Lord British

Lord Cantabrigian British is the name of the ruler of Britannia, kingdom of the fictitious world of Sosaria, created by Richard Garriott for his computer game series Ultima. Lord British is also a nickname for Garriott himself.

Origins

In the real world, Richard Garriott (born in Britain but raised in the United States) acquired the nickname "Lord British" as a teenager from older students in his school who claimed he spoke with a British accent. Garriott released early games, such as Akalabeth, under the name and occasionally appeared in Ultima Online playing as Lord British. He is still known as Lord British even after his departure from Ultima maker Origin Systems: Garriott retained the trademark rights to the name Lord British with its associated symbols, and he has suggested that the character will appear in his new "Tabula Rasa" game.

In the Ultima series

In the Ultima series, Lord British continuously provides healing, resurrection and other miscellaneous help for the Avatar (the main character) and his adventuring party. Neither the Avatar nor Lord British were born in Sosaria, but came from Earth via the moongates. The name Cantabrigian British is taken from his birthplace's name, Cambridge in the British Isles. The name was given to him by his friend Shamino, and later Cantabrigian British decided to leave his old name in favor of the new one.

When British came to Sosaria, the evil wizard named Mondain was still young. They had an epic battle deep within the labyrinth of dungeons, where British, the "Champion of the White Light", came victorious, driving Mondain away from the kingdom, thus receiving the title of "Lord British, Protector of Akalabeth". Mondain was seeking revenge in Ultima I. The stranger (who would become the Avatar) dealt with Mondain this time, but three-fourths of the world mysteriously disappeared for causes unknown.

Numerous plotlines and side-quests in the Ultima games revolve around one of Lord British's adventures or public works projects. He had a key role in founding the Museum, Conservatory and innumerable institutions of the Britannian society.

Assassination of Lord British

Lord British is supposed to be immortal. However, this was not the case during an in-game appearance during Ultima Online's beta test on August 8, 1997. A player character known as Rainz cast a spell called "fire field" on Lord British that surprisingly killed him. Shortly afterwards, Rainz's account was banned from the beta test for previously exploiting bugs rather than reporting them (infamously used by his character Aquaman to kill many player characters). According to Origin, he was not banned for the assassination but rather for previous complaints against his account that were brought to light as a result of this attention.

Lord British is also the name of the space fighter in the Salamander (or Life Force) games, by Konami.