Pagan: The Books of Pagan

        

I'm a sucker for lore, so this bonus entry chronicles all of the books I'm finding in Pagan: Ultima VIII. It will be updated continually until the game is finished. (Note that this entry published at the same time as "Pagan: Skull Island." Don't miss the previous one!)

      

Adventure Quarterly, Vol. IX

An issue devoted to the Forgotten Riches of Knarl. Knarl was a dungeon deep in the earth where magical weapons were forged and magicians were trained. Somehow, it got sealed off, maybe by an earthquake, maybe by a secret sect of monks called the Dark Brothers. Again, I wonder if this place is to be found in-game.

    

Adventure Quarterly, Vol. XII

Discusses the legend of an enormous Ship of Doom that was sent to find a solution to a particularly devastating winter. The ship never returned, but the weather did let up, suggesting that the crew might have found someone to help.

          

The Beauty of Rhian by Toran

A pleasant if prosaic ode to Toran's wife. Toran is the man executed at the beginning of the game; Rhian is the woman kneeling and crying on the docks.

      

You tempted fate with those final lines, Toran.

         

The Big Book of Adventure

Talks about common adventuring obstacles, including lever puzzles, traps, chests, spell chits (scrolls), mazes, and Tricks of the Trixter (exploding books).

     

Brogdan's Helpful Guide to Mushrooms by Brogdan

Blue Bulgie and Green Capper are tasty, but a blue mushroom called Daemon's Paw is often mistaken for the former and causes various maladies. The yellow and green Adventurer's Friend heals; the Stench Mushroom keeps most monsters at bay but attracts undead; the Fire Mushroom explodes. 

      

Captain's Report 

Guard Captain Stovan recommends a guard named Grommet for bravery citation. Grommet recently saved a little girl from a troll—then accidentally killed the girl while attacking the troll. (See Honor Lost below.) "She was only a peasant, however, and of no import." This place is messed up.

         

The Chronicle of Pagan

Replicates the first couple of pages of Bentic's history of the land that comes with the game. 

     

De-Venoming the Kith by Ioria

Detailed instructions for removing the venom sack from a kith, a type of giant spider-like creature that the Pagans domesticate for silk and food. It's funny seeing the word used this way since I recently finished Avowed, in which "kith" is used as a term for sentient humanoid races.

    

Dispelling Myths: The Truth About Magic

Investigates accounts of magic that are not based on the elemental titans. These include a fisherwoman named Kilandra who claimed a ghost could cast spells (the author decided she was mad; see What the Fish Tell Me below); mysterious lights on a plateau (an ornery hermit on the Plateau named Mythran said that they don't exist); and a magical axe called Deceiver, supposedly found on an island in Stone Cove (the author says the island doesn't exist). Mythran is in the game manual, given as a master of thaumaturgy.

     

Ear of Arricorn by Kram, Volumes III and IV 

I haven't found the first two volumes yet. These two describe an outcast called a "Shadowlander" entering a tavern, getting insulted by a herdsman, and shoving his fist down the herdsman's throat and literally turning him inside out. The rest of the tavern-goers then flee for the hills.

     

Earthen Magic

A description of the first two spells afforded to necromancers, their syllables, and the reagents they require:

   

• "Open Ground" (DES POR YLEM): Blood and Blackmoor.
• "Death Speak" (KAL WIS CORP): Blood and Bone.

     

Expedition Journal, Book II 

Chronicles Days 17-22 of the journey of a party from somewhere to Tenebrae. The party is menaced by a group of strange "children" who might be the conjurations of a companion named Salem, who everyone thought dead. This seems to be referencing something, but I don't know what.  

     

Maybe they met these children.

