Karnafaust was the first dwarf and the first Dwarven King. King Karnafaust always put his people first, but his hot temper often led him to make decisions to their detriment. He led the dwarves in quitting the Conclave to found the city of Fangaroot and he was the first mortal to be brought back to life under the Resurrection Pact of Hades. Karnafaust died a second time during Kenderax the dragon’s attack on Fangaroot. The dragon devoured his bones, so he was never buried, but a shrine in his memory was built in Dalleer.
Karnafaust was the first dwarf, forged from ash and fire in 1150BCE by Hephaestus to fight for the smith god in the Goblin War. He came into the world already a fully formed adult with plans, dreams, and the will to enact them. He organized the dwarven people under him and led them to victory in the first stages of the Goblin War. He fought alongside Sadroston to defeat the Phoenix. After the mighty beast was brought low Karnafaust worked with the rest of the Conclave to push back the surviving goblins.
As the Goblin War continued, King Karnafaust often argued with the human leadership in the Conclave over the best method of fighting their foe. These disagreements reached a height in 1102BCE. Drolofo refused to favor Karnafaust’s dwarven soldiers with the best rations over the human troops. Karnafaust stormed out and took the dwarven people with him. The dwarves exited the Conclave, the first race to do so, and established the community of Fangaroot along the shores of Black Mirror Lake. Karnafaust’s secession emboldened the elves who soon left the Conclave as well.
Karnafaust’s unfaltering hatred for Drolofo kept the dwarves in conflict with their previous allies. A particular harsh winter in 1098BCE led to skirmishes over food and soon war between the dwarves and the Conclave. The war lasted until 1092BCE when the elves negotiated a truce. King Karnafaust agreed on the condition that he be allowed to duel Drolofo in a battle to the death. The two fought and Drolofo claimed victory. King Karnafaust was slain.
Karnafaust’s people could not accept his death. Thousands sacrificed to Hades, asking that he return their King to life so that he could rule over them once more. Surprisingly, Hades and the other Olympians assented to this request. Karnafaust returned to life. Indeed any mortal could be resurrected if if the proper rituals were performed and the ritualist returned a portion of Hades’s diamond wealth to the shadowy god. King Karnafaust resumed his reign over the dwarven people, but his fiery temper was dulled by his time spent in the Underworld.
The red dragon, Kenderax, attacked Fangaroot in 1046BCE. King Karnafaust defended the city with the rest of the soldiers stationed there. All perished in the dragon’s flames. Without leadership, the dwarven people fled the city, leaving it to Kenderax’s kobold minions. Karnafaust was eaten by Kenderax and his bones were never recovered. His people established the city of Dalleer and a shrine in the first Dwarven King’s memory still exists there today.
King Karnfaust had one wife prior to his first death at the hands of Drolofo and another after. He hated his first wife, Mable, and she hated him right back. They had one daughter together, Troshk, who became a warrior and a smith with no intention of ever ruling the dwarven people as King after Karnafaust. When Karnafaust returned to life he declared his first marriage void, (till death do us part, right?) and married his mistress Teá. She bore him one son, Cogard, who ascended the Dwarven Throne of the High King after Karnafaust’s second death.
-GoCorral
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