Mariah

Mariah is a recurring character. She first appears in Ultima IV and is one of the companions of the Avatar.

Biography
In Ultima IV, Mariah was a young mage in Moonglow, eager for adventure. If the Stranger told her of the quest for Avatarhood, Mariah would clamor to join the hero in the undertaking. The Rune of Honesty could be found near to the spot where Mariah had placed her gold, although it is unknown if the mageling knew this at the time.

Mariah was declared an outlaw during the time of Blackthorn's regime, along with many of the Avatar's other companions. Mariah stayed in Moonglow, but eventually fell prey to a Shadowlord's bolt. After barely escaping from the encounter with her life, she sought refuge at the Lycaeum, where healers did their best to tend to her wounds. It was in this condition that the Avatar found her in Ultima V, although she was again quite eager to join with the hero, in spite of her injured state. .

After the fall of Blackthorn, Mariah became a scholar at the Lycaeum, eventually coming to join the Council of Wizards. When the Avatar met with her in Ultima VI, she had become something of an expert in archaic magical languages, and was able to assist the hero in translating the Book of Prophecies which had been taken from the gargoyle priest participating in the attempted ritual slaying of the hero. Before she could accomplish this, however, she needed the Avatar to bring her the other half of a Silver Tablet, which held the key to the decoding the language in which the tome was written. .

Upon translating the book, Mariah revealed that the gargoyles had prophesied that an evil one would appear to rob them of their holy book and destroy their home world, and that this personage would be responsible for the destruction of their race unless sacrificed. Analyzing this, Mariah made the connection that this "False Prophet" coincided with the person of the Avatar, and sent the hero off in search of Sin'Vraal of the Drylands - hoping that the gargoyle could tell them more. .

After the eventual end of the gargoyle war, Mariah continued to work in the Lycaeum, but eventually she fell prey, like most of Britannia's mages, to the disrupted Ether caused by the Tetrahedron Generator. By the time the Avatar met her again in Ultima VII, she was quite insane, failing to recognize her former friend and raving about the state of the Lycaeum's ink-wells and quills. Even in this condition, however, she was still able to sell spells and reagents. .

After the Generator was destroyed, Mariah's madness was cured. When spoken to, she was startled at how much time had passed while she was lost to her insanity. .

In Ultima IX, Mariah, like many of the other companions, had been seduced by the power of the columns, taking on the name Hairam and the mantle of the Wyrmguard. She could be found guarding the column near Dungeon Deceit. If the Avatar managed to avoid her, rather than confronting and killing her, she would later be restored with the cleansing of the Shrine of Honesty. If spared, Mariah would teach the hero the "Restore Ritual," and would assist the hero in navigating the machinations of Batista, a deceitful mage who had possession of the Writ of Honesty, after her former lover, Tydus, had gifted it to her.

Later, Mariah would aid in the final defeat of the Guardian, journeying to Deceit once again 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.

Lore
"Girls can be adventurers too! Mariah is my hero!"

- Small Girl (Ultima IX)

The Tale of Mariah and the Demon: A Parable of Honesty
''Above all things save one, a young mage must be curious, and so it was with Mariah. It was this curiosity that led her, in the course of her journeyman wanderings, into a certain grove that had a reputation locally as a perilous and haunted place.''

''She soon found that reputation warranted, when a soft, deep and not-unpleasant voice inquired, "How now, little mage, you wander far from the safe byways." ''

See the complete tale at: The Tale of Mariah and the Demon: a Parable of Honesty

Trivia

 * Mariah's counterpart in reality is Michelle Caddel, Richard Garriott's personal secretary at Origin.
 * Among the eight companions of the Avatar, Mariah (together with Geoffrey) is the companion who has the fewest opportunities to join the Avatar's party, being only able to accompany the hero in Ultima IV and Ultima V.
 * In Ultima VI, Mariah's questions regarding the language of magic form the second half of the in-game copyright protection.
 * In Ultima VI, Mariah's dialogue, like Julia's, reads as if she is meeting the Avatar for the first time, in spite of having been a potential companion in Ultima IV and Ultima V.
 * The Keyring Mod for Exult makes it possible for Mariah to join the party after the Ether is cleansed in Ultima VII.
 * In Ultima IX, the Avatar may opt to slay Mariah when encountering her as a Wyrmguard. If this happens, Mariah will later appear as a ghost, thanking the hero for releasing her from her bondage to the Guardian. She will later be restored to life along with Dupre and any other slain companions once the Shrine of Spirituality is cleansed.