Lord Draxinusom
| Lord Draxinusom | |||||||||||||||||||
 Lord Draxinusom, from Ultima VII | |||||||||||||||||||
| Species: | gargoyle | ||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | |||||||||||||||||||
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Lord Draxinusom [drax-in-oo-som] is the leader of the gargoyles in Britannia, known by the title of "Grand Inquisitor" among his race. Initially encountered as an adversary during the wars of Ultima VI, the Gargish ruler eventually became a stalwart friend of the Britannian people after the "sacrifice" enacted by the Avatar to bring peace between his people and the subjects of Lord British.
Biography[edit]
Age of Enlightenment[edit]
After the Great Council raised the Codex from its seat in the Abyss and the collapse of the Underworld triggered the slow destruction of the Gargish homelands, Draxinusom and his people became convinced that their lives were in the shadow of the dark predictions made by the Book of Prophecies, which stated that the gargoyle race would face utter destruction unless the False Prophet who had manufactured its doom was sacrificed. Desperate to save his people from obliteration, the Grand Inquisitor waged war upon the "daemons" of the "Underworld," and attempted to summon the False Prophet to his realm that the archfiend might be slain on the stone altar.[1]
His attempts to secure the Avatar for sacrifice failed. However, the hero would eventually come to him to surrender, having learned from the scholar, Valkadesh, that the conflict between the two peoples would remain intractable unless the hero performed this gesture. Moved that the False Prophet would willingly accept the Amulet of Submission, Draxinusom's attitudes toward his enemy softened, and he allowed the hero to wander his lands unmolested.[2][3]
Ultimately, the Avatar managed to circumvent the morbid necessity to complete the prophecies, sacrificing possession of the Codex itself by sending it to the Ethereal Void. Although the Gargish ruler initially mistook this move as a further act of treachery, the Champion of the Virtues soon showed both him and Lord British that they might both access the Codex freely through use of two specially prepared lenses. This arrangement ended the bloodshed between the two races, and Lord British and Draxinusom became fast friends and allies in the years that followed the peace.
Age of Armageddon[edit]
The Gargish people, however, had not seen an end to their trials, and their eventual immigration to Britannia was fraught with ongoing mistrust and racism plaguing their people for centuries to come. Two-hundred years after the sacrifice of the Codex, Draxinusom could be found on the lonely island of Terfin, where the bulk of his people lived, far from the human-occupied mainland.
When the Avatar visited him again, the aging gargoyle was grateful to see the former False Prophet, and the two could speak at length over how greatly the land had changed over the years. Draxinusom would speak as to his regrets over his people's isolation and poverty, and would recall how he had been forced by the times to sell his prized Ethereal Ring to the mad Sultan of Spektran. If asked about the new philosophical organization known as the Fellowship, the weary king would explain that he felt the group had caused many of his kind to turn from the virtues of old, although he ultimately reserved his judgment as to whether the organization was sincere or deceitful. Should the Avatar, at the behest of Wislem, bring the monarch news of the slain youth, Inamo, Draxinusom would be deeply saddened, and would ask the hero to deliver the grim news to Teregus, Inamo's parent.[4]
After the destruction of the Black Gate and the disbandment of the Fellowship, Draxinusom appeared to take a renewed interest in Britannian politics, and the respect he maintained among his own people was remarked upon by the court magician Nystul in his work, A Safe Passage Through Britannia.[5] In the crisis that left Lord British imprisoned within the Guardian's blackrock dome a year later, during the Feast of the Reconstruction, Lord Draxinusom was postulated to be leading a resistance against the Red Titan's purported invasion, but the Britannian monarch voiced uncertainty as to whether his subjects would accept a gargoyle commander.[6] Among the Guardian's many provocations throughout this ordeal was the claim of an encounter between Draxinusom and the conqueror's troops, the veracity of which is not certain.
Already old by the time the Avatar departed for Serpent Isle, Draxinusom was not seen by the champion of Britannia during the hero's last return to the realm, perhaps having succumbed to the weight of his years. His ultimate fate, however, remains unknown.
Lore[edit]
| “ | For simplicity’s sake, I have taken Draxinusom’s words and translated them into Britannian. Although, like all Gargoyles, his Britannian vocabulary is nearly perfect, his syntax is still punctuated by his continual use of introductory infinitives. It is only such syntax that I have changed, not his terms or his meaning. – from Key to the Black Gate (Ultima VII)
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| “ | Lord Draxinusom is still titular head of the Gargoyle nation, even though the organization of the Gargoyle people has grown more and more diffuse since they were forced to move to Britannia. All still respect him as a wise ruler who saw his people through their most difficult period. |
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Trivia[edit]
- Draxinusom might be translated from Gargish as "Dragon Creating Diligence and Spirituality" or something similar, although the pronunciation used in later games with voice acting is not consistent with this interpretation, which would be pronounced drax-in-us-ohm. The Gargish word for dragon, however, is clearly a component of his name.
- In Ultima VI, should the player speak to Draxinusom without having learned Gargish, he will say, "An-bal-sil-fer! Klep lem! Por-aylem ter-ort ka!" This translates roughly to "False Prophet! Thief! To take you to the place of sacrifice!"
- In Ultima VII, after the destruction of the Sphere Generator, Draxinusom will remark that his Orb of the Moons has shattered.[7]
- Anton interviewed Draxinusom for his Key to the Black Gate, using the Gargish leaders word to give an overview of the isle of Terfin. The scholar edited the monarch's syntax, however, to better fit with the grammar of the Britannian language.[8]
- In the SNES-port of Ultima VII, Draxinusom purposefully hid his Ethereal Ring in the Dungeon of Unknown Fears on Spektran. According to him, the island was previously home to a Gargish colony before monsters drove the gargoyles from its shores.[9]
Gallery[edit]
Lord Draxinusom and wingless guards in Ultima VI
Lord Draxinusom in Ultima VII
Lord Draxinusom in Key to the Black Gate
External Links[edit]
- Ultima VI: The False Prophet ending (YouTube) – Lord British and Lord Draxinusom share the Codex (Ultima VI)
References[edit]
- ↑ Naxatilor the Seer. The Book of Prophecies (Ultima VI – in-game).
- ↑ Draxinusom. Ethereal Software’s Ultima VI transcript. Ultima VI. "Naxatilor, sacrifice, scholar, seer, surrender, talk, Valkadesh".
- ↑ Valkadesh. Ethereal Software’s Ultima VI transcript. Ultima VI. "sacrifice, surrender".
- ↑ Draxinusom. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "Ethereal Ring, Inamo, give up, murdered, selling, Sultan, Teregus, Terfin".
- ↑ Grossman, Austin. "Leaders of Britannia". A Safe Passage Through Britannia (Ultima Underworld II). Origin Systems, Inc.: 1993. Page 11.
- ↑ Lord British. Ethereal Software’s Ultima Underworld II transcript. Ultima Underworld II.
- ↑ Draxinusom. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "Moongates".
- ↑ Morris, Andrew P.. Key to the Black Gate (Ultima VII). Origin Systems, Inc.: 1992. Pages 22–23.
- ↑ Draxinusom. Ultima VII SNES transcript. Ultima VII. "Ethereal Ring, Terfin, treasures".