Ultima VIII: The Lost Vale

Ultima VIII: The Lost Vale is a cancelled add-on for Ultima VIII: Pagan. The Lost Vale was ready to be duplicated for release before Electronic Arts decided against shipping it. The project was not archived and its data was eventually lost. Only some screenshots and the box design, which was later confirmed as genuine, survived. Recently discovered Plot Documents reveal more of the story. Starting of the Lost Vale would have occurred when the Avatar received a magical message from Lord British, with help from Nystul, telling about people on Pagan who can help the Avatar to defeat the Titans and escape Pagan. The Avatar was then told to visit Mythran for more information about the people of the Lost Vale.

Entry point
The entry point to this quest was meant to be the double doors in the Plateau. In the standard game, these doors cannot be opened. There are also a lot of human remains in the vicinity; suggesting that this was the site of a great battle or catastrophe. Key to the double doors would have been gained from a ghost called Galjeron, after a magical communication. Area behind the double doors would have contained the entrance to the Vale, along with a dungeon divided into four parts, each part corresponding to a different elemental theme. Actual entrance to the Lost Vale would have been blocked by four pillars of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Magical gems found from the four points of the dungeon were needed to destroy the elemental pillars.

Story
The Titans had sealed their enemies, the Zealans, in the Lost Vale, together with three of the Gods of Emotion: Felicitar, Doloras and Timyra. The Avatar would have the duty of releasing these three Gods, so that they help him on his quest to defeat the Titans and leave Pagan. Healing the schism between the two sides and repairing the Shield of Ancients were required of the Avatar to succeed. A Zealan priestess called Ezrakel would have joined with the Avatar at certain point to free the lost Gods. No more is known about the story, but from the screenshots, some material can be interpreted:
 * The three Gods, who are mentioned in a book at the entrance to the Shrine, are trapped in amber like resin, and have to be released.
 * Part of the action is high in the mountains, with clouds around.
 * Hydros's legions of undead appear also.
 * According to the box, a "bag of reagents" was supposed to appear, ending the need for finding reagents (like the Ring of Reagents did in Ultima VII: Part 2). It would have become available either from Mythran early on or as a reward from the three Zealan Gods, after being released.

Around 2007, more details of the story came to the light:

''The story of Lost Vale was that a group of people had been shut off from the main population of Pagan when the Ancient Gods disappeared. They were isolated for a very long time. However, during this isolation a terrible tragedy involving the deaths of two young boys had befallen them. This tragedy caused a schism in the population with each side blaming the other for the deaths. Neither side had spoken to the other for a decade. It was up to the player to “awaken” the Ancient Gods and heal the schism between the people. To do this, the player had to ascend to the very cloud city where the Ancient Gods were believed to live. There, a terrible surprise was uncovered. The Ancient Gods were not asleep, but actually had been imprisoned. The player had to figure out how to release them. The cloud city appeared abandoned, but was full of traps and tricks and was very dangerous.''

''As a side note, it was for this add-on disk that the “tiny-tar” spell was developed. This was a spell the player would be able to cast upon him/herself and make themselves shrink. I believe this was developed by John Watson. We got such a kick out of a teeny tiny avatar running around the world that we worked it into the plot line. At one point, to get into the ruined temple, the player had to cast the tiny-tar spell and creep in through a crack in the wall. Great fun!''