Zot (mythical wizard)
Zot is the powerful entity responsible for the construction of the Orb of Zot and the entire Dungeon which guards the Orb. Zot originates from the MS-DOS game The Wizard's Castle, where he was a Gnomic wizard. Most players presume the Zot from Dungeon Crawl to be (or have been) that, though whenever Zot is even sentient is put into question.
Although often referenced in-game, he (or more accurately, it) never makes a physical appearance. However, taking too long in the Dungeon will tick down the Zot clock; if the clock runs out, Zot finds and instantly kills you. Whether it is alive, dead, a god, or even a wizard is never answered; Zot serves merely as a colorful character in the Dungeon Crawl back story: