Restoring the old ways of Virtue

So from what I can gather, the old Principles and Virtues are gone from the world of SotA. So I was thinking of ways that you, the player character, could bring them back, in both a role-playing sense and a quest sense.

My first character is going to be someone who follows the Virtues, and I will be a kind preacher, teaching others about the Virtues, even NPCs. Perhaps part of that could be a game mechanic where, much like as has been discussed before, NPCs remember you and how you've treated them, and part of that is what you have taught them about the Virtues.

Another is that places like shrines are gone (except maybe the shrine of Spirituality, which exists in the Ethereal Void), or in ruin. Perhaps one of the quests is to restore those shrines and other such "holy" places by cleaning out monsters from the area, and either you using craft skills to repair the shrine, or hiring others to rebuild it for you. This would require a mass effort from several players, or the rebuilding process would take much longer.

Just some thoughts, any additional ones anyone has to try and return the world to the way it was?

 

We've seen that the 3 principle virtues are part of character creation. I'm guessing the 8 virtues (if they are the same) will pop up more in later episodes, especially as we go to other continents.

 

I'm paraphrasing here, but I believe Lord British said something like - if you liked the ethical challenges of Ultima 4, and the immersive nature of Ultima 7, you will like SoTA. There will be choices and consequences; the nature of these will be revealed in the game.

You will also find many like-minded individuals. The guild I joined has the Virtues as its foundation. Check it out if you wish, and you would be most welcome to join.

Look forward to seeing you in the game!

 

Very interesting idea. I think it will be part of the Avatar's journey through these 5 episodes where we will be tested against the new interpretation of virtues. Given that the NPCs could "learn" from us due to the conversation system, it would be neat if they did implement this somehow. But at the very least the choices we make from the story based quests would hopefully trigger this shift in values.

The Oracle is now watching you.

 

I like the idea of the player re-instilling the reminders of the virtues as some sort of built in sub-quest inside the NPC's, possibly gaining even more reactions whenever you expound on some virtue with them. This could also (in a preaching sense) become something a player must maintain as when all 8 virtues are spread around a towns web of NPC's, one of them would forget something and thus you (the player) may be able to totally amaze the NPC's for a day, which they would really be kissing your back side, yet the following day, "one of the NPC's" had forgotten what you interacted with them about, thus re-starting the mini-quest of virtue interaction with them all over again.
After all, the Axiom of Infinity, is always something that takes constant attention to be able to hold the vision of the codex within you.
Two things are infinite;
The universe and human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the universe..."Albert Einstein"
~Time Lord~

 

I've heard tell that you don't need to follow the virtues to complete Episode 1. That gives me a hope (altho I could be reading between lines that aren't there) that later episodes it becomes more important as the story goes on. (And bites the ebil people in the owie after they spend all their between episode times sewing the seeds of our misfortune and find to beat Episode 5 they need to be virtuously virtuosos of virtue! )

 

I have reason to believe episode 1 will be silently calculating your virtue as you progress, and your 'true self' will be revealed to you in episode 2 when you face the consequences.

 

The Principles are combined to form the following Eight Virtues:
VirtuePrinciplesTowns associatedMantraShrinePlayer ClassColorSymbolDungeonWord of Power
Honesty Pure Truth Moonglow Ahm Shrine of Honesty Mage Blue Open hand Deceit Fallax
Compassion Pure Love Britain¹, Cove Mu Shrine of Compassion Bard Yellow Heart/Rose Despise Vilis
Valor Pure Courage Jhelom Ra Shrine of Valor Fighter Red Sword Destard Inopia
Justice Truth, Love Yew Beh Shrine of Justice Druid Green Scales Wrong Malum
Sacrifice Love, Courage Minoc Cah Shrine of Sacrifice Tinker Orange Tear Covetous Avidus
Honor Truth, Courage Trinsic Summ Shrine of Honor Paladin Purple Chalice Shame Infama
Spirituality Truth, Love, and Courage Skara Brae Om Shrine of Spirituality Ranger White Ankh Hythloth Ignavus
Humility None New Magincia² Lum Shrine of Humility Shepherd Black Shepherd staff None N/A

~(Infinity)~

The gargoyles have eight virtues based on their three principles.
VirtuePrinciples
Direction Control
Feeling Passion
Persistence Diligence
Balance Control, Passion
Achievement Passion, Diligence
Precision Control, Diligence
Order Absence of Control, Passion, Diligence
Singularity
Control, Passion, Diligence

 

The Virtues are there, but are long forgotten on myths by the time of SotA. The Blade of the Avatar novella has started to expand on this, but it's still not clear yet which Virtues remain, how or if they are even known, and what effect they will have.

From a roleplaying perspective, the average common person wouldn't know anything about the pre-Fall world, especially since the Obsidian Empire seems like a not so friendly bunch of folks who would suppress that type of knowledge harshly.

As Avatars arriving into the world, it would be our mission to learn and rediscover this lost information, and then choose whether it is brought forth back to light, or left to rot and decay in darkness. Choose well.

 

It sure sounds like Arabella has a gypsy-like role in character selection, and our first choice in game (how we react to something) will lead us to choose Truth, Courage or Love.

http://wiki.ultimacodex.com/sota/Arabella

 

Any of the virtues if held alone, are and do create evil....
it takes embracing them all at the same time to become "The Avatar"!

and that's something to remember
~Time Lord~

 

It seems, that the time has come, to learn something about ourself.
With this wisdom we can change the world!

 

By the powers of the virtues combined, I am Captain Avatar!

 

"The time has come," the Gypsy said,
"To talk of many things:
Of Lords--and Shrines--and Principles--
Of Virtues--and long forsaken dreams--
And why the Shattered moon brings Chaos hot--
And whether Avatars' souls shall sing."

 

Very Old Astrology Suff...

In a specialist astrological sense, the term Virtue (the Latin "Vir" meaning man) applies to a hidden power within all sublunary things, a power which was visualized as having come from the stars (and in our case moons).
the practice of Talismanic Magic was based on the idea that it was possible to "inject" a celestial or planetary virtue into an amulet, which would then itself contain a power derived from that virtue.
The famous painter Giotto 1300s, his school taught paining by usage of the stars and days of the week because they had a connection to the Virtues as he saw them;

Sunday, Hope
Monday, Chastity
Tuesday, Wisdom
Wednesday, Love
Thursday, Courage
Friday, Faith
Saturday, Prudence

(Yet these days also carried their vises)

Sunday, Indolence
Monday, Envy
Tuesday, Gluttony
Wednesday, Lust
Thursday, Wrath
Friday, Pride
Saturday, Covetousness

The corresponding planets as he taught them to his pupils were;
Sunday, Sun
Monday, Moon
Tuesday, Mercury
Wednesday, Venus
Thursday, Mars
Friday, Jupiter
Saturday, Saturn

I place this here for you all to consider as we do not know as yet what set of possibly new descriptions of any virtues we may encounter in our SotA.
"We know that some magic will be linked to the Moons and to the light of the Sun"
So only "Time" will tell what happens with all these in our new adventures....
And if I ever do know, "I aint tellin"
Unless you ask me over for dinner and an evening drink first
~Time Lord~

 

Good ideas so far everyone!

And I may just join the Moongate Travelers Guild

 

Sounds fantastic!