Gustacio
| Gustacio | |||||
 Gustacio, from Ultima VII Part Two | |||||
| Species: | human | ||||
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Gustacio (also known as the Green Mage[1]) is a Moonshadian mage living on Serpent Isle. He appears in Ultima VII Part Two.
Description[edit]
Gustacio was a well-respected Adept in Moonshadian society, and at the time of the Avatar's arrival in the city of mages, he held position on the Council of Mages alongside the MageLord Filbercio and the red sorceress Rotoluncia. A severe and hard-working man, Gustacio was a specialist in magic dealing with weather and the natural world,[2] and he allied himself with the necromage Mortegro in the hopes of uncovering the secret of the magical teleport storms that had plagued the land in the wake of the coming Imbalance.[3][1] This undertaking so consumed his time and attention that he would initially refuse to speak to the Avatar, being too caught up in his experiments to converse with anyone he deemed unworthy of his time.[4]
Despite not having a terribly warm demeanor, Gustacio was reportedly possessed of a strong sense of ethical obligation, a quality that set him apart from most magicians in the city, who deemed it their right to undertake whatever their magic could help them to accomplish.[5] He proved willing to defend the Avatar when the hero came under attack by Rotoluncia at a banquet held to honor the hero, by the MageLord.[4] While he would later join in sentencing the Avatar to the Mountains of Freedom after discovering an apparent indiscretion with the MageLord's mistress, he did so with the conviction that the trial was a grim but unavoidable miscarriage of justice.[6]
It was, in fact, only after the Avatar withstood the trial of the dungeon that Gustacio's respect, as well as attention, were earned. During the span of hero's imprisonment, the adept became friends with Iolo, and he began to look into the case presented to him by the shepherd Kane, who was seeking out an answer to the mystery of his brother Edrin's disappearance during a teleport storm. Once the Avatar finally emerged from the Mountains of Freedom and won an official pardon, Gustacio became more welcoming, being greatly impressed with the hero's abilities.[7]
Once met, the adept endeavored to continue his research into the origins of the storms with the Avatar's aid, an undertaking made necessary by the fact that Mortegro had disappeared after being struck by an errant bolt of magical lightning, which had exchanged his body with an Ophidian altar stone in the distant Northlands. Gustacio, who knew not the full details of Mortegro's fate, explained that their research hypothesized that the variety of effects produced by the teleportation storms were connected to the different observable colors of lightning that occurred during the magical tempests. The Avatar, in order to examine these correspondences, carried an energy globe to an experimental tower that Gustacio had erected to the north of Moonshade and used the magical apparatus to summon a storm and record what colors were accompanied by what types of phenomena.[8] After this task was performed, Gustacio directed the hero to consult with Fedabiblio for a further interpretation of their results. The Magister bade the hero gaze into his crystal ball, and it was revealed there that Edrin had been the victim of magical transmutation, having been struck by a bolt of yellow lightning that transformed him into a parrot.[9]
Armed with this knowledge, the Avatar took the transformed Edrin, who had been found by Kane and taken in as a pet, and brought him to Gustacio's tower. Here, the hero summoned another storm and manipulated the lightning such that the bird was restored to the shape of a man. Gustacio, grateful for having his experiments brought to a successful conclusion, gave the hero the artifact known as the Mirror of Truth and offered instruction as to how to cast a number of magical spells.[8] He could also offer the Avatar some insights regarding the Black Sword that had once housed the daemon Arcadion, explaining that its sorcerous energies would need realignment before it could once again house a living soul.[10] The instrument that he had devised to fix such energy disruptions, however, had been lost for many years at the time the Avatar first met Gustacio, having been stolen by the necromancer Vasculio.
Eventually, following the catastrophic release of the three Banes of Chaos, Gustacio met his end at the hands of Shamino the Anarch, who slew him along with the majority of Moonshade's inhabitants.
Lore[edit]
| “ | Gustacio sat next to Frigidazzi. Filbercio introduced him as another of the Council of Mages. He called Gustacio a "valuable member of society" and praised his knowledge of weather spells. – from Balancing the Scales (Ultima VII Part Two)
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Goods[edit]
For Gustacio's prices for spells in Ultima VII Part Two, see Ultima VII Part Two magic shops.
Trivia[edit]
- The model for Gustacio's character portrait is Larry Kruitz.[11]
- A search of Gustacio's home will turn up an awakening potion, a sleeping potion, 9 guilders, and a scroll of Summon.
- Should the Avatar be male, Gustacio will mention briefly how he envies his tryst with Frigidazzi when asked about the trial.[6]
- All the inhabitants of Moonshade have Italian or pseudo-Italian names. The name Gustacio is very similar to the Italian name Gustavo.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fedabiblio. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "Adepts, Gustacio".
- ↑ Pothos. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "Gustacio".
- ↑ Mortegro. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "Gustacio".
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gustacio. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two.
- ↑ Filbercio. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "Adept Gustacio".
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Gustacio. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "the trial".
- ↑ Gustacio. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "Dungeon Freedom".
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Gustacio. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "experiment, further details, lightning colors, spells, teleportation, transmutation, transposition".
- ↑ Fedabiblio. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "Gustacio's experiment".
- ↑ Gustacio. Paul Carr’s Ultima transcripts. Ultima VII Part Two. "Daemon Sword".
- ↑ Armintrout, Bill. Ultima VII, Part Two: THE SERPENT ISLE - Moonshade Townplot (MOONSHAD.DOC) (Ultima VII Part Two). September 8, 1992. Page 18.