Abbreviation

An abbreviation is a partial representation of a name or phrase using only some letters from each word in the name or phrase. Most abbreviations use the first letters of the first word or each word in a phrase, but not all.

An acronym is a particular type of abbreviation.

Example abbreviations:

• Brit – For Britain, or British
• Marty – For minor artifact
• Tomarty – Treasures of Tokuno minor artifacts

Acronym

An acronym is an abbreviation of a name or phrase using only some letters from each word in the name or phrase. Most acronyms use the first letter of each word, but not all.

List of Commonly Used Acronyms

Acronym	Definition
AI	Armor Ignore or Artificial Intelligence
AoS	Age of Shadows
AR	Armor Rating or Artifact Rarity
DCI	Defense Chance Increase
DI	Damage Increase
EQ	Earthquake
EV	Energy Vortex
FC	Faster Casting
FCR	Faster Cast Recovery
GGS	Guaranteed Gain System
GM	Game Master or Guild Master or Grandmaster
IRL	In Real Life
LMC	Lower Mana Cost
LRC	Lower Reagent Cost
ML	Mondain's Legacy
MR	Mana Regeneration
NPC	Non-Playing Character
PK	Player Killer
RP	Role Playing
SSI	Swing Speed Increase
UBWS	Use Best Weapon Skill
UO	Ultima Online

AR

• Armor Rating - The rating of a piece of armor before the Age of Shadows expansion
• Artifact Rarity - A measure of an artifact's obscurity.

Chat

In Ultima Online, the term Chat connotes two distinct systems for inter-player communications: the communications between party, guild, and alliance members and the communications between players in channels, which is referred to as "global." Until December 2009, global chat took place in a separate chat window; it is currently a command-line chat, like guild chat.

The commands required to participate in chat are as follows:
/(space) Party
(space) Guild
|(space) Alliance
,(space) any chat channel (e.g., Help, General, etc.) you currently are in.

Joining Leaving and Creating Channels

Select chat from the toolbar to see a list of the current chat channels. A channel selection/creation window will open that allows for joining, leaving, or creating a new channel.

Classic Client - Clicking on the chat icon
from the Player Quick Menu will open a window where you can select the channel you wish to join. You can also create a new channel or leave the current channel. The default channel for new players is the Help channel.

Enhanced Client - Clicking on the chat icon
from the Player Quick Menu will open a window where you can select the channel you wish to join. You can also create a new channel or leave the current channel. The default channel for new players is the Help channel.

Context menu

The term Context Menu refers to a menu accessed by single clicking on something (or holding down shift, then single-clicking on something, if one has selected the option to handle it that way).

Several game mechanics are accessed this way, including Item Insurance, and the old Quest system. (The newer quest system is accessed by double-clicking on the "quest giver" NPCs and the quest log is checked via the paper doll.)

Though Context Menu is the common, and formal, term for this mechanic, some documents refer to it as "Contextual Menu."

EA

An acronym for Electronic Arts, the gaming company that runs Ultima Online.

Easter Egg

In the software context, an Easter Egg is a hidden feature or novelty that the programmers have put in their software on purpose. They can be anything including: a list of credits, hidden commands, or even jokes.

According to The Easter Egg Archive, a true Easter Egg must satisfy the following criteria:

Undocumented, Hidden, and Non-Obvious

A legitimate product feature or an obvious storyline element do not count. Easter Eggs are usually discernable either because they are out of context or they have a personal meaning to the creators.

Reproducible

Every user must be able to produce the same result. If others can't reproduce it, then it's not an Easter Egg.

Purposeful Placement

They must have been put there on purpose. Mistakes are bugs, not Easter Eggs.

Non-Malicious

Easter Eggs are there for fun, not to do damage.

Known Easter Eggs

Malas

The hidden backpacks that mark rune to otherwise unreachable and hidden locations in Malas.

