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Timelines & Worldbuilding Notes

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DISCLAIMER: Although the following information draws on lore and dialogue taken directly from the games, it is not in any way intended to reflect actual Ultima canon. The following dates, story details, footnotes and tidbits are canon only for this AU ("Alternate Universe") fanfiction series. In general, the plot arc/setting is essentially the same as the original; thus, this Timeline aims to clarify what makes the AU different from canon. And if some of it sounds like made up nonsense… it totally is! So please enjoy this as nothing more than a product of some nutty author's overactive imagination.

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The Age of Darkness

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Before the rise (and fall) of Mondain, the realm of Sosaria consisted of four distinct continents: The Lands of Lord British, the Lands of the Dark Unknown, the Lands of the Feudal Lords, and the Lands of Danger & Despair. While the Lands of Lord British are arguably the most well-known—after all, they eventually became the Britannia we all know and love—the fate of the Lands of Danger & Despair will be the main subject of this timeline. In these days, the King of the White Dragon and King Shamino Salle Dacil shared their dominion over the continent; King Shamino was in fact married to Beatrix, the King of the White Dragon's daughter.

After the defeat of Mondain and the destruction of his Gem of Immortality, the four continents of Sosaria experienced some sort of temporal/spatial rift and became dimensionally isolated, with the inhabitants of each continent unaware and afraid of what became of their former neighbors (who were no doubt wondering about the same thing about them!). To the residents of the Lands of Danger & Despair, it seemed as if the rest of Sosaria simply vanished into thin air! Unfortunately, King Shamino was visiting the Lands of Lord British at the time of the sundering, leaving him stranded from his beloved Beatrix. The woman died of a broken heart, while her father went mad and slaughtered all of his subjects after inviting them to a "festival" in his castle.

Following these catastrophic events, the surviving population of the Lands of Despair & Danger began to succumb to turmoil and violence. However, from his cosmic seat in the Void, an outer deity known as the Great Earth Serpent took notice of this world's suffering…

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The Rise of the Cosmic Serpents

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The outer deities of the Void are numerous and diverse, and not all of them have good intentions (as we will see later). However, the Great Earth Serpent, in tandem with the conjoined Great Serpents of Order and Chaos, acted out of naught but pure benevolence when he began to call to the people of the Lands of Danger & Despair:

"Go, thee. Go thee to the isle of the dawn. Go thee, for thy salvation awaits at the peak."

Most who heard it were confused, even disturbed by the ethereal message. However, the Serpent's strange words resonated deeply within the heart of a humble middle-aged goatherd named Faisal. He deduced that the voice was urging him to travel to the northeast, to a mountainous islet they simply called Sunrise Isle, as it is the first place touched by the sunrise each morning. By some stroke of luck, Faisal's chosen profession bestowed upon him the stamina and skill (and yodeling) required to survive a climb of the treacherous peak. When he reached the top, Faisal discovered that he could now commune directly with the Great Earth Serpent.

Here, the Great Earth Serpent introduced the philosophy of Balance to Faisal, and taught him the secrets of traversing the Void. After spending several weeks in deep meditation atop Sunrise Isle, Faisal descended and returned to the world a changed man. He had a mission to spread the words of the Serpents to the people of the realm, to unite their hearts in Balance, and to plant the seeds that would germinate into a new flourishing tree of life.

Note: …we mean that literally, by the way—the Great Earth Serpent literally gave Faisal a Silver Seed that would grow into a new Tree of Balance. These trees exist in multiple worlds and serve as conduits for the stabilizing influence of the Serpent deities. Theoretically, a Tree of Balance will protect its home planet from the more malevolent forces of the cosmos, but it seems that the trees can be destroyed quite easily by the Void's more powerful entities. A precious resource indeed; it takes a fully-grown Tree of Balance one hundred centuries to produce a single acorn!

Through Faisal's extraordinary efforts, this new philosophy took root and gave rise to a wholly unique culture centered around the interplay of the three Great Serpents. Their followers now called themselves Ophidians and the realm itself Ophidia. While holding his two ever-contentious brothers in check, the Great Earth Serpent continued to communicate regularly to the Ophidians through Faisal, who had since experienced his own spiritual awakening and became the first Great Hierophant of Balance. He changed his name to one chosen and blessed by the Serpents—"Sshriasash"—and kicked off a new naming tradition for all Ophidians (see Footnotes).

The Ophidian system of virtues centered on maintaining a life of Balance by combining the three forces of Chaos (Tolerance, Enthusiasm, Emotion) and the three forces of Order (Ethicality, Discipline, Logic). While the Ophidian people always had those who favored one faction over the other, the ultimate goal was to strike a balance between the two, and to foster a life of Harmony (Tolerance and Ethicality), Dedication (Enthusiasm and Discipline), and Rationality (Emotion and Logic). The Ophidians flourished under this system and would enjoy three millennia of peace and progress; it can be safely assumed that time flows at a different rate in this dimension when compared to Britannia.

Unfortunately, this was not to last forever. Back on Britannia, the rise of Exodus (the semi-synthetic spawn of Mondain and the sorceress Minax) would have dire implications for Ophidia too. Exodus needed a guard for his lair and kidnapped the Great Earth Serpent from his home in the Void, forcing him to do the job. Now that he was no longer around to mind them, his brothers were free to bicker and brawl as much as they pleased. Their fighting extended to the hearts of the Ophidian people; likewise, the Tree of Balance soon withered and died. Where once the followers of Chaos and Order cooperated respectfully, there was now only rivalry and hatred, with both sides shunning the principles of Balance they once cherished.

Interestingly, according to the United Council of Time Lords (UCoTL), the fall of Ophidia coincided with the emergence of a mysterious Void-dwelling "entity of incomprehensible power and concerningly low standards of decent conduct" known to them only as "the Guide". It was once believed that the Guide and the better-known Guardian were one and the same, but data from a recently analyzed sample of ethereal spallation debris proves otherwise—that the two were in fact distinct beings, if formed under very similar circumstances. Xorinite intelligence on the matter also suggests that the Guide was defeated and summarily absorbed by an unidentified outer deity at an unknown point in time.

For a better understanding of these history-shaping events, the following timeline will attempt to compile what we do know about the Guide, along with our knowledge of the two Ophidian companions of the Avatar, Elissa Sshriyevak and Sethys Esshalshamesh. All dates are listed in Ophidian Years (see Footnotes).

 

Ophidian Timeline

The Guide sets her sights on Ophidia and begins testing the waters, so to speak, looking for her next thralls. At first she manages to influence the minds of those souls unaffiliated with the Ophidian philosophy—these people unite in their former disenfranchisement and become the so-called Dark Monks.

Later she finds an even more convenient match with the followers of Order, as their ideals closely align with hers in certain ways, and they have both the numbers and the infrastructure to easily facilitate her desired conquest of this shard of Sosaria.

However, she wishes to take a more subtle approach with Order as to not upset their devotion to the Order Serpent, who could also be a useful tool for her. While maintaining her hold over the Dark Monks, the Guide also takes aim at the upper ranks of Order. She begins speaking to their Hierophant, acting as an "inner friend" and "voice of reason".

She also plants "divine inspirations" into the minds of Order's greatest mages and technicians, giving them the knowledge required to invent wondrous things like ethereal communication devices (which are naturally "bugged" by the Guide herself), and soul gems (to give Order a decisive upper hand in the wars to come).

The Guide begins communicating with the Great Serpent of Order in secret. He laments his bondage with his brothers, insinuating that it is the Great Earth Serpent who forces them to stay together and cooperate, thus keeping Order from achieving total domination. The Guide listens carefully and schemes.

The Great Earth Serpent vanishes after being stolen away by Exodus; the followers of Order and Chaos begin arguing amongst themselves.

Elissa Sshriyevak born in the Ordered capital of Shasavrah (Spinebreaker) - (10/9).

The factions of Order and Chaos declare war.

Sethys Esshalshamesh born in the free city of Thiriastith (Furnace) - (11/21).

Elissa enters the Shasavrah Mages' Consortium; she is a promising and well-disciplined student despite her relative youth.

Elissa graduates from the Consortium as a highly accomplished Order Mage of the Third Rank. She immediately enters service with the Martial Forces of Order as a trainee mage-inspector.

Sethys becomes a novitiate of Harmony, despite his Chaotic parents' objections.

Great Hierophant Ssithnos is assassinated in his office in Thiriastith; Sethys witnesses this crime in part.

