Stone of Castambre
The Stone of Castambre is a landmark in Ultima VII.
Description[edit]
Standing on the Isle of Fire in Britannia, it is a bleeding stone from which the Tree of Life grows. The stone can be "milked" for blood or strange hearts with a pick. Both of these items are needed in the act of golem creation or reconstruction. While the tree seems to wilt when harvesting a heart from it, it quickly recovers with seemingly no ill effects. Otherwise, little is known about this rock. A book on the Isle of Fire, written by the mage Astelleron, gives some details on its discovery and his research into the creation of golems.
The Stone played a major role in Ultima VII, where it was needed to heal the two golems on the Isle of Love, Adjhar and Bollux in the Test of Love. Its blood was first used to resurrect Adjhar, then again with the addition of a harvested golem heart for Bollux.
Lore[edit]
| “ | As I spied the rocks and the tree again, I was able to place both. The rocks were denoting the legendary Stone of Castambre, and the tree was none other than its accompanying Tree of Life. Beyond a doubt this was one of Astelleron's sources for powering his awesome golems. I must locate his journals and tomes to read more, but — if my memory serves — the Tree of Life likely supplied not only the blood for his magicks, but the “hearts” as well. – from A Guide to the Isle of Fire (Ultima VII)
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| “ | ... I am exhilirated! [sic] Today, while on the main island, I happened by a tree. While this is not inherently odd, I noticed that the tree seemed to grow not out of the ground, but from a large rock. Equally unusual was the five stones surrounding it, each located the same distance from each other and from the center stone. They looked much like they could represent vertices of a five-pointed star. And then I realized to what I was a witness: the legendary Stone of Castambre. Even had I not noticed the Tree of Life springing forth from the boulder, the Pentacle of rocks gave all away... – from Logbook of Astelleron (Ultima VII)
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Trivia[edit]
- One regular problem players encounter is, how to actually "milk" the stone for blood and the heart. For the blood, a bucket has to be placed in the south-eastern part of the stone, then the pickaxe has to be equipped and then used (not attack) on the tree on the stone. The same goes for the heart, after getting the information from Adjhar.
- A Guide to the Isle of Fire clearly states the stone golems were present on the island before Erethian raised it from the sea, while Astelleron's logbook suggests the island was still above the waves at the time of the golems' creation.
- A lever is cleverly hidden behind the stone. Using it opens the way to a treasure cache.
Gallery[edit]
Harvesting blood from the tree
Harvesting a heart from the tree (note the wilting tree)
