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Karthos Garkalsadon
Karthos Garkalsadon
"Have you seen a woman made of golden light?" ยท Last Prince of Saint's Rock
Basic Information
Full Name
Karthosin Garkalsadon
Nickname
Karthos
Race (Grade)
Demonkin (E)
Class
Aristocrat
Height
6'4"
Birthday
Thawbloom 17, 1278
Age
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Birthsign
Bloodline Ability
Unknown
This Bloodline ability has not yet been unveiled to you.
Physical Description
Karthos Garkalsadon, in someone else's chair
Appearance
Karthos is a tall, lean demonkin of twenty-nine, and he still looks almost exactly his age. Whatever longevity his E-grade nature will eventually grant him has barely begun to show. His skin is a deep charcoal gray, and his build is long and sculpted: the body of a man who swims, dances, and fences for fun and has never once trained for anything. A pair of dark, ridged horns sweeps back from his brow through a wild mane of white hair that falls well past his shoulders, half of it loose and half of it worked into long, careless braids. His ears are long and pointed and hung with gold, and his eyes are a deep ember red that catches firelight and holds it.
He dresses like the prince he no longer is. He favors black and crimson velvet robes worn open to the waist and heavy with gold embroidery, rings on most of his fingers, and fine gold chains draped across his bare chest, wrists, and hips like jewelry on a statue. He almost never simply sits in a chair. He lounges in it, as though it had been built for him and he has been waiting for someone to notice.
Unique Characteristics
Something about Karthos arrives before he does. Dogs, horses, and familiars often turn toward a door a moment before he walks through it, and some of them simply sit down and stare at him until he leaves. Powerful spellcasters who stand near him for any length of time describe the same sensation without being prompted: as though something enormous were sleeping on the other side of a very thin wall. Karthos feels nothing unusual himself, and he cannot call on it, whatever it is.
His smile is his most practiced feature, and it is very good. It is also the only thing about him that can vanish completely. Mention his family at the wrong moment and it goes, all at once, and the face underneath is much older than twenty-nine.
Personality & Temperament
Positive Traits
- Charming enough to talk his way out of almost anything
- Generous with money, compliments, and other people's wine
- Makes strangers feel like the most important person there
- Reads a room faster than anyone gives him credit for
- Never cruel, even when he is being completely useless
Challenging Traits
- Drinks too much, and earlier in the day than he should
- Flirts with anyone, anywhere, at any moment
- Avoids responsibility with real creativity
- Treats solemnity like a contagious disease
- Goes cold and silent if his family is mentioned
Have you, by any chance, seen a woman made of golden light? No? A pity. Sit down anyway.
Animals stare at me all the time. It's the magnificence. They can sense it.
Everything I thought would last forever lasted exactly until it didn't. So forgive me if I finish the bottle.
Likes
- A crowded room and a reason to stay in it until dawn
- Fine clothing, gold chains, and being looked at in both
- The most interesting woman in any room
- Rum on ฤkau Nui at sunset
- Anyone who mentions a glowing woman, however drunk
Dislikes
- Politics, drills, ledgers, and the people who love them
- Being asked what he intends to do with his life
- Solemn faces, somber music, and funerals of any kind
- Questions about his family
- Diviners who look at him and go quiet
Background & History
The Prince Who Skipped His Lessons
Karthos (born Karthosin Garkalsadon) was the eldest of four children of the royal line of Saint's Rock, a fortress kingdom carved into the mountains, where banners caught the morning wind and bells rang like prayers to the Heavens. His father had been a paladin before he took the throne, a man of fierce conviction who believed their bloodline was divinely chosen and marked for duty. He liked to tell his son, "A crown is a burden, not a destiny. Follow where your heart leads, and you will not be lost." Karthos took the second half very much to heart and did his best to ignore the first.
