Karachor

O mountain men and valley lasses, on those slopes do mind your feet,
As you dance your joy on mossy grasses and tend your wooly sheep,
Tumble in the soft green and live your life as your god so speaks,
But ware the horned hill beasts vile claws or you'll be eat.

~~ Vralsk drinking song.

Karachori are creatures found in the Everforest, and in the quiet places of Vralsk. Hulking, horned, hirsute and hircine, they are vicious and violent. Most karachor lack the capacity to speak, communicating at most, through grunts, growls and roars. Karachori prefer the solitude of the wilderness, where they claim large swathes of territory. Karachori intimidate most would-be foes. When forced to fight, they attack with a speed and finesse that is belied by their muscular frames. They charge prey off bluffs, using their horns to gore and butt, fangs to bite, claws to bloody. The process of karachori amassing power is unknown, but more powerful ones have their ram-like horns twist into staglike antlers and a third, hypnotic eye open in the middle of their foreheads. More powerful still are the ones with eyes like flame, capable of transforming, capable of controlling the fauna, the flora, the very earth of their territory.

Twisted Fairy Tales.

Karachori share many features with less fearsome creatures of the Everforest. Their horns and antlers, their cloven hooves, their large and hirsute hides are all markers of more whimsical tricksters. There are stories of karachori being mistaken for satyr, for overgrown billy goats, for centaurs. The veracity of these tales is questionable, but the caution they impart is not. A satyr may woo a passing stranger into a hell of hedonism, a centaur may hold them hostage. From both these predicaments, the victim may escape. An encounter with a karachori, unprepared, certainly results in death.

There are, at the same time, stories of powerful karachori taking servants, imparting power with their fiery third eyes, forging binding bargains. These stories unerringly, unequivocally end badly for the hapless people who bargain with a karachori.

Territorial Terrors.

Karachori demark their territory with trenches and totems. Karachori lumber through the trees, breaking and bashing to create clear lines, digging lines in the earth where there are no trees to mark corridors. These trenches are filled with bones overtime. Bones are, too, strung from branches or hammered into them with the weapons of the fallen. These markings display the might of the karachor to whom the territory belongs. Scholars have posited that this suggests a sense of pride common to karachori -- they aim to intimidate would-be foes and scare them from their domains. More powerful karachori scortch the earth at the boundaries of their territory, leaving trees twisted and blackened. Some few, ancient karachori inscribe upon trees and stones a personal insignia. Woe betide all who ignore these markings.

A Third Eye to Blind

Karachori possess a third eye that emerges over their adolescence. Most karachori are unable to open it for the first four decades of their life. Once it is opened, it becomes a deadly weapon. As if they weren't already tough enough, karachori need no longer rely on their strength and stamina alone when fighting. Inexperienced hunters assume that the only danger coming from karachor is physical, they will die in the seconds that follow. Karachori may their third eye to impede their prey with an array of powers. When this occurs, their victim does not see anything beyond this single burning eye — the last thing they see before their death. The karachor’s third eye defines this monster as a force with which to be reckoned.

Notes from the Lesniki Bestiaries

Danger

Very High

Lifespan

Up to 800 years (estimated).

Weak points

Eyes, joints, back of neck.

The blood of karachori can be distilled into a poison that induces painful hives that eventually burst to release fetid fumes that cause hallucinations.
Their bones can be used in armor, tools, or weapons.
Their flesh is unsuitable for consumption, causing painful indigestion in lesniki and death in most others.
Their hide may be cured into a tough leather.

If you have to fight a karachor, hope it's a young one. The younger, the better. They hit peak physical strength in their fourth decade or so, by my reckoning. A concern, yes, but compared to the cunning the bastards seem to develop throughout their lifespans. Better to face a young idiot. Their magical power seems to grow with time, too. Rip that eye out and you can make yourself a small fortune. Careful, though. The thing seems to have a life of its own -- moving and glowing even after it's cut from the karachor. Crush the thing up and you can get yourself a liquid that'll sear most things that live in the Mist. Sell it to an alkhamyst and you'll get yourself a purse that can get you out of Vralach for good, or set you up in a castle so well-fortified even the Mist'll think twice before slipping in beneath your doors.- Pyotr of Vensgrad, Monsters of the Mists.

Using Karachor Bone

The bones of karachori are dense and strong. They require immense strength and dedication to fashion into tools, but may be used as bludgeoning weapons or hammers. The horns of karachori are prized trophies rumoured to draw the attention of spirits. They are also prized as symbols of male virility; it is commonly believed that they endow any who hold them with impressive sexual stamina.