|
Biography : Mondain (slain)
Mondain was the arch-vilain, the nemesis of Birtannia. The
Ballad of The Shattered Stone gives us a good description of him:
Long before the Stranger ever entered the lands of Sosaria and
the four continents within the Lands of Lord British,
the Lands of Danger and Despair, the Lands of the Dark Unknown, and the Lands of the
Feudal Lords there arose a young wizard named Mondain. As Mondain grew in age and
knowledge, so grew his unquenchable thirst for power and discontent with mortal life. He
became obsessed with transcending mortality and gaining perpetual life. Eventually, he
learned of the treasured Gem of Immortality,
which grants unimaginable power and everlasting life to its owner. Surely, you have heard
of this?
Now it is my opinion, as shared by most historians in this
kingdom, that Mondain's desire for immortality tainted with greed the moral wisdom usual
to those who study the power of magic. His wishful longing for the Gem became
all-consuming, and after much anguish, he was led to willfully murder the keeper of the
Gem his father.
Mondain's name is still cursed in Britannia to this day, for
anyone that turns a sword against those of his own blood for selfish gain is believed to
eternally align himself with the Dark Forces. But, that is a subject for another eve. To
truly understand our present hatred for Mondain, you must know more ...
After securing the Gem as his own, Mondain made plans to use it
in a ritual that would give him ultimate power. During the ceremony that was to forever
bind the Gem to Mondain, the Gem captured an image of the entire land, save the wielder of
the ritual Mondain himself.
Once imbued with the power of immortality, Mondain used the Gem
as a means to rule the world until a Stranger arrived, determined to destroy the
very source of Mondain's existence. Having journeyed for years throughout Sosaria, this
Stranger's quest was to free the land and people from Mondain's dark, shadowy rule. After
many battles, he travelled to the ruler's lair and felled the evil sorcerer by shattering
the gem. As the essence of immortality was loosed upon the land, the very fabric of the
universe began to unravel. And with the power of the Gem gone, Mondain himself was
eliminated.
This happened hundreds of years ago, and the Stranger is still
remembered and celebrated in Britannia. We would need Him today, to help us against the Followers of the Armageddon, a threat no less real than Mondain.
More recently, the Relics of Mondain, an artifact of that
age, was stolen during their exposition in Britain's
Counselor's Guild hall, and the theft was credited to the FoA. What
will they do with them? Can Mondain be raised from the dead? It
is rumored he had knowledge of the Armageddon spell, and probably
other spells of comparable magnitude. If his spellbook, his knowledge,
or any of his powers, were unleashed on Britannia again, will we
receive help from a Stranger this time?
Related articles / books
The ballad of the Shattered Stone
Ultima Online: Shattered legacy
|
|