The Fall of Karderth

## The King of Remorse

Artist depiction of the last king of Karderth

**The Fall of Karderth** is a fabled story of how the kingdom of Karderth supposedly collapsed.

## The Story

In the story, the last king of Karderth was known for his extreme avarice and gluttony. While the smallest of the Ancient Kingdoms, Karderth was by far the richest. The King would throw excessive balls for his court and a few hundred lucky denizens of the city, that would last for days on end.

However, nothing would satiate the King's lust for wealth. He began to dabble in magic, looking for ways to expand his riches greater and faster than his mortal body was able to. After a blood ritual involving cutting his finger and dropping a droplet of blood in a goblet, a voice finally answered. The voice promised wealth beyond imagination. All the entity wanted in return was to be able to attend one of the King's famous parties, for he had been without a body for so long and he wanted laugh and feast. The King agreed.

Every preparation was made to ensure that the ball would be the greatest the world had ever seen. Every citizen of the kingdom was invited, as requested by the voice, and almost every one came to the castle that night. The parties of the King had become legendary among the common folk, so an invitation to join one of them allured most of the population.

After the festivites had begun in earnest, the King ordered his guards to close the gates to the castle. The voice had wanted them all the feast until sunrise, and none would be allowed to leave. After everything was locked, the King went upon the podium within the ballroom and began to speak. He thanked them all for joining him in the greatest party in the history of the world, and that he was also grateful that they would witness the arrival of his dear friend. The crowd cheered at the first statement, and became eager with anticipation at the second.

The King took a knife from the table and cut his finger. He held it over a goblet and let a drop of blood fall into it. The crowd watched in suspicion at the King performing the blood ritual. The moment the droplet fell into the goblet, an infernal laugh filled the room. Blood started to rain from the ceiling and fiends appeared from the pools of blood that was converging on the ground. The demons started to feast upon the citizens, tearing them apart and throwing their guts on the wall. The room panicked and the people started to run towards the exits, however they were closed.

Distraught at what he witnessed, the King ran to his throne room. He started to close the doors, then he saw his wife and his son running towards the throne room. The King dared not to keep the sturdy doors open with the fiends rampant in the ballroom, so he slammed them shut moments before his family could join him. He turned on the locking mechanism and the grinding gears of the doors momentarily murmured over the slaughter of his people. The Voice whispered in his head, "you will be remembered as the King who sacrificed his people *—* for nothing."

He was filled with anguish. His greed had blinded him of the darkness he was making deals with. He sat there on his throne throughout the night and listened to his court, people and family getting torn apart by fiends.

He did not leave his throne room when the screaming stopped. The King just sat on his throne in remorse until the day he died.

People say he was cursed to walk the empty halls of his castle, forevermore as the King of Remorse, listening to his people wailing from the afterlife. They say, he still roams the castle to this very day.

## The Ruins of Karderth

The remains of Castle Karderth near the foot of The Silver Mountains

The accuracy of the story is widely debated, as this tale has mostly been passed around as a horror story to children. However, scholars do know that Karderth collapsed, but the reason why is still an archeological mystery. The ruins still remain, but the superstition around the fallen kingdom is so ubiquitous in common lore, so no one dares to enter the ruins to do any further research.

Some scholars speculate that this is the event that lead to the worldwide ban on Blood Magic mentioned in a few ancient texts. Most agree that this just a spooky story to keep children away from blood magic.

Since virtually no one has opened the doors and entered the castle since the old age, it is rumoured to still contain the vast treasury of Karderth.