Cut Material in Serpent Isle

Ultima VII/2 is a great game, no doubt about that. However, in the process of creating the game, Electronic Arts set Origin a deadline which made it virtually impossible to implement all the features of the second half of the game. So the plot had to be made slimmer. This of course created numerous plot holes. Many of these cut elements can be found, at least in fragments, in the usecode of the game, since it would have been too burdensome to remove it completely instead of simply ignoring it. Other things are reconstructed from what is found in the game.

Cantra's healing
After Cantra is returned to Monk Isle and resurrected, she is mad, her mind having snapped under the stress of the Bane. However, unlike with the Companions, it is impossible for the Avatar to heal her, regardless which water is used. Why isn't the cure working on her after it did on the others?

Actually it was supposed to work. Her healing is in the usecode of the game but can't be activated. The Avatar was probably then given the task to return her to her mother Harnna in Monitor, which would mean an interesting confrontation with the Wantoness Bane. However, all this was lost in the haste to meet the deadline.

Claw Isle
Claw Isle is a big island, very prominent on the map... and the Avatar can never visit it. The only way to get there is cheating, or to find the cheat teleporter in Monitor. Going there reveals an empty, primitive village, strange cat statues and half-finished caves. Obviously there had been plans with Claw Isle.

The mystery was solved when one ex-employee of Origin told fans what they had planned. Essentially there had been two different, possible plans:
 * There was supposed to be a Kilrathi (from Wing Commander, thus continuing the Easter Egg from Ultima VII) stranded there. Since he was so advanced he was considered a god to any primitive people there.
 * The cat statues represent an almost extinct tribe of cat-like beings, with the chief being Yurel. (Yurel’s art was used as the cat-creature in the Silver Seed.) He was going to be an ally of the Avatar for a brief time, and he was supposed to be a tragic character who saw that the end of his people was near. However, saving them proved impossible, creating a somber and dark mood.

Bigger Cities
This is no plot cut, but nonetheless interesting. Originally it was planned to let Moonshade and Fawn have another layer. Overhead walkways, elevated decks and every building had multiple floors. However, the engine was unable to cope with the very high object count, so the layer was removed shortly before shipping the game, without any plot lost.

Door in Skullcrusher
There is one big door in Skullcrusher which can't be opened in any way. Removing it with the hackmover or teleporting through with cheats reveals an empty corridor system with a set of stairs leading into the ocean. Clearly the programmers had planned something with that door, but the deadline made it impossible to create whatever it was.

Under Bane Law
This is the biggest plot cut in the game. It was solely caused by the deadline and changed the whole second half of the game.

The Banes of Chaos originally don't just kill everyone in Monitor, Fawn and Moonshade. Instead they would have made themselves rulers over these cities and force them under the extremes of what they represent as anti-force. Many of these things are found in the usecode fragments.

Monitor
In Monitor, the Wantoness Bane had taken over the city, turning the citizens into the animals of whatever command they were member of (Wolves, Bears and Snow Leopards), to "fulfill" their greed for the strength of these animals. Animals that still have human minds, as seen in one usecode fragment, where a citizen looks into a puddle and discovers to his horror, that he looks like a wolf. Ideed, the animals still appear in the city in the shipped game, only now they serve no purpose at all which causes confusion why they appear in the first place.

Another usecode fragment from Luther reveals that later Caladin somehow died and Luther takes over to stop an invasion (probably the Goblins). Luther says:


 * "Now that I am Lord of the Bears, Monitor is at last safe from invasion."

Fawn
There are less fragments concerning Fawn. From what can be reconstructed, Iolo the Mad took the city under his control and literally caused madness. He still did what he did in the final game to Lady Yelinda but instead of killing the citizens, he let lose vermin and plague (as he did in the game), enjoying the vain citizens turning uglier with each passing hour under such horrible conditions.

Some things can be re-constructed from a scroll found on Leon's body:


 * Honor be to thee, dear reader. This piece of parchment is mine only means of communication with thee. Mad Iolo cruelly removed my tongue, that I might lead by example and not by words!


 * I am so disenchanted... I cannot bear the fact that I could not save the city from further plagues. Moreover, there is absolutely no sign of the return of Batlin.


 * What is going to happen? Thou shouldst tell me, I beg of thee.

It means that Mad Iolo would have ruled the town with twisted metaphors, as they are found all over the place even in the final game. Thus he did what he did to Yelinda, would have made Ruggs prominent and cut out Leon's tongue for the "lead by example" reason.

Moonshade
The most fragments are left in Moonshade. In the final game, everything had been done by the time the Avatar arrived. Not so in the original plans. Here Shamino the Anarch usurped the throne of the Mage Lord and stayed in town while abolishing every law, thus causing anarchy. The city becomes a hell-hole of lots of internal fighting, while usecode fragments state that the rangers, and especially Julia(SI) had joined Shamino the Anarch, thus committing treason.

Indeed, the treason of the rangers of Moonshade is still hinted, even int he final game. The dialogue of Ernesto, which can be accessed during normal gameplay, clearly proves this.


 * "Shamino the Anarch is the current MageLord. He hath brought great change to our city... No longer must a Mage or Mundane be bound by petty rules. It is quite exciting!"

Also, Ensorcio, the mage at the Inn of the Sleeping Bull was intended to have a much bigger role, conspiring with Shamino the Anarch to get his revenge on the mages. This dilogue is found in the usecode:


 * "Seest thou, Avatar? I told thee that I would teach them not to take Ensorcio lightly! I told thee that one day they would welcome me back... Beg for me to return!"


 * "Filbercio's unjust rule hath been brought to an end! Shamino the Anarch, thy wonderful companion, hath cast him from power and I have been welcomed with open arms! Oh, what joy! To be back in Moonshade and free to experiment as I wish! Shamino the Anarch hath proclaimed me the finest of Adepts! At last someone hath seen my talents and set them for the world to see... No more shall I be Ensorcio the shunned, Ensorcio the exile! Now I am the premier Adept!"

Conclusion
After throwing the Banes out of town, then the Castle of the White Dragon would come.

Sadly however, the deadline issued by Electronic Arts made this impossible to implement, so they did the faster to create way, and killed everyone off in a holocaust. This also caused strange effects in the survivors, in that they don't even seem to care that their cities were destroyed and everyone else killed off.