Introduction

The introduction text when starting a new game:

   It is written in the book of (god X):
 
         After the creation, the cruel god Moloch rebelled against the authority
         of Marduk the Creator. Moloch stole from Marduk the most powerful of all
         the artifacts of the gods, the Amulet of Yendor, and he hid it in the
         dark cavities of Gehennom, the Under World, where he now lurks, and
         bides his time.

   Your god (god X) seeks to possess the Amulet, and with it to gain deserved
   ascendance over other gods.
 
   You, a newly trained (title X), have been heralded from birth as the instrument
   of (god X). You are destined to recover the Amulet for your deity, or die in
   the attempt. Your hour of destiny has come. For the sake of us all:
   Go bravely with (god X)!

Guidebook Introduction

         Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and distant
         in your daily occupation.  Strange dreams of prospecting,  steal-
         ing,  crusading,  and  combat  have haunted you in your sleep for
         many months, but you aren't  sure  of  the  reason.   You  wonder
         whether  you have in fact been having those dreams all your life,
         and somehow managed to forget about them until now.  Some  nights
         you awaken suddenly and cry out, terrified at the vivid recollec-
         tion of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be  lurk-
         ing  behind  every  corner  of  the dungeon in your dream.  Could
         these details haunting your dreams be real?  As each night  pass-
         es,  you feel the desire to enter the mysterious caverns near the
         ruins grow stronger.  Each morning, however, you quickly put  the
         idea  out  of  your head as you recall the tales of those who en-
         tered the caverns before you and did not return.  Eventually  you
         can  resist  the yearning to seek out the fantastic place in your
         dreams no longer.  After all, when other  adventurers  came  back
         this  way after spending time in the caverns, they usually seemed
         better off than when they passed through the first time.  And who
         was to say that all of those who did not return had not just kept
         going?


              Asking around, you hear about a bauble, called the Amulet of
         Yendor  by  some, which, if you can find it, will bring you great
         wealth.  One legend you were told even mentioned that the one who
         finds  the  amulet  will be granted immortality by the gods.  The
         amulet is rumored to be somewhere beyond the Valley of  Gehennom,
         deep  within  the Mazes of Menace.  Upon hearing the legends, you
         immediately realize that there is some profound and  undiscovered
         reason that you are to descend into the caverns and seek out that
         amulet of which they spoke.  Even if the rumors of  the  amulet's
         powers are untrue, you decide that you should at least be able to
         sell the tales of your adventures to the local  minstrels  for  a
         tidy  sum,  especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and
         magical creatures of your dreams along the way.   You  spend  one
         last  night  fortifying  yourself at the local inn, becoming more
         and more depressed as you watch the odds of  your  success  being
         posted on the inn's walls getting lower and lower.


                In the morning you awake, collect your belongings, and set
         off for the dungeon.  After several days  of  uneventful  travel,
         you  see the ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of
         Menace.  It is late at night, so you make camp  at  the  entrance
         and  spend the night sleeping under the open skies.  In the morn-
         ing, you gather your gear, eat what may be your  last  meal  out-
         side, and enter the dungeon...

External links

Uncyclopedia has a humorous synopsis of the introduction, in the style of a NetHack game.