Sethys is invested as an acolyte of Harmony; he leaves his home in Thiriastith to live and work in their temple.

Elissa, now an Order Mage of the Second Rank, completes her mage-inspector training and is stationed at Seriss, a small border outpost near the Northlands.

The Temple of Harmony is sacked and razed to the ground by disgruntled followers of Order and Chaos. Rather than flee to the Isle of Crypts, Sethys decides to begin his plenary, which is a traditional pilgrimage to all Ophidian temples that every acolyte of Balance should strive to undertake before reaching "six hands of years".

Sethys is apprehended at Seriss for trying to cross the border with a forged visa, but he works out a deal "under the table" with mage-inspector Elissa: In exchange for free passage to the Northlands, he agrees to report any evidence pointing to the Dark Monks' potential involvement in Ssithnos's assassination.

The Great War of Imbalance begins in earnest when the Martial Forces of Order invade the Chaotic Capital of Essyamar (Skullcrusher). This marks the rollout of the Lords of Discipline, whom Elissa admires and aspires to become some day.

Shortly after this, the Martial Forces of Order kill the Chaos Hierophant at the Temple of Enthusiasm and launch attacks on the other Chaos temples as well. During the battle of Emotion, Sethys is taken prisoner along with a group of acolytes. His fate beyond this point will remain unknown for centuries to follow.

The events of Silver Seed most likely occurred some time this year, give or take a month or two.

On account of her exemplary service as a Paragon of the virtues of Order, Elissa is selected to become the first female Lord of Discipline. She agrees to the procedure only after being reassured that she will keep her magical abilities after becoming an automaton.

On the eve of Elissa's transformation into a Lord of Discipline, Calithiss invites her to a private dinner where she discloses her involvement with the assassination of Ssithnos, as well as her secret alliance with the Guide and the Dark Monks.

Elissa becomes a Lord of Discipline and is devastated to learn that she can no longer use her magic, contrary to what was promised.

In a coup de grâce against the flagging forces of Chaos, Order completes their binding of the Chaos Serpent. Using forbidden magic, they split the deity into three parts—the Banes of Chaos, who are sealed within in two of the three Order temples (avenging soldiers of Chaos destroyed the Temple of Ethicality in 3156; it is unclear precisely where Order imprisoned the Bane of Anarchy).

Shortly after this, the Guide inexplicably ceases communicating with Calithiss and the Order Serpent; she is never heard from again.

With Chaos now effectively extirpated from the Serpent Isles, Imbalance overwhelms the realm on multiple levels, devastating the environment and crushing the morale of its remaining denizens.

In 3167, bereft of Guidance and now deeply ashamed of her direct role in the land's ruination, the remorseful Calithiss rounds up her surviving followers and leads them through the Wall of Lights, in search of a better world.

All of the automatons—Elissa and the Lords of Discipline included—are left behind to languish and decay in the war-torn wreckage of their home.

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The Empty Years and A New Beginning

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Following the exodus of the Ophidians, it is difficult to determine how many years will pass until the arrival of Erstam and the Sosarian settlers. Although the Gwani keep extensive records of their own histories, they use a different calendar which is not entirely compatible with Ophidian or Sosarian modes of timekeeping. For what it's worth, the United Council of Time Lords (UCoTL) have placed their officially determined estimate at "8295 void-years, give or take a century".

Erstam was a powerful magician living in the Lands of Lord British, now known simply as "Britannia". At this time, Lord British was attempting to guide his realm into a new era of enlightenment; in particular, he encouraged his subjects to follow an eightfold system of virtues. This was not a religion so much as it was simply a means of promoting ethical behavior and self-improvement among the denizens of the ailing kingdom. This system became very popular, but it still had its dissidents—Erstam included. Rather than attempt to fight the tides of change, he chose to gather those who also disagreed with the new virtue system and leave Britannia for good.

These would-be expatriates set sail on a ship called The Osprey. As for a destination, Erstam decided to try his luck by sailing through the Serpent Pillars, an enigmatic structure that arises from the ocean only under certain astronomical circumstances. When The Osprey at last made land, the settlers were not aware that they had found the long-lost Lands of Danger & Despair, nor did they know of the dangerous state of Imbalance caused by the Ophidians. Rather, the settlers dubbed these lands "New Sosaria" and quickly established three new colonies in accordance with their own unique takes on the virtues: Monitor (Courage), Fawn (Love), and Moonshade (Truth). They also set up a new calendar system, beginning with the year 0 New Freedom (N.F.)(see Footnotes).

It did not take long for Erstam and the others to notice the remains of the civilization that thrived thousands of years before their arrival. To their eyes, it seemed that these were a relatively advanced people in terms of technology, while the cultural (or at least aesthetic) aspects of their lives were dominated by snakes. As such, the settlers nicknamed their new home "the Serpent Isles", a term that stuck.

Although Erstam initially considered his enterprise a successful one, over the centuries his temper shortened to a nubbin of a fuse. By 333 N.F., he could no longer tolerate the daily dramas of his fellow mages so he isolated himself on a small island several miles off the northwestern coast of the Isle of Beyond (where Moonshade is located). He remains there to this day, carrying out strange experiments in his oft-futile attempts to answer the age-old Question of Life And Death.

Of additional interest in this era might be the c. 380's re-emergence of a so-called "hedge mage" (simply, a mage who was not formally trained) in Moonshade by the name of Vasculio. The term "hedge mage" is only partially accurate in this case; although Vasculio did not attend the Seminarium in his youth, he nevertheless served as a mentee of Erstam himself some sixty years prior, a decade before Erstam abandoned the mages of Moonshade to their own inane devices. Vasculio's whereabouts in the meantime were unknown, but by the time he returned to Moonshade he had become a powerful enough sorcerer to rival the city's elite coterie of adepts.

Unfortunately (and crucially), Vasculio lacked the necessary social standing to truly count himself among their ranks. Embittered by their rejection, he choose to embrace the forbidden canon of Death Magic and continue his experimentation with bloodspawn in secret, eventually striking up an unlikely partnership with the city's purported Life Mage, Torrissio De Vitis. Their clandestine reign of terror continued until 391, when the horrific murder of a mundane child prompted the involvement of the city's Necromage, Mortegro. He was able to trace the crime to Vasculio and Torrissio, blowing the lid off their gruesome practice. Although Vasculio stood trial and faced execution for his crimes, and although the Council of Mages released an official statement that he had "an adept accomplice", Torrissio escaped punishment on account of his own status as a Council member. He later abdicated his Council seat but remains a free man to this day, while Vasculio persists beyond death, lurking in the shadowy corridors of Skullcrusher, desperately seeking the blood (and bloodspawn) that will sustain him…

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Modern Times: The Sage, the Scholar, and the Avatar

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Unfortunately, we must now (temporarily) return to Britannia and admit the troublesome name "Batlin" into our little story. The specific events of the Black Gate incident go beyond the scope of this already lengthy timeline. Know that it was a foiled attempt to invade Britannia, spearheaded by an interdimensional entity known as the Guardian. Not unlike the Guide we met earlier, the Guardian also made use of a spiritual leader (the celebrity sage J. Wilberforce Batlin) and his adherents (The Fellowship) to craft the conditions (viz. a massive blackrock gate) necessary for his infiltration.

Following the destruction of the Black Gate and the outlawing of the Fellowship, the Guardian ordered Batlin to execute their "Plan B"; that is, to escape to the Serpent Isles and allow the Guardian ingress through the Wall of Lights in Shasavrah. The Guardian knew of the Wall of Lights because he knew that Calithiss (a former accessory of one of his rivals) used it to usher herself and the remnants of Order into the Void thousands of years ago.

Note: Calithiss and her followers may have ended up in the world known as Pagan, given how the Avatar got the Blackrock Serpent of Order, but the veracity of this story cannot be ascertained. However, if it is true, it would lend an ironic twist to their history as Pagan now counts itself among the many realms conquered by the Guardian.

It is worth noting that several days before the Black Gate incident, Batlin received an unsolicited but timely parcel of ancient documents penned by the Ophidians, regarding their beliefs and rituals. While poring over these materials, Batlin learned of the sundering of the Great Serpent of Chaos, and the role of the Wall of Lights in its reassembly. Blinded by his own ambition and greed, he would conclude that the Wall of Lights would allow him to merge himself with the three Chaos Banes and become a god.

