Editing Ultima IX: Ascension (section)

===Original plot===
Origin Systems released a number of preview video clips in the five years between the original release of ''[[Ultima VIII: Pagan|Ultima VIII]]'' and the final release of ''Ultima IX'' in December 1999, first in the ''Ultima Collection'' and intermittently in between. These screenshots and clips pointed to a totally different plot from the released version, which many longtime fans of the Ultima saga agreed was unsatisfying and unrewarding.{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}}

On December 9, 1999, a synopsis of the original script was posted to the "Ultima Horizons" discussion board. The synopsis was written by Bob White and released with his permission.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gallery.ultimacodex.com/ultima-9-the-bob-white-plot/ |title=Ultima 9: The Bob White Plot |author=WtF Dragon |date=August 24, 2012 |website=The Origin Gallery |access-date=September 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316001822/https://gallery.ultimacodex.com/ultima-9-the-bob-white-plot/ |archive-date=March 16, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> White worked directly with Garriott, John Watson, and Brian Martin in developing the game's original story before leaving Origin.

The beginning of the game is more or less the same as the beginning of the actual ''Ultima IX'' release, except that the Avatar never actually returns to Earth after his sojourn in Pagan in ''[[Ultima VIII: Pagan|Ultima VIII]]''. Just as in the official plot, there are also columns created by the Guardian with malignant influence. Further, Lord British has become enfeebled and left government of the kingdom in the hands of a tribunal consisting of the lords of the cities of Moonglow, Britain, and Jhelom, but they have proved unable to deal with the crises and have fractured into mutually distrustful city-states that are, at the time the Avatar arrives, at the brink of war.

The Guardian is behind all of this, orchestrating these events with the aid of Lord Blackthorn, but few within the kingdom suspect this. Among those suspicious is Samhayne, a benevolent smuggler of contraband and food supplies to the various cities. He enlists the aid of the Avatar to find proof of these shadowy manipulations that are causing Britannia to disintegrate. With the help of his longtime friends [[Shamino]] and [[Iolo]] and Samhayne's protégé Raven, they uncover that Lord Blackthorn is secretly advising members of the council and goading them to war. Blackthorn is unmasked just as the armies of the council have taken the field of battle. He is eventually caught later on at Terfin, and executed at Lord British's command, but the Guardian escapes.

The Avatar and Lord British then travel to Stonegate for the final confrontation with the Guardian, but after it appears that they had successfully killed him, they are told that it is not enough. The columns that the Guardian created have embedded themselves too deeply within the very fabric of Britannia itself, and soon they will destroy the world, funnelling the power of its destruction back into the Guardian, resurrecting him and making him even stronger. The only way to destroy the Guardian is to extinguish the life force of Britannia itself, but the people may be saved by evacuating them to the island of [[Skara Brae]] and using the power of the Runes of Virtue to protect them. The Spell of Armageddon is cast, Britannia is destroyed, along with the Guardian and Lord British, but the Avatar ascends to a higher plane of existence by the power of the spell. The people that were evacuated to Skara Brae are protected by the Runes and they live on, to find another world to call their own.

This plot specifically compares the destruction of Britannia and the island of Skara Brae flying off into space with the [[Roger Dean (artist)|Roger Dean]] paintings from the album [[Yessongs]].