             

Eye of the Boulder: The Runes of the Myth Drainer 

Chronicles an adventurer's search for the six pieces of the Eye, a meteor with magical properties. Once obtained and fitted into the author's skull, the Eye turned out to be "antithetical to [his] own" magic, leaving him worse than if he'd never found it. There are digs at the famously bad third game in SSI's Eye of the Beholder game: "The images I beheld lost resolution, and the sounds around me began to seem like bland reproductions . . . I am ashamed to have wasted so much time and so many of my resources upon such a disappointing thing." Given how poorly Pagan was reviewed, maybe Origin shouldn't have been so quick to throw shade. 

     

The Final Sunlight by Nolandru the Blind Idiot of Tenebrae

Describes the battle between the elemental titans and the Destroyer, which destroyed most of the world and left it in perpetual gloom. "There is no true night, but there is no true day. And the Titans, demanding ever-increasing sacrifices in payment for their deed, offer no answers." I wish the game would just tell us what the sky looks like. Is it just cloudy?

     

Gold: Valuable Commodity or Worthless Trash? by Okapi the Elder

Describes why gold is valuable (it's pretty and malleable) and how to find it through mining and panning. Despite the title, the book does not explain why anyone would call it "worthless trash." It also says that gold "is the basis for our monetary system," which is manifestly not true. One wonders if this was written before the developers decided to use obsidian pieces as the base currency. 

      

The History of Necromancy, Vol. I

Recounts how Kalen converted many of the Zealans into Pagans by preaching against the gods of emotion and in favor of the elements. Exiled by their peers, the Pagans retreated to Mount Morgaelin and built an altar to the elements out of Blackrock. When the Zealan army destroyed the altar and killed Kalen, the elemental gods manifested as the four titans and destroyed the world.

  

The History of Necromancy, Vol. II

This volume is concerned with Moriens, the necromancer who struck a deal with Lithos, the earth titan, convincing him to stop destroying the world with earthquakes by promising that the Pagans would serve Lithos in death. Lithos taught necromancy to Moriens, who passed it to his apprentice, Galious, the author of these two volumes.

     

Honor Lost by Metzars the Troll 

Chronicles the thoughts of the titular troll, who suggests that trolls were once a noble and educated race, but they've fallen into barbarism. Metzars himself fell into a magical sleep while the troll race was still civilized and awoke after they'd turned animalistic. He recently rescued a human child from a fellow troll and plans to bring her to a human city, hoping it will engender goodwill. Captain's Report would seem to be an unfortunate follow-up.

     

We're meant to believe that these guys were once poets and scholars.

        

Moriens: Necromancer, Prophet, Hero 

The biography of the First Necromancer starts with a David-and-Goliath story in which a young Moriens kills a fierce troll with a sling stone. He also debunked and exposed a false prophet. As an adult, he made a deal with Lithos, the Mountain King, by which the titan would stop his earthquakes if the people of Pagan interred their dead and thus gave them to Lithos. Lithos gave Moriens the Heart of the Earth, a huge diamond-shaped piece of Blackrock.

 

My Dearest Prevan 

A letter in book form. The letter writer, a healer named Veras, tells her husband about a troll attack on a small town in which the trolls kidnapped several children. A young mother called on the god Stratos to protect her, and her knitting needle turned into a silver sword that slew the trolls. The sword was named "Protector," and the writer intends to put it in a shrine on Argentrock Isle. This island is mentioned in the game manual as the "home of the monastery to the Order of Enlightenment," or the theurgists.

      

My Rival, My Love - Part I, by Elise

A funny romance written by a seamstress. She is mending a gown when her last needle breaks. In desperation, she goes to the shop of a rival tailor named Alain, but realizes when she arrives (he's temporarily out) that he's so better at his craft that it threatens her livelihood. She's in the middle of destroying his goods when he arrives. In the subsequent conversation, he confesses that he sneaked into  her house and broke her last needle so she would come to him. She forgives him as the book ends, and there's a suggestion that an amorous encounter will follow. Curiously, the subtitle of the book when the player clicks on it rather than opening it is "A Shadowy Jester Book." A play on Harlequin Romance?

