Karnstein

The ancestral seat of power for the strongest of the Bear urds, Karnstein is a city seemingly bashed out of the rock by the stubbornness and fury of the Bear. Legends have it that the main longhouse was carved from the living rock of the jagged shoreline by Udrun during the Age of Wonders.

Long was it the site of bloodbath after bloodbath until finally the first great urd of the Bear, Karn the Fell-Handed, slew his predecessor and took up his place on the Throne of Stone. Karn demanded each urd that he defeated add ten stones to his palace for every man in his tribe, and before a year was up Karnstein had swelled to the forbidding bulk it is today.

Resistance Stronghold

Karnstein was one of the few spots of major Bear resistance during the War of Unification. Its solid, stacked-rock structures made it easy for a single Bear warrior to pull an entire building down on himself, crushing dozens of Wolf soldiers as he went. Twisting, narrow streets and the sharp rocks of walls allowed a single Bear warrior to hold scores of men at bay for hours.

Finally, as the last resistance in the lower city fell, and its streets filled with Wolf soldiers, the Bear urd Kardrad collapsed the towers of stone straddling mouth of the nearby river. Once dammed, the waters rushed up into the city, trapping and drowning nearly half the entire attacking army.

As the floodwaters rushed up, Kardrad and his remaining forces set off an avalanche of prepared boulders. Kardrad and his men rode the rocks down as they smashed into the Wolf lines, then fought to the very last. It is said that with his last breath, as he lay on the ground stuck with a dozen spears, Kardrad said, “I die better than any of you will ever dream.”

Demoralized, the Wolf warriors demanded the jarl in charge of the siege be beheaded the next dawn.

Post Unification

After the War, Karnstein was drained and rebuilt to its former glory. Today, Karnstein stands a monolith of jagged black rock, beaten by the sea, with frosty salt winds howling through its twisting streets. Inhabitants are fewer than a city its size can hold, but there is always an influx of visitors and travelers to fill in the gaps.