Casca
Casca
Casca — full title in his final reign King Casca, sometimes King Pro Tempere — was a Britannian elven politician who rose from low-court prosecutor to the throne of Britannia between 2007 and 2010, became the first monarch since Lord British's departure, and was eventually revealed as a co-conspirator with the Shadowlords before being slain by Queen Dawn at the climax of the Warriors of Destiny event cycle. He is a key villain of the Stygian Abyss-era fiction, and his name has become shorthand within UO roleplay for "tyrant who ruled briefly."
Career — prosecutor → ambassador → council member → king
Casca's career was a four-step climb, each rung a UO event-cycle storyline:
| Step | Era | Where the player encountered him |
|---|---|---|
| Prosecutor | Pre-2007 | The Court of Truth in Yew. The trial of Ricardo the Thief. (See Britannia vs. Ricardo.) |
| Ambassador | After Ricardo's trial | Ambassador to Heartwood (the elven city in Ilshenar — Mondain's Legacy era). |
| Royal Council Member | Approaching the Royal Council Massacre | Member of the Ruling Council, the governing body of the realm. |
| King | 2009 onward | Castle Blackthorn, Britain. First monarch of Britannia since Lord British. |
The trial of Ricardo
Casca first came to prominence prosecuting Ricardo the Thief at the Court of Truth in Yew. The trial itself was a partial victory: an uncaring judge, an inept defense attorney, and a series of last-minute legal maneuvers (Casca dropped most of the original charges after the evidence was already presented) won the conviction. The transcript is preserved at Transcript of Crown vs. Ricardo, an in-game artefact-text.
The trial event-cycle gave players the chance to interrogate Casca via NPC keywords while gathering evidence. The full keyword tree:
| Keyword | Casca's response |
|---|---|
| Ricardo | "Ahh yes. Actually I am the prosecutor for his upcoming trial." |
| prosecutor | "As the trial is a ways off, we are in the process of building the case." |
| trial | "Yes, it is called Britannia vs. Ricardo. We are in the process of building a case." |
| case | "Gathering evidence, taking statements, screening witnesses. The usual faire." |
| evidence | "Ricardo has quite a few charges levied against him; it is important to investigate them all." |
| statements | "We'll be taking statements from eye witnesses, using those that support our case." |
| eye witnesses | "Citizens and other beings who saw Ricardo's crime first hand." |
| screening witnesses | "They are few and far between at the moment. However, I do remain confident." |
| few and far between | "Either too timid, coerced not to, or wish to remain loyal to Ricardo." |
| coerced | "I'm sure there are a drove of potentials out there who are too frightened to talk." |
| frightened | "Muscled I would guess. Strong armed by the underworld to remain silent." |
| underworld | "The criminal element that thrives beneath our society." |
| strong armed | "Maybe silenced by Ricardo's henchmen." |
| henchmen | "He seems to have contacts all over. One day we will catch them all." |
After investigating the abandoned camp at Terathan Keep:
| Keyword | Response |
|---|---|
| knife / fork / ceramic mug | "By itself, not too important." |
| shattered chains | "Obviously his discarded shackles. Did you see anything else there?" |
| burnt egg sac | "During his escape from Terathan Keep, he made camp and burned egg sacs? How horrific!" |
| escape | "You should head to the fortress, and see if any clues within warrant our investigating." |
| fortress | "Indeed. During his escape, it seems he also managed to provoke the Terathans into a fury." |
| horrific | "No wonder the Terathans are frenzying. He cooked their eggs, maybe even ate! What a monster!" |
| route | "One of his more famous heists, was against the town of Nujel'm. Perhaps you could investigate?" |
After investigating Nujel'm:
| Keyword | Response |
|---|---|
| ornate pair of lockpicks | "Did you see anything on them that might identify their former owner?" |
| monogrammed with the letter R | "Obviously him. That seems almost too easy. Do not disturb the scene, we will need to sweep it." |
| murder | "No... I would not call it murder. Not from what you described." |
| breaking and entering / burglary | "Excellent. I am glad to see ignorance has not totally overtaken Sosaria." |
| Sosaria | "Now for the crime that started all this recent trouble. You must be swift and stealthy." |
| swift and stealthy | "Find the scene where he stole the Ophidian's relic, the Scion's Zenith. Search it thoroughly." |
| scion | "An artifact, sacred to them. A centuries old secret revealed." |
After investigating the Ophidian fortress:
| Keyword | Response |
|---|---|
| dried blood | "Ahh. We shall have to see if there is a way we can use this to identify him." |
| purple cloth | "Interesting, but by itself, it means little." |
| pulley | "What do you think this contraption was used for?" |
| window | "So he lowered the relic out of the window, by a pulley?" |
| amateur | "All of the clues you relayed, add up to a scene worthy of further investigation." |
| relayed | "You have my deepest thanks. Hopefully we will continue our relationship over the coming months." |
| rewarded | "We shall see how the trial progresses." |
The Royal Council Massacre
The Royal Council Massacre (2007) was one of the most consequential political events in UO's running fiction. The Followers of Armageddon and the Shadowlords, working together, slaughtered the entire Ruling Council — except for Casca, who was supposedly taken prisoner, and Sherry the Mouse, who temporarily disappeared.
