Karne was once a member of the original Paladins that ushered in the Golden Age of peace, later being made Grand Magister of the Magistrate, only to find himself in direct conflict with his former ally, Valera, over the discovery and dangers of crystals. Following Yagorath's defeat, he stepped down as Grand Magister.
Background[ | ]
Long ago, the Realm was in chaos; though the dragons had been dealt with by the Warders, a new threat kept the Realm in chaos: the Goblin Scourges. The northern side of the Realm was the victim of this chaos, and in response, a group of warriors, the Paladins, came together to end this threat, with Karne, a powerful mage, being one of the most notable members, alongside the leader of the group, Valera. After two of the scourges, along with the assistance of the newly created Stagalla, the Paladins fought back the goblins and had finally brought peace to the Realm.
With no more threats, there wasn't any need for a group of warriors, and so, their job fulfilled, the group disbanded, and a new organization, the Magistrate, was created. An assembly of former Paladins and powerful sorcerers, led by Karne himself as Grand Magister, with much hard work, the Realm entered a Golden Age that continued for nearly a century.
However, a new discovery was made that would begin the end of this peace; a new form of magic focused through crafted crystals with near limitless potential for technological advances; a crystal-powered revolution overtook the Realm, with many fantastic new inventions being created. However, not everyone had the purest of intentions.
Accidents, power-hungry individuals, loss of life and misuse of power threatened the peace and safety of the Realm. Karne, fearing these accidents and individuals would send them back to chaos and war from time's past and destroy everything that had been built, decided to outlaw crystals from the general public; hoping to keep the Realm peaceful.
However, not everyone agreed with Karne, including his former ally Valera, thus resulting in the creation of the Resistance, beginning the Crystal War that still affects the Realm to this day.
Karne would later exile his own son, Corvus, from the Magistrate in response to Corvus being deceived by the Abyss into summoning the Abyssal Lord Raum into the Realm and causing massive amounts of destruction.
Following the release of the Darkness monster Yagorath, Karne would step up to fight the beast himself.
After Azaan descended into the Realm and resealed Yagorath with ease, Karne believed he had failed; deciding to step down after a century of being Grand Magister, while entrusting leadership of the Magistrate to House Aico. It's unknown what happened to Karne following this.
In the Lost Future, Karne would be killed seemingly by Yagorath herself.
- This information comes from the "A Realm Divided" lore cinematic, Corvus' Twitter teasers, his teaser trailer, Yagorath's teasers, her card End Of An Era, this stream, the "A Conflict Reignited" lore cinematic.
Gallery[ | ]
Trivia[ | ]
- Karne has appeared a total of 8 times. This includes his appearances in the A Realm Divided lore video, Atlas' reveal trailer (as a picture), in the Magistrate's Archives map (as a statue), in Corvus' card Crushing Expectations (also as a statue), in Yagorath's card End Of An Era, in Octavia's card Interdiction (as a statue), in Saati's teaser trailer (as a coin, which also appears in Saati's various influencer packages), and finally, in the A Conflict Reignited lore video.
- Karne is also mentioned by name by three different characters. One is Corvus, who mentions him by name once (▶️), as well as a once more as "Father" (▶️). Vora also mentions him twice (▶️ ▶️). Karne is also directly mentioned by name by Overlord Khan twice (▶️ ▶️), as as well twice by his title of Grand Magister (▶️ ▶️).
- Karne was naturally displeased with Lian after hearing about the Battle of Ascension Peak.[1]
- While previously hinted at, it was confirmed here that Karne is a mage.
- Though Karne seems to utilize crystal magic, it was implied here, that champions prior to the creation of the Magistrate get their powers from other sources. It is unknown if this also applies to Karne.
- As revealed here, Karne fights for the peace of the Realm, which is why he clashes with Valera, who fights for the freedom of the Realm.
- In regards to how Karne has survived for over a century despite being human is due to him being a "special human".[2] It's also been implied this is expectedly not natural for Paladins' humans.[3]
- Karne originally wished for Corvus to get into diplomacy and become an aristocrat, but Corvus rebelled and joined the Outer Tribunal instead with the hopes of becoming a legend like his father.[4]
- While Karne and Valera are currently planned to never become playable characters, Paladins artist Thunderbrush once attempted to pitch concepts of the two as playable characters, as revealed here.
- It was later revealed / implied that both Karne and Valera were originally intended to be the next two champions after Yagorath, but by the time Yagorath's voice pack was being written, the two had already been cancelled.[5]
- One of the reasons the two haven't been made playable is due to their status as major background characters leading the two largest groups in the lore, as revealed here.
- Another reason is due to them being the two most powerful characters in the Realm, as was said here (▶️) in the Evil Mojo Meet & Greet.
- Despite this, Karne and Valera aren't forbidden from becoming champions, but more along the lines of pitches for them being "impossible to gain traction on".[6]
- Ironically, all the reasons given as to why Karne couldn't be playable have all become invalid, as Karne no longer leads the Magistrate following the A Conflict Reignited lore video, which was additionally invalidated by Lian being made Grand Magister in his place, while his status as one of the most powerful characters in the lore has been invalidated by him being killed in the Lost Future by Yagorath, while also seemingly being unable to defeat Yagorath in the modern day, while Azaan defeated her with ease.
- The face of Karne's statue in the Magistrate's Archives map used Corvus' face as a base.[7]
- As shown here,[8] the Street Style frame was originally going to feature a billboard style piece of artwork featuring Karne in a suit, with text that reads:
