For the enemy see Cur Nakk

Karnak (originally Romanized Karnac) is a town in Final Fantasy V. It is accessible on both Bartz's world and merged world. It is located north of the Library of the Ancients, although any land access to it has been blocked by the huge wall that Queen Karnak ordered her people to build. The town enjoys prosperity granted by an amplification device hooked up to the fire crystal in Karnak Castle. Karnak is filled with many freestanding fires; attempting to interact with one will cause the lead character to jump back in pain.

In the merged world near the city, once the submarine has been obtained, the party can visit Mr. Clio in the Unknown Cave whose submerged entrance is south of Karnak.

History

The fire crystal's amplification device, built by Cid Previa,^[1] granted prosperity to the town of Karnak, making it incredibly cheap for smiths to build weapons and armor. Many scholars from the Library of the Ancients protested this, warning of dangerous consequences for using the amplification device, causing Queen Karnak to build a wall to keep them out. This blocked off passage south to the Library of the Ancients, which also meant travelers from Jachol could not return home.^[2] Cracks in the fire crystal also caused flames to shoot out, many appearing in the town.^[3]

The Karnak meteorite fell, out of which a werewolf—later identified as Tsuze—appeared,^[4][1] having come to protect the fire crystal.^[5] Bartz Klauser and the party later used the teleporter from Walse Meteorite to travel to Karnak, also in search of the fire crystal, but were arrested after being spotted in Karnak and accused of guilt by association.^[4][1]

Geography

Karnak is located on the northern-most continent of the world, directly adjacent to Karnak Castle. To its northwest is Istory, with a waterfall, and to its west is a path south towards the Library of the Ancients, and Jachol. The wall built by Queen Karnak, however, cuts Karnak off from this part of the world.^[2]

The town is built mostly from stone, surrounded by a large wall with a moat made of flame at its entrance (likely a consequence of the town's suspicious attitude towards outsiders). As with other towns, it is home to a pub, inn, and several shops, wherein the shops sell wares at a discount due to the fire crystal allowing smiths to make equipment for cheap.^[2] Notable about the town is the many flames dotted around, which were shot out from cracks in the fire crystal.^[3]

Gameplay

Shops

Karnak's item shop is considered by the game code as the same as Jachol's, Istory's, and Crescent's item shops. Karnak's white magic shop is considered as the same as Jachol's white magic shop. Karnak's black magic shop is considered as the same as Crescent's black magic shop. Karnak's time magic shop is considered as the same as Istory's time magic shop.

Karnak's weapon and armor shop before and after the party is arrested are considered different shops. The before shops sell their goods a quarter (rounded down) of the after shops' prices (which are the regular prices). However, only a single amount of a single good can be purchased from a single shop once before the party is arrested.

Finally, the shop that sells weapons exclusive to Fire Crystal jobs becomes available after the explosion of Karnak Castle.

Items

Name	Location
Flame Rod	Barrel on the Wall.

Enemies

Outside (Bartz's world)

• Aegir
• Zu
• Wild Nakk
• Grass Tortoise

Outside (merged world)

• Elm Gigas
• Hedgehog
• Triffid
• Python

Quests

The first main quest in Karnak is to attempt to purchase an item from the weapon or armor shop. After this, the party is then thrown into the dungeon of Karnak Castle, leading them to the next quest. The player will likely wish to purchase magic from the shop before the Fire-Powered Ship dungeon. Finding the Flame Rod in Karnak provides an easy way to defeat Shiva in Walse, as breaking it casts powerful fire magic on all opponents.

Another main quest involves the party finding Cid Previa in the pub, after first finding Mid Previa in the Library of the Ancients. This is a brief quest that only involves dialogue, though the party can find Cid there before finding Mid first if they arrive after completing the Fire-Powered Ship dungeon.

The party leader can play a piano at the pub. Playing all the pianos in the world acquires the last song, Hero's Rime. This is the third piano the player is likely to encounter, and thus results in the early lessons of finger exercises rather than playing a full song.

The forests outside Karnak have Wild Nakks from whom the Blue Mage can learn ????; this is the earliest this Blue Magic can be learned.

Musical themes

Unlike most towns, "Cursed Lands" (呪いの地, Noroi no Chi?), also known as "Cursed Earth," is the background theme that plays at Karnak.

Other appearances

One of the servers of Final Fantasy XIV is named Karnak.

Gallery

Etymology

[view · edit · purge]The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak, comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings near Luxor, in Egypt. Building at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic period, although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes.

Citations