Cabirus

Cabirus

Race	Undead human
Sex	Male
Appearances	Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss Underworld Ascendant
Role	Narrator and guide
Location	The Stygian Abyss
Interaction	Verbal guidance
Dialog	977 lines
Faction	Stephen Russell

The Ghost of Sir Cabirus is the narrator of the tale. It is he who brings the Ascendant from Earth to the Stygian Abyss, providing sage advice and commentary through their adventures.

Background

Before the events of Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, the knight Cabirus (‘Cab-eye-rus’- rhymes with ‘virus’) was among the first to brave the Stygian Abyss. Thereafter, he set out to establish an ill-fated and arguably foolishly-thought-out colony within the Abyss. It is rumored that, during his colonization, Cabirus was well known to the Dwarves. Darker rumors exist that he cavorted with goblins, trolls, and Lizardmen as well, but few believe such things.

However, his fledgling colony broke apart after his untimely death. There are many rumors of how he came to die: he himself claims to have been stabbed, while others cite poison, strange magicks, or even natural causes.

His aim in Underworld Ascendant is to guide the Ascendant to heroism in the same way he has previously helped Ishtass and Pir Tama, in order to defeat Typhon.

His earlier efforts to push the Factions to address the threat of Typhon have merely alienated them from him, and they have grown to consider him suspicious, aggressively foolish and demanding.

Lore

The earliest recorded exploration of outsiders venturing into the Stygian Abyss was a small band of humans, led by the stout-hearted knight Cabirus. Cabirus was a dreamer, and held a vision of establishing a utopian colony within the Abyss. Half-remembered stories tell of how he nearly succeeded against all odds. Then the stories tell of how Cabirus’ plans faltered, and fell into ruin. It is presumed he and most of his band were wiped out by the monsters that dwell in the Abyss, where once again darkness and chaos ruled.

In Underworld Ascendant, you return to the Abyss as the Avatar generations after the events of Cabirus’ failed colony.

- from Update 7 (Underworld Ascendant)

Paintings made Sir Cabirus have been (recently) discovered! Besides being the founder of the first colony of men in the Stygian Abyss, he had a gift for painting. It was known that he painted a visual diary of his explorations deep into the Abyss; but only now, more than century later, have a sheaf of his paintings been found.

- from Update 27 (Underworld Ascendant)

Previous Appearances

• Sir Cabirus was the founder of an ill-fated colonization attempt within the very Stygian Abyss itself. The Avatar visited his grave, and his former colony, during the events of Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss.

Quotes

Quotes: 

• Before? I was indolent, prone to innumerable vices and defects of character. But in The Stygian Abyss, I found purpose. I was honed to perfection. This damnable place the hammer, and I, the anvil. I left my initial refuge naked, armed only with reason. In days, I wore the skin of a savage Grue. In months, I united warring factions and set them constructing my utopia. I ignored the admonitions of the gods at great folly. None saw the blade that killed me. For my actions, I now pay what is due…

– Cabirus – Logs/CABIRUS_PAST

• Your journey... this katabasis... mirrors that of Gilgamesh, Odin, Izanagi-no-Mikoto... Ishtass – His example inspired settlers at Marcaul: Their ideology, their society. I once whispered in Ishtass and Pir Tama’s ears as I do yours now. They were... capable, but insufficient. Will you match that great exploits? Or surpass them?

– Cabirus – Logs/CABIRUS_HEROES

• After Zeus slew his forebears, the devouring Titans, the earth begat its greatest monster, nightmare of the primordial universe: TYPHON. Zeus fought this horror for hundreds of years, before imprisoning it below a volcano. Here, on the borders of the underworld, beneath which you stand. Do you hear? Can you feel that? Typhon stirs… Such is the depth of your challenge. To face down the adversary of mighty Zeus… Save life from death… Through cleverness, rise. Join the ranks of heroes of legend. Will you ascend?

– Cabirus – Logs/CABIRUS_TYPHON_2

• SORDID PAST: While reading ancient writings in the ruins of the Seers’ library, I found a curious passage… one that spoke of Cabirus as a person, a man of flesh and bone. He once lived in the Abyss, and judging by the records, he was as… ‘demanding…’ as he is now. Whatever his aims, they were laid low… It seems, by their accounts, the Seers witnessed his death, but by whose hands, they do not know - only that they did not mourn his passing and saw him an equal threat to the slumbering terrors in The Abyss.

– Xefreyani of The Deep Elves – Logs/Memora_elf_002

• SUSPECTED SPECTRE: Dead or alive, Cabirus has drawn suspicion from The Hivemind. As a spirit he wanders The Lower Dark, always scheming. When flesh and bone, he did much the same. The Hivemind would rather not convey to its mediators the exact cause of Cabirus’s death, long ago, except to say rumors persist of murder by poison or strange magicks. Let these unrefuted tales inform all suspicions.

– Khosnak, Mediator to The Shamblers – Logs/Memora_Swamp1_Intrigue_009

• CABIRUS FOLLY: Cabirus’s folly knows no limits. First, he insults us with demands, then threatens us with that which he has no sway over… the elves will not aid us, he says, nor will The Saurians, unless he makes it so. Enduring enough of this specter’s demands, I told him that if he spoke to them as he did to us, then he has no allies at all… and the threat he speaks of is closer than it appears, for his own perspective and ignorance will damn him.

– Executor Rubric of The Expedition – Logs/Memora_dwarf_007