Post by ember on Nov 30, 2011 10:47:25 GMT -5
Cbox Name: Enkashi
Nicknames: Enkashi!
Main Account: The Broodmother!
Who else do you play?: Ember, Deadlock, Hydra, Adamanta
How did you find us?: <3!
Category: OC
Name: Glamdring (Foehammer), Blade of Soldiers and Needle of Time
Alias: Foehammer - her official title is a bit soppy, she feels - fanciful, unnecessarily.
Age: "Several forevers, at least - Its remarkable how short forever is! My best guess is between five minutes and a hundred years..." she'd say. Several thousand years at least, tens of thousands perhaps, but it really is difficult to say - she travels through time.
Ranking: Neutral - oh dear god is she neutral.
Physical Appearance:
She chooses to manifest herself by the images a thousand minds have given for her, as an elfmaiden with silver skin and jet black hair, her eyes as black and featureless as midnight, but sparkling with inner motes of light like stars. Her teeth are razor sharp metal fangs, and her ears are long, but she is nymphishly beautiful, her face always contorted into a broad, ubiquitous grin that shows each and every steel tooth in detail. She prefers to wear red - red armor, red leather, red furs, red silk... always red. What she wears... depends largely on circumstances. In a fight, she will manifest in armor appropriate to what her master might expect or most easily recognizes - but never as a foe. In peace, she dresses comfortably.
Personality: Foehammer is not a nice person. In fact, Foehammer denies her own personhood - she is a weapon. That's just an old sword's way though... She's a soldier's weapon - not a weapon of commanders and generals. This is a preference - she prefers to be... USED, you see, she revels in combat, seeks blood and feasts on the valor of her Masters. Courage, Honor, Victory, and Defeat are meat and drink to her - Good and evil are silly things to her mind, even if she'd probably never tell her master that, lest he get the wrong idea. She is the kind of weapon who, when her cherished master was defeated, would cheerfully take on his opponent as his successor, as her new master... long as her last master was killed well.
That said, she isn't Malevolent. She does her very best to help her current master within her limits of binding, as much as she possibly can. After all, what good is a half-assed effort? Men women, children and elders, even beasts, they can all be masters, for war has a thousand definitions. It isn't the word that is important - but what it means, as she understands it. All they need do... is prove themselves worthy. "Grant wishes? Do I look like a genie?"
She's affable and kind to her master, but compassion for master's weakness is something she leaves for master's companions. She doesn't actually give a rat's ass if he lives or dies - only that he lives and dies well. Thousands of years as a weapon can do that to a person.
Powers/Abilities:
Starforged: Foehammer was made in the heart of a dying star at the point of its greatest energy, when time and space were folded into a single point of infinite past and infinite future of heat and light, in a place known as the Apex, the ultimate forge, the forge of which every other is a memory, and it is only in that place at that time that she can be unmade. No other fire is nearly hot enough, no other place is there enough energy to bend all time into a single point. She is indestructible - she can never be dulled or dinged, broken or tarnished - her gleaming black metal edge is, and will always be, perfect in all detail. No weapon, not even her sister, Anglachael, can break or corrupt her dark edge.
"What Is Thy Desire?": When a potential master grasps her, she asks him a question, a voice in his ear and a voice in his head. She holds his hand to her hilt, holds him there... and asks him "What is Thy Desire?". It is not advisable to lie to that voice, never lie to that voice (it is said she can see into the heart of the words spoken (This is true, actually). That question, and its answer, is "The Pact". The Pact is an agreement - a nod between master and blade, a statement of intent that forges a powerful, magical bond. Master can reject her at any time, and she can reject him in the right circumstances, but it generally lasts until her Master accomplishes his Desire in the pact, or until he dies (Regretfully, the second is the most likely, but I'll get to that).
The "Right Circumstances" are thus:
-"Thou Shalt Honor Thyself" She won't serve a coward - a man who fears, then avoids combat out of that fear, who will continually shirk conflict for that fear.
-"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Foes" She won't tolerate a master who tortures their foes because he likes the sounds of their screams, or kills for the simple pleasure of killing - Disgusting.
-"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Comrades" She won't serve a Betrayer, who for purely personal gain would betray or worse kill comrades in arms who trusted and depended upon him.
