Chapter 0: The Good, and the Bad who is also Ugly:

The Guardian is nigh-omnipotent. His only flaw is that he can't physically enter a world unless its inhabitants help him enter it.
In Ultima 7 Part 1, the Guardian finally manages to attract enough followers in Britannia to get his foot in the door. The Avatar destroys the Guardian's Moongate at the last second.

In Ultima 7 Part 2, Lord British sends the Avatar to Serpent Isle in pursuit of the Guardian's surviving followers. LB and the Avatar don't know it at the time, but Lord Blackthorn has spent his exile living amongst a snake-cult. The Guardian abducts the Avatar from Serpent's Isle, while Blackthorn takes the opportunity to gate back to Britannia.

In Ultima 8, the Avatar is exiled in one of the corrupted realms conquered by the Guardian. The idea was so the Avatar would become corrupted - become a parody of himself: the anti-Avatar. It's assumed that the Guardian's plan didn't work.
While this is happening, Blackthorn is in Britannia, building an army and building a new Black Moongate for the Guardian.

Edit:

Justice, Spirituality and Compassion.

Valiantly beating up a starving man!

Valor, Justice, Spirituality, Compassion. Our choices start to matter now.

I'd prefer not to recap the Ultimas any more than I already have. Ultima has a rich, deep, complex backstory and lore which Ultima IX ignores almost entirely, so as long as you read my first post you should know everything you need to follow the plot of this game. The Wikipedia articles offer a far better summary of the storyline than I could give you, anyway.

Justice * 2, Valor, Spirituality, Compassion.

Almost done!

Okay, we're down to two options.

Choosing Justice will give us a staff-wielding Druid, and choosing Valor will give us a sword-swinging Fighter.

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