Note: The mysteriously obtained parcel of research materials was delivered by one "A. Rankin", a Fellowship branch leader whom Batlin privately mistrusted for reasons he could not adequately explain, describing him as "unnerving". When asked how he managed to procure these impossibly rare documents, Rankin only credited "a higher authority" and failed to elaborate on what he meant by that. The outcome of this footnote may or may not become evident later in this timeline.

Although the Black Gate plot ended in failure (and the deaths of Batlin's closest associates), Batlin and the Guardian had prepared for "Plan B" almost as meticulously as they prepared for "Plan BG", going so far as to use surplus blackrock to construct a miniature obelisk that would be delivered to New Sosaria by an unwitting group of Fellowship members, under the pretense that they were going on a mission to spread word of the Triad of Inner Strength…

 

Modern Timeline

NB: The following events all occur on the Serpent Isles in the years 451 to 455 New Freedom. From this point onward, each timeline entry will be numbered for reference purposes.

The port of Fawn is graced with an extremely rare sight—the arrival of a ship from Britannia. It delivers several Fellowship members, three mercenaries in Batlin's employ, a blackrock obelisk, and a bardic scholar of no small repute by the name of Gwenllian "Gwenno" Gwalch'gaeaf. After being turned away for mostly superficial reasons by Lady Yelinda Gray (the current leader of Fawn), the group establishes an encampment just outside of the city. Gwenno, like her fellow passengers, is not yet aware of the Fellowship's nefarious intentions, and simply "hitched a ride" so she could conduct her own studies of the ancient Ophidians.

While researching New Sosarian folklore and legends, Gwenno makes her way to Monk Isle and then Moonshade. While in Moonshade, she becomes acquainted with many of the city's residents and makes a good impression with her friendly nature and fine musicianship. She also learns of a recent scandal involving an adept named Ensorcio Tafani, who has been put on trial and exiled from the city for "illegal seduction"; following this, Magelord Filbercio transfers Ensorcio's manor and all of his assets into the ownership of a man named Stefano Pavone, the infamous dandy-bandit of Moonshade.

However, Gwenno has little interest in the seemingly endless scuttlebutt of the city's upper crust and thus spends most of her time combing through the Seminarium archives. After hearing of the Gwani from Magister Fedabiblio, she decides to head north to experience their culture for herself.

On Monk Isle, during a New Year's celebration, the young monk Thoxa secretly takes her leave after overhearing her fellows' plans to lock her in the tunnels beneath the isle. This is the doing of her fellow monk Karnax and an admittedly extreme measure to prevent her from interfering with the Xenkan prophecies. Like Gwenno, she will also travel to various places around the Serpent Isles over the next several months.

Batlin, the disgraced and defeated leader of the Britannian Fellowship, suddenly arrives at the Fellowship camp in Fawn, literally in a bolt out of the blue that destroys the blackrock obelisk. Although he escaped to the Isles under the Guardian's orders, at this point he is already entertaining plans to betray his master. Utilizing his (very sketchy) knowledge on Ophidian rituals—specifically the Wall of Lights—Batlin hopes to trigger some means of apotheosis for himself. It is not immediately evident how Batlin has obtained this knowledge; nevertheless, after gathering some information in Fawn, his first task is to haul off to the city of Monitor.

Batlin and his three hired hands—a "heavy" named Brunt, Deadeye the pirate, and a wingless gargoyle named Palos—visit Monitor and endear themselves to everyone there in their own special ways, so much that the lot is forcibly ejected from the city by Mayor Marsden himself. However, Batlin is successful in his true mission: To pinch a blackrock serpent from Andral the Sculptor.

Batlin travels to the Sleeping Bull Inn by himself and gets to know the inn's other guests (exiled adept Ensorcio in particular). After a few days, he leaves on "an errand" but returns several days later with his companions, who behave strangely and disturb the inn's other guests. In the dead of that night, proprietress Devra Bullard hears crashing and the sound of voices in the cellar, but a cursory inspection reveals nothing out of the ordinary.

When she starts work the next morning, she finds the cellar in a terrible disarray and her husband missing. Ensorcio is also distraught, claiming something precious has been stolen from him. While Devra suspects foul play, she cannot question Batlin about it for he and his crew have already sailed off with Captain Hawk (and with Ensorcio's serpent jawbone).

Moonshade is Batlin's next destination, where his odious manner fails to win him many friends among the city's adepts. Although he spends much of his time here trying to buy Ophidian relics—namely serpent's teeth—from the mages, he has little success obtaining them (legitimately, anyway).

However, he does find one potential ally in Celennia the Night Witch. Rather than accompany the sage, she glamours herself into a simple waif named "Selina" and sails for the Sleeping Bull Inn, to await further instruction from Batlin and/or the Guardian. Selina also travels to Monitor to visit her long-estranged sister Lydia Swebb.

Before making his final departure to the northern wastes, Batlin purchases an obscure spell from Torrissio De Vitis. This spell concerns the creation of soul prisms. He also visits Ducio Finocchiaro, the town's master artisan, and commissions three worm gems—also essential components for creating soul prisms.

NB: Batlin leaves Moonshade with these serpent's teeth in his possession: Sleeping Bull, Discipline, Enthusiasm, Logic, Spinebreaker, Skullcrusher. Some or all of these were stolen from the adepts; according to the original design documents at least one of them was taken from Rotoluncia the Red Witch.

Batlin and his companions trek towards the northern part of the big isle, an unforgiving land studded with Ophidian ruins; due to the Gorlab phenomenon, they could not have made this journey on foot. Batlin attempted to use the serpent's jawbone to travel into the Dark Path—the knowledge of which he gleaned from Silverpate's notes in the Sleeping Bull basement. Alas, he could not work out the specifics of the device right away and gave up, opting to hire a ride from Captain Hawk instead. Interestingly, Batlin's party shares this leg of the journey with Thoxa the Monk, who is also heading north on her own mission.

By this time, Gwenno has already befriended the Gwani people and walks among them in a position of respect, speaking their language and recording their histories. On Xenkaria 7, Thoxa the monk arrives at the Gwani village and meets Gwenno here, hoping to learn more information about the Stranger From Another Land as prophesied by Xenka. Gwenno notes that this Stranger reminds her of an old friend of hers: The Avatar.

Meanwhile, Batlin combs the northlands for the three Order temples in which the Ophidians sealed the three Chaos Banes, aeons ago. These are the temples of Discipline, Ethicality and Logic, preserved remarkably well despite centuries of neglect. This is perhaps due in part to their automaton caretakers, still carrying out their duties despite seeing neither hide nor hair of their human masters for so long. It can be safely assumed that Batlin shows no respect for any of this as he forces his way through each temple and destroys the blackrock sarcophagi that contain the Chaos Banes.

NB: Due to a counterattack that left the Temple of Ethicality compromised, the Conjury of Order stored the Bane of Anarchy in a different place. The location of the lost sarcophagi would not be known until the Avatar discovered Batlin's notes among his personal effects. He wrote that he teased the location of Anarchy out of "a spirit trapped inside some sort of prism" that he found inside the temple. Thinking it to contain some kind of genie, Batlin almost took this prism with him but decided against it when said spirit dared to advise against his "ludicrous" plans to merge himself with the Chaos Banes.

Each time he releases a Chaos Bane, it easily eludes his ineptly made soul prism and swiftly escapes into the world to find a new host body. One would think that Batlin might have the insight to perhaps change his methods after failing the first time, but no. Anyway, the sage and his entourage commence an urgent goose chase across the northlands. The first Chaos Bane that Batlin recaptures is Anarchy, found occupying a fur trapper who fled into the ruins of Skullcrusher.

Unfortunately, the Bane of Wantonness possesses Gwenno, who proceeds to celebrate her new godlike puissance with a bloody rampage against the fur trappers who so tormented her Gwani friends. She manages to kill most of them before Batlin and his friends stumble upon the scene and lend a hand, slaying Gwenno and capturing the Wantonness Bane inside one of their soul prisms. The Bane of Insanity is still on the loose, but not for much longer…

NB: The Bane of Insanity possesses a young lass named Cantra Hunnacott, who is kidnapped and murdered by Batlin (but not without putting up a hell of a fight). Later on, the Avatar finds her body in the ruins of Shamino's old castle; the Xenkans manage to bring the poor girl back to life, though the bane left her mind severely corrupted.

The Gwani discover Gwenno's body and honor her life with a traditional Gwani funeral. They encase the woman in a solid block of ice, which will rest forever within their Death Temple.

