The Karkonog (singular is Karkon) live in great caves with wide mouths. They come to many lands. They have tough, dark, brown hair, and in form are like great bears. Their eyes are like dragons' eyes, their heads are long and angular, and their neck is long like a polar bear's neck, and is thicker than the head. Their paws are more like massive hands than a bear's paw, and are more skillful. They steal and hoard treasure in their caves.

They mate and separate, and the Onoi, the Karkoness, rears a single whelp, and drives it away when it reaches maturity. They prey on livestock, but only venture among men when there is rumor of treasure to be gotten. They hate the Mandar, and attempt to rob their mines, but rarely do they succeed.

Their roar can be extremely prolonged, and it can stun and confuse cattle so that they prance from side to side rather then flee. They smell strongly like heavy earth.

(I have a parallel thread to this in my sub-forum for Iniel)

They sound fearsome! Can and do they swim? I know that's a weird question but I'm thinking of bears and that's why the question came into my mind. You say their eyes are like dragons? What colour are they? Do they work as a group when attacking prey or on their own?

They cross streams on their way to kill cattle or plunder gold. It is not a weird question.

Their eyes are the shape of crocodiles eyes, though they are on a mammals face. They shine with the light of fire.

18 By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Job 41

They never do anything as a group, and fight and kill when they meet; they are fiercely territorial. The only exception would be the Onoi when they mate and raise their young.

I would be interested in knowing how/why their neck is thicker than their head? Why is this? How does it apply to them/does it give them any special skills? Perhaps they're extraordinarily hard to behead?

Are they much of a threat to humans/other beings? Can they be killed?

Very interesting creature, Tsahraf.

eru

Agreed! Very interesting creature! I want to know more about it.

I was wondering what its head was shaped like. I did not quite catch that. Is it like a bear head? Does it have sharp teeth, or does it just kill with it's claws? Does it actually eat the livestock, or does it just kill it for fun? Does it think and speak? Is it intelligent? Or does it just like the look of gold?

These were just questions that I thought of when reading this. Very good creature, though. It's pretty scary, and I don't think I'd ever want to come across one... The fact that it almost has hands would creep me out if I saw it. Excellent job!

I already commented my questions in the parallel thread, just here to say: Awesome creature!

They are intelligent, in fact they are practically the same as Dragons in that way, except that they would never inhabit places made by other races, but would carry the treasure back to their own cave.

One example of a creature with a long head and long thick neck would be the giant anteater, but the Karkon is not like the giant anteater in face shape. In face shape it is like a Dragon, but with hair like a bear and ears like a dog.

They are less of a threat to people than Dragons because they eat cattle rather than women. They can be killed, but not easily. Their roar is nearly as devastating as a Dragon's fire breathing. The Lewis and Clark expedition encountered a grizzly bear which took six bullets, two through each lung, but it charged them, and two more bullets only made it pause. Two men leaped into the river in desperation, even though the bank was 20 feet high, but the bear jumped in close behind them. It was finally killed by a bullet through the head.

They are rather outmatched one to one by the Mandar, especially since the Mandar use excellent weapons, and the Karkon are more like Dragons. But the Karkon are fierce, and their battles are epic.