The Original Ultima Online World Map…I Finally Found It!
Back when I was doing some advance research for Lost Sosaria (yeah, I know, I know…), I tripped over a map that purported to be the original world map for Ultima Online. It was a full-colour (though not particularly high-resolution) image that showed all four continents from Ultima 1, arranged in more or less the same position…but also somewhat tectonically distorted and (especially in the case of the Serpent Isle) rotated quite a bit from their original orientations.
In the end, probably due to technical and server limitations back in the late 1990s, only Britannia (the upper-left area of this map I found) was kept in the game.
Some years ago, the image of this map disappeared from the Internet, probably due to the closure of Geocities. I have searched every few months for another version of it, always in vain. However, whilst searching for information about the size of the Ultima Online world in tiles, I happened across this image at the Flickr photostream of Canadian sci-fi author Cory Doctorow. Check this beauty out:
[flickr size=”medium” float=”aligncenter”]6819311[/flickr]
Now, granted, it’s not in full colour, but it’s basically the same map; the shape and orientations of the continents are the same as in the image I found way back when (the telltale indicator is the Serpent Isle, in the lower right corner; it’s been rotated nearly 180 degrees).
So anyhow, I’m pleased as punch for having found this, and grateful to Mr. Doctorow for having put up the picture on his photostream. He has a handful of other images related to Ultima Online, many of them featuring a smiling Raph Koster showing off news articles and trinkets; do have a look if you have a couple minutes to spare.
Now…if anyone has seen the colourful version of this map that I alluded to previously, do let me know; I’d love to see it again!
I have got somewhere the map you are refering to. If you want I can try to find it.
is it this one? http://img829.imageshack.us/i/uomap.jpg/
(I just found it and uploaded it 🙂 )
Amazingly, that is NOT the one…that is a third version of the thing (albeit one I have not, until today, seen).
Very cool; thanks for uploading that.
That’s really awesome!
That would have been fantastic had UO’s world been using all the four regular lands from Sosaria (and no Samurai Empire doesn’t count :P)
I’m still baffled that they never EVER implemented the Serpent Isle in UO considering how much of a now brainer it is as this land had already its lore and geography. I remember my puzzlement when they brought the Lost Lands (which has a strange naga race called Ophidian and could be reached by sea through Serpent Pillars).
Note to Mythic: it’s not too late! Bring us the Serpent Isle!
BTW the picture in the article surfaced on the web somewhere in the mid-2000. I remember having found it by chance while looking for a UO map. I also think I found the low-res pic you mentioned, I’ll check my archive tonight.
As for UO not implementing the rest of Sosaria, i think it’s a real shame as it would have been a much more logical choice than any of the added landmass (Illshenar, Tokuno, Malas) except for Ter Mur which is great insight of the Gargoyles Lands before they crumbled.
For those interested here’s the map “legend”
“Top Left = Britannia
Top Right = Lands of the Feudal Lords
Bottom Left = Lands of the Dark Unknow with a 30º to left rotation.
Bottom Right = Lands of Danger and Despair with a 180º rotation (upside-down). The north landmass is a bit unbalanced to the south (north of serpent isle).
The map is almost unchanged since U1 with the exception of Britannia, the new lake and the new distribution of the continents.”
Sadly the two images I have on my disk are the same as the one in the article and the one uploaded by Natreg.
Interestingly the photo was taken on march 18, 2005 while the low resolution picture I have on my disk date back from april 2004.
For those interested I also have an early paper drawn UO Britannia map. The first link is to the original one, the other is slightly different with some type text and name change (south of Trinsic).
The map Natreg posted is the same as the one on Artful Gamer (http://uol.artfulgamer.com/archives/raz_ultima/index.html), which matches up with the one I remember from the prealpha webpage. If the other color image ever surfaces, it would be interesting to compare.
To be fair, it’s possible that this is the image, although for some reason I remember it being a bit wider (and the continents a bit greener), rather than nearly square (and with green-brown landmasses).
But that could just be time playing tricks on my already over-taxed brain cells.
One thing I find interesting about this image is that this prove for me that as far as Origin was concerned, the look of Sosaria has been retconned into the land we’ve come to known since Ultima IV.
Indeed the whole justification that Lord British’s land completly changed beyond recognition after Ultima I and Ultima III due to some cataclysm always felt silly to me – I’ve always felt that should Ultima I be remade, it should follow a layout similar to the Ultima IV Britannia. Some variation in landmass, but nothing drastic.
Geography was not the only retcon from UO development. The Magic system based on Words of Power is introduced first in U5 but seems to be the standard way of casting spells in the UO-verse. Old latin-like WoP and non-Sosarian material have been reintroduced in later expansion though.
One thing that has always bothered in the Ultima series is how Britannia is supposed to be. After all the four landmasses in U1 are referred as continents but in the later installments of the game Paws was almost a suburb of Britain and Trinsic wasn’t really far…
Well I guess you argue since the Shards followed a parallel development, they discovered Spellbook/Word of Power magic as well.
The basic context of Ultima Online, is that it’s a parrallel Britannia in which the Stranger never returned after Ultima I, so it basically followed a similar development except it had no Minax(*) and Exodus. Perhaps you could actually argue the existence of isle sur as Nujlem and Occlo was because the land never suffered the post U3 cataclysm for instance. But chronologically it’s basically some kind of post U4 context, especially considering Blackthorn (altough UO DID retcon Blackthorn by having him one British’s first friend when he appears in Sosaria… which would means this also fits with the core Ultima)
(*) I know Minax later appeared in UO and basically conquered Britannia leading to the creation of the Trammel/Fellucia facet, but it has always felt a bit silly to me.
Regarding Paws in Ultima VII… yeah it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. It’s one of the nasty consequence of insisting on using a seamless world: it makes for a nice gameplay experience but pretty much destroy any sense of realism Britannia’s geography might have (which is rather ironic considering the game aimed to be most realistic).
I guees it depend on you point of view but if you check UO “world event” history Minax war on multiple worlds, Exodus revenge, the Shadowlords appearance and even Lord Blackthorn turning evil have happened… but in very different way that in core Ultima.
Speaking of geography it is interesting to see that the UO devs did use the Britannian town and never pointed at the pre-U4 ones like Fawn, Monitor and Moon.