Cube Generator

The Cube Generator

The Cube Generator is one of the three colossal blackrock structures which the Guardian's followers erected in Britannia to prepare the realm for his coming. It appears in Ultima VII.

Description

Constructed sometime after the founding of the Fellowship some twenty years prior to the Astronomical Alignment, the Cube Generator functioned to broadcast the voice of the Guardian to the people of Britannia, giving the Destroyer of Worlds an automated process to manipulate those he had earmarked for his service. The seemingly subconscious monologuing of the Guardian's voice within people's consciousnesses, eventually wormed its way into Fellowship ideology, with officials claiming that this "inner voice" helped adherents gain their full potential.

Located deep within the caverns of the island containing the Meditation Retreat, this generator was protected by a piercing wall of sound, which rendered injury and death to those approaching it without adequate equipment to shield themselves. After being informed of this device by the Time Lord, the Avatar worked to construct helmets of the rare mineral, Caddellite, that they might penetrate this outer defense. When the hero was eventually able to enter the Cube, they found a strange labyrinth of bridges and magical traps, and were subject to the Guardian's constant taunts as they worked toward the construct's center to dismantle it. Eventually, they emerged victorious, and were able to shatter the generator and retrieve the small cube-shaped prism from within it.

Armed with this miniature cube, the Avatar was able to coerce the Guardian's disciplines into speaking the unvarnished truth, and was thereafter able to extract information as to the location of the elusive Hook.

Lore

The Cube generator can be found in the room farthest north in the dungeon on Fellowship Isle. The diagram describes the solution to the puzzle. Walk along the square paths to the center, where the little cube is located. Stepping in a numbered area creates and/or destroys the temporary between paths having the same number(s). Thou must be careful not to enter the fire field traps. Tread carefully, for an incorrect move can set thee back or, worse, kill thee.

- from Key to the Black Gate (Ultima VIII)

Trivia

Destruction of the Cube Generator

• The shapes of the three generators (a cube, sphere, and tetrahedron) form the logo used by Electronic Arts from 1982–1999.

• It actually IS possible to simply walk into the generator without the helmets. The sound trap works by causing, once the threshold is passed, party members 31 damage, which is normally deadly as the maximum HP is 30. However, the programmers forgot to adjust the trap for Forge of Virtue, where the Avatar's maximum HP is risen to 60, meaning the hero can still walk in, although the rest of the party dies.

• In the SNES Port of Ultima VII, the Cube Generator is located in the Dungeon Undertaker. It has no defenses aside from the barrier of sound, and may be dismantled by removing the cube prism from its nearby pedestal.

• After the destruction of the generator, the Guardian could still project his voice into the Avatar's mind. Since the Guardian can do so anyway, as proven in all other games, it must be concluded the generator somehow just is a means to "preach to the masses" instead of single persons.

See also

• Cube Generator Solution
• Tetrahedron Generator
• Sphere Generator