Hello Folks,

Let me begin by saying that I�fve played pretty much all the Ultima games, including UO. In fact, I worked for Origin Systems back in 1989 and helped playtest Ultima 6. I left OSI to attend the University of Texas, where I immersed myself in the study of obscure English authors, the history of Asia, and film production.

Now, a little wiser and considerably deeper in debt (a pox on student loans), I�fve come full circle. I couldn�ft believe my good fortune when I was offered the opportunity to become the writer for UO2. Not only would I get to return to the Land of Britannia, I would now help craft another Ultima game.

�gWe want it to be epic!�h exclaimed the Powers That Be. �gWe want it to be fun! We want it to be different yet loyal to the Ultima Legacy!"

For weeks I immersed myself in Ultima lore. The more I researched, the clearer one very important notion became.

Ultima has always been about innovation.

This series defined computer RPGs. Never content with the status quo, the Ultima games consistently pushed the envelope. They introduced complexity to the characters and plot, brought ethics into games, made us question what it meant to be a hero, and presented it all with state-of-the-art graphics and gameplay. I had the unique opportunity to introduce new ideas, cultures, and characters to the Ultima Universe, and I was determined to live up to that legacy of innovation.

I�fve always preferred my fantasy in shades of gray, not black and white. Don�ft get me wrong, I was raised on a steady diet of Tolkien, Le Guin, Howard, and Lovecraft, so I�fm just as much a fan of Epic Fantasy as the next guy. However, I�fm also a big fan of Herbert�fs Dune series, and Asimov�fs Foundation Trilogy. Well-crafted fictional settings do it for me.

Online games are rather different from single-player games in terms of story and fiction. UO2 would not have a single hero but thousands. What type of story calls for thousands of heroes? The answer was obvious. No single story does. But thousands of stories do. We had to create a setting where thousands of heroes could fashion their own stories. We needed a dynamic world where factions vied for power and where the threat of conflict was ever present.

Opposing ideologies generate the most compelling conflicts. Not just the time-honored struggle of �ggood vs. evil�h - that would be too simple for the setting I had in mind. We needed several ideologies to clash: tradition vs. change, magic vs. technology, hawk vs. dove. I was also looking for ideologies that would fall into those �gshades of gray.�h

UO2 would present us the opportunity to shape Britannia�fs past. The laws and forms of magic have always governed the mystical world of Sosaria. But who created those laws? Who perfected those ancient rituals? And most importantly, what happened to them? These questions would guide my exploration of the Meer�fs history.

UO2 would also allow us to extrapolate Sosaria�fs future. We reasoned that the mages�f quest for knowledge would eventually lead to advances in science. It�fs inevitable, really. It just meant that the Da Vinci, Galileo, and Edison of Sosaria would most likely be sorcerers and alchemists, and that technology would evolve side-by-side with magic. But what if that knowledge was as jealously guarded as arcane secrets? What would happen if the wonders of technology were restricted to an elite few? This was my starting point for the history of the Overlords and their Juka slaves.

It's the Ultima legacy of innovation that has given us the freedom to derive this new world, with its new challenges and excitement.

I can�ft wait to play this game.