When players rescued Casca, he fingered Avery (a hapless, semi-competent council member) as the villain. The first hint that Casca's "captivity" was staged: Avery was found dressed in rags; Casca was still in fine clothes.
While "captive," Casca's keyword tree (Casca the Ambassador event):
| Keyword | Response |
|---|---|
| Casca | "I will not forget that you have come to my rescue. I will see that you receive a proper reward." |
| Reward | "I am too weak to walk out of here, so I'm afraid I will need your help further." |
| Help | "Give this to Captain Ulrich and tell him to come get me. He will reward you handsomely." (drops A Note from Casca in player's pack) |
| Council | "It was a bloodbath! That traitor Avery! He did this to us!" |
| Avery | "All these months, pretending to be a hero, he was in fact spying on us for the FOA." |
| FOA | "They dragged me here to ransom me. Avery left with the others to a secret meeting." |
| Meeting | "I just know there is a portal which requires a password. And they summon something." |
| Password | "It was a word unknown to me. I only remember that it began with the letter 'E'." |
| Eored | "Hmmmm that sounds familiar. It might be the world they use for the summon." |
| Summon | "A guardian or divinity of some sort. Someone or something they both fear and revere." |
| Portal | "I do not know its location. Captain Ulrich however knows more about the FOA." |
| Ulrich | "He's a Captain of the Royal Guard. You will find him at Britain's Warrior's Guild." |
| Aileen | "I haven't seen the sweet Lady. Please tell me she has not met with foul play!" |
The misdirections — pinning the conspiracy on Avery, the FOA-as-fall-guy framing, the deflection toward the Eored summons — were all cover for Casca's own complicity.
King Casca
By virtue of being the only high official left alive, Casca took effective control of Britannian government. In January 2009, he was crowned King Casca — Britannia's first monarch since Lord British's departure. His official title was King Pro Tempere ("Temporary King"), and he claimed to have been appointed by a "newly-reconstituted Ruling Council" whose membership he refused to disclose.
He moved into Castle Blackthorn (his predecessor's structure in Britain) and began consolidating power.
Per-shard variations — Casca was played by each shard's Event Moderators, so his personality differed:
| Shard | Casca's behavior |
|---|---|
| Lake Superior · Europa | Outlawed all local (player-run) governments. |
| Great Lakes | Curried favor by handing out cake and treats; later instituted draconian laws (the law of "Justice" — accused who didn't plead guilty got harsher sentences; no acquittals; the law of "Valor" — retreat from battle was punishable by death); orchestrated constant attacks on the High Council. |
| Catskills | Revealed himself as a persuasive but snaky speaker. |
| All shards | Made conscious attempts to kill Sherry the Mouse (one of the last living links to Lord British) and to kill Dawn (then long-absent) by burning her house in Yew. |
Casca claimed credit for ending the Shadowlord invasions during the Battle of Fire Island and the Fire and Ice scenarios — claims that were false; he had been in league with the Shadowlords throughout.
Fall and death
Casca's evil nature became unmistakable as his reign progressed. The Battle of Fire Island ended the Shadowlord invasion (defeating Astaroth, Faulinei, and Nosfentor's manifestations); the Crimson Dragons were defeated in Felucca. With his patrons broken, Casca vanished in terror.
Shortly after, Dawn — recently crowned Queen of Britannia — tracked him down. His life was tied to a gemstone (a Mondainian-style phylactery, a deliberate echo of the Gem of Immortality). Dawn destroyed the gemstone; Casca died.
Legacy
Casca stands forever as the second monarch of Britannia, the first since Lord British. He also stands as a tyrant and perverter of Virtue — his "Justice" and "Valor" inversions are cited by post-Casca clerics as cautionary parables, and his cooperation with the Shadowlords is treated by Britannian scholars as the political analogue of Lord_Blackthorn's philosophical fall to Exodus.
His reign was short. His shadow on Britannian politics — the doctrine that "even an elven Royal Council member can be a vessel for the Anti-Virtues" — is permanent.
See also
- Shadowlords — his patrons; the three anti-virtues
- Lord_British — the absent monarch whose vacuum Casca filled
- Lord_Blackthorn — fellow philosopher-turned-villain
- Mondain — Casca's gemstone phylactery is a Mondainian motif
- Britannia — the kingdom he briefly ruled
- Britannian_Royal_Guard — the force he tried to command
- Sherry_the_Mouse — one of his targets
- Royal_Council_Massacre — the event that elevated him
- Warriors_of_Destiny — the event cycle that destroyed him