Virtues of Ultima

The Ultima series of 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 the codes of Chivalry and the Eightfold Path of Buddhism, and were created specifically for Ultima.

Table of contents

1 The Three Principles

2 The Eight Virtues

3 Lord Blackthorn's Code of Virtues

4 The Principles of the Shadowlords

5 The Virtues of Mandrake

6 The Gargoyle Virtues

7 The Ophidian Virtues

8 See Also

The Three Principles

The Eight Virtues explored in Ultima are based on Three Principles:

Principle	Place Associated	Item

Truth	Lycaeum	Book
Love	Empath Abbey	Candle
Courage	Serpent's Hold	Bell

These Principles are themselves derived from the Axiom of Infinity, which is represented in Castle Britannia.

The Eight Virtues

The Principles are combined to form the following Eight Virtues:

Virtue	Principles	Towns associated	Mantra	Player Class	Dungeon	Color	Notes
Honesty	Pure Truth	Moonglow	Ahm	Mage	Deceit	Blue
Compassion	Pure Love	Britain, Cove	Mu	Bard	Despise	Yellow	Britain is the original town of Compassion, Cove is nearest the shrine.
Valor	Pure Courage	Jhelom	Ra	Fighter	Destard	Red
Justice	Truth, Love	Yew	Beh	Druid	Wrong	Green
Sacrifice	Love, Courage	Minoc	Cah	Tinker	Covetous	Orange
Honor	Truth, Courage	Trinsic	Summ	Paladin	Shame	Purple
Spirituality	Truth, Love, and Courage	Skara Brae	Om	Ranger	The Great Stygian Abyss	White
Humility	Beyond the three principles	(New) Magincia, Paws	Lum	Shepherd	Hythloth	Black	Magincia was destroyed by demons for its Pride (Pride's mantra is Mul). New Magincia, built in its ruins, was founded on Humility.

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 and luck.

Lord Blackthorn's Code of Virtues

The Code of Virtues under Lord Blackthorn are a set of strict laws, rather than ethics.

Virtue	Law
Honesty	Thou shalt not lie, or thou shalt lose thy tongue.
Compassion	Thou shalt help those in need, or thou shalt suffer the same need.
Valor	Thou shalt fight to the death if challenged, or thou shalt be banished as a coward.
Justice	Thou shalt confess to thy crime and suffer its just punishment, or thou shalt be put to death.
Sacrifice	Thou shalt donate half of thy income to charity, or thou shalt have no income.
Honor	If thou dost lose thine own honour, thou shalt take thine own life.
Spirituality	Thou shalt enforce the laws of virtue, or thou shalt die as a heretic.
Humility	Thou shalt humble thyself to thy superiors, or thou shalt suffer their wrath.

The Principles of the Shadowlords

The Shadowlords oppose one of the three principles.

Principle	Opposing principle	Shadowlord
Cowardice	Courage	Nosfentor
Hatred	Love	Astaroth
Falsehood	Truth	Faulinei

The Virtues of Mandrake

Mandrake the bard follows three principles

Principle
Wine
Women
Song

Eight virtues are derived from these three principles:

Virtue	Principle
Drunkenness	Wine
Sensuality	Women
Harmony	Song
Lust	Wine, Women
Laziness	Wine, Song
Dance	Women, Song
Indulgence	Wine, Women, Song
Happiness	Absence of Wine, Women, Song

The Gargoyle Virtues

The Gargoyles three principles based on Order, and its opposite, Chaos

Principle	Mantra	Embodiment

Control	UN	Mondain
Passion	OR	Minax
Diligence	US	Exodus

The Gargoyles have eight virtues based their three principles

Virtue	Principles	Dungeon
Direction	Control	Shrine of Control
Feeling	Passion	Shrine of Passion
Persistence	Diligence	Shrine of Diligence
Balance	Control, Passion
Achievement	Passion, Diligence
Precision	Control, Diligence
Order	Absence of Control, Passion, Diligence
Singularity	Control, Passion, Diligence

The Ophidian Virtues

The Ophidians have three principles

Principle	Embodiment
Order	Blue Serpent of Order
Chaos	Red Serpent of Chaos
Balance	Earth Serpent of Balance

Each principle has three virtues

Virtue of Balance	Virtue of Order	Virtue of Chaos
Harmony	Ethicality	Tolerance
Dedication	Discipline	Enthusiasm
Rationality	Logic	Emotion

Order and Balance each have three opposite virtues

Opposite Virtue of Order	Opposite Virtue of Chaos
Prejudice	Anarchy
Apathy	Wantonness
Ruthlessness	Insanity