Castle of the White Dragon
| Castle of the White Dragon | |
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 Location of the Castle of the White Dragon | |
| Located in: | Serpent Isle |
| Type: | castle |
 The Castle of the White Dragon | |
The Castle of the White Dragon (or the White Dragon's Castle) is one of eight keeps which house the rulers of the feuding states of old Sosaria. It is located within the Lands of Danger and Despair. Later it became infamous for the tragic slaughter that its ruler instigated following a fit of madness, and has long stood in the landscape of the northern Serpent Isle as a place with a reputation for hauntings. It appears in Ultima I and Ultima VII Part Two.
History[edit]
Age of Darkness[edit]
The Castle of the White Dragon was home to the King of the White Dragon, who ruled in tandem over the realm with Shamino Sallé Dacil, a former woodsman who had won the affections and hand in marriage of the King of the White Dragon's daughter, Beatrix. During the Stranger's quest to defeat Mondain, the hero could consult with the lord of this keep, who would offer the adventurer a boon of strength if searching for knowledge of the Tower of Knowledge. During this era, the imprisoned Princess Lori could be found within the environs of the castle, and the Stranger had the option of securing her rescue – although such an undertaking brought down the ire of guards and court upon the hero.
After the death of Mondain, the Lands of Danger and Despair became separated from the other major continents of Sosaria, forming into a world in its own right which would later come to be known as the Serpent Isle. Shamino, who had previously been abroad in the Lands of Lord British likely found the journey home an impossible undertaking in light of such cataclysmic events, and Beatrix, thinking her betrothed had abandoned her, fell sick and died of heart break.
The King of the White Dragon, insane with grief for his lost daughter and rage at Shamino, became the instigator of unspeakable crimes. Paranoid regarding the incursions of the goblin hordes, the ruler sought to "save" his people by taking them into the realm of death. In his final days, he invited the whole of his kingdom to join with him in a celebration of the Solstice Festival. Once the guests were inside the keep, they were slaughtered to the last man. The king, satisfied with his grim work, flung himself from the castle's tower thereafter.
Age of Armageddon[edit]
Centuries later, when the Avatar's Companions became possessed by the Banes of Chaos, the hero returned to the castle where they had taken refuge in the ill-omened keep. The ghost of the king manifested, offering to bring the hero to salvation in the realm of the dead and transforming into the beast of his namesake. It is likely that the Avatar slew him in this form, although it is not known if such an act was capable of bringing the spirit to peace. Eventually, the hero navigated a gauntlet of traps set by the banes and recaptured the chaotic spirits within the blade of the Black Sword after a fierce battle.
Lore[edit]
| “ | I have been given the privilege of chronicling the King's romp through madness. As a reward, I will be slain quickly. His Majesty began with a commoner named Patric, stretching him on the rack. By his own hands, His Majesty turned the man to a babbling wretch over the course of twelve hours.
... ...After boiling the flesh from a family of farmers, His Majesty became inspired. He restrained a noble, a guest at the great banquet, upon the torture table and applied tourniquets to each of his limbs. One by one the limbs became useless strands of dead flesh. He showed mercy on the victim by killing him only five hours later by opening numerous small wounds on his person and letting him bleed to death. ... The King of the White Dragon killed his own wife by slaying a bull, slitting open the carcass, and placing her, tied securely, into the opening. He then sewed the opening shut such that naught but her head protruded. He sat outside and watched as the carcass decayed around her and vultures and other carrion beasts picked apart the meat -- the bull's and hers... – from A Treatise on Torture (Ultima VII Part Two)
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| “ | The sun was beginning to set as I left the isle of the Mad Mage, so I pulled my skiff ashore on the eastern coast of the Serpent Isle and started to look for shelter for the night. In a small hollow, I spied the ruins of a large castle, and made my way toward it through the gathering evening mist. As I approached the gates, the moonlight filtered through the bare tree branches, sending skeletal shadows across the ground and up the stark castle walls. I caught myself looking over my shoulder and starting at shadows as I walked to the remains of the drawbridge. – from Balancing the Scales (Ultima VII Part Two)
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Inhabitants[edit]
Ultima I[edit]
- King of the White Dragon: the king
Ultima VII Part Two[edit]
- King of the White Dragon: restless ghost
- The Banes of Chaos: unbalanced spirits
Trivia[edit]
- While many of the tomes within the Castle provide fascinating insight as to the King of the White Dragon's descent into madness, some few books bear an unpleasant surprise for unwary readers. They are Killer Jokes of the Trixter, books that can be quite lethal to the reader.