-"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Weapon" She will not serve a master who treats her poorly - who would stick her in the dirt etc, or fail to clean the blood and soot from her. Such disrespect is unforgivable, as bad as betrayal in her eyes, for it is betrayal of weapon. This is the one she'll warn about - she knows her crowd, after all.
None are exempt from her wrath. Men, beasts, and gods alike have wielded her, and lived and died by her rules. The more powerful the wielder... the greater the gamble in using her power to augment their own.
-"Thou Shalt Defend Thy Dimense" She was made to combat the eldritch abominations of the Elder Gods and their servants (and to act as kind of an astral agitator, to keep the sapient races from getting stagnant). When the Elder Gods rear their hideous visages, she must stand against them with her sister blade, and she DEMANDS that her master do so. To fail in this, to refuse, is to instantly invoke her wrath.
Trial By Foe: A small part of every foe she has slain, of every unworthy master who died of her wrath, or who failed the Trial By Foe and forfeited their lives, is added to her. She can call upon that energy and those memories for the Trial by Foe, to test he who would be her master. She pulls them into a dimensional pocket, the exact nature of which is determined for the trial, and pits her master against a foe of equal value, assembled from these myriad energies, and of one of six archetypes:
-The Lord, a warrior of great courage and immense strength that favors the use of heavy armor and melee weaponry
-The Lady, a maiden of great speed and prowess, that favors ranged combat above all others
-The Jack, a dread assassin and a spirit of killers, whose skill and speed make him deadly
-The Beast, between one and six monsterous wolves that hunt and kill as one
-The Fool, to some appearing as a minstrel, to others an illusionist that saps away strength or duels the Tested with music
-The Sage, a wiseman that wields magical powers, but is just as likely to favor a game, or a riddle for the duel.
To lose the Trial is to die. This is the bargain, that is the price.
"Thou Art Unworthy." A master who violates her tenets invokes Foehammer's Wrath. She can simply refuse to be wielded and become unliftably heavy for him, become unbearable to the touch and flood him with unspeakable pain, she can hurl the rejected away from her, or light his hand with flames that cannot be quenched until the hand that touched her is burnt away. The worst thing she can do, however, is lock the master's hand to her hilt while it grows hot, and continually put him through a continual Trial By Foe with no reprieve until he dies, or she decides to forgive him. She is not a nice weapon - many of her enchantments across the ages have been dark ones. She is not known for her compassion to a master who violates The Pact.
The Maiden of the Blade: Within the Foehammer, shaped by a thousand imaginations, given vitality by the energies of the foes and masters past who have wielded her and fallen by her, is the spirit of the Blade itself. To an observer, she is visible in the reflection of the blade, but she can be plainly seen by a master wielding her, or any who see such spirits. She can affect the real world, much like a poltergeist (telekinesis). While she is unable to wield herself, or make herself float around (for example!), the spirit can move within a 400-yard radius of the sword itself, move through anything on our world, push buttons, pull levers, shake rooms, etc. That is normal - she is just a spirit, whether she is being wielded or not. When her master accomplishes the goal of his Pact, she can become real though - manifest herself into the physical world, at least for a few days. Her telekinetic abilities remain when she is manifested, and she carries her real body (the sword) around inside the form. If she is slain as a manifested spirit (or finds a new master to wield her) she simply becomes incorporeal again, and the blade is revealed.
On Valkyrie's Wings: When she is taken by the dying, grasped in desperation, Foehammer often offers them a special Pact. If accepted, she can grant them superhuman power... for up to one hour's time, after which, no power can save them - when the time is up, or when they accomplish the terms of their Pact, they will achieve Truedeath - Their soul will be disjointed from their existence altogether, leaving a shard of themselves inside her for future trials, while the rest of them passes on to the next world.
"Not Thine": Foehammer will not tolerate imprisonment, and won't let herself be sealed away by any master. In these circumstances, she can breach dimensions, travel through time, and teleport away from such an attempt - and no power but her Sheathe can prevent her from doing this.
