The Tapestry of the Ages represents the lore of each of the Ultima Games, or more specifically the story of the Avatar. Throughout this section, I will be referring to the Tapestry as our guide.

Before the Tapestry, a young man by the name of Richard Garriott from Cambridge, England on Earth came across a medallion with a serpent engraved upon it. Upon examining it, a portal opened, and Garriott went through to a new land: Sosaria. There he met his first friend, Shamino who had injured himself while chopping wood. Shamino used magic to repair his wound, and Garriott was impressed. Afterward, Garriott couldn't re-open the portal, and so stayed with Shamino. It was shamino who gave Garriott the nickname British as he was from Britain.

Incidentally, Richard Garriott is the name of an actual person, the designer and creator of the Ultima series. No, in real life, Garriott isnt English nor did he find a serpent medallion or portal to a mystical realm, but according to lore, these things happened.

When British entered Sosaria, most of the land was ruled by the Kingdom of Akalabeth. British began to serve King Wolfgang, eventually earning the title of Lord. He was given his own land, the Lands of Lord British.
 

Around the same time a young apprentice mage named Mondain stole the Gem of Immortality from his father, King Wolfgang, and then killed him. The citizens of Sosaria at the time shunned magic, as they believed it corrupted the soul. Mondain seemed to prove them right. Mondain opposed Lord British, claiming the world for his own. With the Gem of Immortality at his command, Mondain summoned creatures of every type to wreak havoc on the land, and distract the people from the true culprit; himself. Because sosarian time is 12 times faster than Earth time, Lord British also had his own form of Immortality, at least to sosarians. He eventually learned how to use the Serpent Medallion he found ages ago and summoned another from Earth to help save the planet.

Mondain opposes Lord British

The Stranger destroys the Gem of Immortality

The Stranger was the name Sosarians came to know him as. Sosaria had become technologically advanced in the many years since Mondain corrupted the world with his gem. The Stranger used a time machine to go back before Mondain had completed his evil magic, and shattered the gem of immortality. The Stranger had destroyed the gem just as Mondain had completed his ritual. Due to this, each remnant of the gem contained a likeness of Sosaria. This is the story of Ultima 1

Continue to Ultima 2
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