John Boorman's "Zardoz," a 20th Century-Fox release premiering at the Theatre, is set in the year 2293. Most of the action takes place in a "technological commune" whose members have discovered the secret of eternal life. They are sealed off from a desolated world but a mysterious outsider penetrates their guarded seclusion forcing an explosive confrontation.

Here is a guide to this future world . . .

Survivors of the dying world beyond the Vortex ' s periphery . They live at minimal subsistence level in a polluted wasteland.

This is a term for the commune itself Formed in 1990 when in-dustrial society collapsed, it has existed for 300 years. Founder members were late 20th century top scientists and leading intellec-tuals. They harnessed advanced technology for the formation of a commune protected by a gravitational force field, and the aim was to make Vortex a "safe-deposit for man's knowledge." It is sited near a lake in a verdant valley.

The members of the Vortex who do not age beyond their mid-twenties, except if they commit crimes, in which case by common consent, they are aged. If, by accident, an Eternal is killed he can be reconstructed complete with all memories and experiences intact. The eternal live on a spiritual plane and sexual desire has disappeared. They are highly privileged. Only death is forbidden them.

These are persistent offenders in the Vortex who have been aged for their misdeeds . They live apart, for an eternity of senility. Malicious and embittered, they are condemned to a painful life without end.

Victims of the pursuit of per-fection, they are Eternals who found the strain of immortality too great. They have lost interest in the community's ideals and spend their time in a catatonic state and have to be supported by the active members.

The desolate wasteland the world has become beyond the verdant confines of the Vortex.

A privileged and physically su-perior group within the Brutals' tribal system, permitted to breed under strict control. They are used to harness the Brutals to the work of producing grain for the Vortex and to keep down their numbers by killing them.

This is the Brain Room of the Vortex, centered in an underground complex to which Eternals go for analysis or repair. Dam-aged bodies in the repair process are visible through its walls.

This is effected through a system of computerized crystals implanted in the brain of each Eter-nal. The crystals t ransmit the subject's life-cycle to the Tabernacle where information is ana-lyzed and stored. The Tabernacle is thus a repository for all the Eternals' knowledge and experience. By communicating with the Tabernacle's group mind, the Eternals are interacting and self-correcting. There is no government or authority and all decisions are the result of sophisticated opinion polling.

Each active Vortex member wears one. It's a ring of knowledge and a direct link to the Tabernaclc's analysis system. It can be talked into and transmits pictures. Eternals use it for voting on the ceaseless issues presented by consensus rule.

A trance state practiced by the Eternal in which they become a single being in order to deal with spiritual and other problems.

The name given to the God of the Brutals, Zardoz was fashioned by the Eternals as a means of ex-ploiting them. It is in the shape of a huge head. Powered for flight, it can float over the Outlands as the incarnation of their godhead feared and respected by the Brutals. For practical purposes, it is able to transport cargo-guns for the Exterminators, grain for the Eternals. It flies by gravitational force and, in flight, resembles a Mount Rushmore carving. To the superstitious Brutals, it is a most awesome sight.