The Encyclopedia Frobozzica
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Gabber Tumper is a corrupt and simplified form of
Double Fanucci,
popular in taverns, and frequently played for stakes.
Galepath was one of the ancient cities united by
Entharion the Wise
to form the Kingdom of Quendor. Galepath is the site of
Galepath University, one of the prestigious Moss-League colleges.
In the fifth century the scholar
Bizboz was on the faculty at
Galepath University, and Leonardo Flathead himself would attend
the University in the eighth century.
Judy Garlic Star of several movie musicals, including a successful production based on L. Frank Fzort's tales of the kingdom of
Froon.
The Glass Maze
Duncanthrax
built the Glass Maze on a whim, to amuse
his friends, and torture his enemies. A labyrinth of 27 cubicles,
it is full of devilish pitfalls and is located underground near
his castle,
Egreth, just off the
western branch of the Great
Underground Highway. Since the abandonment of Egreth, the maze
lies unused. It is said that there are secret controls that
change the position of the walls, ceilings, and floors, or that
a sufficient magical force could to the same thing, but only
once, in the struggle to thwart the
demon
Jeearr, has such a thing been recorded.
The entrance to the Glass Maze was a magnificent Hall, graced
with a wonderful statue of King Duncanthrax himself. The base of
this statue was engraved with the words: "I, Duncanthrax, King of
Quendor and all its subjugated outlands, invite you to sample the
delights of my Glass Labyrinth."
The Gloop is the chief unit of liquid measurement in the Great
Underground Empire, named for the sound that liquid makes when
being poured from a glass container. The holding capacity of
flasks, vials, beakers, and the like are measured in gloops.
Oddzoe Glorb III, a wealthy land baron from Mareilon, was the
second husband of Lucrezia Flathead. He was found dead five weeks
after the wedding, his body mangled by hellhounds.
Fried Glurz is a popular and delicious dinner dish.
Gnomes are a type of dwarf that dwells underground, guarding their
treasures. Occasionally these gnomes were employed by agencies
such as the Bank of Zork,
the Great Underground Highway Toll System, and
Bozbarland. Gnomes make efficient workers, due to their
stubbornness and will-power.
Goobar was a construction worker for the Rockville Estates.
Granola Riots The granola mines in northern
Antharia once supplied seemingly limitless quantities of granola. Since the Granola Riots of 16 Estuary 865 GUE, the causes of which are not
clearly known, the output of the mines has fallen sharply.
The Gray Mountains refer to both a mountain range and a province.
Lying in the far northern part of the eastlands, the Gray Mountains are a harsh environment, but a mecca for winter sports
enthusiasts, who use the Great Underground Highway system to
flock to the ski resort called Grayslopes.
The Gray Mountains Province, whose capital is Frostham, is
noted for several tourist attractions: the hot springs that warm
the underground caverns in the region, Grayslopes, and the frozen
surfaces of
Lake Dinge
and Mirror Lake, near a vacation chalet
designed by Frank Lloyd Flathead. The 18,370 inhabitants of the
province are ruled from Frostham by a tyrannical governor who is
chosen once a month by lottery. At 13,441 square
bloits, the Gray
Mountains Province is larger than
Antharia
and Borphee Provinces put together.
The "Fire and Ice Province" has chosen the Frobizzan Moss for
its official flower, and its motto, "Mekie zimbuz," translates to
"Maybe tomorrow."
Great Sea Please see the entry on the Flathead Ocean.
The Great Underground Empire 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.
The Great Underground Highway is a system of toll roads stretching throughout both
the Eastland
and Westland provinces. The
standard Highway toll is one zorkmid,
but tolls can run as high
as Zm 3 depending on your point of departure. Toll gates are
usually manned by hired gnomes. To date at least four branches of
the GUH are known to exist: Number 2, near
Egreth, goes from
Bozbarland to the Glass Maze; Number 90 runs from the White Cliffs
Beach to Port Foozle; Number 95 spans an immense distance from
Flatheadia to Fublio Valley; and one branch even extends all the
way to the Gray Mountains.