Emote

Emote refers to expressing a gesture via text. When you emote within the UO clients, your text will appear with an asterix (*) on either side. To use the emote game mechanic, start with a colon followed by a space. For example, if Warrior Joe types Colon - space - Smiles, the in-game message that results is Smiles. The text color for emotes is different for spoken text.

Other examples include: Scratches his head, Looks Happy, Blinks Placidly, etc.

Notes

• It is proper role-play technique to speak in the third person. Most do not refer to themselves as 'he/she' in the emote.

EV

EV is an acronym for the summon Energy Vortex.

Exploits

An exploit is the use of a game mechanic in some way that subverts that mechanic's intent, or undermines the game system in some way. The use of exploits is against the rules of UO, but is extremely common in certain circles. Also see hack.

Follower

A Follower is the technical term for NPCs, Summons, and Pets your character controls. Every character has 5 "follower slots" and you cannot control a greater amount. If you do, a System Message will inform you that you are unable to have any more followers. The stronger the follower is, the more slots it takes up. For example:

• a Horse takes 1 follower slot
• an Energy Vortex takes 2 follower slots
• a Greater Dragon takes 5 follower slots

You can see how many follower slots you have available in the Status Bar.

GGS

GGS is an acronym for the Guaranteed Gain System.

GM

• Game Master - Official EA employees who assist with in-game issues
• Grand Master - A player who has reached 100 in a specific Skill
• Guild Master - The leader of a Guild

Gump

Gump is an acronym that is created from the initial letters of Graphical User Menu Pop-Up.

IGM

An acronym for a special type of Gamemaster, the Interest Game Master. One who specializes in events.

LS

LS is an abbreviation for the production shard, Lake Superior.

Minax (Ultima)

Ultima II era Minax	Manga Minax from Ultima: The Terror of Exodus

Minax (Ultima) refers to an NPC in the single-player Ultima games. It does not represent Ultima Online history. It is plain that in UO, Minax is still alive, though inactive at the moment.

Single Player Lore

Minax was apprenticed to the dark wizard Mondain at a young age. In time, she grew to become his lover as well as his pupil. She survived her paramour's death and went into hiding.

Underestimated because of her youth, Minax was furious of the death of her tutor (and lover). Revenge set itself within her dark heart. As her talent for magic and capacity of malevolence far exceeded Mondain's, Minax decided to take control of the evils of the world without the gem.

Twenty years after the death of Mondain, Minax invaded Sosaria with her legions of Darkness. In order to assure that the Stranger would not interfere with her plans for vengeance, Minax invaded his homeworld of Earth. Once there, she used her dark powers to disturb the fabric of time, and destroyed the planet.

Lord British called for a hero to crush Minax's evil plans. The Stranger had narrowly escaped the destruction of the Earth, and answered British's call. Minax's castle, named Shadowguard, could only be reached through timegates (similar to moongates in the later games), and even then an enchanted ring was required to pass through the force fields inside.

The war against Minax's vile legions was long and hard, but eventually the hero hunted down the wizard, pursued her as she teleported throughout the castle, and destroyed her life with the quicksword Enilno.

With the dark energies released with the death of Minax in her castle of Shadowguard, the lands of Sosaria changed once again, reforming into two continents: Sosaria proper, and Ambrosia.

Unbeknownst to all, Mondain and Minax had produced a progeny, Exodus, an entity neither man nor machine.

Notes

This material was imported from the now-defunct site, UOStuff.com.

MMOG

A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) is a type of computer game that enables hundreds or thousands of players to simultaneously interact in a game world they are connected to via the Internet. Typically, this kind of game is played in an online, multiplayer-only persistent world.

Ultima Online is a MMOG and a MMORPG.

MMORPG

MMORPG is an acronym that stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It is sometimes abbreviated as MMO.

The inaugural graphical MMORPG, titled Neverwinter Nights, emerged under the creative vision of designer Don Daglow and programmer Cathryn Mataga. It is imperative not to conflate this iteration with the later game of the same name developed by BioWare. Debuting in 1991, Neverwinter Nights graced the online realms of AOL, catering to PC enthusiasts until its culmination in 1997. Notably, this pioneering endeavor was endorsed and approved by AOL President Steve Case. Both Club Caribe and Neverwinter Nights levied a charge of $6.00 per hour for players to engage in their virtual realms.

The phrase "MMORPG" found its origin in the creative mind of Richard Garriott, renowned as the mastermind behind Ultima Online, in the year 1997. This term likely evolved from its predecessor "MMOG," which made its debut during the 1995 E3 Convention. Dale Addink notably employed "MMOG" to characterize Confirmed Kill during the event.

Nerf

Nerf is a UO term describing when an item, skill, quest, or really anything in the game is diminished in power and/or usefulness. Some nerfs are called for and appreciated by players, while others are not.

Example: "Thieves really got nerfed when Trammel came out."

The term comes from a line of toys (mostly weapons) by the manufacturer Hasbro. These are made from a soft foam that is difficult to harm yourself (or others) with.

PC

• An acronym for "Player Character". This refers to a character in the game that is operated by a person (instead of by the game software). Contrast with NPC.
• An acronym for "Personal Computer." Usually this implies a computer running Microsoft Windows OS on an Intel x86-based CPU.

Server line

Server lines in Trammel

A server line is a boundary between two sub-servers.

Each shard is composed of several sub-servers, each of which hosts a portion of the world. Where one portion of the world ends and another begins is demarcated by a server line. For example, one sub-server handles the entire Lost Lands area while another hosts the city of Britain and the lands to the west of it.

Server lines are more or less invisible but crossing over them can be noticed in a variety of ways. While at sea, crossing over a server line can cause the tillerman to say "Arr! Turbulent Waters!" and any open containers on your screen will close. Other noticeable effects can include your stats suddenly dropping but then just as quickly going back up.

The exact number of sub-servers per shard is roughly a dozen. Anyone know exactly how many now?

Escorts may sometimes, although rarely now, lose sight of the player leading them to their destination when crossing a server line.

In the past, there was a somewhat infamous server line east of Britain along the road. A player on one side of the server line would appear flagged criminal, or grey, to players on the other side. This would often lead to one character attacking the other in the belief they were freely attacking a criminal when in fact they were putting themselves in a criminal posture, leaving themselves open to attack.

Many dupes and bugs used to be associated with exploiting server lines but these oversights are usually quickly discovered and fixed with harsh punishments in store for players taking advantage of them.

Server Types

Normal shards: Mixed ruleset
As of Publish 16, most Shards follow the normal / Mixed ruleset.

Siege Perilous and Mugen: Siege Ruleset
Under the Siege Ruleset, all Facets are considered to belong under the Felucca ruleset.

Sosaria

The term Sosaria has been used in various ways throughout the Ultima saga, in both the single-player games and UO. The fact that the terms "Sosaria" and "Britannia" are both used in various ways, sometimes interchangeably, has caused much confusion. So much so that it is difficult to try to explain things without adding to the confusion.

In UO, the term "Sosaria" is most commonly used in one of the following two ways:

• To refer to every map in the game. Basically referring to the entire world the game of UO is played in. By this definition, the Tokuno Islands, the Lost Lands, Ilshenar, Malas, etc., are all considered "Sosaria." A use of this definition in a sentence could be: "If you like variety, you should play UO; the best thing about it is that Sosaria has so many very different places;"
• To refer to the planet on which at least 2 of the maps, Britannia and the Lost Lands reside. This definition is similar to the way the term "Sosaria" was most commonly used in the Ultima single-player games. A use of this definition in a sentence could be: "I started today's hunting in Sosaria, specifically at the Demon Temple, then I eventually drifted into Malas." By this definition, it is possible to dispute whether or not UO's other maps are also on the planet of Sosaria. Some are probably not (Malas), and some may be (Tokuno).

