Or, everything must happen for a reason, just like a good Ultima game.

The Hearth of Britannia, unlike some companion cookbooks, will not be a mere collection of recipes based loosely off of an IP. Rather, it will be written from the perspective of the Avatar (i.e. you, me, and all players of the Ultima series), but not just any Avatar. An Avatar with an insatiable passion for cooking who scoured the lands of Sosaria and Britannia in search of recipes and culinary knowledge from all corners of the worlds. This passion will allow for backstory and tidbits of original lore for each recipe.

The Hearth of Britannia will be a blend of a traditional cookbook and an epistolary novel showcasing ephemera such as journal entries, correspondence from notable NPCs, and other found artefacts to paint a colourful picture of how the recipes came to be known by the author. If you enjoyed The Official Book of Ultima, you will love The Hearth of Britannia!

With beautiful line-art illustrations, just like a proper Ultima manual.

While some supplemental photographs may ultimately be available online, The Hearth of Britannia will be fully hand illustrated by Rustic Dragon for all parts. Think Cook's Illustrated meets Denis Loubet's "fine line" illustration style for the Ultima manuals.

As close as possible to a genuine artefact from Britannia.

While some companion cookbooks make silly, cute recipes that are only titularly related to the IP, The Hearth of Britannia will do better. The author has a strong distaste for companion cookbooks that include silly recipes with no empirical basis in the reality of the lore. For example, "Heart Piece Cookies" should have no place in an immersive Legend of Zelda inspired cookbook (though it would be perfectly appropriate in a general Nintendo cookbook). It's cheap, silly, and The Hearth of Britannia will have none of it!

Additionally, The Hearth of Britannia will, as much as possible, seek to find plausible substitutes for fantasy ingredients with immersive explanations based on both Ultima lore and cooking science. There will be a Well Equipped Britannian Kitchen section that details not only what staples and equipment are nice to have on hand, but also narratively explains how to procure mundane Earth based ingredients when access to a moongate isn't possible.

Lastly, the planned Hearth's Heritage Edition of The Hearth of Britannia will look and feel like a book straight from Britannia. While standard soft-cover editions will likely come with modern annoyances like a UPCs and copyright pages (ultimately depending on how it's published), the Hearth's Heritage Edition will not. If all goes as presently planned, the Hearth's Heritage Edition will have...

What an odd trio, wouldn't thou think?

Loubet, named after the inimitable Denis Loubet of Ultima and Origin fame, is seen just left of center of the photo above. Loubet is an Epson SureColor P800 Inkjet Printer with an Optional Roll Media Adapter using dye sublimation ink. Loubet can print up to 17" x 129"!

Dracothraxus, named for the powerful dragon guarding the ether gem on the Isle of Fire in Ultima VII's add on, Forge of Virtue, is seen on the right side of the image above. Dracothraxus comprises two heat presses: one 16"x20" press for large items and a smaller, 12"x15" press with attachments for mugs and hats.

Arbeth, on the far left, is last but not least. Those of you in the know will remember Arbeth as the talented spinner who lived in Paws at the end of the Age of Enlightenment. He was famous for his ability to spin spider silk into thread for the completion of the lighter-than-air device. Arbeth now works for The Hearth of Britannia in the form of a Brother 1034D Serger. Arbeth allows beautiful finished edges to be put on cloth maps.

With their powers combined, Loubet, Dracothraxus, and Arbeth allow the production of the following products:

A real titan of industry.

Pyros is named after the Titan of Fire Ultima VIII. He is a G.Weike L1390N Laser Cutter with an upgraded 150W CO2 laser, which is more than three times more powerful than a Glowforge Pro. He weighs 350kg (772 lbs.) and measures 1,820mm L x 1,310mm W x 1,070mm H (72" x 52" x 42")! He has an effective cutting area of 1,300mm x 900mm (51" x 36", more than double the Glowforge in length and more than triple in width!). He can cut and etch up to 30mm thick acrylic, 20mm thick wood, and 12mm thick MDF as well as almost any softer material such as paper, leather, and textiles. Pyros is used to produce the following products:

A central place for tinkering.

