Karakoncolos

The Karakoncolos was a malevolent creature often referred to in ancient Ni-Kunni folklore, particularly among the nomadic tribes. It has been likened by many modern historians to the Gallente Bogeyman; usually merely troublesome and mischievous, but sometimes truly evil. It is described as a tall, thin, featureless man with charcoal grey skin. The etymology of its name has been lost to antiquity.

In Ni-Kunni Folklore

According to a surviving Ni-Kunni myth, the Karakoncolos would appear near traveling caravans during Zimri, or 'the terrible heat', the driest period of the year on Mishi IV. It would only ever appear at night, disguised as a lone traveller or shaman, wearing a long cloak and wielding a manjur (a cloth rattle filled with the bones of a steppe skink). Using sorcery, the Karakoncolos would lure unsuspecting Ni-Kunni away from the caravan by shaking his manjur and claiming to have discovered a nearby source of water. Once a safe distance away, the creature would devour its victims, cursing their spirits to wander the dust plains for all eternity.

It is speculated that the Karakoncolos legend was originally fabricated to account for Ni-Kunni who would disappear at night due to a variety of heat-related illnesses. Confusion and disorientation, for example, are common symptoms of heat stroke, which could presumably lead someone to wander off once everyone else had gone to sleep. Large predatory lizards have also been postulated to be the source of the phenomenon.

Although primarily used by adults as a story to frighten children into compliant behavior, the Karakoncolos crops up in a wide variety of Ni-Kunni superstitions pre-dating Amarr contact. In surviving fragments of The Shamar of Sutan, for example, characters will sometimes utter the curse "May the grey man take you."

In Modern Ni-Kunni Culture

Kukeri (meaning 'Dance of Madness') is the name of a Ni-Kunni custom, the original purpose of which was to scare away the evil creature and avoid contact with it. Although the earliest reasons for the custom have largely been forgotten, the dance is still sometimes performed at birthing celebrations, in order to give luck to the newborn and keep them safe from harm.

The capsuleer Alem Il-Ibbet, of the prominent Il-Ibbet crime family, adopted the callsign "Karakoncolos" upon his graduation from Hedion University.