Voice of Allure: Leading creatures and people to take her up, to grasp her, that is a power that Foehammer possesses. It is... not audible, not really, not to people who can't hear the voices of spirits, but it affects the subconscious mind. She wants to be found. She wants to be held. She wants to be used. She wants to grant power to warriors and help them in their wars. She can give them a fighting chance... if only they would but grasp her handle. The voice is strongest in the minds of those who fight a losing battle, to those who have nowhere else to turn, to any who would benefit from her power added to theirs. She can even do this from inside her sheath, Heim. None are invulnerable to this voice - even spirits of water, fire, and air can hear it, machines can hear it, even if they are unable to wield her - Simply throwing her into a volcano or the depths of the ocean is a temporary imprisonment... she will come out again one day.
Memory of the Metal: Foehammer can assume any shape. War can take many forms - many shapes suit the task, and the form she takes will always be of exquisite quality. The Plumber's war to feed his family saw her become a box of wonderous tools, the journalist's war for the truth saw her become an ultimate pen, the detective's war against a serial killer gave him a powerful pistol, and the soldier's battle to protect his family gave him a spear worthy of the gods. These are her meat and drink. She can take any shape her master chooses, any he is familiar with or an equivalent - like a baseball bat to a sword, etc.
Edge of the Spirit: Her master's power of will determines her ability to help him - the sharpness of her edge, the power of her shot, etc. She emphasizes her master's abilities - if he is strong, while holding her he will be stronger. If he is fast, while holding her he will be faster. If he is skilled, while holding her he will be more skillful. In the right hands, she is a force of nature, an elemental instrument of war.
Dowsing: With a master she likes, she can help him seek his goals. All he need do is shut his eyes, and hold her firmly while asking her to guide him to something. She can point him in the right direction. This... isn't always all that helpful - she is absolutely, positively honest. It is... probably best if she's asked to find something immediate.
By Soldier's Stars: On command, Foehammer can cast an unearthly bluish glow that reaches farther into the darkness than a normal light would. The light isn't... bright, but it is visible, defines shapes in the dark very well, and spreads like a soundless blanket over anything exposed to it. The effect is eerie... but helpful in the right circumstances.
Soul of a Warrior: One part of her enchantment is to read the soul of her master - to reach inside him and help to draw out hidden depths in him. If master has special powers, she can help him to focus them, to enhance his ability to wield them in combat. You'd be amazed how many people have hidden talents, the potential to do amazing things, and don't know it! Means of course she can be a focus for magical power, psychic prowess, mutant might, or just about anything you could think of - her power is to enhance her master.
Hammerer of the Foes: Above all others, Foehammer detests the Old Ones, the beings that exist beyond the fold of reality in that breathless void of madness, those who would destroy dimensions and damage the fabric of reality, and all their servants across the multiverse. She glows blue in their presence, and illuminates them to her master. She is deadly to such... abominations and betrayers. They, and their servants, have no place in any reality and must be purged by warrior's fire. This is her true purpose - this is her ultimate desire. Such creatures and their servants that face her cannot stand to look upon her, and those unfortunate enough to try and grasp her are ignited in blue flames, gripped by terrible, searing agony until reduced to dust. She cannot be taken into their realm - nor can her wielder, not by any power. The mind, body, and soul of her master, are protected from their foul influence, and she is incorruptible.
The Trials: The Trial by Foe is just one trial she can put her master through to gain power (or in the case of a violator, the right to survive her wrath.) Some powers gained are made a part of the master, but others are simply a matter of earning the right to use an ability she herself possesses. Some trials are a result of her power... but some are trials of other powers, and she merely moderates them on behalf of the powers that be. She can help advise or guide a master she particularly likes... but that's up to her - she's not bound to help him...
Each trial is different, set in times, places, and dimensions appropriate to the trials themselves, all within Trialspace, a dimensional pocket created and maintained within Foehammer herself. Each trial is single-try only - in fact... if you fail once, you don't ever get to try any again - unless of course you have more than one life to live. They can take as long as they have to in Trialspace, spanning days, weeks, months, or even years, but only take a second, pass or fail, if viewed from the outside and the Tried return as if only a second had passed. There are a large number of these, and they vary, but there are three kinds.
----A Trial by Ordeal, which is set in a specific time and place, is where the Tried are not themselves, but rather, a specific player in a role within the ordeal itself. They do of course remain the same person inside, even if they've lost special powers... but other details are temporarily changed for the proceedings, and the Foehammer is not available to them for use. Such trials add to the power of the Master, not to the power of Foehammer, and even if they lose her they keep the powers granted by these trials. The ordeal is always the same - it does not change from master to master.
