Lord British: Difference between revisions
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Lord British was not born in Sosaria, but came from Earth via the [[moongate]]s. The name Cantabrigian is taken from his birthplace, [[Cambridge]]. When British came to Sosaria, the [[Wizard (fantasy)|wizard]] [[Mondain]] was still young. They battled, and British, the "Champion of the White Light", drove Mondain away from the kingdom and received the title of "Lord British, Protector of Akalabeth", leading to the events of ''Ultima''. Later plotlines and events in the series have also centered around the character. |
Lord British was not born in Sosaria, but came from Earth via the [[moongate]]s. The name Cantabrigian is taken from his birthplace, [[Cambridge]]. When British came to Sosaria, the [[Wizard (fantasy)|wizard]] [[Mondain]] was still young. They battled, and British, the "Champion of the White Light", drove Mondain away from the kingdom and received the title of "Lord British, Protector of Akalabeth", leading to the events of ''Ultima''. Later plotlines and events in the series have also centered around the character. |
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In the ''[[Ultima (video game series)|Ultima]]'' series, Lord British rules from his throne inside Castle Britannia, and continuously provides [[healing]] and other miscellaneous help for the |
In the ''[[Ultima (video game series)|Ultima]]'' series, Lord British rules from his throne inside Castle Britannia, and continuously provides [[healing]] and other miscellaneous help for the protagonist and his party. Throughout the series, Lord British never leaves his castle, except for ''Ultima V'', where his absence constitutes the main storyline, and at the end of ''Ultima VI'', when he travels to the Isle of the Avatar. Instead, he relies on heroes to go forth and correct the various crises that crop up in Britannia. In ''Ultima IX'', this behavior is commented on, with accusations that he is always hiding in his castle while his land suffers. In the game's climax, British ventures outside his castle to help the Avatar. |
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One of the characteristics of Lord British is that he is supposed to be ''almost'' unkillable by the player character, leading some players to try and assassinate him. This phenomenon is the origin of the "Lord British Postulate"--the conjecture that, in a large multiplayer environment, if something lives, a player will try to kill it.<ref>Schramm, Mike (March 28th, 2007) [http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/03/28/wow-moviewatch-adal-downed/ WoW Moviewatch: A'dal downed], wow.com.</ref> In one instance, Lord British was killed during an in-game appearance on ''[[Ultima Online]]'''s [[development stage|beta test]] on August 8, 1997. A royal visit was conducted as a part of server population stress test. A [[player character]] known as Rainz cast a spell called "fire field" on Lord British that, surprisingly, killed him. According to Starr Long, the whole thing was just a human error: the character's invulnerability did not persist over several game sessions due to a previous server crash.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playtr.com/team/team_bios.html#biosTop |title=Tabula Rasa Team Bios: Starr Long |accessdate=2006-08-17 |last=Long |first=Starr |publisher= NCSoft }}</ref> Shortly afterwards, Rainz's account was banned from the beta test for previously exploiting bugs rather than reporting them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/stories9/beta.htm|title=Ultima Online Travelogues: Ultima Online Beta|accessdate=2006-08-17|author=Hawkeye Pike}}</ref> |
One of the characteristics of Lord British is that he is supposed to be ''almost'' unkillable by the player character, leading some players to try and assassinate him. This phenomenon is the origin of the "Lord British Postulate"--the conjecture that, in a large multiplayer environment, if something lives, a player will try to kill it.<ref>Schramm, Mike (March 28th, 2007) [http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/03/28/wow-moviewatch-adal-downed/ WoW Moviewatch: A'dal downed], wow.com.</ref> In one instance, Lord British was killed during an in-game appearance on ''[[Ultima Online]]'''s [[development stage|beta test]] on August 8, 1997. A royal visit was conducted as a part of server population stress test. A [[player character]] known as Rainz cast a spell called "fire field" on Lord British that, surprisingly, killed him. According to Starr Long, the whole thing was just a human error: the character's invulnerability did not persist over several game sessions due to a previous server crash.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playtr.com/team/team_bios.html#biosTop |title=Tabula Rasa Team Bios: Starr Long |accessdate=2006-08-17 |last=Long |first=Starr |publisher= NCSoft }}</ref> Shortly afterwards, Rainz's account was banned from the beta test for previously exploiting bugs rather than reporting them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/stories9/beta.htm|title=Ultima Online Travelogues: Ultima Online Beta|accessdate=2006-08-17|author=Hawkeye Pike}}</ref> |
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| Lord British | |
|---|---|
| 'Ultima' character | |
| File:B british.jpg Lord British from the most current game to date Ultima Online. | |
| First game | Ultima I |
| Created by | Richard Garriott |
Lord Cantabrigian British is the name of the ruler of Britannia, kingdom of the fictional world of Sosaria, created by Richard Garriott for his computer game series Ultima. Richard is also known to his fans as Lord British.[1]
Origin
Ultima series creator Richard Garriott acquired the nickname "British" as a teenager from friends at computer camp who claimed his first greeting to them, "hello", was distinct from the American "hi"; The "Lord" prefix was added when he played the dungeon master in Dungeons & Dragons games.[2] Garriott released early games, under the name and occasionally appeared in Ultima Online playing as Lord British. He retained the trademark rights to the name and associated symbols after his departure from Origin Systems.
In the Ultima series
Lord British was not born in Sosaria, but came from Earth via the moongates. The name Cantabrigian is taken from his birthplace, Cambridge. When British came to Sosaria, the wizard Mondain was still young. They battled, and British, the "Champion of the White Light", drove Mondain away from the kingdom and received the title of "Lord British, Protector of Akalabeth", leading to the events of Ultima. Later plotlines and events in the series have also centered around the character.
In the Ultima series, Lord British rules from his throne inside Castle Britannia, and continuously provides healing and other miscellaneous help for the protagonist and his party. Throughout the series, Lord British never leaves his castle, except for Ultima V, where his absence constitutes the main storyline, and at the end of Ultima VI, when he travels to the Isle of the Avatar. Instead, he relies on heroes to go forth and correct the various crises that crop up in Britannia. In Ultima IX, this behavior is commented on, with accusations that he is always hiding in his castle while his land suffers. In the game's climax, British ventures outside his castle to help the Avatar.
One of the characteristics of Lord British is that he is supposed to be almost unkillable by the player character, leading some players to try and assassinate him. This phenomenon is the origin of the "Lord British Postulate"--the conjecture that, in a large multiplayer environment, if something lives, a player will try to kill it.[3] In one instance, Lord British was killed during an in-game appearance on Ultima Online's beta test on August 8, 1997. A royal visit was conducted as a part of server population stress test. A player character known as Rainz cast a spell called "fire field" on Lord British that, surprisingly, killed him. According to Starr Long, the whole thing was just a human error: the character's invulnerability did not persist over several game sessions due to a previous server crash.[4] Shortly afterwards, Rainz's account was banned from the beta test for previously exploiting bugs rather than reporting them.[5]
See also
References
- ^ EL33TONLINE: News - Richard Garriott in space! Retrieved 2008-10-15
- ^ "Inside Ultima IV", Computer Gaming World, pp. 18–21, March 1986
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Schramm, Mike (March 28th, 2007) WoW Moviewatch: A'dal downed, wow.com.
- ^ Long, Starr. "Tabula Rasa Team Bios: Starr Long". NCSoft. Retrieved 2006-08-17.
- ^ Hawkeye Pike. "Ultima Online Travelogues: Ultima Online Beta". Retrieved 2006-08-17.
- The Official Book of Ultima by Shay Addams. ISBN 10: 0874552648