Virtues of Ultima

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The Ultima series of computer role-playing games featured a Virtue system that the player was required to follow in the game as the Avatar. These Virtues were inspired in part by Richard Garriott's own philosophical angst and the 16 ways of purification which lead to Avatarhood in Hinduism.^[1][2] While the virtues and their antitheses are real words and concepts, they were first brought together in a logically-constructed ethical system specifically for Ultima IV.

The Wizard of Oz also played a part in the creation of the virtues, with designer Richard Garriott stating at one time that the three companions of Dorothy Gale could be linked to the three principles — Scarecrow (Truth), Tin Woodsman (Love) and Cowardly Lion (Courage).^[3] This is also alluded to in Ultima VI and Ultima VII, where one can find a copy of the book - the description blurb the game gives alludes to this relationship as well. Lord British claims it is his favourite book.

In the April 2008 issue of Pelit, columnist Tuomas Honkala described the implementation of the Virtues in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1985) as a gaming experience of unsurpassed depth; he went on to contrast and decry the current state of video games, comparing it to the first silent movies in that the bulk of the works are consumable entertainment when the medium is proven to have the potential for cultural value and tools of personal growth.

[edit] The Avatar Ethics

The canonical system of Ethics in Ultima is based on The Three Principles and the Eight Virtues. First introduced in Ultima IV, it marked a reinvention of the game focus from a traditional role-playing model into an ethically framed one.^[2] In an in-game book in Ultima VI named "The Quest of the Avatar" (the same name as the game, Ultima IV, in which the Virtues were introduced) the virtues are described as

“ In days not long past, the Council of Wizards erected shrines to the eight virtues, that people throughout the land might meditate upon them. It was through studying the eight virtues and the three underlying principles that the great hero, who had defeated the Triad of Evil, started down the path that led to Avatarhood.

For verily it is known that the three principles are Truth, Love and Courage; And that from Truth arises Honesty; And from Love arises Compassion; And from Courage arises Valour; And that Truth comingled with Love gives rise to Justice; And Love comingled with Courage gives rise to Sacrifice; And Courage comingled with Truth gives rise to Honor; And Truth, Love and Courage all united create Spirituality; And the absence of all three principles leads to the vice of pride, which leads us to think of the virtue that is its opposite, that of Humility.

And on the quest to become the embodiment of the eight virtues, the Avatar recovered the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, and discovered that the one underlying concept that leads to the three principles which lead to the eight virtues is Infinity. Ponder this well, oh seeker!”

[edit] The Three Principles

As told throughout Ultima IV, The Eight Virtues explored in Ultima are based on Three Principles:

These Principles are themselves derived from the One True Axiom, the combination of all Truth, all Love, and all Courage, which is Infinity.^[2] This is stated in the towne of Cove in Ultima IV.

[edit] The Eight Virtues

The Principles are combined to form the following Eight Virtues:

The Virtues Paperdoll interface Symbol in Ultima Online

Notes:

1. Britain is the original town of Compassion, Cove is nearest the shrine, but, in Ultima IV, was dedicated to the One True Axiom and housed the Shrine of Virtue, dedicated to the Path of the Avatar. Later, Cove became the town of Love, due to the influence of the nearby Shrine of Compassion.
2. Magincia was destroyed by demons for its Pride (Pride's mantra is Mul, the reverse of Humility's mantra). New Magincia, built in its ruins, was founded on Humility.
3. Pride has never had a Dungeon formally associated with it, but the Shrine of Humility was situated closest to the Stygian Abyss. In Ultima IX: Ascension (non-canon) Abyss and Hythloth are reversed in roles; Hythloth is associated with Humility, and Abyss is associated with Spirituality.
4. The word 'Veramocor,' representing the One True Axiom that is the combination of the Three Principles, is needed for both the Stygian Abyss in Ultima IV and Doom in Ultima V.

The Embodiment of the Virtues in the game is the Avatar, the character who the player is roleplaying. He (or she) is commonly seen with an Ankh which represents life.