The Great Void The infinite empty space that surrounds the world. It
is one of the major tenets of Brogmoidism that the Great Brogmoid
"saveth us from plunging into the Great Void." One of the major
discoveries of the year 883 was the fact that the Great Void is
not entirely empty. Other worlds do indeed exist below and above
this one, supported by a presumably infinite string of Brogmoids.
Those who have attempted to jump off the bottom of the world have
reportedly fallen to a new, wondrous world where purple forests
surround lakes of molten rock, volcanoes belch green-blue smoke
into the sky, and enormous slug-shaped creatures, a
bloit long,
engage in fierce combat. This other world is most likely the same
bizarre place visited by the Head of the Circle of Enchanters. In
the year 966 he found a strange environ filled with living rocks
that devoured metal for nourishment.
Great White Jellyfish This incredible monster was the nemesis of
John Paul Flathead, and was responsible for his death near Grubbo-by-the-Sea in 789 GUE.
Grope is the Mayor of the City of Froon.
Groupers are large fish found in warm seas such as the Flathead
Ocean. Groupers will willingly eat almost anything. One obscure
fact of vague historical interest is that John Paul Flathead set
a record for the most circumnavigations of
Antharia on a raft
towed by groupers. Of slightly more importance is the fact that a
grouper nest on the bed of the Flathead Ocean was a hiding place
for one of the
Cubes of Foundation.
Grubbo-by-the-Sea is a village on the coast of the Westlands,
near Gurth, Mithicus and Miznia provinces. The Broken Lantern, a
pub in Grubbo, is noted for its fine parrot stew and morgia root
pie, along with other local delicacies. Grubbo is essentially a
decrepit village, inhabited by bandits and swarming with rat-ants
and
discipline crabs. However, when the
Coconut of Quendor was
discovered in 966, Grubbo was the departure point for a vessel
carrying the Coconut to its glorious destiny.
The Grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of
the earth. Its favorite diet is either adventurers or enchanters,
but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its horrible fear of
light. No grues have ever been seen by the light of day, and only
a few have been observed in their underground lairs. Of those who
have seen grues, few ever survived their fearsome jaws to tell
the tale. Grues have sharp claws and fangs, and an uncontrollable
tendency to slaver and gurgle. They are certainly the most
evil-tempered of all creatures; to say they are touchy is a dangerous understatement. "Sour as a grue" is a common expression,
even among themselves.
In former days it was believed that all grues were eradicated
from the face of the world during the time of
Entharion, many by
his own hand, and his legendary blade Grueslayer. It is now known
that uncountable hordes of grues escaped the blade of Entharion
and lurked in the bottomless pits of the underground, until they
were accidentally released in 883 by a peasant who would eventually become the first Dungeon Master.
At this time the grues
quickly spread to every part of the Great Underground Empire,
including passages underneath Festeron,
Antharia. It is there
that a Festeron postal worker stumbled into the nesting place of
a family of grues. A close call on the part of this postal worker
demonstrated that only the mother-instincts of a female grue are
strong enough to overcome a grue's fear of light.
Grues play a minor role in the tale of the
demon Jeearr.
During his control of the area surrounding
Egreth Castle,
Jeearr
was using infernal machines to breed mutated grues that were not
afraid of light. Luckily for mankind, these grues were never
released into the world at large.
An interesting historical footnote concerning grues is the
fact that one grue lair was, for many eons, the resting place of
one of the Cubes of Foundation.
In order to recover this cube, in
966 the Head of the Circle of Enchanters was forced to temporarily turn himself into a grue as a part of a quest that would
eventually result in the end of the Age of Magic.