His mother was the heart of the castle, bright and full of laughter. She softened its cold stone walls by stealing her children away from their lessons to run barefoot through the gardens, and Karthos was always her most willing accomplice. He grew up surrounded by servants, tutors, ceremony, and expectations he never particularly cared for. He received the education owed to an heir, and he had enough natural charm to escape most of the consequences of ignoring it.
His mother was the heart of the castle, bright and full of laughter. She softened its cold stone walls by stealing her children away from their lessons to run barefoot through the gardens, and Karthos was always her most willing accomplice. He grew up surrounded by servants, tutors, ceremony, and expectations he never particularly cared for. He received the education owed to an heir, and he had enough natural charm to escape most of the consequences of ignoring it.
The Most Interesting Person in the Room
By his twenties, the heir of Saint's Rock was far better known for extravagant parties, expensive clothing, and questionable romantic decisions than for anything his tutors had tried to teach him. He had an almost supernatural ability to find the most interesting woman in any room, and an equally reliable talent for being somewhere else whenever the council convened. Politics bored him. Military instruction bored him. Administration was unbearable. If something did not involve pleasure, adventure, or someone attractive enough to distract him, Karthos generally found a reason to leave. His father despaired of him. His mother laughed and covered for him. His three younger siblings adored him, mostly because he was the only member of the family who never once told them to sit still.
The Night the Dead Came
The undead came to Saint's Rock without warning when Karthos was twenty-six. There was no siege and no herald, only the bells ringing wrong in the dark, then steel and fire at the gates and screams through the corridors. His father found him, dragged him down to the chapel, and hid him beneath its stones, because whatever else Karthos was, he was the heir. Through the cracks he saw fragments: banners falling, halls lit by flame, and the dead moving through the smoke with a patience that needed no words.
Then his mother's voice rose once in defiance, and for the first time in his life, Karthos did not do the easy thing. He climbed out and ran toward her. He does not remember reaching her. He remembers the courtyard, the cold, and the ground coming up to meet him. When the fires faded, Saint's Rock was silent, and the dead moved on and left him lying in the ashes, because by any reasonable measure he was already dead.
Then his mother's voice rose once in defiance, and for the first time in his life, Karthos did not do the easy thing. He climbed out and ran toward her. He does not remember reaching her. He remembers the courtyard, the cold, and the ground coming up to meet him. When the fires faded, Saint's Rock was silent, and the dead moved on and left him lying in the ashes, because by any reasonable measure he was already dead.
The Woman of Golden Light
Karthos should have died in that courtyard. Instead, sometime before dawn, a woman knelt beside him in the ashes, and she was made of golden light. He remembers her in pieces, the way a man remembers a fever: warmth pouring into wounds that should have killed him, her hands on his chest, and a face so beautiful that he has spent every year since failing to describe it properly. By the time he could lift his head, she was already running, away through the smoke as though she were late for something, and she never once looked back. He never learned her name.
He found his father among the ruins not long after, already gone. Whatever the king might have said to his son at the end, Karthos never heard it.
He found his father among the ruins not long after, already gone. Whatever the king might have said to his son at the end, Karthos never heard it.
A Courtier Without a Court
Titles, estates, rivalries, expectations, and people Karthos had assumed would simply always exist vanished with horrifying speed. He survived, but survival did not transform him into the grim, vengeance-driven prince everyone expected. If anything, he became more determined to enjoy whatever remained of his life. He still drinks too much, flirts shamelessly, avoids responsibility whenever possible, and treats solemnity like a contagious disease.
He lives now as a courtier without a court: a professional guest who trades noble manners, good stories, and a gift for making his hosts feel important in exchange for a seat at their table. The gold chains he wears are the last of Saint's Rock's treasury, and whenever the invitations run dry he sells a link or two. Every one of them is a little shorter than it used to be.
The difference is that occasionally the performance drops. Mention his family at the wrong moment and the smile disappears entirely. Karthos remembers far more than he admits, and beneath all that indulgence is a man who has learned exactly how quickly permanence can become memory.