----A Trial of Merit, which occurs in an inspecific time and place, is where the Tried ARE themselves, but may not use Foehammer. Powers unlocked in Trial By Merit are wielder-specific, but do not belong to them. If they lose Foehammer, they lose these powers, but if they regain her, she remembers them. Trials of Merit are tailored to the individual.
----A Trial by Force is one by which a master receives powers from Foehammer herself rather than some outside agency of reality. Trials by force are the most difficult, and grant powers that may or may not (depending on the Trial) belong to the master. In these, they may use Foehammer... they'll need her. Each Trial By Force is overwhelming, and tailored to the Master undertaking it.
For Glory or For Death: Foehammer hates downtime, oh how she hates it! She is a working blade, after all, and tries to stay on the move. But she can appreciate that master is not indestructible. With a little help, she can help him feel as though he were though. The weight of years, the agony of wounds, and the uncertainty of the inexperienced fade away with her help - she can keep her master fighting like a demon until he literally drops dead on the spot. Master's body heals quicker in downtime, too, if she likes him - at least three times faster than normal, fighting off diseases and infections with a stick. Requires that he eats more than usual though...
Fight through it!: Foehammer can help a master resist attacks upon his mind. She appears in illusions - even ones intended to hide her or alter her - as is, both in physical form and as her spirit shape. She is a point of reality, visible and audible to her master as something absolutely, positively real, completely immune to such things herself - incorruptible, remember?
Star Bolt: Ever seen legend of Zelda, like, the original? How Link can fire a bolt of energy with his sword? Yeah. She can do that for a master she likes, on command. The bolt itself is both a physical force and a nameless energy, taking on shape and properties from the weapon shape she is currently in at the time - A sword Star Bolt will take the shape of a blade, and strike like an edged weapon. A hammer Star Bolt will hit like the wrath of gods. A gun's star bolt would be a single powerful shot or like a hail of celestial arrows. It is like a normal attack - its potency depends upon master's will, not upon the power of the weapon itself whose form she has taken.
Vorpal: the Hammerer of Foes does not inflict mortal wounds - she either kills, or does not kill. There are no wounds springing from her edge that would end a being's life slowly. When she snuffs a life, she harvests the remaining life energy and severs the soul from the husk after taking a tiny portion for herself. With a master who has her favor, she can choose to share this life energy, healing and revitalizing them some in the event of a kill.
Equipment:
She IS equipment, fool!
Psychological Flaws:
-She has little sympathy for human frailties. This makes a master's survival chances... often rather slender. She'll tolerate some downtime, but only as much as is necessary - one must be very careful the Pact they make with her... lest they don't live to regret it.
-Being as old as she is, you'd think she knew more of people... could share stuff with master, show him things and tell him secrets ofthe past and future - but she can't. It is a matter of causality. She is FORBIDDEN by the nature of her creation that she should violate causality and the time flow by doing such things as is... inappropriate. She can, however, make reasonable "deductions"...
-She's not compelled to be helpful. In fact, it takes the right kind of master to pluck her ancient heartstrings to make her want to be. Mostly, she does as pleases her. She must serve him with everything she is as his weapon... but the buck stops there. She's not compelled to like her master, or to, say, be nice to him by not using her psychokinesis to give him bouts of... bad luck. Be good to your sword, they say, but in her case you be good to her or she'll make your life hell.
Physical Flaws:
To put it bluntly, she is a weapon. She really doesn't have much say in the matter of how she is wielded, or IF she is wielded, for that matter - she can't get up and walk around unless in very specific circumstances, bound in an incorporeal spirit form that is beyond the influence of materia. She needs to be cleaned and maintained, etc, by her master! She can insinuate herself and work her way into the hands of a new master... but she is just a weapon. She is only as mighty as her wielder.
Other Flaws:
-She will accept a worthy master. Or, rather, she MUST accept a worthy master. Even one who killed a cherished master, provided he is worthy to wielder of course. She really doesn't have much choice beyond her criteria. Gods and Men, Beasts and Monsters have all wielded her, and she's never been able to refuse a master just because she... wanted to. It isn't how she's made, it wasn't how she was forged. She is bound to certain rules, and nothing she feels can change that. Nothing else has meaning that stands up to the test of time. She doesn't have to be helpful to him, but a master who knows his business doesn't need her to like him. He need only follow her basic rules.
