Karthak, the Hollow-Fanged
Karthak, the Hollow-Fanged
Aliases: The Maw Unending, The Beast Beneath, The Hunger That Hunts
Status: Slain; Corpse Entombed Beneath Virondian Earth
Domain: Predation, Lifeforce Consumption, Blood-Cursed Evolution
Location of Defeat: Deep Wilds of Virondia
Amidst the dread-scarred annals of Alathor’s Harbinger War, Karthak, the Hollow-Fanged, stands as a symbol of unrelenting hunger and savagery. Where other Harbingers schemed or whispered, Karthak hunted—a monstrous will clad in flesh and claw, driven by a singular imperative: to feed.
Origins and the First Hunger
Karthak was born from the carcass of a dying world, the last shrieking echo of a reality that had consumed itself through endless war and predation. He emerged not as a conqueror or corrupter, but as pure instinct—a predator beyond reason, an embodiment of nature turned monstrous.
When Karthak arrived in Alathor, it was not armies he brought, but plagues of teeth and talons, spawning countless horrors crafted from his own ever-hungering essence. His very presence warped ecosystems, birthing nightmare beasts and blood-fueled abominations to carry forth his insatiable will.
The Curse of the Hollow-Fanged
Karthak’s strength was not merely physical—it was metaphysical predation:
- Lifeforce Harvest: He could drain the very vitality of prey, devouring not merely bodies, but the essence of life itself.
- Blood-Cursed Evolution: Those wounded by Karthak’s fangs often mutated, cursed with monstrous traits and bound by blood to his will.
- Endless Proliferation: Every creature he consumed added to his endless array of spawn, each generation more grotesque and lethal than the last.
Legends and Fearsome Echoes
The Virondian peoples, who fought and bled to rid themselves of Karthak’s influence, preserved grim tales:
- The Red Moon Hunts: During blood-red eclipses, entire villages were said to vanish overnight, their fields left crawling with writhing, malformed beasts.
- The Hollow Grove: A cursed forest where the trees are rumored to be the ossified remains of Karthak’s first victims—hollow and filled with a faint, ceaseless gnashing.
- The Beast-Slayers’ Vigil: A tradition among Virondian warriors to this day, where new bloodlines prove themselves by surviving a night alone in the deep woods, facing echoes of Karthak’s lingering spawn.
Defeat and Entombment
Karthak’s reign of terror ended during the era of the Great Steward Wars, when the Stewards and their mortal allies mounted a desperate, coordinated assault. After a battle that blackened rivers and leveled forests, Karthak’s hulking body was finally felled.
Rather than risk his corrupted flesh tainting the land anew, the Virondian warriors entombed Karthak deep beneath the earth, encased within sacred stones and sealed with ancient rites. His tomb is still guarded by the descendants of those warriors—a sacred duty none dare forsake.
Yet whispers persist that deep roots sometimes bleed, and that somewhere in the hidden dark, the Hollow-Fanged still stirs.
Children
