ENTHARION THE WISE
Entharion the Wise united many warring tribes, including the rival
city-states of Galepath and Mareilon, thus forming the kingdom of
Quendor which he ruled from Largoneth Castle for 41 years until his son
Mysterious the Brave took the throne in 41 GUE.
And so Man plunges precipitously toward his Destiny.
-Entharion the Wise
This
land of my deeds will ever remain untold. My sword, my sheath, my
glory, my home; all these await a telling to do them justice, and
truth, such a historian will never be born.
-Entharion the Wise
ENTHARION AS THE BOZBIAN PRAEFECT OF QUENDOR
Over
the centuries, several historians from both Galepath and Mareilon have
tried to falsely claim Entharion, later surnamed the Wise as one of
their own. By the time war had broken out between Galepath and Mareilon
for the last time in 3 BE, Entharion had risen to the position of
bozbian praefect, the chief military commander of the city-state of
Quendor. The early details of his life are still obscure, but it does
seem that he was a native-born Quendoran. Like each of his predecessors
to have risen to such a prominent position under the prince of Quendor,
Entharion was a man of prosperous background, well-educated and
well-trained in the arts of war. Barely past his twentieth year,
Entharion’s rise to power had been surprisingly quick indeed, and it is
hinted that he alienated some of the senior nobility of Quendor by his
unwillingness to defer the important command positions to them.
The
prince of Quendor hurried to make his traditional and tired declaration
of absolute neutrality. By all reports, Entharion, who was too young to
remember any of the previous conflicts, failed to understand why all of
his compatriots seemed so bored by the entire affair. It seems clear
from the king's later writings that he felt something important to be
in the making. He did in fact spend several weeks trying to convince
the prince to let him march; it did not seem to matter to him which
side he was going to fight for, so much as it did that he actually got
a chance to fight. By the end of the summer season, both of the warring
parties had sent desperate messages to the prince of Quendor begging
for military assistance. With the vague intention of solving the
chaotic situation, Entharion's armies had begun to march. Although the
founder of the Quendoran nation would insist until his dying day that
he marched only on orders from his prince, no such orders have ever
been found, and the prince's later actions do not support Entharion's
claims.
Entharion himself encountered incessant delays along the way. Forced to
fight his way through foreign and largely unexplored territory of Frobozz in his
attempt to reach the coast, by the time he had reached his goal, the
would-be monarch had defeated and pacified the various nomadic and
tribal groups that had attempted to stand in his way. Although the twin
pillars of his new kingdom would be the conquered coastal cities, it
was these barbaric tribes that would form the bulk of the countryside
population of Quendor at its birth.
Within
a matter of weeks, Entharion's forces had made the relatively short
march to the coastal areas in contention and had come in sight of the
two warring camps. The scene as told by Froblivius is a chaotic one
indeed. The forces of Galepath and Mareilon, upon seeing the approach
of the new arrivals, both withdrew and regrouped their forces,
expecting the Quendorans to join their camp and help in the fight
against the other. Soon it became clear that neither was the case;
Entharion ordered the bugle to sound, and his forces descended with an
amazing fury upon the unsuspecting coastal armies, hacking them to
bits. The battle lasted barely three hours, and the results were
devastating. When the dust had settled, the princes of Galepath and
Mareilon, both of whom had been at hand, were laying their arms at the
feet of the victorious Entharion, acclaiming his sovereignty. At first,
it seems, Entharion had no intention of violating his oath to the
Quendoran prince. In a brief letter sent back to Quendor, he informed
his overlord that peace had been found, and that both cities were
prepared to recognize the suzerainty of Quendor.
Concerned that
the situation on the coast might sink back into anarchy, Entharion
stayed encamped near the Lonely Mountain, determined to keep an eye on
the two defeated powers. For months and months the prince of Quendor
stalled, reluctant to reply to his powerful praefect. Perhaps he feared
that Entharion had become too powerful, and preferred to see him as far
away from the center of power as possible. Whatever the truth may be,
it was a full six months before Entharion received a reply: “I don't
want those cities. Put them back where they belong. And don’t come
home.” Annoyed at the tone of the message, and more than a little
resistant to the idea of forsaking his easy conquests, Entharion
decided to take matters into his own hands.
Entharion’s personal
writings, although potentially very helpful, are in truth highly
obscure. In fact, this one passage below degenerates from being unclear
to downright unintelligible:
"The true dilemma at this
point lay in finding a simple way to unify the two bodies. Choosing the
half-way point a stronghold, true wisdom. General wrath brings unrest I
destroy. Be four kings tyrannized thee peoples it not for bar bar bar."
Nonetheless,
Entharion abandoned his position in the Quendoran army receding into
temporary isolation within what is today known as Egreth Forest. With
his absence, the royal Quendoran army was recalled from the Lonely
Mountain, thus relinquishing control over the two conquered
city-states. Within a day of this repositioning of troops, Galepath and
Mareilon, now bereaved of their watchmen, were once again drawing
swords at one another.
