Mordra

Mordra
Mordra, from Ultima VII
Species:	ghost
Appearances
Ultima VII Location: Skara Brae

Mordra is a mysterious healer and magician, who came to settle in Skara Brae after somehow passing from her home world of Pagan into Britannia. She died – along with many others in the City of Spirituality – in a great fire originating with the alchemist Caine. The Avatar spoke with her shade in Ultima VII.

Description

Little is known about Mordra's past among the people of Pagan, although her grandson, Vardion, would some day recall stories of Britannia that she passed to him. Speaking to the Avatar years after Mordra's death, the Acolyte would tell of how his grandmother had disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and would put forth the idea that she had somehow managed to travel to one of the other worlds she had so often talked about. Mordra herself, however, said little that would hint at her otherworldly origins to the hero, admitting only that the powers she was invested with tied her to places far beyond the mortal plane.

Whenever and however Mordra came to Skara Brae, she was present for the mage Horance's descent into insanity and subsequent rebirth as a liche who threatened the city. Being wise beyond the kenning of most Britannians, the foreign enchantress devised a method of curing Horance of his condition: a ritual involving an enchanted cage and an alchemical potion would free the wizard from the grip of undeath. Tragically, however, the mayor, Forsythe, misquoted her instructions for such a mixture to the local alchemist, Caine. The botched recipe resulted in a great conflagration, razing the city and killing all who lived within it.

When the Avatar came to Skara Brae, Mordra proved helpful in assisting the hero, providing ample information about the ruined city, the ghosts who haunted it, and the magical forces at play within it. She was able to successfully direct the Avatar to re-concoct Caine's failed potion and to complete the ritual for cleansing Horance of his lichedom, freeing the city from its long servitude under the necromancer.

With this accomplished, the now sane and mortal Horance charged the hero with destroying his evil creation, the Well of Souls, in which many innocent spirits were bound in painful slavery. Undoing this artifact would require the final sacrifice of one of the isle's restless dead, obliterating their conscious being completely. When the Avatar asked Mordra if she would undertake this errand, she was forced to decline, claiming that the pacts she had made to obtain her power would so unbalance the magics involved as to destroy the entire isle, let alone a good portion of the mainland. Eventually the grim task of the Well's destruction fell to Forsythe, and the ghosts of Skara Brae, including Mordra, were thereafter free to return to the Void.

Lore

“

After a while I was able to build enough courage to investigate the cemetery. Out of the corner of my eye I chanced upon an elderly woman. Something was odd about her though. I could see her, but I could see through her as I tried to speak, but my words could not reach her. Finally, she began to move her arms in an intricate pattern — spellcasting, I am sure. When she finished, she spoke to me in soft, comforting tones, and even gave me a quick check to make sure I was uninjured. From her I was able to obtain information about what had befallen Skara Brae. – from Key to the Black Gate (Ultima VII)

“	There is nothing more known about the history of this unusual land, for Vardion has had no contact with his grandmother for some time now and Mythran remembers no more stories. Yet Vardion remains confident of the existence of this world of Britannia, and that its presence is related to his grandmother's alleged disappearance. – from The Chronicle of Pagan (Ultima VIII)

Trivia

• Bentic's The Chronicle of Pagan contains a fairly complete history of Britannia, which is alleged to have originated from Mordra's stories as recalled by Vardion. It is unclear as to whether Mordra had contact with Vardion while in Britannia that she might relay such stories, or if she had visited Britannia intermittently before eventually coming to settle there. Whatever the case, the narrative attributed to her in The Chronicle ends after the closing of the Gargoyle War, with the thaumaturge Mythran relating the events that would have come after her death.
• In Key to the Black Gate, Mordra provides Anton with information about the city of Skara Brae and its destruction, as she is the only inhabitant who is able to cast the Seance spell for his benefit. Anton records her words that they might be of use to the Avatar.
• When she relates the tale of Quenton and his family, Mordra mentions that she had a brother named Rinaldo, who sat on the High Court of Yew during the time in which the various perpetrators of crimes against the shade and his late wife were brought to justice. There is no other record of such a Rinaldo in Britannia, nor among the people of Pagan.
• Mordra is the author of Artifacts of Darkness, a tome that details a number of relics of evil and contains a curiously thorough overview of how one might dispatch Lord British. In it, she gives her surname as Morgaelin, which may reference the eponymous isle on Pagan.
• Should Forsythe be present in the party while addressing Mordra, the two of them will exchange barbs as they argue over the cause of the fire.
• In the SNES-port of Ultima VII, Mordra automatically casts the Shade Speak spell on the Avatar, which is the only way the hero is able to learn the spell. Once able to understand the language of death, the Avatar will receive instruction from Mordra as to how to defeat the liche Rudolfo, who has replaced Horance in this version of the game.