Shamino

Shamino Sallé Dacil [sha-min-oh] is a recurring character. He first appears in Ultima I and is one of Companions of the Avatar.

Biography
Originally a native of Sosaria, it was Shamino, according to folklore, who first encountered Lord British, when the Earth-born youth was taken to Sosaria by means of a blue moongate. Surprised at the sudden appearance of the other man, Shamino, who had been cutting wood at the time, accidentally struck his own leg with his axe, injuring himself grievously before applying a simple magical cantrip to heal the wound - a feat which astonished the recently arrived earthling. It was Shamino who first befriended the otherworldly youth, and who gave him his name, "British," in reference to the boy's claim that he came from the "British Isles."

Age of Darkness
By the time of Ultima I, Shamino had become ruler of one of the eight castles of ancient Sosaria, and along with the King of the White Dragon jointly ruled the Lands of Danger and Despair. During this time, he granted audience to the Stranger during the hero's quest against Mondain. After the hero had proven their mettle by slaying a balron Shamino furnished the traveler with a white gem, necessary to power the legendary  time machine.

It is unknown exactly how his ascent to a throne from his life of a simple woodsman was accomplished, but it is known that Shamino won the affections of Beatrix, the daughter of his eventual co-ruler. Having been granted permission to take her hand in marriage, Shamino took the princess into his keep in anticipation of their nuptials, with her father's support and blessing. Tragically, the couple never wed. Shamino left the Lands of Danger and Despair to meet with Lord British in his realms that he might seek his advice, and never returned to Beatrix. It is assumed that the changes that beset the world of Sosaria after the Stranger's defeat of Mondain barred Shamino's sojourn home, having rent the kingdoms of Sosaria into separate worlds in their own right.

Later, during the time of Exodus, Shamino went on an expedition to explore and document the daemon-machine's stronghold, Castle Death, which stood on the Isle of Fire. His experience on the island left him grievously injured and severely traumatized, although he made it back to the mainland with a crumpled map of the keep on his person. For some time after that, it was discovered that his experiences in the castle had left Shamino's mind damaged - and it was written that he wandered the groves outside of Lord British's castle in a daze, muttering repeatedly, "From the depths of hell, he comes for vengeance!"

Curiously, by the time of the events of Ultima III, Shamino could be found by the Stranger at a bar in Montor West along with Sentri, recommending the food and giving no impression of his harrowed state.

Age of Enlightenment
Apparently having recovered from his brush with Exodus, Shamino was again commissioned by Lord British for exploratory travels, being charged with mapping the major dungeons of Britannia. In Ultima IV, Shamino was encountered by the Stranger in the city of Skara Brae where he stood near the Ankh of Spirituality contemplating the concept of inner light, and was then convinced to join with the Stranger in the hero's quest to obtain Avatarhood.

After the disappearance of Lord British and the rise of the Shadowlords, Shamino was declared an outlaw under Blackthorn's regime and was forced, along with many of the Avatar's other companions, into hiding. In Ultima V, after the Avatar was finally summoned back to Britannia through means of the magical Codex Coin, Shamino was the first man to greet the returned hero. When the two of them were beset by marauding Shadowlords, Shamino flung himself in front of a poisoned bolt which was cast at the Avatar, blocking its intended course. While badly injured, the ranger survived this attack, and was then carried by the hero to Iolo's hut in the great forest, where he could be attended to, after regaining enough composure to set out on the quest, Shamino joined with Iolo and the Avatar in their efforts to topple the tyranny plaguing the land.

In Ultima VI, Shamino again helped to save the Avatar, along with Iolo and Dupre, when the three companions intervened to rescue the hero from sacrifice at the hands of the gargoyles. After escaping with the freed Avatar to the Castle of Lord British through a red moongate, the ranger once more joined in the hero's quest, never willingly leaving the champions side during the quest to end the gargoyle war.

Age of Armageddon
Two-hundred years later, by the time of Ultima VII, Shamino was living in Britain and had a budding relationship with an actress named Amber. Having finally succumbed somewhat to the slow march of Britannian time, Shamino proved somewhat self conscious in these days, and Jaana joked that he had finally had reached the venerable age of thirty. Once again, the stalwart forester would join the Avatar if asked, and his knowledge and experience would prove useful in ending the wrongs of the Fellowship and the attempted siege of the Guardian during this era.

Eighteen months after the destruction of the Black Gate, in Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, Shamino accompanied the Avatar to the fabled Serpent Isle, chasing after Iolo's wife, Gwenno and the former Fellowship head, Batlin. This strange new world, accessible only through the Serpent Pillars was eventually discovered to have once been the Lands of Danger and Despair. After hearing stories from gleeman and bards hinting at the fate of his kingdom, Shamino eventually came upon the ruins of his former castle, where he was beset by the vengeful ghost of his former love, Beatrix, who had died, heartbroken, awaiting his return.

