Lord Blackthorn's Code of Virtues

Encountering the law on Justice

In Ultima V, Lord Blackthorn, the tyrant who ruled in Lord British's absence, codified the Britannian Virtues into a set of draconian laws, known as Lord Blackthorn's Code of Virtue, and Blackthorn's Eight Laws of Virtue.

The Code

After the Shadowlords twisted his mind, Lord Blackthorn declared martial law in Britannia and he came up under their influence with extremist versions of the The Eight Virtues, which he then turned into absolute law. These laws were then enforced by the sword and terror. At a closer look, one can discover how these laws are purely for the benefit of the dictatorship.

Virtue	Law
Honesty	Thou shalt not lie, or thou shalt lose thy tongue.
Compassion	Thou shalt help those in need, or thou shalt suffer the same need.
Valor	Thou shalt fight to the death if challenged, or thou shalt be banished as a coward.
Justice	Thou shalt confess to thy crime and suffer its just punishment, or thou shalt be put to death.
Sacrifice	Thou shalt donate half of thy income to charity, or thou shalt have no income.
Honor	If thou dost lose thine own honor, thou shalt take thine own life.
Spirituality	Thou shalt enforce the laws of virtue, or thou shalt die as a heretic.
Humility	Thou shalt humble thyself to thy superiors, or thou shalt suffer their wrath.

Analysis

Blackthorn's Code is a good illustration of the fact that the Virtues always come from one's own self rather than the norms of society; codifying ethics into law does not automatically make evil people good. Further, unethical lawmakers can take the Virtues and turn them into something that is quite contrary to what Virtues actually stand for. Laws in general should be made to prohibit behavior that is negative to society, instead of trying to force people to do what the lawmakers imagine as positive behavior.

Taking a closer look, one can discover that each of these laws is just another way for the regime to keep in power and hold control over the populace.

Virtue	True Purpose
Honesty	Serves to create terror in the populace and to produce denouncers, who are all too willing to sell out their fellow people to gain the favor of those in power.
Compassion	Of course the government decides who those in need are, and those suffering the same need lose all of their property to the government in the process.
Valor	With this law it's a win-win situation for the guards. Either they can accuse one of cowardice and kill them, or they suddenly have "just cause" to kill anyone who do defend themselves.
Justice	This makes it very convenient for the government to justify injustice. With this law, if one even tries to defend themselves, they automatically can be seen as guilty and thus killed without any further process.
Sacrifice	Since the government defines what "charity" is, it is a very easy excuse for guards to steal money from anyone they encounter and funnel it into the treasury of the government.
Honor	As it of course is the government that will give the accusation of lost honor, it creates a catch-22 for those accused. Either they kill themselves, or the government see them as law-breakers and does the job.
Spirituality	This is a general-purpose law to make sure that all the other laws are followed by the populace. It not only serves to spread terror, but to also maximize control.
Humility	Another blanket law, which pretty much gives all members of the regima a carte blanche to lord over the populace and mistreat them if they don't show obdedience.

Lore

“

Between the time this volume originally went to press and the time galleys arrived for final alterations, Lord British was lost while on an expedition to explore the newly discovered underworld. Days before we were to print, Lord Blackthorn declared martial law to deal with the general unrest in the wake of British's disappearance. The Ethics section of this book has be-en added to reflect the new measures imposed by Blackthorn. Ethics The Ethics of Britannia, or the accepted measure of proper behavior, were long based on the Way of the Avatar. As time progressed, the lessons of this historic tale came to be interpreted in many ways. In fact, many people interpreted the Way of the Avatar in ways that wouldn't require them to strive to uphold these virtues. Now, Lord Blackthorn, acting king of all Britannia, has enacted a Code of Virtue that leaves no room for misinterpretation. – from The Book of Lore (Ultima V)

Trivia

• In-game, besides the misuse of justice encountered, the laws of Compassion and Sacrifice are the only ones seen in action. For Compassion, random guards damand donations, or arrest the group. For Sacrifice, in Minoc guards will demand half the gold as "Sacrifice Tax" and also threaten arrest if not paid.