Tabula Rasa Preview

GameSpy has put together a pre-E3 preview of Tabula Rasa, the upcoming MMORPG from Ultima creator Richard Garriott. Here's a snip to get you started:
With a fantasy setting ruled out, that really only left science fiction. If you can't use magic to explain resurrection and teleportation, there's always the standby of really, really advanced science. They were, however, also determined to avoid the other trap that too many games fall into, loading an SF game up with Star Trek and Star Wars clichés. Launching into his fiction presentation, Garriott began with a cryptic statement; "Long ago, the battle for the control of the universe was lost."

The fiction behind Tabula Rasa says that millions of years ago, one race, discovering that true "space travel" was impossible because of physical laws and the vast distances involved, instead turned their attention to ways of molding reality. They discovered "Logos," a method of warping reality that bent, but didn't violate natural laws. Using "Logos", they could explore the universe without the messiness of spaceship or time-dilation. Unfortunately, during that exploration, their hopes of finding other, similarly advanced races that they could share their experiences with were dashed. Instead, while the universe was full of life, all of it was less advanced than they were. That's when this race, which came to be called the Benefactors, began giving away the secrets of their advanced technology.