We recently commissioned Indi Martin of Tortoise & Hare Creations to do a set of paintings based on the Principles and Virtues from the Ultima lore and we absolutely fell in love with what she produced! The artwork was used on our game, Adventure Post, and, after received wonderful feedback from the players and on-lookers, we have decided to re-purpose the artwork to make a set of playing cards.
The images correlate to the relics of the Three Principles (Truth, Love, and Courage) and the symbology for the Eight Virtues (Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality, and Humility). They are beautiful, we don't know what else needs to be said about them. Her work speaks for itself.
We are going a little non-traditional on this project. The Ultima games frequently used altered Celtic runes for text, therefore, we have decided to use Celtic Knots as our suits. Our cards feature four suits, the Dara, the Shield, the Sprial, and the Trinity.
The Dara represents personal and spiritual strength, much like the Avatar strive to be the best they can be in body, mind, and morals.
The Shield represents protection and was frequently placed near the injured or ill to ward off evil spirits and let them heal. It was also worn into battle to help protect the warriors from bodily harm.
The Spiral represents the forces of nature, water, fire, and earth. We also consider the center point, where the three spirals meet, to represent air, the one element that connects them all together.
The Trinity represents, well, the trinity. In our case, that trinity is the three principles, Truth, Love, and Courage.
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