Forum:Interview with Raymond Benson

Ken over at the Ultima Codex is going to be interviewing Raymond Benson, lead writing for Ultima VII and Ultima VII Part Two tomorrow. If you folks have any questions for him, post them here, and I'll forward them to Ken. Dungy (talk) 12:16, 26 March 2013 (PDT)

I do have some questions:

1) How many of the original plot of Ultima VII and Part Two have been scrapped?

2) About the plot. Could you tell us more about:

A) The original intentions of The Guardian by sending Batlin to Serpent Isle? Did he know about the Banes of Chaos?

B) 'Simon', the disguised goblin. Did he kill the real Simon?

C) The (i)nfamous shorten of the plot concerning the escapades of the Banes of Chaos in Monitor, Fawn, Moonshade and the healing of Candra? Why was this dropped?

D) What was the idea behind the locked double door in Spinebreaker Mountains? (or was it elsewhere?)

2) Could you be so kind to tell us if the Fellowship was based on an actual existing religious group? There were some rumours that there were some parallels with Scientology.

3) How long did it take to write the background story and plot of Ultima VII and Part Two? How did you folks pick the names of the most of the NPCs like Sseetharee, Ssithnos, Batlin, those of the Gwani, et al? --Arthgon (talk) 15:03, 26 March 2013 (PDT)

Not sure exactly how much worldbuilding he did as lead writer, but here are my questions:

1) Where exactly is Serpent's Fang located?

2)There was speculation that Elissa became Petra; any truth to that?

3) Morghrim the Forest Master was said to be from Pagan, where he kept the great Tree of Life, Elerion. However, there was nothing in Ultima 8 about this. What exactly was his backstory on Pagan?

4) Serpent Isle introduces a new syllable, Frio, and reagents to the traditional Ultima spellcasting system. Was this just to fit the "cold" theme of the game, or was this part of a larger spellcasting discussion?

5) Drusilla, Solaria and Rieyna work for the Guardian, but exist far in the past (Silver Seed had to occur near the time of Ultima III, but the Guardian wasn't formed until after Ultima IV according to U9). Was this part of the overall Guardian evolution, or intentional?

6) What was your favorite part of the U7 storyline?

I'm sure I could come up with more, but I'll leave it at that. --Browncoat Jayson (talk) 09:37, 27 March 2013 (PDT)

Oh, and who's idea was it to use Gargish for the special incantations (summon the giant turtle, unite the banes, Stone of Castembre)? Very cool. --Browncoat Jayson (talk) 14:20, 27 March 2013 (PDT)