As I live in a shoebox of an apartment, it is damned near impossible for me to to work on anything without shuffling everything out of the way to make space. To solve this, I have secured Minoc.

Minoc is a two car garage that serves the fourfold purpose of acting as a workshop for wood and leather craft, housing Pyros' six foot booty (as he simply will not fit through any normal sized doors), storing my extra stuff so I can actually leverage my apartment to create the previously mentioned dye sublimation products and ship items as they are ordered, and housing my car, Mandrake.

The very first official Hearth run event, the celebration was a live-streamed dinner party using authentic Hearth of Britannia recipes to celebrate the successful Kickstarting of Shroud of the Avatar. During the stream, The Hearth let viewers observe the kitchen activities, told viewer's fortunes Ultima VI style with potions, interviewed some of the Portalarium staff, and gave away generously donated prizes. This event came to be known as the first Hearth of Britannia Dragonsmeet and set the tone and demand for all future meets.

Semi-weekly Google+ hangouts for fans of Ultima, Shroud of the Avatar, Origin Systems, and Lord British games. Twenty-four Dragonsmeets occurred before logistical considerations put them on hiatus in 2014 with a brief return of nine meets in 2017. There are presently no plans to restart Dragonsmeets, however, they may return if certain criteria are met.

This is the event that arguably put The Hearth of Britannia on the community's radar. The HoBTotA was the world's first entirely fan-run fundraiser for a high-budget commercial video game. Despite not reaching the audacious goal of raising $1,000,000 in a single day, with sponsorship from Unity and the help of many folks in the community at-large, this 24 hour live-streamed event raised $12,999 in a single day for Shroud of the Avatar. This live-streamed event included interviews, competitions, prize drawings, musical performances, discussions, and much more. A custom set of Ultima themed Virtue Cards and "Legends of Ultima" Cards were created as rewards for this event.

One of the rewards for Lords of the Manor, the highest pledge level Kickstarter backers for Shroud of the Avatar, is to attend an event at Britannia Manor IV in NYC with Lord British. The Hearth of Britannia was asked to prepare a special meal for the very first of these events.

A month after NYC, The Hearth of Britannia opened its doors for a weekend long semi-LARP event in Indianapolis, IN that served the same meal that was designed for the Lords of the Manor event described above. For this event, one did not have to be a $10,000 backer of Shroud of the Avatar, one simply had to make it to Indianapolis (wearing appropriate garb, of course). The food was copious, the libations were flowing, the boffers were boffering, and a grand time was had by all. Special guests included Tracy Hickman (in person) and Lord British and other Portalarium staff via Google+ Hangouts.

Clocking in at over 200 prep hours, this event was the largest, most complex, and possibly only Ultima LARP event in history (until HoBLotH III, of course). With a budget of over $12,000, The Hearth of Britannia put on a weekend long quest for 40 attendees with a star studded NPC cast of over 20 former Origin staff members. Attendees were tasked with attaining Avatarhood through mastery of the Eight Virtues (or through the eight Alternate Virtues of Mandrake!) Questers spent the fully0catered weekend engaged in intellectual puzzles, dances, feasts, battles, rabbles, and even a concert by the The Spacebards (a.k.a. Recap). A double-sided cloth map, debossed coin bag, laser engraved ankh, and custom journal were created for this event.

Taking the lessons learned from HoBLotH II and embracing the magic of delegation, The Hearth of Britannia returned to Austin, TX in 2016 to put on an even larger event with the same budget as the previous incarnation. This time lasting five days and hosting a whopping 80+ players and NPC's, The Hearth of Britannia put the power of quest creation in the hands of the players creating the largest, most immersive, and engaging Ultima (and SotA!) LARP experience to date. Similar to HoBLotH II, a unique double-sided cloth map, debossed coin bag, special trinket, and custom journals were created.