JOHN
D. FLATHEAD, Captain of Industry
John D. Flathead was born in 725 GUE. By 743 GUE, this young
entrepreneur graduated from the venerable Borphee Business School. In
the same year, there were mot than 17,000 subsidiaries of FrobozzCo
International.
At
age 22, John D. founded Flathead Industries. FI's business was
inventing other companies, which it would then sell to FrobozzCo.
Within three years, FI had an annual income of 80,000,000 zorkmids.
Eventually, the conglomerate decided to buy FI, renaming it the Frobozz
Magic Company Company. John D. became one of FrobozzCo's 39,000
vice-presidents.
It didn't take John D. long to parlay his
business acumen and royal connections into the chairmanship of
FrobozzCo. Years of heady growth followed. When John D.'s older brother
Dimwit became king, FrobozzCo received every contract for Dimwit's
incredible projects. Hundreds of new subsidiaries were formed daily. He
donated nonworking models of Thomas Alva Flathead's Frobozz Magic Compressed and Room
Spinner, as well as a working Frobozz Magic Temporizer to the
Technology Museum in the Royal Museum in 776 GUE. In 781 a huge
400-story headquarters opened in Flatheadia.
John D.'s
long-time goal was for FrobozzCo to control every single zorkmid of
commerce in the Great Underground Empire. The lone holdout, a small
rutabaga farm in Mithicus, finally sold out to FrobozzCo in 789. John
D. never heard the news, however. He disappeared on 14 Mumberbur that
same year, along with a huge entourage, while touring the factories of
the Frobozz Magic Snowmaking Equipment Company in the Gray Mountains.
His
corpse was later placed in the Tomb of the Twelve Flatheads and his
skull upon a pole outside the same crypt by the "Keeper of the
Dungeon." Although dead, the Twelve Flatheads foresaw that some cretin
might tamper with their remains. Therefore, they took steps to punish
trespassers with a curse. It is assumed that his remains are still
there to this day.
Other than Lucrezia, John D. seems to be the
only twelve of the Flatheads with decendents. His son John D. Flathead
II followed in his suit as chairman of FrobozzCo International.