hungry for the secret to immortality, Horance transformed himself into a liche, summoning forth legions of the undead to be his servitors and wreaking havoc upon the living residents of the city.

Desperate to put an end to the terror of Horance's army of the undying, Mordra Morgaelin, the town healer, prepared the instructions for a concoction that would restore Horance to humanity. Unfortunately, the mayor, Forsythe, gave inaccurate figures for the reagents needed to create the potion to the town's alchemist, Caine. The result was a massive conflagration that destroyed the city, killing all within it and thereby placing them in the domain of Horance's power.

It is unknown for exactly how long the souls of Skara Brae suffered under the lich. Eventually, the Avatar arrived in the burnt remains of the once prosperous city. Listening to the tales of the spirits who dwelt there, the hero realized Forsythe's error, and managed to replicate Mordra's original potion correctly. The hero then removed the curse of undeath from Horance, rendering him sane and ashamed of his deeds. Once this was accomplished, the champion of virtue was saddled with the grim task of having to find a soul willing to commit themselves to complete oblivion, in order that one of Horance's devices, the Well of Souls, might be destroyed and the spirits within freed. Eventually Forsythe, realizing his culpability in the city's destruction, made the final sacrifice and the curses that had plagued Skara Brae for so long were at last lifted.



The city was eventually rebuilt, although there was a span of time during which superstition dissuaded many from resettling. In its new incarnation, Skara Brae existed under the care of a mysterious stone effigy called the Sentinel.

Sadly, twenty years later, during the events of Ultima IX, the Guardian razed the city with a fire wave that burned the populace to ashes. While doing so, he taunted the Avatar with visions of its destruction as he demonstrated his power. The hero was still able, however, to explore the ruins of the city and eventually free Shamino, whose body lay within the confines of the rebuilt Well of Souls while the soul was trapped in the realm of spirits.

Lore




Ultima IV




Ultima V: Lazarus

 * Abiona: ranger
 * Anwen: apothecarist
 * Hazael: ranger
 * Heron: ranger captain
 * Ley: peasant
 * Tamethe: innkeeper
 * Valos: vinter



Ultima VI

 * Dezana: healer
 * Gideon: innkeeper
 * Horance: mage
 * Marney: dock helper
 * Marta: rose seller
 * Michael: criminal
 * Quenton: a ghost
 * Stivius: wine merchant
 * Trenton: mayor of Skara Brae
 * Yorl: fisherman



Ultima VII


Note: All of the inhabitants of Skara Brae during this era are ghosts, and their profession only refers to those they had in life.


 * Caine: alchemist and tortured one
 * Ferryman: ferryman
 * Forsythe: mayor of Skara Brae
 * Horance: a powerful mage
 * Markham: tavern owner
 * Mordra: healer (and from Pagan)
 * Paulette: tavern maid
 * Quenton: long-time ghost
 * Rowena: wife of Trent
 * Trent: blacksmith

Ultima VII (SNES Port)

 * Beynard: watchman
 * Cain: apothecary; functionally similar to Caine
 * Rudolfo: liche



Ultima IX

 * Calan: thief
 * Elizabeth: mother
 * Mathis: warrior
 * Sentinel: island guardian

Ultima IV

 * Food for Thought: grocery
 * Herbs and Spice: apothecary
 * The Inn of the Spirits: inn
 * The Mystic Heal: healer

Ultima V

 * The Alchemist: apothecary
 * The Haunting Inn: inn
 * The Spirit Healers: healer

Ultima VI

 * The Haunting Inn: inn

Things to see

 * Dark Tower
 * Ferry Station
 * Sentinel

Trivia

 * Skara Brae is the name of a real historical settlement on the west coast of Orkney, off of northern Scotland.
 * Skara Brae is also the name of the town where the computer game The Bard's Tale - Tales of the Unknown is set. The city is destroyed in The Bard's Tale III - Thief of Fate. On some platforms, it was possible to import characters from Ultima III and Wizardry into The Bard's Tale and in Ultima V a tombstone can be found behind the apothecary's house which reads 'Here lies the tale end of a bard'.
 * In Ultima VII it's possible to use the Magic Carpet to bypass the ferryman and land on the island.