Cards of Virtue
The Cards of Virtue are a series of decorated cards similar to the Terran tarot that have, at times, been used by the enigmatic Gypsy to scry into the Stranger's soul. They appear in Ultima IV and in Ultima IX, and also feature as a physical trinket packaged with the latter game.
A second series of cards were created to celebrate Ultima Forever.
Description[edit]
The Gypsy would first use these cards, in conjunction with an abacus, to determine which virtues governed the Stranger's soul prior to the hero's first visit to the newly unified Britannia. Depending on this reading, the Stranger would become committed to one of the eight major professions of the realm. While the Gypsy would later use divinatory incense and potions to perform this feat in subsequent sessions with the Avatar, she would eventually use the cards once more to determine the Champion of Virtue's moral direction in preparation for a final return to Britannia.
Trinkets[edit]
Ultima IX[edit]
Eight Virtue cards, featuring artwork by Jeff Dee, were included with the original release of Ultima IX as collectibles. Each bore a "motto" for its signature Virtue, written in the magical words of power.
- Honesty: Sanct wis an quas
- Compassion: An nox uus mani
- Valor: Vas mani vas corp
- Justice: Sanct ex an jux
- Sacrifice: Bet corp vas mani rel jux lor
- Honor: An rel sanct wis
- Spirituality: An lor an corp
- Humility: Bet xen des grav
Ultima Forever[edit]
A second series of cards was created to celebrate the announcement of Ultima Forever at Comic-Con in 2012. They feature brand new images for all eight cards, some of which closely resemble those from the cards included with Ultima IX, although smaller in size. Paul Barnett posted an image of these cards on his Twitter feed July 12th, 2012.
Another series of cards, identical in terms of design but of the same size as the Ultima IX set, was also included a year later with the Collector Box that was released during E3 2013.
Trivia[edit]
- There is a mistake on the Ultima IX trinket cards representing Valor and Justice: Valor shows the lunar phase for Spirituality, while Justice shows that of Humility.
- For Ultima IV Remastered the cards were redone, now looking a lot like – but not identically – those from Ultima IX.
Gallery[edit]
Virtue Cards created for Ultima Forever
Cards as seen in Ultima IV
The cards from Ultima IV Remastered
