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 paintings from the album Yessongs. History Development There have been at least four distinct versions of Ultima IX in development, which have differed in both storyline elements and technological implementation. The first version was as it was conceived of by Ultima creator Richard Garriott during his initial planning for the third Ultima trilogy as Origin began to work on Ultima VII. The original concept for the third Ultima trilogy appeared to have focused on the Avatar's conflict with the enigmatic Guardian, each game taking place in a different world: Ultima VII in Britannia, Ultima VIII in the conquered world of Pagan, and Ultima IX in the Guardian's homeworld itself. Also, Ultima IX was planned to be built on the isometric Ultima VIII engine. Criticism of Ultima VIII altered Origin's plans for Ultima IX, which Garriott told Computer Gaming World in 1994 would go "back to the virtues that made Ultima as distinctive as it was originally". Warren Spector—the producer of Ultima V and Ultima VI, whom Garriott put in charge of Ultima IX development—hoped that it would depict the Avatar on a quest for virtue with a more integrated story than in