Re: Magincia
I'm glad I read this thread! I was just at Magincia in the game, and I truly wondered what happened to it. No trees, vegetation, animals, people, or buildings. Some chairs and things are still there, though, which is funny in an odd way... since, otherwise, the place looks as if it was wiped from the face of the planet. A sign is up there, though, a white post saying not to build a house there or you will lose it. That was my first clue that what I was seeing wasn't a glitch or a bug, but something planned specifically.
In a way it makes sense, destroying Maginica like in Ultima 4, just as the Exodus / Blackthorn story back during Lord Blackthorn's Revenge made sense with Ultima 3 and Ultima 5... and if I recall correctly, there was a Minax storyline to do with the Lost Lands even further back. Mondain's story predates the game, so they couldn't do that... but I do believe they are trying to follow the storyline of the classic Ultima games, only without the Avatar's involvement in the events. This is likely a promotional event, to lead up to their release of Stygian Abyss for Kingdom Reborn. Setting up the full Ultima 4 era, in that way. Since Demise doesn't use Kingdom Reborn, and so won't be using Stygian Abyss, I wonder where the Demise developers will take the story once Magincia's destruction is finalized? I suppose they could always redecorate the dungeon on the Isle of Fire (Isle of the Avatar in classic Ultima), and populate it with even nastier spawns, thus creating their own Stygian Abyss. I actually wouln't mind seeing a Stygian Abyss for UO that doesn't require a new client or another expansion pack. I wonder if in the future, we'll also see a war between the humans and the gargoyles, like in Ultima 6? You never can tell, after all!