 

The Mythology of Zealan Deities 

Discusses how before the titans, the people of the land worshiped common emotions—love, hate, apathy, joy, grief, and fear—and personified them in the deities Amoras, Odion, Apathas, Felicitar, Doloras, and Timyra. The latter three were eventually dropped from the pantheon. The Zealans built temples to these gods, housed them inside, and filled them with mazes and traps so that the average person couldn't reach one of the gods.

      

The Objective History of Pagan by Mythran

Essentially replicates Bentic's history found in the game book, A Chronicle of Pagan. It's so similar, in fact, that it seems likely that one plagiarized from the other.

   

On Sorcerous Ways by Corodin of Argentrock

"Sorcery is the magic of fire." Sorcerers use something called The Pentacle to (I gather it's a diagram) to bind the Lord of Flame and channel his power. There's a detailed description that might become important, but I need to see it. There are further passages on candles, reagents, and "the focus."

       

Reagents of Thaumaturgy by Mythran

Basically says that reagents are a crutch and that the sufficiently talented and focused spellcaster doesn't need them. 

    

The Saga of Bone Crusher 

The earth god Lithos demanded that the people of Tenebrae serve him. They pleaded that they already served Hydros. He sent undead to attack the city. The people asked Hydros for help, and she gave them a weapon called Bonecrusher. Lord Elsmil wielded it in battle and defeated the skeletons, but both he and the weapon were lost in battle. The skeletons might have carried them off. I also wonder if this will be something I can find.

       

Stories to Make Children Sleep by Brother Grim 

Only has one story, told in rhyme, about a young boy named Jelly who refused to eat anything but cheese. His father offered money to a mage to cast a spell that would free Jelly of the compulsion, but the mage accidentally turned the boy into a girl. Another mage came along and reversed the spell, and the father gratefully accepted his cheese-eating boy rather than deal with a normal girl. "'Tis not that I don't want a girl,' claims the tired old father, 'But when a boy is young, he is less of a bother.'"    

      

The Voices of Mary by Salem 

A rhyming account of a dream or hallucination or mental breakdown or something. Final lines: "As the waters roll in and I'm swallowed by sea, I can hear Mary whisper, calling to me. 'Come on, baby,' from somewhere she cries. 'I want you to love me like spiders love flies.'" 

      

"And so it waah-aas, that later . . ."

             

What the Fish Tell Me by Kilandra 

A poem by one of the subjects of Dispelling Magic. There is no particular wisdom in the verse.

 

The Gravestones of Pagan

    

