Queen Dawn

The Beginning of the End (EM/VirtueBane Events Coming Up!)

by

It’s going to be a busy weekend, with plenty of EM events taking place.

The Virtuebane story arc, In the Shadow of Virtue, is starting to wrap up, with some shards holding EM events tonight and others through this weekend.

For instance, Lake Superior’s EMs have posted this:
The time has come to put an end to all this chaos once and for all! The, hopefully, FINAL push against Virtuebane will occur in but two days! All able bodies are requested to aid in this dire time.

When and where?!?!
Friday, March 25!
7PM Central / 8PM Eastern!
Britain – Castle Trammel!

You probably should check your individual shard forums at Stratics or UO Forums

There is a very nice piece of fiction/back-story to the upcoming event(s) written by EM Drosselmeyer (EM from Chesapeake). The following is just an excerpt, for the full story, see the link at the bottom:

Virtuebane towered over those who had followed him devoutly, his Bane Chosen, as he stood in front of them where they had assembled. They looked to him anxiously and eagerly awaiting his latest commands, curious as to the reason they had all been summoned here. Virtuebane spoke to the gathered in a voice that commanded their full attention, and all other chatter was silenced in a moment.

“Our time is at hand, my chosen! The Britannian’s leader, Queen Dawn, has fallen! They are losing morale, and soon will lose everything! I have promised you all that your faith and your devotion would be rewarded. Are you ready to follow me in this final step towards our victory?”

A resounding chorus of cheers and assent rippled through the vast army of Bane Chosen, the dragon riders rearing their ferocious mounts back on two legs while the hound masters commanded their pets to let out a harmonious howl. The clamor of metal on metal rang through the air as warriors and recruits smacked their weapons along their shields. Virtuebane’s face adopted as wide a grin as his inhuman features would allow.

“You have all been chosen, and your loyalty will now be rewarded! You will serve me in a greater capacity than you could ever have imagined.”

With that, Virtuebane extended his hands and gestured towards his army. At first, it seemed that nothing was happening, but then a change began to take place. Rank after rank of the Bane Chosen found their bodies pulsating with power, their forms seeming to shimmer. Then in a moment of dazzling brilliance, what had been an army of dragon riders, recruits, and hound masters had transformed. Before Virtuebane now stood a vast swath of new troops, completely loyal to their master. Virtuebane gestured with a hand, and the horde of ancient hellhounds all rang out in one voice together. With this task complete, he stalked away to finish his preparations.

Full story: UO Herald

Reminder: Ultima Online Video House of Commons Starting Soon

by

As mentioned yesterday, the Ultima Online Video House of Commons will be online here in a little bit.

Website: Ultima Online House of Commons

UStream Channel: BioWare_Townhall

Time: March 1st, 7pm Eastern, 6pm Central, 4pm Pacific.

Title: Watch the Ultima Online Developers talk about UO past, present, and future.

Topics:
* Follow up to the Video Dev Diary released last week
* Current Story arc and events
* The Restoration of Magincia and the concept of the player-driven town
* Publish 70

If you miss it, if they don’t provide an archive copy, we will do so. If you want to ask questions, it would be wise to sign up for an account at UStream now.

Death of Queen Dawn – From Nearly the Start to the Finish

by

So here you have it, from nearly the start where Queen Dawn speaks to us, to her death, to the fight with Virtuebane, to after Virtuebane had left and we were sent off to obtain a tombstone.

This was recorded on Lake Superior, on February 15, 2011, at around 8pm – 9:30pm Central.

I will try to work up a transcript. I did not catch all of Queen Dawn’s speech I believe, because this was a pretty spur of the moment thing. Because it was rushed, that’s partly what led to the lower resolution video and no audio.

Again, I apologize for taking so long on it, especially to EMs Aname and Autolycus.

I’ve been very busy and just now found the time to go through everything and to try and get YouTube to accept it at a higher resolution. Unfortunately I didn’t record it in a high enough resolution and so you are stuck with 480p. The original video was nearly in HD – close to 900×600, but YouTube makes a big jump from 480p to 720p and there isn’t an in-between. I’ve made a note of this for future events and will work to ensure that video is captured in at least 720p, if not 1080p. I’ve also made a note NOT to be using voice chat with other players while recording on the same computer as it was interfering with the audio recording of the event. There is no audio at this point. I was tempted to take the music from my Ultima IX soundtrack and add as a background, but I’m not comfortable with that as far as copyright, etc. In the future there will be audio, so it will not be a problem.

Speaking of 480p, if you are not familiar with YouTube, once you start playing the video, right underneath the progress indicator/red bar, you will see either 240p, 360p, or 480p – if you don’t see 480p, click on the 240p or 360p and select 480p.

There are six parts to it. Dawn is murdered in part 3. They are split up because I was trying different ways to capture the video and encode it for YouTube, and because YouTube has limitations on the length of video. In the future they will be solid 10-minute segments with proper transitions.

Read more

Video of the Death of Queen Dawn

by

Update: Death of Queen Dawn, from nearly the start to the finish (all six videos).

This is part one and two, where we gather at Castle Britannia, to hear Queen Dawn speak, Shortly before heading off to Ilshenar. This was taken on Lake Superior on February 15, 2011.

Apologies to EMs Aname and Autolycus for taking so long!

Disclaimer: This was a pretty spur of the moment thing, so I didn’t capture everything, and it is not the best quality. It would probably be best if you click through to the YouTube pages to view them, and select the HD options, and the the option to enlarge the viewing area. If these don’t have 720p versions available (it takes a while for YouTube to render them), then I will re-encode them and re-upload them, because it’s hard to read the text even at 480p.

Once you start playing the video, right underneath the progress indicator, you will probably see 240p, 360p, or 480p – if you don’t see 480p, click on the 240p or 360p and select 480p. Hopefully 720p will be available there shortly.

Videos removed from this article – see the link at the top of this post for ALL videos!

If these render into 720p on YouTube, then I will post the rest of the videos, as well as the videos from this weekend’s events. I will also get transcripts up.

Yes, I’ve been trying out the Enhanced Client.

Final Resting Place of Queen Dawn

by

If you missed the funeral of Queen Dawn, but wish to visit her grave, at least on Lake Superior, it is located at: 73.23’N 52.18’W, which is behind the Empath Abbey in Yew.

This is an image of her grave on Lake Superior.

Ultima Online - Final Resting Place of Queen Dawn

In attendance when this image was being created:
* Little Magnolia
* Logan (G^C)
* Pandora (~~~)
* Tia Pan (V3)
* Sue (V3)

Sue (V3) had some very harsh words for Queen Dawn, words that will not be repeated publicly.

Full video of her memorial and funeral will be posted in the next few days.