He lives now as a courtier without a court: a professional guest who trades noble manners, good stories, and a gift for making his hosts feel important in exchange for a seat at their table. The gold chains he wears are the last of Saint's Rock's treasury, and whenever the invitations run dry he sells a link or two. Every one of them is a little shorter than it used to be.
The difference is that occasionally the performance drops. Mention his family at the wrong moment and the smile disappears entirely. Karthos remembers far more than he admits, and beneath all that indulgence is a man who has learned exactly how quickly permanence can become memory.
Something He Cannot Name
The aura appeared sometime after the fall of Saint's Rock, although Karthos cannot say exactly when. Animals stop and stare at him. Divinations cast on him give contradictory answers. Magical examinations reveal nothing except an inexplicable sense that the examiner has somehow overlooked something obvious. Karthos mostly laughs it off, explaining that people can naturally sense his irresistible magnificence.
Privately, it unsettles him. There are moments when places, people, or fragments of conversation feel familiar when they absolutely should not, and some mornings he wakes from dreams grieving things he cannot remember ever losing.
Privately, it unsettles him. There are moments when places, people, or fragments of conversation feel familiar when they absolutely should not, and some mornings he wakes from dreams grieving things he cannot remember ever losing.
Rokoura
Karthos arrived in Rokoura early in Goldenleaf, following the same search that has carried him through more cities than he can name. He took a room at the Guest Fale on the strength of his manners and a promise to pay later, and within a week he had been invited to more shoreline suppers than most visitors see in a season. The first time he walked the Tฤtahi Market Coast, he knew which way the path would turn before it turned. He blamed the rum.
He has now stayed in Rokoura longer than anywhere since Saint's Rock. When anyone asks why, he gestures at the sun, the sand, and the drinks as though the answer were obvious. He has not said the rest out loud: that for the first time in years, somewhere feels almost like home, and he has no idea why.
He has now stayed in Rokoura longer than anywhere since Saint's Rock. When anyone asks why, he gestures at the sun, the sand, and the drinks as though the answer were obvious. He has not said the rest out loud: that for the first time in years, somewhere feels almost like home, and he has no idea why.
Goals & Aspirations
Find Her
Karthos has described the woman of golden light in every tavern, temple, and harbor he has passed through, and he describes her exactly the same way every time. Most people assume she was a fever dream or a very good story, and he lets them. He wants to thank her. He also wants to ask why she saved him, of all the people in Saint's Rock, and why she ran. Every lead so far has gone nowhere. He keeps looking anyway, in between parties, naps, and whatever else is happening that week.
Enjoy Every Minute
Karthos insists that he has no goals, and that this is the goal. He intends to enjoy every day he has been given, loudly and expensively, because he has seen what happens to people who save their lives for later. Anyone who suggests he do something more meaningful with himself will be offered a drink and politely ignored.
The Question Underneath
Karthos will not admit it, but he wants to know what is sleeping inside him. Since Saint's Rock fell he has let three different wizards examine him, paid each of them in chain links, and watched each one leave looking more troubled than when they arrived. He has begun to wonder whether the real question is not what power he carries, but whether there is something about Karthos Garkalsadon himself that he does not yet understand.
Current Status & Relationships
Residence
Role
Courtier
ATTENTION!
Karthos Garkalsadon is an E-grade demonkin who fights like a man who skipped every lesson, because he did. He is not dangerous in any way he can control. Something inside him is. Animals, familiars, and sensitive creatures often react to him before they see him, and spellcasters who stand close describe the feeling of something enormous sleeping behind a very thin wall. Divinations cast on him return contradictions, and magical examination turns up nothing but the nagging sense that something obvious was missed. Nobody, Karthos included, knows what it is or what would wake it. He cannot call on it deliberately, and nobody should try to force the matter. On a lighter note: he will flirt with you, he will borrow money from you, and he will be delightful company either way. Do not bring up his family unless you mean it. The smile goes away, and it takes a long time to come back.