The Avatar and her friends Iolo FitzOwen, Shamino Sallé Dacil, and Sir Dupré arrive on Serpent Isle during a mysterious lightning storm. Their ship runs aground on the shore near the city of Monitor, while the Avatar, her companions and their equipment all fall prey to the bizarre meteorological event, teleporting all involved hither and yon. The Avatar is left all alone to regain her bearings and work out what happened…

But not for long; after travelling a short way down the shore, the Avatar is surprised by the monk Thoxa, who wonders if this could be the Stranger From Another Land as described in the Xenkan prophecies. She confirms this by administering a brief copy-protection history test. Delighted that the Avatar passed with flying colors (and would never stoop so low as to play a pirated game, no sir), Thoxa entrusts our hero with the Hourglass of Fate, a powerful device of Xenkan provenance. However, her fellow monk Karnax is hot on Thoxa's trail and appears onto the scene in a burst of magic, furiously bemoaning his fellow monk's interference with the prophecies. The two have a rather flashy "disagreement" that ends with both returning to Monk Isle to lick their wounds.

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The story that follows for a time after this is already well-known to those who have closely followed the Avatar's exploits. Save for some very minor details, there's no meaningful deviation from a typical, canon playthrough of Serpent Isle. So, in the interest of keeping this Timeline relatively brief and on-topic for this AU, we will now "spin on" to the point that immediately follows Batlin's death and the incident in Spinebreaker.

Here, the re-released Chaos Banes possess Iolo, Shamino, and Dupre, and the three immediately spirit themselves away to go wreak havoc in the world, leaving behind one absolutely gobsmacked Avatar and her sole remaining companion Boydon (who had the good sense to stay out of the Grand Shrine of Order when all of this went down).

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The Avatar and Boydon know that they need to act quickly in stopping the Chaos Banes but have no other clues beyond that. They put their heads together and decide to begin their search in the former Chaotic capital of Skullcrusher. After some fruitless exploration, the Avatar and Boydon stumble upon a laboratory that looks somehow out of place and time. Inside, they locate a relic that the Avatar recognizes as the Gwani Horn; by some incredible stroke of luck, they do not yet encounter the owner of the laboratory…

Although the Gwani Horn has no connection to the Chaos Banes, the Avatar knows that she can use it to release her friend Gwenno's body from its icy sepulcher in the Gwani funerary crypts. After doing this, she promptly summons Thoxa with the Hourglass of Fate. The monk is able to resurrect Gwenno's body then and there, but notes that something must've corrupted her mind before she died, evident by her delirious ranting about some frankly unsettling topics. Thoxa offers to accompany them back to Monk Isle so they may see if there is anything more they can do for the woman.

Back on Monk Isle, Karnax draws upon his own knowledge of Ophidian phenomena and diagnoses Gwenno with an "overabundance of Wantonness" due to her possession by a Chaos Bane. While refusing to tell her anything explicitly helpful, he hints to the Avatar that a draught of water from the Temple of Discipline might restore her friend's mind. Draxta also shares a vision she had of Petra the automaton barmaid, crossing the temple's acid fields.

The Avatar returns to Moonshade to recruit Petra and is shocked to find that Anarchy left the place in ruins, with most of the adepts dead. While there, she saves Stefano from a so-called "Death Knight" that someone summoned to kill him. Grateful (and also scared out of his wits), Stefano decides to travel with the Avatar too.

The group uses the Jawbone to travel directly to the Temple of Discipline, where Petra and the Avatar swap minds so the latter may complete the Discipline tests without suffering bodily harm. While occupying the Avatar's body, Petra begins to remember fragments of her old life as a powerful but hard-hearted Order mage named Elissa. She finds the memories viscerally disturbing, but she keeps this development to herself.

After filling one of her canteens with water from the temple of Discipline, the Avatar returns to Monk Isle and gives some to Gwenno. Now back to normal, Gwenno also decides to join the Avatar in hopes that they will be able to save her husband as well. She has scant information regarding Batlin's handling of the Chaos Banes, but further research in the Monk Isle library reveals that they will not only need to create something called a "soul prism" to contain a bane, but that these soul prisms must be sanctified in water from the corresponding Chaos temples. Moreover, should they manage to loosen their companions from the grip of the banes, their minds will likely be corrupted in the same manner as Gwenno's, thus they will require water from all the Order temples as well.

The group decides to start with collecting the water, hoping that they will find more information about these mysterious "soul prisms" somewhere along the way.

They decide to prep for a long journey north at the Sleeping Bull but are horrified to find the place a corpse-ridden wreck. Boydon decides to stay behind for a while and help clean up the place, while the Avatar, Gwenno, Petra, and Stefano travel through the Dark Path to their first stop: The Temple of Enthusiasm.

The Avatar and friends pay their respects at the derelict well of Enthusiasm, then head to the Temple of Logic to solve an automaton's idea of a murder mystery. Now with three samples of Ophidian water in their canteens, their next stop is the Temple of Ethicality. Unfortunately, Petra breaks down and becomes a non-responsive metal husk in the Dark Path. In light of the situation with the Banes, the party agrees it would probably be best to fetch the remaining water samples before attempting to move and repair Petra.

Moving on to the Temple of Ethicality, the Avatar is surprised to find it in a far more derelict state than the other Order establishments—evidence of a rare Chaos victory. Still, the Avatar presses on and reactivates the testing protocol in order to gain access to its fountain. The tests are fairly straightforward simulations of "Ethical Situations", including one where she has to walk through a ring of fire to save a young man from a similar fate. After doing so, the rescuee seemingly breaks character and desperately begs the Avatar to "break the prism", swearing up and down that it's not a trap and it's not part of the test.

The Avatar completes the rest of the test without issue. When she reunites with her companions, she is dismayed to see that Stefano couldn't keep his hands to himself and she returns just in time to see him dandling some artifact—a time prism. She yells at him to put it down, which he does… By fumbling it onto the ground where it shatters open, releasing one Sethys Esshalshamesh after some 8700 years of spectral imprisonment in the Void. He is dazed and overwhelmed, and he does not seem aware that his fellow Ophidians have been gone for centuries. Sethys reluctantly decides to stick with the Avatar for now; in light of the urgency of her mission, they agree to explain their respective stories on their way to the next temple.

The next temple on the list is Tolerance. When the Avatar and her friends arrive, they immediately sense that this particular temple has a prickly, static sort of energy lingering about it. Moreover, the altar of Tolerance itself is missing, but its replacement offers a living clue towards its whereabouts: Mortegro, the Necromage of Moonshade, previously thought lost from a lightning storm.

Mortegro is stranded on the altar platform, a little artificial island surrounded by a deep and lethally freezing moat. He can't escape because the island's drawbridge is up and the mechanism that controls it is behind a locked door. Furthermore, he explains that his magic is not working here for reasons beyond him, otherwise he could have freed himself already. The Avatar and friends search the grounds for this key for hours before Sethys admits that he actually lost the blasted thing ages ago and it could be anywhere. Stefano offers to try to pick the lock while Sethys, at a loss, suggests consulting the temple's Web of Fate for answers.

Unluckily, the Web of Fate is stuck behind another locked door in the temple's basement treasury, forcing the party to search for another way in. Eventually, they notice a large rat scurrying out of a wall hole with an ancient gold coin in its mouth. Gwenno posits that the hole may connect to the treasury; the Avatar strips down and casts Serpent Bond on herself, then slithers through the hole. Sure enough, she emerges in a room stuffed full of, well, assets, and one of them is indeed the Web of Fate. She unlocks the door from the inside and opens it (after asking Gwenno to fetch her clothing, of course).

When she opens the door, she is greeted by Sethys, sheepishly dangling the altar key from his finger. He explains that he forgot he tied it around his ankle long ago, but the sight of the Avatar's boots brought back the relevant memory. Exasperated but ultimately relieved, the Avatar takes the key and uses it to lower the temple drawbridge, thus saving Mortegro from a frigid fate (and Stefano's knuckles from any more lockpicking).

Rather than proceed to the final temple (Emotion), the Avatar decides it would be wiser to detour to Monk Isle for a spell. She and her companions spend a week recovering from their tribulations while the Xenkans try to work out what happened to Petra. Unfortunately, their knowledge of automaton maintenance is limited to the point of uselessness. They can only refer the Avatar to the one man who may be able to help her: Torrissio De Vitis, the mage who restored her in the first place.

The fact that the altar of Tolerance is now somewhere in Moonshade also makes the decision for their next destination an easy one. Before leaving, the Avatar donates a portion of her Water of Logic to the monks, so they may try to administer it to Cantra.