Origin

The term orginated in the single-player Ultima games. The world of Mount Drash and Mondain was renamed Sosoria in honor of the Sorcery used to destroy Mondain.

Stones

• Stones can be the plural reference to the basic unit of weight in Ultima, the stone.
• Stones (song) is also the title of a song central to Ultima lore, created by Iolo the Bard.

System Message

System Messages are the most common way the client provides feedback for your actions. In the Classic Client they appear in the bottom left corner of your screen as white text and are recorded in your Journal. In the Enhanced Client they appear in the Chat. Examples of System Messages include:

• Target cannot be seen - You are attempting to target something not within your line of sight
• Some damage has been healed - Tells you how much Hit points you have recovered
• You cannot use this ability while frozen - You are attempting to do two things at once

In some cases system messages will appear over your character avatar as well.

Time

The concept of Time in Sosaria is much the same as on Earth. Each day is divided into 24 hours, although daylight lasts much longer, roughly 18 hours per day, from 6 AM until midnight. In terms of time comparison, one Sosarian day equates to two Earth hours, or twelve Sosarian days in one Earth day.

However, for simplicity's sake, almost without exception, when events, item effects or other time periods are mentioned, even by NPC's, they typically refer to Earth time. For example, an NPC Escort might say you must wait five minutes before being able to undertake the quest to escort them, they really mean five Earth minutes.

Generally, few if any players pay any attention to Sosarian time. This is only exacerbated by the fact that most everyone wears items imparting Night Sight abilities, so the passing of days and nights goes unnoticed by them.

Time in Sosaria also mimics Earth in another fashion, namely timezones. It may be night time in one portion of Sosaria while it is daylight elsewhere. The time changes slightly if you cross a Server line as each region has its own time of day.

Finding out the time of day can be done by using a Clock, Holiday Timepiece, Sundial, Grandfather Clock, or just asking any NPC by saying their name and the word time. Using timepieces will give you the exact time, while an NPC will merely tell you the last hour that has passed, even though it could be just a minute until the next hour.

History

Knowing the time of day was helpful in the early days of Ultima Online as it governed the progression of phases of the moons Trammel and Felucca. This, in turn, would determine where a particular Moongate would take you. This is partly why the Holiday Timepiece was considered such a useful Holiday 1999 gift and was highly prized. These days, you can choose to take any moongate to pretty much any other one at will.

Also...

Here are some facts relating to time in Ultima Online: UOStratics: Britannian Date and Time

• Time in Britannia passes quickly compared to our Earth time.
• In 2 Earth hours an entire Britannian day will have passed.
• Twelve Britannian days makes one Earth day.
• Just as on Earth, a Britannian year has twelve months.
• Each Britannian month, however, consists of 73 days.
• This makes a Britannian year last 876 Britannian days, which is 73 Earth days.
• One Earth year equals five Britannian years.
• The release date of Ultima Online was in the Britannian year 289.

Ultima Prime

Ultima Prime is a term used by some players for the Ultima single-player games upon which UO is based, and the fiction that underlies them.

Ultima I

In Ultima I, the Gem of Immortality - which contained a complete copy of Sosaria - was splintered into Shards in order to defeat Mondain. The original "Prime" world continued on its pre-ordained course (the single-player games), whereas life on the Shards continued along without the Stranger (who destroyed the gem).

Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress

In Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress, the Stranger was again summoned from across the Ethereal Void to battle Minax (Ultima), Mondain's apprentice and consort.

Ultima III: Exodus

In Ultima III: Exodus, the Stranger returns to Sosaria to find the world much changed from the last visit—both in the amount of time passed, and the reformation of the continents. This time, a new evil threatens the land: Exodus, the prodigy of Mondain and Minax's dark magic. Or, is Exodus a hellish combination of science and sorcery?