-She is vulnerable to the touch of an equal, but opposite artifact - Heim, the sheath made as a counter to her because such things must exist - The Watchers, who forged her, feared that her power could destroy causality in the wrong hands through no fault of her own. Heim, for his part, was made to do this - he has an attraction to Foehammer, and she to him despite her best efforts to avoid him - male and female are a basic factor of reality, found everywhere in every species, in one way or another. Her power is sealed from within her sheath, and she can only be visible in the glinting of her faceted gems and heard in a faint voice that rasps at the subconscious.
-She is not the only such weapon out there. Might not sound like much of a flaw... but it is when this comes about unexpectedly. There is one other. The two are fated to meet at opposite sides, again and again... a conflict that has gone on since their forging when they as one destroyed the forge of their creation. This edge, named Anglachael, Blade of the Divide, Needle of Space. Again, good and evil don't figure - the two oppose one another... because it must be so, for the sake of all reality and all things in balance. Their relationship seems amicable, however, when they do meet. She, and her sister blade, must always keep one another in check.
-She does have a job to do, you know - she's opposed directly to the Eldritch abominations of the Elder Gods, all who would tamper with the stability of the dimensions, and all beings who are like them and who serve them. She and her current master could be enlisted to the fight at any moment, when the need arises...
Brief History:
The Smith stood back and inspected his handiwork.
He wept, for he knew he had never created anything so fine as the twin blades in his grip then, and because he knew he never would again. He etched their names upon the blades - the black blade accepted the name Foehammer as he had chosen, and the white blade took on the name Anglachael. Brushing away the dust of the etching, he admired his handiwork by the light of the Apex's greyscale glow, and nodded, clicking the twins into their sheathes. Just like that, his daughters were completed at last, after the work of an endless age. He had never worked in a more exquisite forge - it was... magnificent, made from a dying white star at the perfect point when it was a pinprick of light, frozen in time with infinite heat and energy, stretched out in a place where time and space had little meaning. Truly. Magnificent.
With a twinkle in his eyes, The Smith turned to the Watchers. The greyscale light did nothing to improve how they appeared - they looked like... nothing wearing robes, the shapes filled but empty as air, each at the same time infinitely massive, but the same size as him and infinitely smaller all at once - it was eyewatering to see, and he couldn't stare into the white motes of light that signified the foremost's eyes for long before having to look away for the sake of his comfort.
"It is done." The Smith said softly, staring out into the infinite black of eternity that held and did not hold the shapes of the Watchers. "They are my greatest work... And I have named them as I was instructed." he said, and offered the fruits of his endless labors, the red and blue of their sheathes glistening and strange in the odd greyscale light of the Apex.
The foremost watcher moved closer, and took them gently from his hands, soundless in his appreciation of the twin swords. They had watched The Smith the whole while... they never said a word, never offered a hint of advice, just, in absolute silence, watched and waited while the age of their forging passed by. He'd only heard this one speak to him, and he did so again, now.
Your work is excellent, Smith, as always.
It said simply, its voice failing to be heard by his ears, but arriving in his head without apparently involving his ears at all. As such, it didn't make a noise, but if it had, it would have been a young man's voice, laced with the sounds of billions of voices making noises that approximated speech, but failed to actually assemble themselves into words he could understand.
You will be remembered. Every smith will be a child of your spirit. Every weapon will be a memory of these two greatest blades. Every forge shall be an echo of this one. This is immortality.
And then, with a soft nothingness that swallowed everything with white light, the star exploded.
We couldn't say that this was the beginning. No, this is just where something started - but time is not a straight line like most people think, and space is not straightforward. I'm afraid that the birth of the Sister blades Anglachael and Foehammer happened many thousands of years in the future, and their timelines are as convoluted as any madman's psyche could grasp. They've panned through dimensions, sailed through time, and been wielded so much that their stories are best left to the mists of time. Even if you could sit there long enough to hear the retelling of so many battles, the sisters never went in much for Personal - after all, they are weapons, and their stories are in fact the stories of their wielders.
Reason for being on AM: <3 <3 <3
Theme Songs:
The Handiwork of The Smith
Blade of Soldiers, Needle of Time
Our Story is Theirs
Nicknames: Enkashi!
Main Account: The Broodmother!
