Quendor

Formerly known as Quendor, the Great Underground Empire reached its height under King Duncanthrax, began declining under the excessive rule of Dimwit Flathead, and finally fell in 883 GUE. [Ed. - See Table One] The area is now called the Land of Frobozz, after its largest province.

Many centuries ago Entharion the Wise united the warring city-states of Galepath and Mareilon, forming the Kingdom of Quendor. As the first king of a long dynasty, Entharion ruled from Castle Largoneth over a kingdom which was little more than what is currently the province of Frobozz. Our current calendar dates from the first year of Entharion’s reign.

Little is known about the early years of the kindgom, save that it was ruled by a string of obscure rulers who did little to merit history’s recognition. Eventually the war-like nature of the early city-states was forgotten, and they all united for good under the brown and gold flag of Quendor.

Centuries later, in 659, the kingdom of Quendor was still relatively small, encompassing seven-and-a-half provinces on the western shore of the Great Sea, an agrarian land whose major products were rope and mosquito netting. It was the thirty-first year of the reign of Zilbo III, the last king of the Entharion Dynasty, which abruptly came to an end with the ascension of Duncathrax to the throne of Quendor on the final day of 659.

After removing Zilbo, Duncanthrax quickly developed a reputation for cruelty, bloodthirstiness and aggressiveness, thus earning himself the nickname “The Bellicose King.” He raised a tremendous army and began a systematic conquest of the neighboring kingdoms. Within three years, Duncanthrax ruled an empire that controlled virtually all the land between the Great Sea and the Kovalli Desert. It was during this period that the new king moved the seat of power from Largoneth to Egreth.

In 665, the forces of Duncanthrax vanquished the Antharian Armada at the famous battle of Fort Griffspotter. The islandnation of Antharia was, at the time, the world’s premier sea power, and this victory gave Duncanthrax undisputed control of the Great Sea and put the superb ship-building facilities of Antharia at his disposal. After this stunning victory, the Bellicose King turned his attention to the vast domain of the Eastlands. In 666 he swept across the territory with a large invading force, dealing the natives a key defeat with the Diablo Massacre at the Zorbel Pass.

As he absorbed the new territory into the kingdom, Duncanthrax made a startling discovery: huge caverns and tunnels existed in the Eastlands. These underground realms inspired Duncanthrax’s imagination; he soon realized that by burrowing into the ground he could increase the size of his empire fivefold or even tenfold! He put this plan into motion in 668 with the creation of the Frobozz Magic Construction Company. The natural caverns in the eastern lands were expanded tremendously, and new caverns and passages were dug in the western lands, chiefly in the vicinity of Duncanthrax’s castle, Egreth. By the time of his death in 688, Duncanthrax ruled virtually all territory in the known world, above and below ground.

After Duncanthrax, the throne was occupied by a long series of his descendants. These were unspectacular rulers, who took on the surname Flathead, for obscure reasons not necessarily related to the planar shape of their pates. During this period there was very little change in the Empire, as the conquered kingdoms were assimilated into Quendor and the frantic pace of tunneling gradually abated.

The beginning of the end for the immense kingdom came during the reign of Lord Dimwit Flathead during the eighth century. During his colorful reign, Dimwit became the first to call Quendor “The Great Underground Empire,” a designation now popularly preferred to Quendor. He also renamed the Great Sea “the Flathead Ocean.” Preferring the Eastlands, he moved the Empire’s capital to Egreth (in the Westlands) to Flatheadia (in the Eastlands). In a raw act of excessiveness, Dimwit ordered the construction of a nine-bloit-high statue of himself, an act that angered the powerful mage Megaboz, and eventually led to the destruction of his empire. (Please see the entries on Lord Dimwit Flathead and Megaboz.)

The rulers following Dimwit did their best to uphold his tradition of excessiveness. The high level of taxation continued, although the money was increasingly spent not on massive construction projects but on extravagant parties and long vacation trips for members of the Royal Family.

During the feeble-minded reign of Wurb Flathead in 883, after countless years of decadence and overtaxation, the Great Underground Empire was destroyed by the great Curse of Megaboz. The underground caverns fell into disuse, coming under the power of the first Dungeon Master; the Royal Treasury was sacked, and everyone moved somewhere else.

Jeder, der sich mit Computern beschäftigt, hat sicher schon einmal von dieser fast schon legendären Softwareschmiede gehört. Infocom war eine kleine Firma aus den USA, die zwischen 1979 und 1989 insgesamt 32 Textadventures produziert hat.

Die exzellente Erzählweise, die genialen Rätsel und großartigen Storylines haben diese Spiele unsterblich gemacht und sind heute noch ein Beispiel fuer nahezu perfekten Adventurespaß - auch ohne Grafik.
Abgesehen davon ist die Technik, mit der Infocom die Spiele realisiert hat, aus der Sicht des Informatikers höchst interessant: eine platformunabhängige virtuelle Maschine, die sogenannte “Z-Machine”, auf der die Gamefiles ausgeführt werden. Vergleichbar ist das Ganze mit dem heutigen Java.

Mittlerweile hat Activision die Spiele Zork 1 bis 3 freigegeben. Diese Spiele können hier online gespielt werden:

• Zork 1 - The Great Underground Empire
• Zork 2 - The Wizard of Frobozz
• Zork 3 - The Dungeon Master
• The Encyclopedia Frobozzica