The original plot The beginning of the game is more or less the same as the beginning of the actual
Ultima IX release, except that the Avatar never actually returns to Earth after his sojourn in Pagan in
Ultima VIII. Just as in the official plot, there are also columns created by the Guardian with malign influence. Further, Lord British has become enfeebled and left government of the kingdom in the hands of a tribunal consisting of the lords of the cities of Moonglow, Britain, and Jhelom, but they have proved unable to deal with the crises and have fractured into mutually distrustful city-states that are, at the time the Avatar arrives, at the brink of war.
Of course, the Guardian is behind all of this, orchestrating these events, with the aid of Lord Blackthorn, but few within the kingdom suspect this. Among those suspicious is Samhayne, a benevolent smuggler of contraband and food supplies to the various cities. Residing in Asylum, formerly known as Buccaneer's Den, Samhayne enlists the aid of the Avatar to find proof of these shadowy manipulations that are causing Britannia to disintegrate. With the help of his longtime friends
Shamino and
Iolo and Samhayne's protegé Raven, they uncover Lord Blackthorn secretly advising members of the council and goading them to war. Blackthorn is unmasked just as the armies of the council have taken the field of battle. He is eventually caught later on at Terfin, 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 successfully kill 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, funneling the power of its destruction back into the Guardian, resurrecting him and making him stronger yet. The only way to destroy the Guardian now would be 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 Ritual of Armageddon is cast, Britannia is destroyed, along with the Guardian and Lord British, but the Avatar ascends to a higher plane by the power of the spell, and the populace that was evacuated to Skara Brae is protected by the Runes and they live on, to find another world to call their own. The "Bob White 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.