Wisps

Wisps are a hivemind race of inter-dimensional information brokers who manifest on various worlds as sparkling balls of blue light. They appear in Ultima IV,  V,  VI,  VII, as well as in the Ultima Underworld series, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams.

Description
Wisps identify themselves as representatives of the Xorinite dimension, and the collective consciousness they represent is properly known as "Xorinia." Aloof and dispassionate, the wisps care for little save for the exchange and collection of information - and go to great lengths to arrange trades between various entities throughout the multiverse. To what end the Xorinite community seeks this data has remained largely unknown, and those who deal with wisps are well advised to be careful what they share, as it is liable to be passed to their other clients.

As physical entities, wisps have a number of powers: including instantaneous teleportation; the capacity to summon hostile creatures; and the ability to break off portions of their luminous corpus to act as scouts. They have long been fearsome opponents in combat, and in later years they were nigh invincible, unless confronted with a weapon such as the Black Sword.

Sosarian Pre-History
The first known interaction which the wisps had with Sosaria involved a member of an ancient civilization known only as "Zog," who was given a free sample of data by Xorinia in the form of the Armageddon spell some 700,000 years before the foundation of Britannia. Zog, either not comprehending the ramifications of using this incantation, or possessing some nihilistic urge toward self-destruction, cast the spell, causing all life on the planet to cease.

Age of Enlightenment
Although life eventually reasserted itself millennia later, the Stranger did not encounter the wisps until after the end of the Age of Darkness. In their earliest meetings, the hero would find these luminary manifestations strangely hostile: wisps would attack numerous times throughout the Stranger's quest toward Avatarhood in Ultima IV, and during the champion's eventual return to depose the tyrant, Blackthorn, in Ultima V.

It was only during the years of Gargish conflict in Ultima VI that the Avatar would be able to converse peacefully with these strange beings. Not being able to distinguish one lifeform on Britannia for another, the Xorinite wisps would see themselves as having already spoken with the hero, having already carried out previous interactions with organisms on the same plane. Trying as best they could to explain their function to the champion of the virtues, the wisps would offer the Avatar an additional "sample," giving the hero information as to how to cast the immensely destructive spell that had once devastated the entire planet.

Should the hero approach a wisp during this age while carrying a copy of The Book of Lost Mantras, the unit addressing the Avatar would indicate that it was a highly prized information source, and would convey that an entity known as "Rklbwm" would pay for the data within it using gold. Should the hero accept this as payment, the wisps would manifest as much of the precious ore as the Avatar's company could carry. If the Avatar instead demanded information as a trade good, however, he would be given knowledge in complicated physical-mathematical terms about how to use the Lenses and the Vortex Cube to return the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom to the Ethereal Void.

In the years immediately following the Lord British and Draxinusom's historic accord, the Avatar could encounter wisps on a variety of worlds. During the hero's adventures in the temporally-shifted Eodon valley of Earth (Savage Empire), the manifestations of Xorinia, found in the swamps near the Urali Tribe or inside Kotl, would freely tell of the fascinating incident that had blocked the valley off from the rest of Terran reality, and what the problem is that needs to be solved. Later, in the ruins west of the Syrtis Major on 19th century Mars (Martian Dreams), a wisp would offer up data regarding the Martian civilization and the specifics of the Dream World in exchange for samples of rare dirt money.

Back on Britannia, during captivity in the Abyss under Baron Almric (Ultima Underworld), the Avatar could again briefly encounter another Britannia manifestation of Xorinia, which would again offer knowledge of Armageddon, this time via the medium of runic magic. Should the hero state a reluctance to cast such a spell, the wisp would give congratulations for such wisdom, telling that not all information was useful.

Age of Armageddon
Two hundred years later, in the age of the Fellowship (Ultima VII), the Avatar would be forced to consult the wisps as a means to seek and audience with the entrapped Time Lord. During this era, however, few knew how to court the attentions of Xorinia, and individual wisp units within the Deep Forest would only respond to certain calls as were made by the nearby Emps. After gaining the friendship of these small simian creatures, the hero would obtain a specially prepared whistle that channels of communication with the enigmatic creatures might again be opened.

Before the Xorinite entities would reveal the means of contacting the Lord of Time, however, they would require information contained in the notebook of Alagner, who was deemed the wisest man in Britannia at the time. Claiming to seek such data on behalf of the "Undrian Council," the wisps would be free-flowing with information once the tome was rendered unto them, telling the Avatar in detail of the Guardian and the Black Gate, in addition to adjusting his Orb of the Moons to focus on the Time Lord's location. However, after the deal had ended, the hero would discover too late that knowledge of Alagner's anti-Fellowship sentiments had reached the ears of the red conqueror through Xorinite exchange, and that the man had been murdered as a result of his notebook's contents.

The last time the Avatar would converse with these strange beings was during adventures to the various worlds of the Blackrock Jewel in Ultima Underworld II. Encountering a manifestation in the blue zone of the Ethereal Void, the hero would have the opportunity to ask Xorinia of the history of the race known as the Trilkhai, among other things. In exchange, the wisp would require knowledge regarding the fate of a freedom fighter known as Bishop, who openly opposed the Guardian's reign on numerous worlds.

Despite the Avatar never again conversing with these Xorinite entities, books on Pagan (Ultima VIII) spoke about strange glowing balls of light appearing on the Plateau where Mythran kept his home, suggesting yet another world visited by these enigmatic beings.

Lore




Trivia

 * The wisps, their function as transdimensional information brokers, and their connection to Zog were all the inventions of Dr. Cat (David Shapiro).
 * In the SNES Port of Ultima VII, the wisps may be summoned via a Magic Lantern, rather than by using the Wisp Whistle.
 * In Ultima VIII, there are reports of mysterious balls of light on the Plateau, which might imply Xorinite contact on that world - although this theory has never been confirmed.
 * The Wisp was supposed to appear in Ultima VII Part Two, as evidenced by the character portrait found in the usecode, as seen at the right. Why it does not is not known.