Gallery[edit]
The White Dragon's Castle, Ultima I
| Sosaria |
|---|
| Lands of Lord British (or "Sosaria" in Ultima III) | |
|---|---|
| Cities | Britain ☥ Dawn ☥ Death Gulch ☥ Devil Guard ☥ Grey ☥ Montor Moon ☥ Fawn ☥ Paws ☥ Tune ☥ Yew |
| Castles | Castle of Lord British ☥ Castle of the Lost King |
| Landmarks | The Pillars of Protection ☥ The Tower of Knowledge |
| Dungeons (Ultima I) | Death's Awakening ☥ The Dungeon of Doubt ☥ The Dungeon of Montor ☥ The Dungeon of Perinia The Lost Caverns ☥ The Mines of Mt. Drash ☥ The Mines of Mt. Drash II ☥ Mondain's Gate to Hell ☥ The Unholy Hole |
| Dungeons (Ultima III) | Dardin's Pit ☥ Dungeon of Doom ☥ Dungeon of Fire ☥ Dungeon of the Snake ☥ Dungeon of Time ☥ Mines of Morinia Perinian Depths |
| Islands and Other Sites | Ambrosia ☥ Ambrosian Shrines ☥ Isle of Fire ☥ Mt. Drash |
| Lands of Danger and Despair | |
|---|---|
| Cities | The Brother ☥ Bulldozer ☥ Dextron ☥ Gorlab ☥ Lost Friends ☥ Magic ☥ Turtle ☥ Wheeler |
| Castles | Castle of the White Dragon ☥ Shamino's Castle |
| Landmarks | Grave of the Lost Soul ☥ The Eastern Sign Post |
| Dungeons | The Dead Cat's Life ☥ The Dead Cat's Life II ☥ Dead Man's Walk ☥ The Dungeon of Doom ☥ Free Death Hole The Hole to Hades ☥ The Morbid Adventure ☥ The Skull Smasher ☥ The Spine Breaker |
| Lands of the Feudal Lords | |
|---|---|
| Cities | Arnold ☥ Gerry ☥ Helen ☥ John ☥ Linda ☥ Owen ☥ The Snake ☥ Wolf |
| Castles | Castle Rondorin ☥ Castle Barataria |
| Landmarks | The Pillars of the Argonauts ☥ The Pillar of Ozymandias |
| Dungeons | Advari's Hole ☥ The Dead Warrior's Fight ☥ The Gorgon's Hole ☥ The Horror of the Harpies The Horror of the Harpies II ☥ The Labyrinth ☥ The Savage Place ☥ Scorpion Hole ☥ Where Hercules Died |
| Lands of the Dark Unknown | |
|---|---|
| Cities | Clear Lagoon ☥ Gauntlet☥ Imagination ☥ Nassau ☥ Ponder ☥ Poor ☥ Stout ☥ Wealth |
| Castles | Black Dragon's Castle ☥ Castle of Olympus |
| Landmarks | The Sign Post ☥ The Southern Sign Post |
| Dungeons | The End ☥ The Guild of Death ☥ The Long Death ☥ The Metal Twister ☥ The Slow Death ☥ The Tramp of Doom The Troll's Hole ☥ The Viper's Pit ☥ The Viper's Pit II |
| Geography |
|---|
| Pagan | |
|---|---|
| Settlements | Argentrock Isle ☥ Daemon's Crag ☥ Tenebrae |
| Other | Carthax Lake ☥ Catacombs ☥ Cemetery ☥ Fishermen's Reef ☥ Hall of the Mountain King Herdsman's Valley ☥ Plateau ☥ Shrine of the Ancient Ones ☥ Stone Cove ☥ Treasure Cove Vengeance Bay |