It was revealed that after his departure from the land, the goblin hoardes had grown bolder and more belligerent and that both the people of his keep and that of his would be father-in-law feared a coming siege. Eventually, driven mad with grief over Beatrix's death, the King of the White Dragon had turned against his subjects, inviting them all to a grand banquet for the Solstice Festival where he had them all slowly tortured to death within his castle. After all of his people lay dead, he flung himself from the tower of his castle. Shamino had little reaction to these revelations, standing silent in the face of his former lover's accusations and the tales of his co-ruler's insanity.

Eventually in this quest, during his adventures within the ruins of the ancient Ophidian civilization, Shamino became possessed by the Bane of Anarchy, an aspect of the shattered Chaos Serpent from Ophidian cosmology. In this fallen state as Shamino the Anarch, he slaughtered numerous inhabitants of the city of Moonshade, before being eventually struck down and cured of his possession by the Avatar. After the champion's ascension into the void following the restoration of the Great Earth Serpent, Shamino, by some means unknown, returned to Britannia, along with Iolo and Gwenno.

It was here, prior to Ultima IX, that Shamino journeyed to the Temple of Souls, going into the ethereal realms on a spiritual quest in the hopes of gleaning information that would be of use in the war against the Guardian. There, he uncovered the truth of the Guardian's origin, realizing that the Destroyer of Worlds was the amalgam of all the evils the Stranger had cast off upon attaining Avatarhood. In an attempt to keep the ranger from using this knowledge, the Guardian trapped him in the realm of the spirits, leaving his body to slowly begin to die in the material plane.

Shamino was eventually able to speak to the returned Avatar through various sacred statues throughout the land the land, and was able to thus provide the hero with valuable information he had discovered about the eight Columns the Guardian had created to pervert the course of the virtues. He ultimately was able to instruct the hero in the ritual needed to reestablish the link between his body and his soul, allowing him to finally reawaken to the lands of the living.

Later, Shamino assisted in the final defeat of the Guardian, journeying to the Great Stygian Abyss to cleanse the corrupting column linked to it, helping to cut off the Guardian's power and to divert the catastrophic collision of Trammel and Felucca.

The Tale of Shamino and the Spirits: A Parable of Spirituality
''The dead of Britannia have always been a restless lot. Why this should be I do not know, but I have sometimes thought that the vitality of the land itself is so great, it bestirs the memory of itself even in lifeless flesh.''

''Be that as it may, my final tale concerns itself with a certain town, where the inhabitants of the graveyard had forgotten their proper decorum. Nor was this a mere aimless revenant or two, but a veritable plague of lifeless stalkers. Most every night was disturbed by a squad or company of the dead making riot, for the creatures did not wander aimlessly, but set themselves about the business of terror and destruction with a methodical efficiency that demanded a malign will behind their excursions. ''

See the complete tale at: The Tale of Shamino and the Spirits: A Parable of Spirituality

Trivia

 * Shamino's counterpart in reality is none other than Richard Garriott, himself. Garriott also appears in the games as Lord British, whom Shamino often greatly resembles in physical appearance. Garriott's other counterparts include Shamuru, Richard Sherman and Lord Thibris
 * The Shamino character comes from Garriott's activities in Society for Creative Anachronism, though the name was reportedly taken from the Shimano brand of gears in Garriott's bicycle.
 * Although Shamino is from Sosaria/Britannia, he has hardly aged at all since his first appearance. Such a longevity normally belongs to the Companions from Earth or other worlds.
 * In Ultima VII, Sentri will ask Shamino if he still dresses in woman's clothing, eliciting upset remarks from the ranger in reaction. It is unknown if this refers to some escapade which transpired in the interim between games, or if Sentri is merely joking about the Shamino's proclivity for crossdressing..
 * After the initial encounter with Beatrix in Ultima VII Part Two, should Shamino ever be injured near to death over the course of the game, Beatrix will reappear and intervene, restoring him to health and forgiving his abandonment. After doing so, she will gift him with a book of love sonnets which she wrote for him and then depart for the void. This book is Shamino's "personal item" which can be used by a Hound of Doskar to track him when he is possessed.
 * According to the original design documents for Serpent Isle, Shamino the Anarch was to have originally played a much greater role in the game. According to the original draft, Shamino the Anarch was to have deposed Filbercio and set himself up as ruler of the city of Moonshade, overturning law and lifting the citys' restrictions on magic. In the ensuing chaos, Anti-Shamino was to have murdered Pothos, appointed Ensorcio as Chancellor of the city; and forcibly taken Frigidazzi as his paramour. The Avatar would have had to kill him in an ambush in the MageLord's palace, after being informed by the ice sorceress of a secret passage into the palace.