Grueslayer was the legendary blade of
Entharion the Wise. With
this sword he single-handedly slew many ravenous grues. Although
the blade itself is long lost, the Sheath of Grueslayer survived
at least until 966, when it was seen on sale in an
Accardi
weapons shop. The Sheath, as probably with the Blade as well, had
magical powers: he who wears it is blessed with wondrous powers
of recuperation. If the blade Grueslayer were to resurface, it
would definitely worth at least half the wealth of the kingdom of
Quendor.
Guard Lizards are creatures whose exact nature remains a mystery.
They appear to be nothing more than the head of a lizard attached
to a door, but they are quite alive and will bite the hand of
anyone who reaches for the door they are attached to. The only
way to pass a guard lizard is to feed it something it likes, such
as insects. It will go to sleep, and appear to be just another
stuffed lizard.
The Guardians of Zork are a military order of ancient lineage.
G.U.E. Tech is the most prestigious engineering school in the
land. Located in
Borphee, the newest of the Moss-League Colleges
produces the young Enchanters of tomorrow. Students in the School
of Enchantment either take classes in well-known Enchanter Hall
or go through a 12 week "Learn-at-Home" course. According to
recent statistics, over 70% of GUE Tech graduates find careers in
magic-related guilds. Many even go on to start their own magic
companies, and have become an identifiable subculture known as
"Yuppies," or "Young Underground Professionals."
G.U.E. Tech's resident researchers have always been on the
cutting edge of magic technology. In 957 the university's Spell
Science Lab was heavily involved in research with highly GNUSTOreceptive paper which it hoped would be sensitive enough to allow
even the most ancient and mighty spell to be copied. The results
of this research were never revealed.
G.U.E. Tech is also well-known for its MDL degree in Paper
Shuffling, which is advertised as a program that could lead its
graduates to really big zorkmids.
In late spring, G.U.E. Tech holds its annual Spelling Bee,
which is free and open to the public.
Gumboz A very obscure hermit enchanter who lived in a small
shack in Fublio Valley. Apparently he had a very sick sense of
humore, as he protected his valuables with a spell that would
cause anybody incapable of halting the magic to starve to death.
Gurth City is the capital of Gurth Province. Nestled in between
mountains, a forest, and the Fields of Frotzen, Gurth City is
noted mainly for massive markets, where one can find anything
from spell scrolls to fish cakes stuffed with morgia root.
Research has shown that the best lodging in Gurth City is at the
King Zilbo Hotel.
Gurth Province, which lies to the north of Miznia and Mithicus,
is chiefly woods and farmland. The Fields of Frotzen, in central
Gurth, are known as the Breadbasket of Quendor. The capital of
the province is Gurth City, home of the King Zilbo Hotel, and a
local branch of Ye Olde Magick Shoppe. This magic shop carried,
at one time, one of the few remaining relics from the city of
Phee, the Hourglass of Phee, which is known to give control over
time itself by manipulating it in the proper location in Phee.
Gurth is known for its fine artisans, and Gurth City is the site
of the Gurth City Crafts Fair, held every weekend during the
spring. Since the weather is absolutely wonderful most of the
year, Gurth is a popular vacation spot, and in fact its nickname,
along with Mithicus, is the Vacation Province. Gurth and Mithicus
combined have a population of 2,883,190, and together encompass
21,545 square
bloits.
These two provinces are governed by an
informal board of 13,000 citizens that meets three times each
day.
The forest to the north of Gurth city is a known hideout of
hellhounds and
cruel puppets,
but those willing to brave those
dangers may be able to answer one riddle, and discover the Pool
of Eternal Youth.
Guttersnipe are dangerous birds of prey seen only in the
marshes near Grubbo-by-the-Sea. These birds have a needle-sharp beak
that is up to a foot in length, that they use with deadly
accuracy once they have found a victim.
Gzornenplatz, a tall, gruff man, was a member of the Guild of
Huntsmen in 966. He gave a speech to the Final Conclave of
Enchanters detailing the failure of the FRIPPLE spell. This spell
protected towns and villages from wild beasts, but when it
failed, large troops of rat-ants encroached upon human settlements.
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