Britannian Magic



The magic of Britannia is a highly complex art, which only very few can master. The ability to do magic can't be learned. Either it is with the mage from birth, or it will never come at all. And even if the ability is there, it takes years to learn the art. But once it is learned, the mage can do devastating and constructive things with his or her art. To do magic successfully, several things have to be in the possession or knowledge of the mage.

This section will be a good explanation, how magic in Britannia works in the Ultima series, and what rules have to be looked at when casting a spell.

The Spellbook
The Spellbook is the most important part of casting spells, and without it, no magic can be done. In the spellbook, all spells known to the mage are written down, to be easily accessed. The Spells can be learned from other mages, and can then be written down into the book, for easy access and fast spellcasting. The more experience the mage has, the fuller the spellbook is.

Spellbooks only became common from Ultima VI onward. Before, spellbooks weren't needed, and the spells directly mixed. In Ultima V, magic scolls also appeared, but they were unpractical, and vanished again after a while. In Ultima VI, mages sell spellbooks, Lord British has one ready for the Avatar at the beginning of the game. In Ultima VII, Lord British has a Spellbook ready for the Avatar in the castle, a few others can be found in the game, but jhaven't any use.

Reagents


Needed for the spell are reagents. These chemical substances are needed as a link between the physical world of the spellcaster and the etheral waves of magic. Each of them can be found in specific places, or brought from other mages, who earn money with the selling of reagents. Reagents have to be prepared in a special manner, before they can be used to can any spells.

These reagents are in use since Ultima IV, where the magic system was altered significantly, and became more complex. Since then, the reagents have stayed the same, and appeared in every installment in Britannia.

Black Pearl
...

Blood Moss
...

Garlic
...

Ginmseng
...

Mandrake Root
...

Nightshade
...

Spider Silk
...

Sulfurous Ash
...

Words of Power
The last and important part of doing magic, is the incarnation itself. These words have to be spoken when activating the spell, so that the magic can free the power of the force tempered with. The combination of the syllables is it, which defines the spell, beside the combination of Reagents. Following are the syllables, their meaning for a spell and pronauncion.

In Ultima V, the magic words had to be typed in by hand. From Ultima VI onwards, the computer did all this work, thus making spellcasting a lot easier and therefore much more fun.

The Spells
The number of spells is very great in the britannian magic system. Far too many to list all of them on this page. Therefore they are found in a extra category. This category is:
 * Britannian Spells.