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| Species | Karnon |
| Order | Faerie |
| Classification | Vaettir |
| Court | Wild Hunt |
| Sphere | Boundaries |
| Origin | All faeries are born Nameless and must be given a True Name; karnons have bi-directional Names |
| Lifespan | 2,000 years |
| Habitat | Forests |
| Food | Game and water, gathered fruits and vegetables |
| Description | Karnons are 7' tall humanoids with horns or antlers (adding up to another 1.5'). They have other animalistic features as well, which vary. Some have bestial heads, others tails, others lower bodies, others merely eyes, ears, or claws. |
| Procreation | All karnons are assigned male at birth. They reproduce sexually with other fey and sometimes mortals. Any child born from such a union is taken by the karnon unless the birthing parent uses a charm to keep them away. |
| Esoterica | Karnons are beings of gebvel, b'qar, poioumenon, and dream energy or uafas. Like all faeries, they are users of The Tradition, a form of poioumenonic lore empowered by dream energies. They also use virdian aether, seasonal aether, bestial aether, the gates, mystery, solar aether, lunar aether, mana, The Law, shebv heya, ethereal energy, shadow, Damaskian powers, venom energy, flux, currents aether, mashoaab, blood energy, symbolism, spirits, shavev mashkalran, and arnum. |
| The Tradition | Karnons have these basic faerie powers:
When a karnon captures a fey, one of these things happens:
Karnons wear a pair of horned serpents with rams' heads as their belt. These serpents, who are alive, have powerful venom, and they give the karnon supernatural strength so long as they are worn. If the karnon dies, they carry the soul of the karnon to the afterlife. If they die, the karnon loses sight in their corresponding eye. As long as the snakes live, the karnon can charm snakes. Karnons ride fey stags, to which they are bonded. If their stag is parted from them for more than seven days, it will vomit coins and die. Karnons keep a variety of dogs to hunt with them. They can speak to these dogs, as well as to cattle, rats, boars, foxes, badgers, and wolves. All animals respect karnons and will often listen to their commands or requests even if they cannot understand them. Karnons have seasonal powers:
When a karnon is in a forest, it becomes more fertile and wild, and they draw energy from the lifeforce of the plants and animals around them, the energies moving in both directions. A karnon can travel for seven days and seven nights without rest, if the journey is there and back again within that time. Karnons have a trumpet called a carnyx, which they can use to summon the rest of their Hunt. They wear a torc made of bone, wood, and brass that contains the souls of those they kill and empowers them. They carry a coin pouch in which they take coins from their targets on the Hunt who agree to be converted to a different Court; these coins when given to others contain the power opposite their former owners. If any two things that are opposite come into conflict before a karnon, they will have the ability to negotiate and mediate between them a compromise, truce, or settlement. A karnon known as The Sorcerer can be summoned by other karnons by drawing his sigil on a rock or tree or wall. He has his own unique powers. |
| Glamour | Karnons can glamour themselves using certain ancient rhymes. |
| Weaknesses | If they do not speak their True Name backwards into that same mirror in half a minute, karnons lose their True Names. They have a fortnight to recover it or they become targets of the Wild Hunt, corrupted into another kind of fey, or turn into a hag or boggin. Iron or steel will bind a karnon into powerlessness. An iron horseshoe nailed over a door will bar a karnon from entering a house. Most karnons detest tobacco smoke, and it can be used to stave them off. This is just a preference, however, and not a weakness. They are weak to cacophonic energies. |