DAWN OF THE ENTHARION DYNASTY
When
the year 0 GUE finally came around, the people of Zork felt fairly
confident that something big was about to happen. This assumption would
turn out to be true, for during these days, Entharion at the age of 24
emerged from Egreth Forest on the first of the month and built himself a tiny hut on the beach
between Galepath and Mareilon. Stunned by the presence of their new
neighbor, soldiers from both sides approached the hut. Unaware that
this was the man whom their princes had only three years ago
surrendered to, they took turns interrogating Entharion. The
Galepathians would poke his left shoulder with their spears and ask him
where he came from, then before he could answer, the Mareilonians would
poke his right shoulder and demand to know who had sent him. This went
on for some time, until Entharion, instead of answering any of the
questions, inquired about the apparent hostility between the two groups
of soldiers. One of the dozen or so men crammed inside the tiny hut
explained that they had been in at war for hundreds of years, noting,
however, that it was none of his business and that he better get to
answering their questions right away. Disobeying this order, Entharion
again asked a question. “Why fight?”
[According to some obscure
and doubtful references, it has been said that at the time Entharion
had a working vocabulary of less than 75 words, and that his famous
questions was actually one of the most coherent sentences that he ever
managed to complete.]
From
that day forth, the modest,
unassuming man who emerged from the woods was known as Entharion the
Wise. With a perfectly naïve question, Entharion united the warring
kingdoms of Galepath and Mareilon and was exalted as the first king of
the Entharion Dynasty. It was a glorious time. The new kingdom was
named Quendor after Entharion’s city of origin, and his castle was
erected between the cities he had united, on the former site of his
hut. This region was named Largoneth. It was from this castle that he
ruled for the entirety of his reign, and it would serve the as the
capital of the kingdom for the duration of the Dynasty. Our current
calendar dates from the first year of Entharion's reign, and the day on
which he founded the empire has since been anually celebrated as
Entharion Day.
ONE LAST REBELLION
Although
the citizens of Galepath and Mareilon had declared themselves one, the
Prince Argonel, “rightful ruler of Mareilon,” did not so easily bow to
the whims of Entharion’s sovereignty. In public he wore a façade of
comradeship and loyalty, but in his heart he despised the forced union.
While most of the population of Mareilon, who had grown tired of the
conflict, were in no position to rise up against Largoneth and
Galepath, Argonel was able to rally enough soldiers to his cause, that
when his treason was discovered, Entharion was not hesitant to quell
the insurrection.
In the last days of Mareilon’s glorious
independence, Mazimar Spildo of Galepath took up arms with Entharion
against the city and overthrew the last remnants of its might. The king
condemned Prince Argonel to die by the executioner’s axe, but in an
attempt (a pathetic attempt as Argonel’s descendants would later
recount), he allowed the prince’s wife and son to go free. These two
and their descendants were relegated to generations of miserable
existence as rope salesmen and mosquito net makers. Barely making ends
meet, these descents of Argonel would watch and wait while those around
them praised Entharion and spoke highly of the great debt they owed
him. They would pass on to each generation tales of Entharion’s
usurping of freedom and the cessation of Mareilon’s glorious
independence, for subjecting them in an unequal alliance with the vile
Galepath, and for making them pay undeserved allegiance to some frail
monarch on a throne over two hundred bloits away.
For the rest
of Mareilon, they believed that the unity with Galepath and Largoneth
had brought internal peace, protection from foreigners, even a great
deal of new economic prosperity, while others believed it to be a
charade. They saw that the wars against Galepath never ended, that
Entharion only tricked everyone into believing they did by lulling them
into a false sense of peace. Instead of a prince, a mayor was
instituted as the head official, one over Mareilon and one over
Galepath. Diplomats from both of these cities played a crucial role in
the formation of Quendor, which also included the city-states of
Quendor, Znurg, Vriminax, Bozbar, and Frobozz (Duncanthrax would later
merge these six city-states into a single province named Frobozz).
BRINGING BORPHEE INTO THE EMPIRE
Thanks
in part to the decadent state of the current ruling dynasty of Borphee
and the shabby quality of their military forces, the Quendoran Royal
Army quickly gained control over a large section of the Borphee
peninsula, including the massive port city itself. However, due to
internal conflicts back home, the court at Largoneth was unable to
press home its advantage during that campaigning season, and utterly
failed to field an army the following year. Thus Entharion was only
able to absorb half of Borphee into the Empire, while the other half,
Mauldwood, would continue to govern itself until the time of
Duncanthrax.
This “half province” set aside, the rule of
Entharion the Wise brought a semblance of peace to a war-torn land and
began a dynasty that reigned over the Kingdom of Quendor and its seven
and a half provinces for almost seven hundred years, spanning the
majestic reigns of fourteen benevolent monarchs.
FURTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF ENTHARION
Entharion
the Wise became the most potent mage of his time, and married Queen
Lynpo, a direct descendant of Galepath, and fathered but a single son
named Mysterion. According to popular legend, he was also the inventor
of the infotater. Although most favor this as historical fact, some
point to the writings of Satchmoz, who clearly states, as though he
believed it to be truth, that this magical device was derived from
Krepkit in the 7th century. It is most likely that Krepkit was not the
inventor of the original infotater, but only the alternate pinwheel
model. The king also authored his great seminal work, "Sleeping Your
Way to Power," linking dreams and imagination to potential for magical
ability.
Although
the infotater would grow to be a tremendous
asset to the magic community in the years to come, Entharion was more
known for taking up his legendary blade Grueslayer, and setting about
to eradicate all grues from the face of the world. This mass purge was
inspired by one of his soldiers, who, using only a piece of over-ripe
fruit, fought off a gaggle of grues who were about to devour the King
and refused to abandon him no matter how difficult the fight became,
eventually hauling him to safety. An elegant lance, tipped with a
genunie grue's tooth, known at Terazarg, the Sacred Grue-Slaying Lance
of Entharion, was the reward Entharion gave to this soldier. Many
thought that
the entire devilish race was exterminated at his hands, but remnants
escaped. A handful went to dwell within the darkest and thickest
forests where no human would dare to venture, but the majority hid in
the most obscure parts of the underground, in bottomless pits far away
in other lands. One of the primarily places was a huge cluster of these
pits in a region beneath what is today known as the White House. It was
for this reason that Belegur longed to wreck revenge upon Entharion and
his entire progeny to be. But it was not upon this generation that the
fallen Implementor would be able to unleash a formidable plan.
According
to legend, the huge and misty cluster known as Entharion's Hair is
where all the ancient king's hair truly wnet when he lost it in his
thirities. Thereafter, Entharion the Wise became Entharion the Bald.
When Entharion's son, Mysterion, was a young child, a halberd used to
shine brightly enough to protect him from the grue which he thought
lived under his
bed. Entharion, eager to dismiss such childish fears, used to have the
young prince's nannies crawl under the bed to show that there was no
grue in the room. The king lost eight child minders before he realized
there actually was a grue, and the young prince was moved to a
different room.
THE GREAT TERROR
During
the latter days of Entharion the Wise, some unknown practitioner or
group of practitioners somehow accidentally awakened a shapeless and
formless manifestation of evil from millennia of sleep. This incredibly
ancient and malevolent force came to be known as the Great Terror, or
the Unseen Terror. Together with its servants, the Terror nearly
destroyed all civilization.
But Entharion, by then an old man,
realized that the Terror could not be killed, only imprisoned. Knowing
that the Terror had power to sense a great work of magic, he conceived
a plan to lure the creature into a magical prison by creating the most
powerful spell scroll imaginable in those days. Entharion called
together the mightiest enchanters and sorcerers and wizards in the
land, and together, working day and night, they created a scroll of
truly great power—GUNCHO, which was able to open gateways to new worlds
and dimensions beyond our own.
Working swiftly and with full
urgency, they then constructed a maze-like series of chambers far
beneath Largoneth Castle and placed the scroll at the very heart of it.
These peculiar rooms, whose cream-colored walls were thing and
translucent, were joined by passages that were perfect round and black,
seeming to be made of carbon. The layout of these chambers were
magically linked to a map, each room and passage distinct upon it.
B J
! / \
! / \
! / \
! K V
! / \
! / \
! / \
R-------M F
\ / /
\ / /
\ / /
H P
The
GUNCHO scroll was placed in a room of living rock that formed
Largoneth’s foundations (chamber P). As Entharion knew it would, the
Terror came to seek the scroll containing potent magic. Lurking in the
shadows of the castle, the magicians waited for their foe to enter the
specially created recess deep within the earth where they had placed
the scroll. Then, acting in concert with all the powers at their
command, they sealed the Terror deep within the room by removing the
passage between chambers P and F. There it finally returned to a deep
sleep. Concurrently, the seven Servants of the Terror each returned to
their own treasure filled lairs in various regions all across Zork (one
of which was in uncivilized lands far north of Frobozz). Hidden there
for ages, they slumbered until the days of the Terror’s release.
To
that end, the Great and All-powerful Entharion the Wise, at the age of
65, renounced the throne of Quendor to his son Mysterion and spent the
rest of his days within the estate as guardian of the monster that
slept below. After the confrontation with the Great Terror, Entharion himself was
active in the suppression of various forms of dark magic. Both he and
his successor, the obscure and short-lived Mysterion the Brave, were
believed to belong to a secret society dedicated to the guardianship of
magical knowledge from the eyes of the outside world. Eventually, however, Entharion died, and his legendary
Grueslayer was lost.