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

In Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, the Stranger returns to Sosaria to find that with the destruction of Exodus, the world was once again devastated— islands rose and sank; fertile plains became deserts; and the formation of the continent was again drastically altered. Coming out of the Dark Ages of Mondain, Minax, and Exodus, Lord British is searching for a new moral code to unite his people. Becoming a paragon of the 8 Virtues, and their 3 Principles, the Stranger officially becomes known as the Avatar. Braving the darkest dungeons, and ripping the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom from the depths of the Abyss, the Avatar brings a new age of enlightenment to Lord British’s realm.

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny finds Britannia in crisis! Lord British is missing, and Lord Blackthorn is acting as regent king. Only, something is amiss with the new regency. Blackthorn has converted the original Virtues, and now they offer something darker, something more self-serving. The Avatar discovers that when the Codex was ripped from the depths of the Abyss, immense underground caverns were created, thus exposing three shards from the corrupt Gem of Immortality. These shards eventually possessed three people, and transformed them into the Shadowlords—the maligned influence behind Lord Blackthorn’s rule and Lord British’s kidnapping.

Ultima VI: The False Prophet

Ultima VI: The False Prophet finds the Avatar in mortal peril. Typically, when the Avatar traveled across the Ethereal Void, it was through a Blue moongate—this time, when the Avatar is pulled to Britannia, it is through a Red moongate. Not only is the gate different, but the arrival locale is too! The Avatar was summoned to some sort of demonic sacrificial altar. Iolo, Shamino, & Dupre arrive in the nick of time, and rescue the Avatar—gating back to Lord British’s castle. The Avatar once again learns of massive destruction—when Lord British was rescued from the Underworld, massive earthquakes struck the land, and the subterranean catacombs collapsed upon themselves. Now, Britannia and its Shrines of Virtue are being overrun by Gargoyles. It was they who tried to sacrifice the Avatar! Unbeknownst to Lord British and the Avatar, the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom used to be the Gargoyle’s sacred text—which was stolen from the Abyss; and, when the subterranean catacombs collapsed—they collapsed on top of the Gargoyle city states! The Avatar may have been a savior for the land of Britannia, but the Gargoyles only see him as a False Prophet! And now, a time of reckoning has come.

Ultima VII Black Gate & Serpent Isle

Ultima VII: Black Gate & Serpent Isle opens with a murder. A ritualistic murder brings the Avatar back to Britannia. During the course of the investigation, the Fellowship religion is looked into, and the driving force behind the Fellowship is the Guardian. The Guardian talks to its followers, helps its followers, empowers its followers, and the Guardian wants its followers to build a device out of Blackrock that will generate a Black Moongate. How could this possibly be a bad thing? The Avatar must expose the Fellowship for what they are (and the Guardian), and pursue the ringleaders across Britannia, through the Serpent Pillars, and onto the Serpent Isle, the ancestral home of the Ophidian Race.

Ultima VIII: Pagan

Ultima VIII: Pagan picks up where Serpent Isle left off—with the Avatar racing through a questionable moongate, to pursue the Guardian's forces. In doing so, the Avatar finds himself in the alien land of Pagan, where the Guardian holds dominion, and nothing is pleasant. The Avatar must learn a new system of magic involving Pagan Reagents, and overcome elemental forces. To survive, to escape, choices of what is the lesser evil must be made.

Ultima IX: Ascension

Ultima IX: Ascension summons the Avatar back to Britannia one last time. The twin moons are out of alignment, on a collision course with Sosaria, the moongates are unstable, and magic is unpredictable at best. When the Avatar seeks assistance, he finds that his old comrades are either missing, insane (blackrock infection?) or have become corrupt from the Guardian's influence. The Avatar must finally acknowledge that he is both savior and destroyer—when he became the Avatar, his shadow self (the non-virtue traits of himself that he cast off) became personified, and became the force known as the Guardian.

Ascension ends with the restoration of the virtues, the realignment of the moons, and the Guardian reintegrating into the Avatar’s self. The Avatar/Guardian then ascends into the heavens and becomes a new constellation, the Ankh.