Kaarn

The Kaarn are not from Earth. They originated in a prehistoric Domain whose name, if they ever had one for it, has been lost. They are among Nod's oldest immigrant populations and what rare members dwelled on Earth for any length of time are the origin of myths regarding giants, ogres, and trolls.

Kaarn biology is defined by growth and transformation. Their bodies are in a constant state of low-level transformation: increasing bone density, muscle mass, and the growth of new and redundant organs that reorganize over months or years. The rate, degree, and direction of this growth varies enormously between individuals, and the variance is the central fact of Kaarn existence.

Lucky Kaarn, whose transformation stabilizes early, are formidable but functional. Large, dense-boned, thick-limbed, difficult to injure and harder to kill. They can pass for very large, somewhat mishappen humans at a distance. These are the Kaarn who hold jobs, maintain relationships, and participate in Nod's civic life.

For unlucky Kaarn their growth never stabilizes, or stabilizes wrong. Bone spurs erupt through skin or hard plates grow atop it. Limbs thicken past the point of useful articulation. Organs multiply or atrophy. The pain is chronic and worsening, and it erodes the mind alongside the body. The most degraded Kaarn are barely recognizable as the same species. They are hunched, misshapen, perpetually enraged creatures that the lucky ones either destroy or ignore because looking too closely means acknowledging that any of them could end up the same way.

Kaarn culture is shaped by the fact that every member of the species is in transition. Their social practices reflect this. Growth-marking is a communal ritual: when a Kaarn's transformation stabilize, the community records the event with carved stone tokens whose designs are unique to the individual. The tokens are worn, traded, and displayed as markers of identity and status. A Kaarn whose transformation never stabilizes never receives a final token, which carries a weight of grief that outsiders cannot truly appreciate. Their architectural tradition, visible in the older Warrens districts they built after the Crossing, favors structures designed to be expanded from within; rooms with walls meant to be pushed outward, corridors wide enough to accommodate a body that may be twice its current size in a decade.

Transformation: Nod accelerates the growth that already defines them. This can lead to larger, more durable Kaarn or worse instabilities. In the worst cases the city pushes their biology past whatever threshold was holding it in check, resulting in more mass, more pain, and less mind.

Mythological Names