Dating back to the original single-player Ultima series, Ultima Online features a philosophy known as the Virtues. The Shrines are named after them, and players can read about the eight Virtues in books throughout the game. Players can already gain certain skills or abilities through practicing some of these Virtues within the game, although there are still several Virtue systems to be added.
 Some details about the Virtue system:
Paperdoll interface: Pressing the “Virtue button” on any character's paperdoll will open their respective Virtue gump-window.
Players will be able to see how far they have advanced in the Virtues by double-clicking the “Virtue button.” The gump-window that appears will have eight sections, one for each Virtue. Each section will have a “status” button (see “Status Button Interface”) and “cancel” button on this menu.
- For characters who have not yet achieved the first level of a given Virtue, the respective engraving is empty. Hovering the cursor over a symbol will display the name of that respective Virtue in the center.
The eight Virtues and their symbols are listed below. Not all Virtues have entered the game at this time, but those that do include a link to their full descriptions.
- When characters have achieved the first rank of a given Virtue, the engraved symbol will fill a light gray version of the appropriate Virtue symbol.
- When characters have achieved the second level of a given Virtue, the engraved symbol will fill with light tint of that Virtue’s respective color.
- Humility: a tint of black (“medium grey”)
- Sacrifice: a tint of orange (“light orange”)
- Honor: a tint of purple (“light purple”)
- Compassion: a tint of yellow (“pale yellow”)
- Valor: a tint of red (“pinkish”)
- Honesty: a tint of blue (“light blue”)
- Spirituality: a tint of white (“pale grey”)
- Justice: a tint of green (“light green”)
- When characters have achieved the third rank of a given Virtue, the engraved symbol for that Virtue will fill with the appropriate Virtue symbol, colored in the respective color of that Virtue.
- Humility: black (“dark grey”)
- Sacrifice: orange
- Honor: purple
- Compassion: yellow
- Valor: red
- Honesty: blue
- Spirituality: white
- Justice: green
- Progressing in a Virtue will grant a character related special abilities. Players will often be able to access these abilities by opening their Virtue gump and clicking the related symbol, although some abilities may be automatic. For example, double-clicking on the symbol for “Sacrifice” will activate the Virtuous ability for Sacrifice, while the Justice ability is automatically "on" while in protection mode with a partner during a champion spawn adventure.
- When a player moves his cursor over a given Virtue symbol, a title will be displayed indicating the step currently achieved for that Virtue by that character.
- First rank: Seeker of [name of that Virtue]
- Second rank: Follower of [name of that Virtue]
- Third rank: Knight of [name of that Virtue]
- Eventually it may be possible for a character that has achieved all three steps in all eight Virtues to earn the title “The Virtuous” on their paperdoll.
- Murderer characters (“Reds”) cannot gain any Virtue points nor use any Virtues. Any current points will continue to decay over time.
Status Button Interface: Double-clicking this button will display a special listing of the Virtues, and it will include one button for each of the eight Virtues. Clicking on one of the Virtue buttons will display:
- A series of ten red gems across the top. As your character increases in each Virtue, the gems will begin changing from red to blue. When all the gems have turned blue, your character will advance to the next step in that Virtue.
- A definition of that Virtue
- Text indicating how close the character is toward achieving the next step of that Virtue
- "You have not even started on the path of this Virtue."
- "You have barely begun your journey through the path of this Virtue."
- "You have progressed in this Virtue, but still have much to do."
- "Your journey through the path of this Virtue is going well."
- "You feel very close to achieving your next goal in this Virtue."
- "You have achieved a goal in this Virtue
- A link to a UO.com Web page which describes the Virtue in greater detail
Players who progress in a given Virtue, but do not continue to actively pursue it, may discover that their Virtuous title reduces in steps over time.
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