| National Culture | The original Master of the Wild Hunt was the father of the karnons, Cernunnos. He was corrupted by the Serpent Mother, and on First Shem, he was slain. On Second Shem, the Two-Horned God resurrected him in a ceremony intended to bridge the gap between life and death. Thus, the karnons were born. When karnons go on their Hunt, on Imbolc in the last month of the year, they ride out in Carnutes, the Horned Ones. The Holly and Oak Kings both ride behind the leader of the Hunt, elected and crowned during harvest time. He is always named at the harvest feast and presented with a headdress made from one of the ancient red deer herded by the karnons. These headdresses (there are several, rotated to keep them fresh) each give the leader two extra faces (giving him a total of three), representing death and rebirth. At the end of the Hunt, the leader dies, but is reborn the next harvest feast, ready to serve the new leader. This leader is called a sagart adharcach, or horned shaman, and is designated as the speaker for the Two-Horned God. Karnons are considered laoch og as children, warriors and hunters in training. They are taught from early on to fight, hunt, track, and survive. When they become adults at age 25, they are considered athair, given rights to vote and ride freely, take partners, and own their own possessions. At the age of 1,000, they become saoi, and they are welcomed onto the council of elders in the hunting band that choose the Holly and Oak Kings each year, as well as the Sagart Adharcach. Each band collects a massive treasure hoard because of what they take during the Hunt. This hoard is kept in caves or hidden groves and protected by an elite guard known as the garda garrai. They only leave their posts during the Hunt. Because the karnons are all considered male by default, they rely on other fey nations mostly for procreation. Athair are sent out in winter to find partners with the intention of having children with them by autumn. Their partners then leave by Yule in the following winter. Karnons whose gender varies from male are considered special and sacred shamans called triu inscne. They are tapped into a powerful duality that gives them insights and connections to the Two-Horned God. When they are not Hunting, karnons are traders, faithful, mystics, counsellors, and sometimes sailors. Their religion comes first amongst them; every year is a series of festivals and spiritual journeys. |
| Wild Hunt Culture | When all of the Hunts come together for the Great Wild Hunt, they answer to the inmortal Master of the Wild Hunt (at present, the Erlking). This happens every seven years. The united Hunt is chaotic. All national, social, and cultural boundaries dissolve as the Hunt rides out throughout all of Lyrilla to take fey, vaettir, and mortals who have violated The Law of the Hunt, an ancient law about when, where, and why one must hunt, but which has implications beyond the mere act of hunting. The seven parts of The Law of the Hunt are
This can be taken metaphorically, however. For instance, a police officer who makes a wrongful arrest (5), a lord who is too stingy (7), a wasteful farmer (3), a builder whose materials are not good enough (6), etc. will be likely prey. Those captured during these Hunts belong to the Master of the Wild Hunt alone. The Master will decide their fate. The role of karnons in the Wild Hunt is to be the ancient and powerful defenders of the borders and boundaries, the edges of the Hunt. |
| Other Courts | Karnons seek sexual and romantic partners from other fey Courts, but they are rarely welcome there openly. They are discriminated against, but they are usually powerful enough to avoid being harmed. |
| Mortal Interactions | Karnons sometimes hunt mortals who are in their area during their Hunt. Otherwise, they are neutral toward them. |
| Notables | Cernunnos, Hunter Reborn, Karnon Manifest, sometimes called Kernunno; Carno-on-os, Shadowed Hunter, Nemesis of Cernnunos; Tubal-cain, Huntsmith; Karnayna, Queen of the Hunt; Janicot, Lord of the Under Realm; Herne the Hunter; Actaeon, the Hunted; Pashupati, Keeper of the Beasts; Atho, Disciple of the Manifest; The Sorcerer |
| Special Classes | Holly King, Oak King, Sagart Adharcach, Laoch Og, Athair, Saoi, Triu Inscne, Garda Garrai, Sealgair (hunter), Cainteoir Beithioch (beast speaker), Creachadoir (raider) |
| Sample Stats | PRO 12 ATH 12 STR 12 Snakes 14 Seasonal 16 AWA 12 WIL 12 ROG 12 Vanish (30 seconds) Glamour 7 Whistle 9 Torc 11 Snake Venom 17 Snake Charm 12 Carnyx 12 Coin 12 Mediation 13 Forest Communion (WIL) Beast Speak 12 Beast Affinity 12 Healing Horns (Rebirth) 11 Breath (Spring) 11 Empathy (Beltane) 11 Summer Empowerment +6 Harvest Change -6/+6 Killing Horns (Autumn) 12 Sapping Touch (Fallow) 11 Moonlit Strength (Winter) +6 Thaw Change Renewal 12/6 7-Day Journey 21 |
GrandGuignol
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