Hi!

So, this is a bit of an odd post, but I was hoping that some users here might be willing to help me out with a bit of a NetHack-related mystery.

I was browsing the NetHack Wiki when I came across the page for a SLASH'EM monster known as an asphynx. The asphynx is a serpent that can turn an unlucky adventurer to stone by way of biting them. I was intrigued by the page, and slightly surprised. As a child, I was an enormous fan of the Shannara series of fantasy novels, written by Terry Brooks. An asphynx makes an appearance in the novels, biting and nearly petrifying a main character, Walker Boh. I had never expected a creature from the Shannara series to show up in NetHack.

The wiki, however, does not cite the Shannara series, or make any mention of where the asphynx is sourced from. Taken on its own, this was not surprising. The wiki does not mention the origin of many monsters, and it is entirely possible that the asphynx in NetHack was not inspired by Shannara at all. What did surprise me, however, was the encyclopedia entry associated with the asphynx:

This small, inoffensive-looking snake shares the feared power
of petrification with its distant relatives the cockatrice and
basilisk. Just one touch from its blunt snout can render one
motionless for all eternity.

[ The New Bestiary, Wizard Endlebrook ]

I was naturally intrigued, and began to scour the internet for information about Wizard Endlebrook and his bestiary. I was immediately confronted with a problem, however: The New Bestiary and Wizard Endlebrook do not exist. They are entirely absent from the internet, with the sole exception of things related to NetHack.

Another user tracked down Endlebrook to an unstated version of SLASH, where the Wizard's Bestiary is cited in numerous encyclopedia entries, including but not limited to the asphynx.

My question is this: Who is the Wizard Endlebrook, and what is the New Bestiary? My current guesses are that they are wholecloth inventions, or perhaps belong to a homebrew tabletop roleplaying game.

All of my other leads have dried up, so any responses are deeply appreciated!

On 17.05.2023 15:40, Anti Gulp wrote:
> So, this is a bit of an odd post, but I was hoping that some users
> here might be willing to help me out with a bit of a NetHack-related
> mystery.
>
> I was browsing the NetHack Wiki when I came across the page for a
> SLASH'EM monster known as an asphynx. [...] As a child, I was an
> enormous fan of the Shannara series of fantasy novels, written by
> Terry Brooks. [...]
>
> The wiki, however, does not cite the Shannara series, or make any
> mention of where the asphynx is sourced from. [...]
>
> I was naturally intrigued, and began to scour the internet for
> information about Wizard Endlebrook and his bestiary. I was
> immediately confronted with a problem, however: The New Bestiary and
> Wizard Endlebrook do not exist. They are entirely absent from the
> internet, with the sole exception of things related to NetHack.
>
> [...]
>
> All of my other leads have dried up, so any responses are deeply
> appreciated!

Just a wild guess... - The one who introduced that monster to
the variant may have forgotten where this monster (that he had
read about in a Terry Brooks book) stems from. - I mean that's
not unlikely given that also searches on the "asphynx" doesn't
seem to provide any substantial information in that respect.
And "The New Bestiary" and "Wizard Endlebrook" just made up,
as you say. (Compare that with the "Necronomicon" that was also
made up to create the base for a myth in fantasy literature of
H.P. Lovecraft but even got some life of its own then.)

Janis