The Avatar sails Captain Hawk's ship (The Arabella) back to the Isle of Beyond, declaring that she left it docked at Monk Isle long enough and now wants to return it home out of respect to the old sailor. Also in tow are Gwenno, Stefano, Mortegro, and Sethys, plus the "bricked" Petra.

Upon their arrival in Moonshade, Stefano insists they all make themselves at home in his manor, while Mortegro takes it upon himself to deliver Petra to Torrissio and negotiate a deal for her repairs.

• Read: Ancient History

Despite much consternation caused by the Life Mage, the group successfully wrests a fully repaired Petra from his dubious clutches. Early the next morning, the party deduces that the altar of Tolerance must be in Gustacio's basement; they collect their penultimate canteen of Ophidian water before leaving the city. Instead of trekking north to Emotion, the Avatar decides to check in with Boydon and take care of a couple things back on the Big Isle.

Boydon greets the Avatar and her companions here warmly; he introduces her to Devra and Angus's son, Wilfred Bullard, a Monitorian knight of the Bear command who returned to the Inn when the Bane of Wantonness showed up in Monitor. Unfortunately, the Bane (with help from the Goblins) laid waste to the Sleeping Bull Inn a few days later, killing all within save for Wilfred. He claims he fought valiantly during the battle, but…

Immediately Wilfred presents himself as a supercilious bully who is all talk and no trousers; he even goes so far as to dig into the Avatar for killing Batlin (as Wilfred suspected that Batlin was behind the disappearance/probable murder of his father). Still, he offers his services and practically forces his way into the party, giving the Serpent Isle Irregulars a new face for the roster.

At this time, the Avatar travels alone to Monitor, reportedly to have words in private with Cantra's mother, Harnna Hunnacott; the Avatar updates Harnna on her daughter's condition and escorts the woman to Monk Isle via the Dark Path.

Now that the Avatar is back on the mainland, she and the others set out to collect two components of the Great Hierophant's Regalia. She suspects that the Serpent Crown somehow made it into Captain Hawk's possession, and it just so happened that he willed her "his booty" (not like that). All she has to do is find where he stashed it, and what fun would an old pirate's booty be without an old pirate's treasure map? The party searches the expanse of woods west of Fawn for a hollow tree filled with treasure, fighting Goblins every step of the way and even encountering a real pirate…

With the Serpent Crown in hand, it's on to Fawn proper where lies the Serpent Armor, prize of the city treasury. Unfortunately, Mad Iolo the Insanity Bane made quite a dog's dinner of the once beautiful city, which is now strewn with trash and filth and the rotting bodies of most of its citizens. However, Ruggs remains, as well as the Britannian mapmaker Scots, Captain Joth, and Freli's sister Alyssand. The Avatar finds out that Lady Yelinda was cursed by Mad Iolo to appear as if she had been skinned alive. Though this was only a glamour, the mortified Yelinda fled into the nearby swamps of Gorlab.

Luckily, the Avatar manages to track her down without issue; she ameliorates Yelinda's appearance with the Comb of Beauty, stolen back from Columna (who stole it from Yelinda in the first place). Grateful but nevertheless full of remorse for her dead city, Lady Yelinda hands over the key to Fawn's treasury—the Serpent Armor is as good as theirs. When they turn to leave, the Xenkan monk Braccus magically materializes before them with an important development. He tells the Avatar that the monks discovered a tidbit of evidence among Batlin's belongings suggesting that he visited Torrissio of Moonshade (not again!) to learn how to create soul prisms…

Once again, Mortegro kindly volunteers to brave the depths of Torrissio's sitting room and broker another odious exchange of goods and services. Yes, Torrissio has knowledge of soul prism creation, and no he is not willing to give it up for free. However, at least this time he's more clear about what he wants: He confides in Mortegro that Vasculio actually stole something from him before he… well, you know (Morty knows). This object is the Philanderer's Friend and it has the great power to restore movement to sessile flesh, primarily for purposes of… well, you know (Morty thinks he knows but declines to pry). Alas, Torrissio knows not precisely where Vasculio stashed the thing but he suspects it may be somewhere in Skullcrusher. Why Skullcrusher? Well, as every mage knows (Morty doesn't know) there is a lot of stoneheart in Skullcrusher, and if Torrissio was an undead vampire lich with an obsession with death magic (and he isn't, but if he was), that's probably where he would go set up shop. But this is just a guess, an innocent guess not intended to convey any specific concrete knowledge about any one thing or another.

To sweeten the deal, Torrissio surrenders an object from his collection that may help: A serpent's tooth that leads to "one of the ancient temples near Skullcrusher". Mortegro deduces that it must be the tooth to Emotion, the one temple tooth that the Avatar was missing. When he returns to the Avatar, she confirms Torrissio's suspicions and says that she actually found a mage's lair in Skullcrusher—it was where she and Boydon found the Gwani Horn. The group decides to knock out two things at once and trek to Skullcrusher via the Temple of Emotion.

At the Temple of Emotion, Sethys is gobsmacked to find his younger sister Shriash, now a glowing green spectre trapped within a temple wall. She informs him of the ruinous battle that resulted in the death of their parents and her own sorry state. Because Ethicality's most powerful sorcerers defiled the temple's Serpent-blessed pedestals, and because the pedestals have been allowed to fester like that for 8700 years, the whole place now teems to the bricks with corrupt magical energy. Shriash believes this is what is preventing her soul from escaping to the Void; furthermore, the Avatar will not be able to collect an effective draught of Water of Emotion until the temple is cleansed.

Sethys convinces Petra (rather, her "Elissa" partition) to donate her knowledge of Order magic and help the group complete a simple rite of spiritual purification. The rite culminates with the necessary destruction of the Pedestal of Love, an act that neutralizes the corruption and frees a grateful Shriash's soul. This also allows the Avatar to reset the temple's holy lodestones around its reflection pool and collect the newly purified Water of Emotion. A bittersweet ending to the Avatar's Ophidian temple tour, but a blessedly successful one.

Back in Skullcrusher, the Avatar and Boydon lead the others to the (at the time) abandoned laboratory where they found the Gwani Horn. Unfortunately for them, it is not so quiet this time; a little poking around the place all but proves that this is the demesne of Vasculio and that the master of the house is IN today. While Stefano "gets to work" on Vasculio's collection of pilfered prizes, Vasculio confronts the others directly when they blunder into his coffin chamber. Fortunately, the Magebane (which the Avatar has already recovered) makes the ensuing battle a trivial one. Before they leave with the Philanderer's Friend, Stefano shows the Avatar the one object too large for him to stuff into his bag. She recognizes it as a device that Gustacio once told her about called a "Flux Analyzer", and recalls that such a device should be able to restore the Black Sword to its full, dread-inspiring capacity.

Before returning the Philanderer's Friend to Torrissio (as the group suspects they will never see the thing again after that), Mortegro suggests trying it on Fedabiblio and Gustacio, just to see what might happen. To his shock, it works! The two old adepts return to life, a little confused and a little stiff in the shoulders (and more than a little perturbed) but otherwise none worse for the wear. Gustacio demands to see Freli, who was apparently responsible for this little prank during Anarchy's brief reign. Meanwhile, Mortegro returns the Philanderer's Friend to Torrissio; once again, the Life Mage makes good on his word and exchanges the wand for the knowledge of soul prism creation—a relatively simple spell, all things considered.

Their next step is a visit to Ducio, who creates the requisite worm gems for them for the low, low price of a couple bottles of beer. These worm gems become functional soul prisms post-enchantment, but the job isn't done yet. Each prism must now be treated in the blessed waters from the Chaos temples, as Gwenno discovered back on Monk Isle. This was the step that Batlin failed to do, leading to disaster; an uneasiness settles over the party as they begin to realize that they too will be dealing with unfettered Chaos Banes very soon. Still, the Avatar knows that they must press on if they are to save her three companions, to say nothing of the universe itself. The next morning, the Avatar and her Irregulars set off to the Castle of the White Dragon, to confront this grim reality head on.

A magical—and lethal—madhouse of traps and tricks awaits the Avatar and her friends at the Castle of the White Dragon. The ordeal becomes not only a test of their strength and sorcery, but also their collective wit, patience, and cooperation. Despite these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, they somehow manage to prevail as the Avatar leads the way to the castle's throne room, where the twisted forms of Iolo, Shamino, and Dupré await her arrival.

