CULTURAL COMPLEX
The Cultural Complex, located near
Port Foozle, was the cultural center
of the
Great Underground Empire built during the reign of Lord
Dimwit
Flathead. When the Empire fell in 883 GUE, this portion of the
Underground was forgotten until 1066, when it was rediscovered by the
Inquisiton.
ORIGINAL PORTION
The imposing ante-room of the Cultural Complex was adorned in the
ghastly style of the Great Underground Empire's "Grotesque Period" with
leering gargoyles, cartoonished friezes depicting long-forgotten scenes
of GUE history and primitive statuary of
pointy-headed personages.
A passageway the size of a large city boulevard opened eastward under a
fifty-story triumphal arch into the Royal Theater. This cavernous
auditorium was reputed to be the most elaborate in the Great
Underground Empire. Built to the precise specifications of Lord Dimwit
Flathead, its excessive structure
held 69,105 seats, not including the royal box seats that were
centrally situated on the 37th mezzanine. The seats themselves were
built like thrones, with high, wooden backs that obscured visibility
(probably required a ladder to get into one) and
made the seating area seem rather like a forest of stunted trees. A
long aisle ran the entire length of the auditorium from the cultural
center to the oversized stage. In all other
directions, narrow aisles had been arranged in the "maze of twisty
passages" style that was so popular in Dimwit's day. The rather large
proscenium, seeming to have been designed mainly with live performances
in mind, sported a large, maroon curtain leading backstage and a row of
brightly colored footlights.
The original intention of the area north of the ante-room is unknown,
but during 1066 it was used as the site of the annual
Grue Convention.
LATER ADDITIONS
A smaller a more dignified post-Dimwit path led from the Cultural
Complex's ante-room into the Hall of Science. Compared to the grandeur
of the other parts of the center, this area was rather austere, serving
mainly as the entrance to the Museum of Illusions, The Mud Forum, and
Museum of Adventure.
The Museum of Illusion was dedicated to the memory of the Great
Implementers with a row of delicately crafted porcelain busts of these
immortal greats. Legend had it that so lifelike were these busts, that
they would seem to talk among themselves, discussing history, the arts,
music, and philosophy, much as those mythic figures once did. But years
of neglect and the ravages of time toppled most from atop their
finely-wrought pedestals. In 1066 the only two that remained were those
of
Marc Blank and
Mike Berlyn (bloodied, but unbent; battered, but
unbroken; shaken, but not stirred). In addition to the physical
desecration of the shrine, an attempt had been made to commercialize
what remained, for a sign above the busts read, "Consult the Oracles -
10
zorkmids."
This Musem of Adventure was a sick, twisted, and pitiful homage to that
special creature known as the Adventurer. In the center of the room sat
a skeleton of an adventurer. Before 1066 the walls had been clawed, the
wallpaper and exhibit signs shredded by what was probably an
over-excited tourist group of
grues.
The large, square chamber was certainly messy enough for The Mud Forum
(whatever that might be), but there was no mud in sight (for purposes
of argument, it could be postulated that the water source for the mud
has dried up, or that mud was brought in for some scientific purpose,
or that MUD refers to a Multi-User Dungeon of the sort now popular
among the better-socialized members of the adventurer class.) Attached
to this chamber was the Extraterrestrial Museum which was designed for
some otherworldly visitors, namely
giant rat-ants.
| SOURCE(S): Zork: The Undiscovered Underground |