DAVMAR SCROLLMAKER

Davmar Scrollmaker was responsible for a major advancement in Thaumaturgy that occurred during the reign of King Mumberthrax the Insignificant in about the year 755 GUE. Working in the newly crowned king’s laboratory, this great thaumaturge claimed to have discovered a means to transfer not just the written Incantation of magic spells to paper, but the presence or the actual power of the scriptor as well, which could be stored on a special Presence-imbued paper. The problem with Davmar’s so-called “scrolls” was that once the spells written upon them were cast, the scrolls dissolved during the spells’ incantation.

What exactly Davmar accomplished is up for tremendous debate by historians. Many spell scrolls were known to have been in existence as early as Entharion the Wise and in widespread use during the days of Duncanthrax. It is possible that in 672 GUE that most of the scrolls were destroyed during the days of The Unnatural Acts, and thus nearly extinct. For if scrolls had been in mass circulation during the days of Davmar, he would not have been able to claim credit for their discovery.

The debate does not end here. Did Davmar reinvent the technology himself? Did he plagiarize a scroll he found? Did he base his research upon one he discovered for replication purposes? Did he simply uncover one of the rare scrolls and deceive all of Zork into believing he was the true inventor? Is the account pseudo-historical? Do we once again have to claim the defense of time travel? Historians may forever be blinded to the truth.

Nonetheless, scrolls soon replaced the temperamental and poorly-understood Hyperbolic Incantation Generator as the primary means of Incantation and their "inventor" became known as Davmar Scrollmaker. This breakthrough brought cheaper, easier, and more reliable spellcasting to the people. However, the problem of imbuing Presence became a deterrent to the rapid growth of magical science. The creation of a single powerful scroll could take literally months for even most creative and productive thaumaturge. This roadblock prevented the widespread use of magic for generations. And the fact that scrolls could only be used only once remained a great frustration that prevented many people from even bothering with them. The next great step in magical technology would not come until some fifteen years later.

It is also known that Davmar spent six years of his life as a zucchini farmer, despite the fact that he was allergic to zucchinis, and could not eat them himself!