Who else do you play?: Ember, Deadlock, Hydra, Adamanta
How did you find us?: <3!
Category: OC
Name: Glamdring (Foehammer), Blade of Soldiers and Needle of Time
Alias: Foehammer - her official title is a bit soppy, she feels - fanciful, unnecessarily.
Age: "Several forevers, at least - Its remarkable how short forever is! My best guess is between five minutes and a hundred years..." she'd say. Several thousand years at least, tens of thousands perhaps, but it really is difficult to say - she travels through time.
Ranking: Neutral - oh dear god is she neutral.
Physical Appearance:
She chooses to manifest herself by the images a thousand minds have given for her, as an elfmaiden with silver skin and jet black hair, her eyes as black and featureless as midnight, but sparkling with inner motes of light like stars. Her teeth are razor sharp metal fangs, and her ears are long, but she is nymphishly beautiful, her face always contorted into a broad, ubiquitous grin that shows each and every steel tooth in detail. She prefers to wear red - red armor, red leather, red furs, red silk... always red. What she wears... depends largely on circumstances. In a fight, she will manifest in armor appropriate to what her master might expect or most easily recognizes - but never as a foe. In peace, she dresses comfortably.
Personality: Foehammer is not a nice person. In fact, Foehammer denies her own personhood - she is a weapon. That's just an old sword's way though... She's a soldier's weapon - not a weapon of commanders and generals. This is a preference - she prefers to be... USED, you see, she revels in combat, seeks blood and feasts on the valor of her Masters. Courage, Honor, Victory, and Defeat are meat and drink to her - Good and evil are silly things to her mind, even if she'd probably never tell her master that, lest he get the wrong idea. She is the kind of weapon who, when her cherished master was defeated, would cheerfully take on his opponent as his successor, as her new master... long as her last master was killed well.
That said, she isn't Malevolent. She does her very best to help her current master within her limits of binding, as much as she possibly can. After all, what good is a half-assed effort? Men women, children and elders, even beasts, they can all be masters, for war has a thousand definitions. It isn't the word that is important - but what it means, as she understands it. All they need do... is prove themselves worthy. "Grant wishes? Do I look like a genie?"
She's affable and kind to her master, but compassion for master's weakness is something she leaves for master's companions. She doesn't actually give a rat's ass if he lives or dies - only that he lives and dies well. Thousands of years as a weapon can do that to a person.
Powers/Abilities:
Starforged: Foehammer was made in the heart of a dying star at the point of its greatest energy, when time and space were folded into a single point of infinite past and infinite future of heat and light, in a place known as the Apex, the ultimate forge, the forge of which every other is a memory, and it is only in that place at that time that she can be unmade. No other fire is nearly hot enough, no other place is there enough energy to bend all time into a single point. She is indestructible - she can never be dulled or dinged, broken or tarnished - her gleaming black metal edge is, and will always be, perfect in all detail. No weapon, not even her sister, Anglachael, can break or corrupt her dark edge.
"What Is Thy Desire?": When a potential master grasps her, she asks him a question, a voice in his ear and a voice in his head. She holds his hand to her hilt, holds him there... and asks him "What is Thy Desire?". It is not advisable to lie to that voice, never lie to that voice (it is said she can see into the heart of the words spoken (This is true, actually). That question, and its answer, is "The Pact". The Pact is an agreement - a nod between master and blade, a statement of intent that forges a powerful, magical bond. Master can reject her at any time, and she can reject him in the right circumstances, but it generally lasts until her Master accomplishes his Desire in the pact, or until he dies (Regretfully, the second is the most likely, but I'll get to that).
The "Right Circumstances" are thus:
-"Thou Shalt Honor Thyself" She won't serve a coward - a man who fears, then avoids combat out of that fear, who will continually shirk conflict for that fear.
-"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Foes" She won't tolerate a master who tortures their foes because he likes the sounds of their screams, or kills for the simple pleasure of killing - Disgusting.
-"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Comrades" She won't serve a Betrayer, who for purely personal gain would betray or worse kill comrades in arms who trusted and depended upon him.
-"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Weapon" She will not serve a master who treats her poorly - who would stick her in the dirt etc, or fail to clean the blood and soot from her. Such disrespect is unforgivable, as bad as betrayal in her eyes, for it is betrayal of weapon. This is the one she'll warn about - she knows her crowd, after all.