• R.I.P. Unknown (x 3).
• Justin. His murder was better left unsolved. 
• Here lies Chel. Some say she was a lovely belle. [Playtester Michelle Lindner?]
• Rob is now dead. He should not have gone to Legas. [There's a Rob Corell on the programming team, plus a Bob Cook on the graphics team. Is "Legas" a shortening of "Las Vegas"?]
• Entombed is Kai, trusty and wise. Toils at work then dies. [Perhaps a reference to Kay Gilmore, on the quality assurance team.]
• Here lies Fred. In a quarry he was found dead.
• Arnold. Hasta la vista, baby. [I trust I don't need to explain this one.]
• Tee. Took one in the dome. [The only person in the credits whose name begins with a "T" and is otherwise unaccounted for here is lead programmer Tony Zurovec.]
• Sivle. The minstrel wanders no more. [Probably a reference to Norwegian poet Per Sivle (1857-1904). Must have been someone's favorite.]
• Here lies Chrichton. Attack by torax. Their one victim. [I wonder if this is a misspelling of Michael Crichton and thus a reference to his Jurassic Park (1990).]
• Glen. Will be missed but not by many. [Artist Glen Johnson? Not credited on this game but appears in previous Origin credits.]
• Montana. Thought to be immortal. Wrong again.
• B. Bills. Three strikes and you're out. [Both this and the preceding epitaph are probably related. Quarterback Joe Montana was playing for the Kansas City Chiefs during the 1993 season. He suffered a concussion in a 23 January 1994 game against the Buffalo Bills and retired the next year. The Bills later lost the 1994 Superbowl to the Dallas Cowboys; it was their fourth Superbowl loss in a row.]
• Here is Fontes, mauled by bears. [Someone on the team really liked football. This is likely a reference to Detroit Lions coach Wayne Fontes, although I couldn't find a specific incident in the relevant time range in which his team was "mauled" by the Chicago Bears.]
• DBeyer. Loved his cubs and then got mauled. [This sounds like another sports reference, but I can't find a good candidate.]
• Glanville. Cheap trash long gone. [It never ends. Likely a reference to football coach Jerry Glanville.]  
• Tarmona. Don't kiss and tell.
• Glad I am gone, done and past. Married 6 times, peace at last.
• Sir Richard. Died of fright. Plunged from a great height.
• Sir Robert. Tried to fly, found gravity an unforgiving foe. [This and the preceding one are probably references to Richard and Robert Garriott, Origin's co-founders. There are anecdotal reports online of the Garriotts taking the Origin team skydiving during the development process.]
• Poor George. Tripped and fell into Kindric's forge. 
• Elaina. Her mother's greatest treasure.
• Good-bye Fredy. Now gone. We remember you in song.
• No one is here. Not a pound. Lost at sea. Never found.
• Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Hydros refused, so Lithos must.
• Sir Louder. Blown apart by blasting powder.
• Off the dock dove Sir Jim. Then he found he couldn't swim. [I don't think anyone can swim in this setting.]
• Why do things always happen to me? Donner.
• Died while running with toothbrush in mouth.
• Here lies more. Ghoul slayer. Just four.
• Here lies Burke. Lost his life dodging work.
• Tip your lid to Sire Fox. Taken away by the pox.
• Get off my grave. [A ghost attacks at this one.] 
• When you pass, shed a tear. Little Eva is buried here. [The singer of "The Loco-Motion" didn't die until 2003. I can't imagine how the character from Uncle Tom's Cabin would have ended up in Pagan.]
• Underpaid, under fed, underground.
• Here lies Beverly. Died in Revelry. [A Beverly Garland is one of the graphic artists.]
• Betty Blah-Blah. Killed by too many words. [Betty Peltier did the French translation.]
• Sir Todd. I'm not dead yet. I'm getting better. [Playtester Todd Wachhaus.]
• Sir Don. Couldn't sling a sword as fast as his drink. [Quality assurance tester Don Derouen? Sounds like he might have had some issues.]
• With his head ashave, he was so very brave. Starr. [French product leader Starr Long.]
• Perry. Just went up in smoke.
• Sir Dee. 'Twas just a flesh wound. [Quality assurance tester Dee R. Starns.]
• Always fully cook seafood.
• Sad but true. Here lies Priest. Practiced art, and now decease. [Micael Priest was one of the graphic artists.]
• Here lies Brian. Felled by a killer spider. [Writer/designer Brian Martin.]
• Pamela. She worked too hard.
• Here lies Hoffman, killed by bugs. [Playtester Andrw Hoffman.] 
• Oh no, not again.
• R.I.P. Swordproof Vittek. [Writer/designer Mark Vittek.]
• A stupid Pagan lies here dead. In his religion he was misled.
• Stupidity is its own reward.
• Sherri's last plot. [After writer Sheri Graner Ray. She continued working in the field for at least two more decades.]
• Steve. Crunched to death. [Steve Powers is credited with graphics, writing, and design.]
• Mel. Has returned to hell. [Probably after writer Melanie Green.]
• Do not drink out of others' goblets. 
• Shelton. My body lies, but still I roam. [Playtester Tobin Shelton.]
• Maedron. Sorcerer and the Bane of Corodin.
• Corodin. First Master of the Cabal. [Corodin of Argentrock is the author of On Sorcerous Ways above.]

****

   

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For further reading:

  

• My entry on "The Books of Britannia," this entry's counterpart for Ultima VII.

09/07/2026