Although her teammates all have a hand in incapcitating the bodies containing the Chaos Banes, it is up to the Avatar (equipped with the Black Sword and its Ether Gem) to actually slay them, thus ensuring that each bane is properly corraled into the sword upon defeat, then transferred into the corresponding soul prism. As for the men they once occupied, the Avatar can only see them safely returned to Monk Isle.

Even after being dosed with the ameliorative Waters of Order, the Avatar's three companions have quite a bit of recovery ahead of them. They will remain in the care of the Xenkan monks for some time, as they attempt to make heads or tails of their Chaotic possession and their horrific actions done in the name of the banes. And although the Avatar still considers this a major victory in her ongoing efforts to save the Serpent Isles from destruction, she is now left grasping for clues regarding what her next move should be, especially regarding the reassembly of the Chaos Serpent.

Fortunately, she does not have to wait for long. On the first day of Xenkaria, a miraculous (and most fitting) event occurs: The return of Xenka herself! A blunt and plain-spoken woman, she wastes no time in berating her underlings for mangling her otherwise straightforward prophecies and prolonging the dangerous state of the world in doing so. She is considerably more patient with the Avatar, though, and tries to help her work out where to go next. Xenka has a serpent's tooth in her possession and reports that the Avatar's next step should be to "seek assistance from the Dead", claiming that the tooth leads to a place called (appropriately) the Isle of Crypts…

Although Xenka was not terribly specific in her directions, Sethys professes some familiarity with the Isle of Crypts. He informs the Avatar that this remote necropolis was the final resting place of Ssithnos, the Great Hierophant of Balance; no doubt this is what Xenka meant by seeking assistance from the Dead. However, when the group enters the temple they find naught but further nonsense, as it would seem that the acolytes banished to this Isle thousands of years ago had nothing better to do with their time but rig the whole place with a plethora of peculiar puzzles and bombastic booby traps.

Despite the best efforts of the Necropolis itself, the Avatar and friends arrive at the crypt of the last Hierophant in one piece. Mortegro gets a chance to demonstrate his seance skills by calling forth the ghost of Ssithnos. He greets the group warmly but notices that the Avatar is missing one piece of his requisite regalia: His Serpent's Staff, which should be somewhere in his office in Thiriastith (now Furnace). Ssithnos also tells her that the final destination on her quest to correct the Imbalance will be the Grand Shrine of Balance on Sunrise Isle, but she must first reform the Great Serpent of Chaos from its component banes. Alas, he has little information on this task; the only one who would've possessed such arcane knowledge would've been Isskevahash, the Hierophant of Chaos, and Ssithnos knows not where he lies. Petra and Sethys are willing to share all that they remember of the man, allowing the Avatar to deduce that his last known location was the Temple of Enthusiasm…

The party's second visit to Enthusiasm has a more macabre purpose: To find the body of the Chaos Hierophant, assuming any trace of it remains after 8700 years of exposure to the elements. This time, the intense environment of the Northlands works in the Avatar's favor. After some searching she finds Isskevahash's body (or at least one partially dressed in the remnants of his regalia) hidden but well-preserved in the ice-glazed temple garden. As for the personal object required to summon his shade, Sethys has it in hand… literally! From thin air, he produces a shimmering moonstone orb called "the Serpent's Eye", claiming the Hierophant entrusted him with it to some unknown end, to be kept a strict secret until needed. He knows naught of its true purpose or provenance, but speculates that it is some sort of scrying device. Furthermore, he can't actually seem to get rid of it…

No matter for now. Our favorite necromage Mortegro uses the orb to successfully recall the Chaos Hierophant's spirit to the mortal realm. While not hostile, Isskevahash is not exactly chuffed to see the Avatar either and decries her intentions to subdue the supremacy of Chaos. Nevertheless, he has since come to accept the necessity of restoring Balance to the world, for he knows now that Chaos cannot flourish without it. He tells the Avatar precisely how and where to perform the ritual that will turn three troublesome Chaos Banes into a singular and sane Chaos Serpent. Before departing to the Void, the shade imparts a final mystery to plumb: The Avatar must procure "an allied force strong enough to weld the banes together" if she is to have any hope of success. In other words, another roadblock!

Alas, not even Xenka has the answer they seek, at least not right away. While promising to look into the issue, she does at least have something useful for the Avatar in the meantime: A clue regarding the whereabouts of the final Serpent's Tooth that opens the route to Sunrise Isle! While this tooth may be found among the Gwani, the Serpent's Staff also remains at large, long abandoned somewhere in the fiery bowels of Furnace—opposite ends of the world, essentially.

To save time, the party (now including an adequately recovered Shamino and Dupré) decides to split into two groups. One group, consisting of the Avatar, Boydon, Dupré, and Mortegro, will handle the search of the Gwani encampment. Meanwhile, the second group—Shamino, Stefano, Sethys, and Wilfred—will head south into Furnace. As her beloved Iolo is still a bit unwell, Gwenno decides to stay by his side and aid his recovery. Likewise, Petra remains on Monk Isle this time to keep Gwenno company.

From their rendezvous point at the Sleeping Bull Inn, the first party must travel to the unforgiving Northlands, where the dwindling Gwani people have made their home. They are greeted by the village leader's mate Myauri, but it is not a happy reunion. He sadly informs them that Hazard the Trapper raided their home and captured many of them. The only ones remaining are himself, Yenani, and their daughter Neyobi. After speaking to Yenani, the Avatar learns that the tooth she seeks was in a locket worn by Baiyanda. The four track down the Trapper's lair, well-hidden within an icy labyrinth. Inside they find Hazard himself, gloating about his "take" and the profit he will enjoy from it. What follows is a fairly straightforward battle, especially considering that the man is severely outnumbered and at least one of his opponents can cast Mind Blast. Afterwards, the Avatar presses forward into the trapper's skinning room; it's a gruesome sight but thankfully Hazard had yet to kill all of the Gwani he captured, meaning Baiyanda is found restrained but alive! Upon the captives' safe return to their village, Baiyanda gives the Avatar the final Serpent's Tooth.

Meanwhile, the second party (plus Buck Buck the Rooster... who can also cast Mind Blast, apparently 🤔) heads south to Furnace. Their search of the Hierophant's Office turns up naught, forcing them to comb the city's sweltering streets. During this mystery tour, they lose track of Wilfred and run out of components for Frigidazzi's famous Chill spell. Shamino volunteers to hunt down Wilfred, leaving Stefano and Sethys to rustle up more Worm Hearts or abandoned Chill scrolls or something, anything cool. By the time the three reunite, Stefano has stripped to his skivvies, Sethys (found fan in hand) is trying to keep Buck Buck from turning into a chicken parm, and Shamino is escorting the gargoyle king Zhelkas, who is escorting Wilfred, who got caught hiding trespassing in the king's manse. Zhelkas informs them that the Serpent Staff is no longer within the city as it got stolen by a gang of trolls who live in the cave's entrances. The four lads set off to confront these trolls and, seeing a chance to redeem himself, Wilfred rushes to fight them head-on. He is injured badly, but he provides enough of a distraction for Stefano to simply nick the staff. Our party of five escapes the tunnels, no doubt appreciative of the cool winter air as they journey back to the Sleeping Bull.

The Avatar's revelry is short-lived. Back on Monk Isle, it would seem that Xenka has worked out the Chaos Hierophant's last riddle and the news is not good: That "allied force" he spoke of can only be somebody's life force—that is, the ashes of a living soul who is in Balance. The only ones who may qualify are those who arrived on the Isles recently, viz. the Avatar, her three companions, and Gwenno. This means that one among them must sacrifice their life for the cause of restoring Balance and saving the universe. They decide to draw straws to see whose life will end at the crematorium at Monitor. Shockingly, it's the Avatar herself who draws the shortest one.

Resigned to her fate, she assembles all of her friends and companions, old and new, at the Sleeping Bull Inn for one last night of drinking and merriment, of retrospection and regret, and of course, one of Petra's award-winning honey cakes. Concidentally enough, this night just happens to be the eve of a new year…

Early the next morning, the Avatar, Shamino, Dupré, Iolo, and Gwenno all fight against their variously wicked hangovers and make the slog to the desolate city of Monitor. It is a cold, grey day, but perhaps a most fitting backdrop for the fiery death that awaits the Avatar. Thoxa meets the group at the crematorium to oversee the solemn proceedings.

