They mostly serve as a permanent physical symbol of each Virtue.Īnother shrine, the Temple of the Virtues, was built in Cove, housing the Ankh and dedicated to all Eight Virtues. Shrines can give advice to those who meditate there, and can also send people on different quests. Their main purpose was to enlighten a person who was ready to become a partial Avatar in the corresponding Virtue, but they were also used by the general populace to meditate on each Virtue.

The shrines of the Eight Virtues play an important role in many of the Ultima games from Ultima IV onwards. Only the Shrine of Spirituality was built outside Britannia, in the Ethereal Void. These were constructed in different places throughout the land, usually near the city that represented the corresponding Virtue. Lord British also built one shrine for each of the Eight Virtues: the Shrine of Compassion, the Shrine of Honesty, the Shrine of Valor, the Shrine of Sacrifice, the Shrine of Justice, the Shrine of Honor, the Shrine of Humility, and the Shrine of Spirituality. Empath Abbey in fact housed a small shrine in Ultima IV, which contained an ankh called Life. Each of the Three Principles of Britannia has also a corresponding bastion, which, while not a shrine, serves a somewhat similar function: the Lycaeum (Truth), Serpent's Hold (Courage) and Empath Abbey (Love, later replaced by the Cathedral of Love). These shrines were lost when the isle sank soon thereafter, and were not found again until the time of Ultima VII. Lord British first constructed three shrines for the Three Principles: the Shrine of Truth, the Shrine of Love, and the Shrine of Courage, on the Isle of Fire. The most famous shrines are the ones constructed by Lord British after the creation of Britannia, while establishing the Eight Virtues and preparing the Quest of the Avatar.

Ultima online forever shrines