Sawmill
The sawmill of Minoc is the sole visible means of processing lumber in Britannia. Appearing in the centuries that span Ultima VI through Ultima VII, it provides much needed materials to the artisans and workers of the nearby city. At one time the mill served the relatively pedestrian role of crafting a set of panpipes, but by Ultima VII it became the gruesome scene of a crime.
History[edit]
Age of Enlightenment[edit]
Powered by the nearby river emptying into Lock Lake, the Minoxian sawmill long served to plane bucked logs harvested from the western forests of the continent, supplying the tinkers of the city of Sacrifice with treated wood for their numerous projects. During the Avatar's journeys throughout the Gargoyle War, the mill was operated by Aaron,[1] who helped the wandering hero to process a yew log cut by Big Ben to have Julia fashion it into panpipes.
Age of Armageddon[edit]
The mill continued to operate over the next two hundred years, increasingly working silverleaf trees hewed for their delicate tasting root pulp. By the time of the Avatar's return to the realm in Ultima VII, the mill had passed into the hands of William,[2] and now had the majority of its timber supplied by a younger Ben working out of Yew.[3]
The hero's first visit to the city in this span came on the heels of a horrific double murder, which had transpired in the mill the night before. Two gypsies, Frederico and his wife Tania, had been found by William as he attempted to open for the day – their bodies grotesquely rent and mutilated in a ritual fashion.[4] Should the Avatar investigate the scene of the killings, an abundance evidence would be uncovered: a candelabra bearing the trigraph of the Fellowship,[5] and a serpentine dagger made in the style used by the Jhelomian Library of Scars.[6] Both of these things would come to implicate the seemingly pacifist philosophical organization in the slayings and it could eventually be revealed that the infamous Fellowship assassin, Hook and his partner Forskis were responsible.[7]
Eventually, the sawmill ceased to be – perhaps having closed in light of its ill associations with death, or perhaps having carried on until such a time the that upheavals of the Imbalance and the Great Cataclysm destroyed it. Whatever the cause of its downfall, however, no similar plant was to be found in the re-settled Minoc of Ultima IX, with the small motley of gypsies and former Covites having little by the way of industry.
Lore[edit]
| “ | This thriving seaport is located in northern Britannia at the mouth of Lost Hope Bay. Minoc, also known as the City of Sacrifice, has an active sawmill, armourer, shipwright and branch of the Britannian Mining Company. – from The Book of Fellowship (Ultima VII)
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Services[edit]
- In Ultima VI, it costs a sum of five gold coins to plane a log.
The Ultima 6 Project[edit]
This is an Ultima 6 Project-related article or section. The information within may not apply to Ultima VI or other Ultima games.
In The Ultima 6 Project, the sawmill plays a larger role in gameplay, and many logs require processing there. Besides the log needed for the panpipes, the repairs for Jimmy's ship require no less than five boards, made from the best yew wood available.
Gallery[edit]
The crime scene in the sawmill
References[edit]
- ↑ Aaron. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "job, board".
- ↑ William. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "job".
- ↑ Ben. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "job, sawmill".
- ↑ William. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "murders, sawmill".
- ↑ Xanthia. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "candelabra".
- ↑ De Snel. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "dagger, murder site".
- ↑ Elynor. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "candelabra, Crown Jewel, Hook".