The relationship between the Principles and Virtues is often explained this way:

• Honesty is respect for Truth
• Compassion is Love of others
• Valor is Courage to stand up against risks
• Justice is Truth, tempered by Love
• Sacrifice is Courage to give oneself in name of Love
• Honor is Courage to seek and uphold the Truth
• Spirituality is to seek Truth, Love and Courage from one's own self and the world around
• Humility is the opposite of Pride, which is the absence of Truth, Love or Courage

Humility is the most difficult Virtue to describe, as it cannot really be understood without its Anti-Virtue, Pride. Pride merely has nothing to do with Truth, Love and Courage; Humility is similar, but rather than being a complete antithesis, it exists independently of the Principles and acts as their foundation.

The New Magician ghosts also have a few things to say about Humility and pride, from which the following may be constructed:

Humility: The absence of Truth, Love, and Courage is Pride. Pride is the surest measure of goals never attained. Pride goeth before, Shame cometh after. This Shame leads to awareness of Humility, the root from which all Virtues grow. Humility is to strip oneself of all conceits.

[edit] The Codex Symbol

The Codex Symbol

The symbol of the Codex in Ultima IV explains the relationship between Virtues and the Principles. Outside of the game, the symbol is typically shown in single color. The actual symbol is colored according to the following rules.^[2]

In the middle of the symbol, there are three circles, shown in blue, yellow and red; these symbolize the Principles of Truth, Love and Courage. The tangential lines are colors that are mixed from the colors that they touch, and each line touches the Principle circle the corresponding Virtue is based.

There are three lines that touch the Principle circles singly; these are Honesty (blue, based on Truth), Compassion (yellow, based on Love) and Valor (red, based on Courage).

There are three lines that touch two Principle circles; these are Justice (green = blue + yellow, Truth and Love), Honor (purple = red + blue; Truth and Courage), and Sacrifice (orange = red + yellow; Courage and Love).

In the middle of the symbol is a small white circle, the mix of all colors; this is the virtue of Spirituality, which is based on all three Principles.

Finally, surrounding everything is a black circle, absent of all colors; this is the anti-virtue of Pride that exists in the absence of the three Principles. Thus, the seeker must use its opposite, the Virtue of Humility, which exists in the absence of the three Anti-Principles (Falsehood, Hatred, and Cowardice.)

[edit] Perverting the Virtues

As all ethics, the set of three Principles and Eight Virtues can be twisted or perverted into something it was not intended for or outright its own antithesis, and this is a frequent theme in the Ultima games following Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. Ultima V: Warriors Of Destiny saw Lord Blackthorn turn the virtue system into a rigid and draconian set of laws, ultimately born of his good intentions towards "helping the populace along the path of the Avatar" being corrupted by the Shadowlords. This system actually nurtured the anti-virtues (discussed in the next section.) Ultima VI: The False Prophet confronted the Avatar with the fact that, from another point of view, the Avatar's quests for Virtue may not appear virtuous at all. In Ultima VII, an order known as "The Fellowship" displaced the Virtues with their own seemingly benevolent belief system, casting Britannia into disarray; and in Ultima IX the Virtues had been inverted into their opposite anti-virtues.

[edit] Lord Blackthorn's Code of Virtues

In Ultima V, Lord Blackthorn, the tyrant who ruled in Lord British's absence, codified the Britannian Virtues into a set of draconian laws.

Blackthorn's Code is a good illustration of the fact that the Virtues always come from one's own self rather than the norms of society; codifying ethics into law does not automatically make evil people good. Further, unethical lawmakers can take the Virtues and turn them into something that is quite contrary to what Virtues actually stand for. Under the influence of the Shadowlords, the rigid system of Blackthorn in fact invites the polar opposites of the Virtues, e.g. the shame of losing ones honour necessitates taking ones life.^[2]

[edit] Anti-Principles and Anti-Virtues

In Ultima V the antitheses to the three Principles were introduced. Each of the Shadowlords opposed one of the three Principles, thus the anti-Principles are sometimes referred to as the Principles of the Shadowlords.