After imparting her last words, the Avatar climbs the crematory stairs and prepares herself. However, just before she jumps into the maw of the furnace, she is shoved out of the way by Sir Dupré! He loudly claims that he cannot live with the shame of his deeds while possessed by the Bane of Wantonness, and that he wishes to redeem himself by becoming the required sacrifice. Before anyone can stop him, he leaps into the furnace and soon becomes naught but a little crock of ashes. The others are completely shocked and upset by this unprecedented turn of events, but there is nothing they can do about it now. With Dupré's precious remains in tow, they return to the Sleeping Bull and prepare to depart for the Grand Shrine of Chaos in Skullcrusher.

It is now time for the Avatar to succeed where Batlin had failed. She and her companions navigate the tortuous tunnels of the former capital of Chaos, in search of the shrine that awaits them in its deepest quarters. Once there, they carefully place the soul prisms, the blackrock serpent of Chaos, and Dupré's ashes on the appropriate pedestals. Then, the Avatar chants the mantra that Isskevahash taught her: "In Pri Kli Ort Ailem, Priin Ort Inten Mani!"

It works! The Great Serpent of Chaos is whole once more and it speaks to the group with a multitude of voices, including Dupré's. He tells the Avatar that his soul has been fused with the Serpent, and although he will be able to keep the untethered deity from lashing out for now, he is unsure how much longer he will be able to keep things under control. The time fast approaches for the Avatar to face her destiny on Sunrise Isle, where she will become the new Great Hierophant of Balance, return the Great Earth Serpent to his station in the Void, and put an end to the Imbalance that threatens to tear the universe asunder! Xenka herself then materializes in the shrine and hands over the Avatar's final MacGuffin important artifact—the Sword of the Serpent. There is no time to delay, so the party uses Baiyanda's tooth to enter the Dark Path and travel to Sunrise Isle as directly as possible.

The innards of Sunrise Isle contain the Grand Shrine of Balance, a place rarely seen even by the Ophidians. As Sethys explains, merely seeing the outside of the place would've been a great honor and privilege for any serious acolyte. Before entering the temple proper, the group must complete the same tests that those same acolytes would've taken thousands of years ago. These tests mostly involve visiting six small shrines to the Ophidian virtues and contemplating on the principles of Balance, as well as some symbolic relic-swapping—all in a day's work for a veteran Avatar. Their efforts pay off, allowing them access to the inside of the shrine, where more of such tests await them.

After spending several more hours balancing fire and ice, and mucking about with symbols and candles and cubes, the battery is finally over. Only the Avatar may proceed to the next sanctum; here she communes with the Great Earth Serpent, who declares her worthy of the office of the Great Hierophant of Balance. She returns to her friends donning the regalia of the Hierophant, but her mood is vaguely ominous, as if she senses some trouble remaining on the horizon. Still, there is work to be done; her first act as Hierophant is to name Petra and Sethys as the interim Hierophants of Order and Chaos (respectively). The Avatar encourages the two to work together in her stead, as she will not be staying in this realm if she can help it. With renewed determination (but more than a little reluctance), the group presses forward into the heart of the shrine.

Here awaits the terminus of the Grand Shrine of Balance, a large chamber that is appropriately balanced by a pair of smaller shrines to Order and Chaos. At the center of the room stands a massive serpent statue carved from blackrock, while the shrine's own Wall of Lights dominates the section behind it. The Great Earth Serpent is trapped within this statue, communicative but otherwise blind and helpless. Before the party can act, a stentorian voice rattles the temple to its foundation: The Great Serpent of Order is prepared to defend his freedom to the death! A long and arduous battle ensues against his legion of spectral servants, but of course our friends emerge victorious by the skin of their teeth.

With Order (barely) subdued, the Avatar may now return the blackrock serpents to their proper places in the shrine, as well as the Eyes of Order and Chaos. As soon as she does this, the blackrock serpent begins to move and speak: "Slay me! Slay me with the Serpent Sword, and send my soul back into the Void!" he begs. The Avatar does not hesitate and smashes the statue with the sword given to her by Xenka. The moment she does, she is vacuumed into the Void with the Great Earth Serpent. There, she witnesses the cosmic reunion of these three bickering deities first hand. Her job is done. Balance is restored and the universe is saved. The serpents thank her for her efforts, and…

…wait. What is that coming up from behind? A massive red fist? And that malevolent, dread-inspiring voice…!

"Well, well, well Avatar… You have managed to thwart me once again. By restoring balance where chaos once reigned you've saved your cursed world. But now here you are…poised at the edge of eternity. Where would you go? Back to Britannia? To Earth? Perhaps you would join me on another world altogether! We do have a score to settle!"

Alas, the Guardian is here in the Void too, having waited patiently all this time for just the right moment to strike. He grabs the helpless Avatar and yanks her through a trans-dimensional wormhole, destination unknown…

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Q & A

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Q: What are all the names for the lands described in this timeline?
A: In chronological order, they are: The Lands of Danger & Despair (pre-Mondain), Ophidia (Ophidians), New Sosaria (Britannian settlers), and the Serpent Isles (Britannian settlers, a bit later on). Please note that when geographically speaking, the land is referred to as "the Serpent Isles" because it consists of multiple islands! Besides "the Big Isle" (where one can find Monitor, Fawn, the Northlands, etc.), the other isles include Claw (Cat Isle), the Isle of Beyond (Moonshade), Monk Isle, Mad Mage Isle, the Isle of Crypts, and Sunrise Isle. Back in the pre-Mondain days, these locations were called, respectively: The Dead Cat's Life II, Magic, The Brother, The Morbid Adventure, the Grave of the Lost Soul, and the Eastern Sign Post.

Q: Who was the Guide and what was she trying to accomplish?
A: The Guide was an interdimensional entity born of the distilled evil that sloughs off a righteous figure after they ascend to a higher plane of virtue. In this case, the Guide coalesced when a humble and pure-hearted goatherd living in the Lands of Danger & Despair became the first Great Hierophant of Balance. In a nutshell, she wanted to spark a civil war between the formerly harmonious forces of Order and Chaos, and upset the firm hold that Balance had on the land. This would have created a cosmic instability large enough to allow her to enter Ophidia's plane of reality, but for unclear reasons she abandoned this scheme before it came to full fruition. You may notice that her origin and her goals were very similar to the Guardian's; it is safe to say that they were once rivals in planet-gobbling, but (apparently) the Guide no longer exists…

Q: Hey Swilly, I don't remember what the Ophidian virtues were called or how they work. Can you give us a little refresher?
A: Certainly! The Ophidian system of virtues centers on balancing the three forces of Chaos (Tolerance, Enthusiasm, Emotion) and the three forces of Order (Ethicality, Discipline, Logic). When combined, these forces form the three principles of Balance: Harmony (Tolerance + Ethicality), Dedication (Enthusiasm + Discipline), and Rationality (Emotion + Logic). Likewise, a personal excess in any one force may result in the proliferation of an anti-force. These are Anarchy (Tolerance without Ethicality), Wantonness (Enthusiasm without Discipline), Insanity (Emotion without Logic), Prejudice (Ethicality without Tolerance), Apathy (Discipline without Enthusiasm), and Ruthlessness (Logic without Emotion). When the followers of Order sundered the Chaos Serpent, the resulting fragments became extreme manifestations of the anti-forces of Chaos; in this form, the anti-forces are are called "Banes" and represent a threat that goes beyond the merely philosophical.

Q: Where did the ancient Ophidians plant the first Silver Seed? Where is it growing now?
A: The location of the Tree of Balance was (and still is) deliberately kept a strict secret to keep it safe from those who would vandalize or destroy it. The only ones who know of the tree nowadays are a couple of the Xenkan monks (Karnax being one of them), and of course, the Avatar herself… assuming she did the Silver Seed storyline! 😉

Q: What is the purpose of "The Serpent's Eye", the relic given to Sethys by the Chaos Hierophant?
A: Unknown; the Hierophant refused to speak of it for fear that someone was listening in. Sethys himself posits that it is probably a scrying device of some kind, like a fortune teller's crystal. He reports that one can "see visions" while looking through it, but he freely admits that he isn't good enough at prognosticating to tell if these visions have any actual meaning. However, he does know for sure that the artifact has some connection to the Great Earth Serpent.

