Bobbits

Bobbit
A bobbit horsemaster, from the Ultima III manual.
Variants:	hobbit
First appearance:	Ultima I
Last appearance:	Ultima III

Bobbits (called hobbits in Ultima II) are one of the numerous races which peopled the Sosaria of old. Noted for their quiet and contemplative nature, bobbits were often found in pursuit of scholarly and spiritual aims, frequently shunning physical trades due to their diminutive size.

Description

Once counted alongside the races of dwarves and elves as familiar sights in archaic Sosaria, bobbits of old were rumored to have emigrated to the realm from another world. Such extra-planar origins might explain their natural aptitude for philosophical insight, as bobbits were said to possess a wisdom born to them that could not be learned.

Whatever their origins, bobbits eventually vanished from the lands of Sosaria. Perhaps they, like much of the world's landscape, were destroyed within the cataclysmic upheavals that seemed to punctuate the earliest history of the world. Perhaps, like the mountain-folk, they began to interbreed with mankind, such that their distinctive traits were eventually lost to genetic history.

Whatever the cause, no bobbits were seen in Britannia in the ages after the fall of Exodus. (It was suggested that the bobbit race was eventually wiped out in Sosaria by a plague from Mondain; see Trivia below.)

Lore

“

A small and gentle race, the Sosarian bobbits are believed to have come to our Realm from a distant place. They are said to favour mountainside meadows and the serenity of forest clearings. Their diminutive height being even less than that of a dwarf, they shun any task that involves hard, physical labour, preferring instead to pursuits of study and contemplation. Bobbits are naturally weak, yet possess a serenity indicative of profound wisdom. – from The First Age of Darkness (Ultima I)

Trivia

• Bobbits, much like their Dungeons & Dragons cousins the halflings, are a race clearly meant to be a direct stand in for the hobbits from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. In Ultima II they were actually named hobbits. Their status as potential immigrants to Sosaria from another land is probably a reference to their creative origins.
• In early games, bobbits receive a racial bonus to their wisdom statistic.
• In Ultima VIII, the Ear of Arricorn books, Vol. III–IV, mention a “nobbit” – another reference to the Hobbits of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.
• The UO Town Cryer Newspaper, March 10, 1998, mentions the bobbit hero Bonchu who died from a plague released by Mondain that ended the bobbit race.
• In the NES-port of Ultima III the spelling is “bobit”.

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Playable Races
The Races	Human ☥ Elf ☥ Dwarf ☥ Bobbit ☥ Fuzzy ☥ Gargoyle