Karkus

Mundane Name: John Woolfrey

Fighting Name: Karkus

Titles: The Abhorrent, Omen of Defeat, Blight upon the Battlefield, Soldier Undying

Also Responds To: Corpse, Cadaver, Redshirt, New Guy, Gimp, "Hey Asshole"

Realm of Origin: Tir Asleen

Current Realm: Nomadic - Fugl Brenna

Fighting Since: January 2015

Affiliation: Nomadic - None

Race: Unknown (Outward appearance resembles Human)

Weapons of Choice: Sword and Board

Events Attended: Spring Wars - 2015, Battle of Bravelier - 2015, Snowball- 2015

Background (Lore TL;DR)

Karkus began fighting with Tir Asleen in the fall of 2011 and loved every minute of it, so much so he attended the local Halloween Event that year at TA under the name Stearling. Soon after however, his college requirements became too much to allow for extra-curricular activities, and he opted out of Bel for the next three years. He took the field again in January of 2015 again with the Tir Asleen before shortly moving back home to Minneapolis that summer.

Upon arriving he joined up with the Frozen North and fought until late November, when he exacerbated a pre-existing knee injury. After four months of surgery and physical therapy, Karkus was finally able to take the field again just in time to move south for work. As of April 2016 Karkus now fights within Fugl Brenna, in Tempe, Arizona.

Lore

No one is sure exactly what the being known as Karkus was before it became accursed. Several philosophers and historians have traced the earliest of reports of the blight back to Tir Asleen within Eriador, giving rise to the theory that it is the product of dark Horde magic. There is, however, a minority who believe that the being originated from within the Forhirion, in wildlands that would eventually be tamed into the Frozen North. Wherever it came from, stories of a limping, shuffling shadow clad in black armor are now a common tale to be told over nightwatch campfires.

While little is confirmed about Karkus’s true nature, there are a few commonalities within each story’s retelling. It is said that the being closely resembles human man, carrying a skirmisher’s shield and a narrow club. Its appearance seems to occur most often suddenly in the midst of a battlefield, marching alongside warriors as if it was a comrade in arms in its own right. Tales vary about Karkus’s combative prowess, but one trait is absolute in all tellings:

Countless witnesses have claimed to see Karkus fall before an attackers blade, often gruesomely and always fatally. However, as the battle fades and dies, the fallen body becomes restored to walk again. Whether this is by blessing or curse, no one can say. But despite numerous field reports of its demise, Karkus remains walking upon these realms.

Many aforementioned sightings place the first signs of Karkus fighting within the Horde realm of Tir Asleen. While many a boastful Hordeling will claim the great shamans of Eriador banished Karkus, it is much more likely that the abhorrence left of its own accord. From there it seems to have traveled north, back, as some say, from whence it came. It was seen among the denizens of the Frozen North for but a few months before the knights of the realm sought out the abomination. Whether it was they who struck the blow against the being, or some more sinister affliction befell it, Karkus seemed for a time to have finally been struck down permanently.

This was a hope found in vain though, for not 6-months later did the abhorrence reemerge in the North. Again, the knights rode out to strike it down, and after a valiant engagement of blades Karkus finally took flight from the realm.

So the whispers of a walking corpse have gone quiet in Eriador. Many say it is a manifestation of Death itself and an omen of defeat in combat. Those of wisdom say more likely that it is the embodiment of the Fallen Soldier, a spectre forced to die upon the field for eternity until man no longer pursues war.

Whatever Karkus is, it is still out there. Even now, murmurs of a limping, shuffling shadow, clad in black armor, drift across the shadeless desert realm of Fugl Brenna…