Q: Selina, Selene, Selenia, or Celennia?
A: Selene was the name given to a girl who was born to the tattooist of Monitor. At age 7, she was spirited away to the city of Moonshade, where she mastered the power of illusion and grew up to become Celennia (according to Stefano and Ranger Julia) or Selenia (according to Bucia), the Night Witch. One day, she left Moonshade, an occurrence that Bucia describes as a "strange disappearance", conflicting with Stefano's eyewitness account of her getting on a boat and heading for the mainland after having a fight with Frigidazzi. The woman who boarded that boat may have been Celennia the Night Witch, but the woman who disembarked at the Sleeping Bull Inn was "Selina", a mousey but sweet-talking waif whom nobody seems to know or recognize, not even Moonshade natives Flindo or Ensorcio. Must be one hell of a glamour!

Q: Who summoned the Death Knight to kill Stefano?
A: Torrissio and Columna, who were both (understandably) displeased that Stefano actually survived his stint in Freedom. If you forgot what that scandal was all about, basically the Magelord Filbercio wanted to strike up an affair with Columna. He figured the best way to do this would be to blackmail her into it, by hiring Stefano to steal a pair of her stockings from Torrissio's manor, as evidence that she was having an affair with him. Stefano managed to nab the stockings, but he got caught in a lightning storm shortly afterwards and the stockings got zapped, to be replaced with the Avatar's blackrock Order serpent statue. Stefano tried to explain this to Filbercio, but alas, the Magelord was having none of that and he banished Stefano to the Mountains of Freedom.

Q: What is the meaning of the password to get into the Chaotic Capital of Essyamar (Skullcrusher)?
A: You mean "I S C G I"? Rather than making you hear me say "I don't know!", I will defer this question to Sethys, who will say it instead:

"I don't know! My guess is that the letters stand for something related to Chaos, perhaps in the old Words of Power. Actually, I've only been to Essyamar a handful of times; those who were not privy to the password would eventually be allowed inside through a separate entrance. We had to be checked first, sometimes searched, sometimes quarantined when the blue pox was in season. Then the lower parts of the city were mostly off limits to outsiders, but to my understanding it was not always so—no doubt that started with the war. Anyway, password or not, it was even harder to get into Shasavrah. The automatons saw to that!"

Q: Besides the Serpent Isle Irregulars and the original game's canon survivors, who else survived the onslaught of the Chaos Banes in this AU?
A: In Moonshade, Bucia and Gustacio also survived the Banes, as well as Frigidazzi's dog, Grosvenor. Rumors persist that Rotoluncia the Red is still knocking about her domain as a tireless lich (but that hardly counts as "being alive", does it?), and the abundance of overly friendly rodents scuttling in and out of the sewers strongly indicates the survival of a certain, uh, Ratmancer? In Fawn, Lady Yelinda yet lives, along with Freli's sister Alyssand, the Britannian Ruggs, and Captain Joth. Cartographer Scots also remains at the former Fellowship camp, but no doubt he and Ruggs will try to return home to Britannia at the first opportunity... and hey, we never found out for sure what happened to Keth, did we? The hapless shepherd brothers Kane and Edrin survived and are back at the Sleeping Bull Inn, whose only premises survivor was a large (and strangely familiar) buff Orpington rooster dubbed "Buck Buck" by Stefano. Among the Gwani, Baiyanda and Kapyundi, among others, were rescued by the Avatar and friends in the nick of time. Alas, the city of Monitor fared the worst of all; only Harnna and her daughter Cantra were spared.

Q: Why did you skip that far ahead on the timeline?
A: Well, I guess I did it for a couple reasons. Mainly, this AU is really more about the Serpent Isle-exclusive companions and characters than it is about the Avatar and her companions; there are already so many fanfics out there about that lot and I'm trying to do something different! Also, the portion of the timeline that I skipped is basically the first half of Serpent Isle, a part where the AU plot does not deviate from the canon much at all. To save time and space, I jumped ahead to the part that's more relevant to this AU. However, I may still go back and revisit those missing weeks! I'm especially unclear on what Batlin was doing in that time and I'd like to at least try to work something out…

Q: In your stories, you make all the automatons speak like this except for Petra. Why?
A: Petra is a newer model of automaton. Whereas most of the automatons doddering around Moonshade are Echelon II- or III-class Lords of Discipline, Petra enjoys the more advanced Echelon IV-class Lord of Discipline OS, which boasts (among other things) superlative processing power, an advanced mathematics chip, and more realistic speech rendering. Furthermore, she was the first and only female-presenting model ever made; likewise, it seems unlikely that any other Echelon IV-class Lords of Discipline still exist at all, as very few were produced. This is mostly because Elissa became an automaton towards the end of the war/Ophidian civilization as they knew it, and demand for new Lords of Discipline had started to wane. Also, starting with the Echelon III-class models, the technicians of Order would augment automaton soul gems with additional souls, allowing for more advanced functioning. However, these souls were allegedly extracted from "non-consenting" bodies (i.e., Chaotic war prisoners), and while their usage did indeed result in a more powerful soul gem, they were not as stable as previous models. Documented errors ranged from simple "emotional leakage" to catastrophic corruption of the soul memory partition, resulting in what would basically amount to a "bricked" automaton.

Q: What's with the naming conventions of Moonshade? Why is everything pseudo-Italian? Is this a Terran influence?
A: Nah. They're just pretentious.

Q: I know you sat down and worked out the ages off all the major characters. C'mon, spill the gen!
A: Oh, alright, ya stickybeak! Here, to the best of my knowledge:

• Giselle: Hard to say due to time/dimensional shenanigans. Mid-30s in appearance.
• Gwenno: Same as the Avatar; hard to say. She looks to be about 50-something.
• Selina: Same generation as Stefano; 34.
• Wilfred: 26.
• Petra: 8792; 36 when she became an automaton.
• Boydon: 43 (his head, anyway).
• Stefano: 34.
• Sethys: 8782; 23 when sealed in the time prism.
• Mortegro: Same generation as Torrissio and Frigidazzi; 137.

Q: Did you really need to give everyone full names/surnames?
A: I did it just for fun. If you don't like them, they don't mean anything so just ignore them! 😅

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Footnotes

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Ophidian Calendar and Names

Since the early days of their civilization, the Ophidians used a 12-month calendar running on a 7-year cycle, with each year being named after one of the virtues of Order and Chaos, plus one year dedicated to Balance. For example, if Ophidian Year (O.Y.) 3120 is the Year of the Serpent, then:

• 3121 is the Year of the Chain (Tolerance)
• 3122 is the Year of the Torch (Ethicality)
• 3123 is the Year of the Rose (Enthusiasm)
• 3124 is the Year of the Knife (Discipline)
• 3125 is the Year of the Heart (Emotion)
• 3126 is the Year of the Abacus (Logic)

…and 3127 is the Year of the Serpent once more. This system has no real significance, other than serving as a sort of zodiac for novelty purposes among the Ophdian people. It is believed that the year of one's birth will determine one's personality, romantic prospects, preferred work style, and even one's destiny. This system goes hand in hand with that of their personal names, which every Ophidian receives at birth after their parents undergo a lengthy period of guided meditation with their patron deity serpent. Each name is divinely blessed and deeply personal to the bearer.

As an added bonus feature, this naming system ensures that Ophidians will always have something to talk about with strangers at parties. Some names and their meanings:

• Ardiniss: "Serpent's wealth"
• Calithiss: "Serpent of splendid scales"
• Isskevahash: "He who dares"
• Elissa: "Daughter of honor"
• Sethys: "Star of the serpent"
• Sshriasash: "Heavenly arbiter"
• Ssithnos: "Wright of peace"
• Sthissisness: "Blissful"
• Tsandar: "Set in stone"

 

The "Modern" Calendar of the Serpent Isles

According to the official Clue Book (produced by Origin and written by Sheri Graner Ray and Andrew Morris, so basically about as actual canon as it gets), the New Sosarians—or at least the Xenkan monks—have their own unique calendar. When Thoxa the Monk begins her travels, the year is 452 New Freedom; I think one may safely assume this represents how much time has passed since Erstam landed The Osprey on the Serpent Isles.

There are also named days and months, though one can only guess at their potential Earth equivalents. This represents only what is written in the Clue Book and thus may not be an exhaustive list. However, judging by the dates noted in the book, mathematically speaking it would seem their weeks have five days each, and each month (or at the very least, Moonehdra) has twenty days.

Months

• Montoriad
• Fawnehdra
• Moonehdra
• Ospria
• Sosariad
• Serpentia
• Xenkaria

Weekdays

• Aonsday
• Dasday
• Triday
• Ceithirday
• Cuigday

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