The anti-Virtues, also sometimes referred to as the Eight Vices, are the logical extrapolation of the anti-Principles. Except for Pride, the anti-Virtues were only specifically mentioned in the canonical games in the names of the dungeons. Other than Doom, each dungeon bears the name of its Virtue's antithesis. ('Destard is a misspelling of 'Dastard', and 'Hythloth' is a corruption of 'Hylotheism'.) They have been an implicit and logical aspect of the Virtue system ever since, and were explicated in Ultima IX where the Virtues had been perverted by the Guardian, reversing the ideals and behaviour of the populaces of the respective towns. Just as the Virtues are formed as combinations of the Principles, the anti-Virtues are derived from the three anti-Principles. Humility and Pride are different, as they represent the absence of the opposing Principles. (Pride is living without Truth, Love or Courage. Humility is living without Falsehood, Hatred, or Cowardice.)

[edit] Other Ethical Systems in Ultima

Though the Three Principles and Eight Virtues of the Avatar is the underlying guiding principles of all the Ultima games from Ultima IV, alternative systems of ethics have been introduced, some jocular while other are as serious as the Avatar Ethics.

[edit] The Virtues of Mandrake

The joyful Mandrake the bard, in Ultima VI, has his own set of three Principles, which also form eight Virtues.

Eight of the virtues are derived from these three principles:

The relationships between the Virtues and Principles is not explained in the game, but the one presented in the table is the only logical deduction that has been made.

Presumably Happiness, just like Humility is to Pride, is the opposite of Sadness.

Somewhat related to this, in Ultima V it is explained that the mantra of eating is "yum".

[edit] The Gargoyle Virtues

The Virtues of the Gargoyles were first explored in detail in Ultima VI. Beyond dialogue, they are described in the in-game book "The Book of Circles", found in Ultima VI and Ultima VI as

“

All begins with the three principles: Control, Passion and Diligence. From Control springs Direction. From Passion springs Feeling. From Diligence springs Persistence. But these three virtues are no more important than the other five: Control combines with Passion to give Balance. Passion combines with Diligence to yield Achievement. And Diligence joins with Control to provide Precision. The absence of Control, Passion and Diligence is Chaos. Thus the absence of the principles points toward the seventh virtue, Order. The three principles unify to form Singularity. This is the eighth virtue, but it is also the first, because within Singularity can be found all the principles, and thus all the virtues. A circle has no end. It continues forever, with all parts equally important in the success of the whole. Our society is the same. It too continues forever, with all members (and all virtues) equal parts of the unified whole.”

Thus, the Gargoyles have three principles based on Order, and its opposite, Chaos.^[2]

The Gargoyles have eight virtues based on their three principles.

[edit] The Ophidian Virtues

The Virtue system of the Ophidians, in Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, is formed around the following three Principles:

In the Ophidian symbology, the Great Earth Serpent is the keeper of Balance, and lies around "in a vertical plane"; the opposing serpents of Chaos and Order wrap themselves around the Great Earth Serpent, each spiralling in a different direction (a symbol inspired by Caduceus).

The Ophidian system comprises six Forces, three from Order and three from Chaos; the Forces of Order are Ethicality, Discipline and Logic, while the Forces of Chaos are Tolerance, Enthusiasm and Emotion. Their descriptions are as follow:

When combined by pairs, these Forces form the Three Principles of Balance (not to be confused with the three Principles of Order, Balance and Chaos above). The Principles of Balance, their descriptions and relations to the Forces of Order and Chaos are illustrated in the table below:

There also exists Anti-Forces associated to the Forces of Order and Balance. These Anti-Forces arise from Imbalance between the Forces, and are essentially perversions of their corresponding Forces. The Anti-Forces also manifest themselves as a kind of malevolent spiritual being, collectively called the Banes of Order and the Banes of Chaos.

The Anti-Forces (and Banes) are:

[edit] Triad of Inner Strength

The Fellowship, in Ultima VII, followed the Triad of Inner Strength, consisting of three rules:^[2]

1. Strive For Unity
2. Trust Thy Brother
3. Worthiness Precedes Reward

[edit] Killorn Keep

In Ultima Underworld II, the inhabitants of Killorn Keep—located in a parallel universe to Britannia—observe the Guardian's eight virtues:

• Sobriety
• Punctuality
• Obedience
• Vigilance
• Conformity
• Efficiency
• Silence
• Diligence

[edit] References