Mortalis Overview

Mortalis Overview

Mortalis is a classic Ultima Online shard based on the Publish 15 era, running under a Felucca ruleset, with a singular focus on consequence, identity, and permanence. While mechanically grounded in early Ultima Online, Mortalis deliberately reshapes how certain systems are experienced without broadly departing from era-accurate mechanics.

In Mortalis, death is permanent at the character level. When a character dies, that life ends. The player returns to the world through reincarnation rather than resurrection, beginning anew while carrying forward the weight of their past actions. This design restores meaning to survival and reinforces the idea that choices have lasting consequences.

At the same time, Mortalis preserves continuity across lives. Bank contents and house ownership persist through reincarnation, ensuring that progress is not erased, but transformed. Reputation — including murder counts, fame, and karma — is tied to the player’s identity rather than a single character, allowing the world to remember who you are, not just who you were.

Mortalis is designed to discourage disposable characters and risk-free play without resorting to artificial punishment. Starter equipment is tracked, bound, and removed on death, preventing deaths from being used to mint resources or exploit the economy. Advancement comes from engagement with the world, cooperation with others, and willingness to accept risk, not from repetition in safety.

The result is a shard that feels unmistakably like classic Ultima Online, while restoring the tension, gravity, and long-term meaning that defined its earliest days.

Core Rules

• 1 account per IP
• 1 player character per account
• 1 house per account
• 225 stat cap
• 700 skill cap
• Felucca ruleset
• Mounts enabled

A Note on Animal Taming

Animal Taming in Mortalis follows classic Ultima Online mechanics, with one intentional enhancement designed to encourage active adventuring rather than repetitive training.

In addition to traditional difficulty-based gains, Animal Taming supports limited passive skill progression earned through real interaction with pets in the field. Caring for, commanding, and fighting alongside a pet can contribute to Taming advancement, reinforcing the intended role of tamers as adventurers rather than stationary trainers.

This passive progression is narrow in scope and does not replace standard skill gain mechanics. It exists solely to reward meaningful play and does not apply broadly to other skills. Detailed behavior, limits, and gain rules are documented on the Skills pages.

Custom Systems

Mortalis introduces a small number of focused custom systems intended to reinforce long-term identity and meaningful play, while keeping the majority of game mechanics aligned with classic Ultima Online behavior.

These systems are purpose-built and intentionally narrow in scope.

Staff-Hosted Events

Mortalis emphasizes emergent gameplay driven by player interaction and consequence. Staff-hosted events are rare and, when they occur, are intended to reinforce world narrative rather than distribute rewards or power.

Donations

The Angel Island family of shards does not accept donations, sell in-game items, or offer any form of pay-to-play or pay-to-win mechanics.

All shards are provided freely to players, with no expectation of remuneration of any kind. There are no gift shops, no in-game tokens, and no monetized advantages.

Every player participates on equal footing at all times. Progress, power, and success are determined solely by gameplay within the world, not by external contributions.

Why Play on Mortalis?

Mortalis exists for players who want their actions to matter over time.

Progress is earned through real engagement with the world rather than repetition in safety. Cooperation, trust, and risk are central to survival. Mortalis rewards thoughtful play, long-term planning, and social interaction, preserving the tension that defined early Ultima Online.

Differences Between OSI (Publish 15) and Mortalis

Shard Rules Comparison

Feature	OSI (Publish 15)	Mortalis
Accounts per IP	Paid / Unlimited	1
Characters per account	5	1
Houses per account	1	1
Stat cap	225	225
Skill cap	700	700
Facets	Felucca + Trammel	Felucca only
Mounts	Yes	Yes
Recall	Yes	Yes
Gate travel	Yes	Yes
Item insurance	No	No
Alignment / Factions	Classic factions	None
Resource drop rates	Normal	Normal
Skill & stat gains	Normal, difficulty-based	Normal, difficulty-based*
NPC skill training	Yes	Yes
Animal taming difficulty	Normal	Normal
Blade Spirits / Energy Vortex	Normal	Normal
Telekinesis on trapped chests	Yes	Yes
Item wear	Normal	Normal
NPC shopkeepers buy items	Yes	Yes**
NPC shopkeeper prices	Normal	Normal
NPC resource sales	Yes	Yes
Hireling fees	Normal	Normal
Housing prices	Normal	Normal
Murderers allowed in town	No	No
Healing murderers in town	Criminal flag + guards	Criminal flag + guards
Poisoned arrows	No	No
Thieves Guild murder restrictions	Standard	Standard
Stealth mechanics	Normal	Normal
Weapon enchantments	Yes	Yes

Notes:

* Animal Taming additionally supports passive skill gain through active pet engagement. This exception is limited in scope and does not replace standard skill gain mechanics. See the Skills section for details.

** NPC shopkeepers do not purchase starting equipment.