Background for Karnock the Legend
Karnok spent his youth as a "debt collector" for a ruthless urban syndicate in Waterdeep. He used his natural orcish strength and a foundling worg pup named Skall to intimidate merchants. He was known for his cold efficiency, viewing his violence as a simple transaction.
His life shifted during a botched raid on a secluded archive belonging to a Cloud Giant sage. While his crew sought gold, Karnok found himself mesmerised by a set of glowing runes. When the syndicate leader ordered the archive burned, with the sage trapped inside, Karnok experienced a rare moment of conscience.
He defended the giant, using his sheer mass to shield the scholar from the flames using his body to block the door and prevent the flames entering the Giants last sanctum. The burn scars on Karnock’s back remain as a reminder, a legacy of his sacrifice and a promise all things can endure.
In gratitude, the sage granted Karnok the knowledge of the Haug (Hill) and Ild (Fire) runes, teaching him that true strength is found in the balance of power, and the meaning of the word. He learned that not all battles are won by force and that many can be won without fighting or by guile. Karnock didn’t understand those lessons until the morning he woke to find his mentor dead, a rune traced in the earth clearly visible to the orc. The Cloud Rune, a rune of deception allowed the old giant to conceal his illness (exacerbated by inhalation of smoke) and train the young orc. With his death the old sage provided his last lesson. Under the rune silvery metal ingots rested. The ‘Kriga-stel’ (Literally ‘light steel’) was familiar to Karnock, and the rune laden smith’s tools beside it provided the final clue to his transformation.
As a Rune Knight Karnock gained automatic proficiency with Smith’s Tools. Karnok used this skill to forge his own Mithral Half Plate, a feat that serves both a mechanical and symbolic purpose, the Act of Creation itself in making something rather than stealing his gear as he might have in his criminal past, provided a means to purge his past. Karnok spent weeks in the hidden mountain forge. He combined the lightness of mithral with giant-taught runic techniques.
The armour has served him well in his travels and has become mark, with many whispering of the ‘Silver Vigilante’. Karnok travels the wilds on Skall, using his giant-granted powers seeking to "balance the scales" for every life he once ruined as a criminal, though not much concerned with the vagaries of law, simply the essence of justice.
