Name: Melancholia
Magic: Dark
Tome: Worm
Description:Melancholia is a dagger which draws its magic from the Nether, and seeks to be wielded by cunning, intelligent users. The blade itself was forged in Etruria, but it was stolen by an agent of house Ostia after a minor border dispute with the faithful nation. While the blade was originally held by the Marquess of Ostia, over the years it came into the possession of Lord Balsam of House Laus, by way of countless squabbles and failed “choosings.” Currently the blade is in the possession of Charlotte Myska, after trading the Lord a dragon stone stolen from the Bishop Aurelian for the dagger.
Personality:Melancholia choses wielders who are incredibly intelligent and who recognize the power of words over that of spilling blood carelessly. When in the hands of a worthy user, the magic is powerful enough to drive another person mad and violently ill, just with the prick from the tip of its blade. However, if the user lets the blade touch blood when they are not chosen, the blade drives the wielder mad. The creeping tendrils of the Nether will implant the need to please the blade in whatever way possible, which usually ends in the user murdering whomever comes in their path until they become a mindless husk, mind lost to the dark magic of the Nether itself. Traits like stupidity, short-sightedness, and bloodlust will infuriate the blade and cause it to instantly reject its wielder.
Origin:The dagger was tied to the Nether by an accomplished Etrurian interrogator, known to use his worm magic along with his sharp wit to pull confessions from the most tight-lipped criminals. In the process of forging the blade, he drew on too much of the Nether and his mind was consumed by the process. It is said the man’s personality mingles lingers within the blade, making the blade’s “desires” seem almost human.
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Name: Fluematique
Magic: Dark
Tome: Luna
Description:Fleumatique is a short sword which rewards its most dispassionate users, looking for a truly stoic being to wield it to its true potential. Forged in a backwater town just outside of Tuscana, the blade was held by House Tuscana for many years, until the territory’s princess tried to wield the blade and was destroyed by its power, turned to a mindless vegetable as emotion infuriates the weapon. After losing his daughter, the Marquess ridded himself of the blade, handing it over to an interested investor from Santaruz. The investor was the center of a bidding war (both figuratively and literally; a few of the houses sent assassins after house representatives being sent to speak to the investor) by a handful of the territories who did not possess a blade, and after the coin and bloodshed cleared, House Tania found itself in possession of the sword and has managed to keep it since acquiring it 150 years ago.
Personality:Fleumatique chooses wielders who are able to separate themselves from emotion completely,being guided instead by reason. When a user is chosen by the blade, the magic within is powerful to rend a person completely emotionless with a stab of its blade. Like the Seer, the blade is said to rip the very soul out of a man at the receiving end of the blade. However, if one tries to use the blade's magic when not chosen, the unforgiving blade retaliates, rending the person of their own soul and leaving them castrated of emotion and thought just like its victims are.
Origin:Like Melancholia, this sword was forged into the Nether by an old Seer who was known for being inexplicably cruel while being completely emotionless. It is said that when the blade rejects a user, their eyes become as dead as the Seer’s who forged the blade. The man was a hobbyist scientist, and when his skin began to wrinkle and his hair grayed, he made it his mission to find a way to immortalize himself. He hatched a plan in which he would try to forge his spirit with the Nether and then capture both in the magic of a sword which his brother, an accomplished smith, would forge. The man spent countless years preparing for the dark ritual, but the man’s pseudo-science would be his end. When he and his brother tried to meld the seer’s spirit with the dark infinite of the Nether, all that was left was the newly forged magic short sword and the seer’s living but unaware body in a persistent vegetative state.
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Name: Kholera
Magic: Anima
Tome: Volcanon
Description:The most violent of the blades, the Killing Edge Kholera only rewards the fiercest, cruelest, and passionate users of its awesome power. The blade was originally used by an assassin of house Caelin, known for his maniacal, dedicated focus and cruelty towards his targets. The man was killed by another assassin of House Worde, and from this point the blade constantly changed hands until 10 years ago, when the blade was obtained by house Ryerde and locked away in a vault deep in the Marquess’s manor. While a powerful tool, so much blood has been shed by the blade that the Marquess thought it best to remove its power from Elibe to prevent more bloodshed.
Personality:When the blade chooses a worthy wielder, the blade will glow as if it just came from a forge, but will still be sharp and stiff as forged mithral, and the blade will appear to be alight with flame as well. The effect is more pronounced the angrier the user is, and the blade will actually burn hotter as well. Trying to use the blade to its full potential when not chosen will cause the blade’s spirit to reject the user, which causes the most fantastical effect of the four blades. It is unable to leave the hand of the unworthy who tried to tap into its power, and the blade will begin to combust uncontrollably until the wielder is consumed into a pile of ash as the mage who foolishly tried to enchant the blade to rid himself of his abilities. While the edge doesn’t crave blood per say, it hates any user who passively shies away from conflict.
Origin:The blade was forged for a husband and wife, who looked for a way to transfer the man’s magic abilities into the blade, seeing them as a curse when paired with his incurable temper. They sought out a reknowned mage-smith, begging him to try and take the husband’s magic away to use in a blade instead. Though the pair was misguided, the smith agreed, seeing an opportunity to do something that hadn’t been done before. After inscribing the runes in the blade, the smith instructed the husband on enchanting the blade, and believed that if in the midst of the enchanting the man began casting the most powerful magic he knew, the man would be able to channel the elemental spirit through him, to the blade, which would take the magic with it. But after isolating the husband to perform his part of the forging, the smith found nothing but the white-hot blade known as Kholera and a room covered in ash.
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Name: Sanguineus
Magic: Light
Tome: Luce
Description:The longest blade of the weapons known as "the blades of temperament", Sanguineus is a sword that seeks out a wielder of confidence and self-assuredness, a true warrior and hero. Also the oldest of the blades, it has been handed down through House Araphen for hundreds of years, and is the only blade which has never left the hands of its original owners, unlike the rest. The blade is highly valued by the Araphen nobles, though it has only been wielded successfully by two from their lineage since it was forged and wielded during the Scouring.
Personality:Sanguineus judges each user based on the determination of the first warrior to wield it. If chosen, the blade exhibits the same power as it had during the scouring, able to strike absolute terror into those who merely looked upon its wielder while also bolstering the spirits of those fighting at the user’s side. However, if the user is a man riddled with self-doubt or fear and foolishly tries to use the blade to its full potential without being chosen, the blade rejects them, causing the user to be consumed by a fear so primal, they drown and are paralyzed in terror of everything around them. This has caused the institutionalization of more than a few nobles of House Araphen back when the blade's power was not fully understood. Now, the noble house of Araphen is cautious to only present the blade to proven warriors of the bloodline who have shown the promise and the traits known to be accepted by the blade.
Origin:The blade was forged for a powerful warrior who fought in the Scouring, made by a small group of monks who called on the spirits to enchant the blade with their cleansing light, to allow the warrior to help in purging the earth of the dragon threat. The warrior, who is said to be an ancestor of the nobles of House Araphen, wielded the blade through the rest of the conflict. His very presence on a battlefield could rally a battalion nearly as much as one of the Heroes themselves, and his enemies judged unworthy by he and his blade were struck with unimaginable fear. The warrior and his blade were only parted by the man’s death in old age, the semi-sentient spirit within the blade becoming fiercely attached to such a worthy user.