None are exempt from her wrath. Men, beasts, and gods alike have wielded her, and lived and died by her rules. The more powerful the wielder... the greater the gamble in using her power to augment their own.
-"Thou Shalt Defend Thy Dimense" She was made to combat the eldritch abominations of the Elder Gods and their servants (and to act as kind of an astral agitator, to keep the sapient races from getting stagnant). When the Elder Gods rear their hideous visages, she must stand against them with her sister blade, and she DEMANDS that her master do so. To fail in this, to refuse, is to instantly invoke her wrath.
Trial By Foe: A small part of every foe she has slain, of every unworthy master who died of her wrath, or who failed the Trial By Foe and forfeited their lives, is added to her. She can call upon that energy and those memories for the Trial by Foe, to test he who would be her master. She pulls them into a dimensional pocket, the exact nature of which is determined for the trial, and pits her master against a foe of equal value, assembled from these myriad energies, and of one of six archetypes:
-The Lord, a warrior of great courage and immense strength that favors the use of heavy armor and melee weaponry
-The Lady, a maiden of great speed and prowess, that favors ranged combat above all others
-The Jack, a dread assassin and a spirit of killers, whose skill and speed make him deadly
-The Beast, between one and six monsterous wolves that hunt and kill as one
-The Fool, to some appearing as a minstrel, to others an illusionist that saps away strength or duels the Tested with music
-The Sage, a wiseman that wields magical powers, but is just as likely to favor a game, or a riddle for the duel.
To lose the Trial is to die. This is the bargain, that is the price.
"Thou Art Unworthy." A master who violates her tenets invokes Foehammer's Wrath. She can simply refuse to be wielded and become unliftably heavy for him, become unbearable to the touch and flood him with unspeakable pain, she can hurl the rejected away from her, or light his hand with flames that cannot be quenched until the hand that touched her is burnt away. The worst thing she can do, however, is lock the master's hand to her hilt while it grows hot, and continually put him through a continual Trial By Foe with no reprieve until he dies, or she decides to forgive him. She is not a nice weapon - many of her enchantments across the ages have been dark ones. She is not known for her compassion to a master who violates The Pact.
The Maiden of the Blade: Within the Foehammer, shaped by a thousand imaginations, given vitality by the energies of the foes and masters past who have wielded her and fallen by her, is the spirit of the Blade itself. To an observer, she is visible in the reflection of the blade, but she can be plainly seen by a master wielding her, or any who see such spirits. She can affect the real world, much like a poltergeist (telekinesis). While she is unable to wield herself, or make herself float around (for example!), the spirit can move within a 400-yard radius of the sword itself, move through anything on our world, push buttons, pull levers, shake rooms, etc. That is normal - she is just a spirit, whether she is being wielded or not. When her master accomplishes the goal of his Pact, she can become real though - manifest herself into the physical world, at least for a few days. Her telekinetic abilities remain when she is manifested, and she carries her real body (the sword) around inside the form. If she is slain as a manifested spirit (or finds a new master to wield her) she simply becomes incorporeal again, and the blade is revealed.
On Valkyrie's Wings: When she is taken by the dying, grasped in desperation, Foehammer often offers them a special Pact. If accepted, she can grant them superhuman power... for up to one hour's time, after which, no power can save them - when the time is up, or when they accomplish the terms of their Pact, they will achieve Truedeath - Their soul will be disjointed from their existence altogether, leaving a shard of themselves inside her for future trials, while the rest of them passes on to the next world.
"Not Thine": Foehammer will not tolerate imprisonment, and won't let herself be sealed away by any master. In these circumstances, she can breach dimensions, travel through time, and teleport away from such an attempt - and no power but her Sheathe can prevent her from doing this.
Voice of Allure: Leading creatures and people to take her up, to grasp her, that is a power that Foehammer possesses. It is... not audible, not really, not to people who can't hear the voices of spirits, but it affects the subconscious mind. She wants to be found. She wants to be held. She wants to be used. She wants to grant power to warriors and help them in their wars. She can give them a fighting chance... if only they would but grasp her handle. The voice is strongest in the minds of those who fight a losing battle, to those who have nowhere else to turn, to any who would benefit from her power added to theirs. She can even do this from inside her sheath, Heim. None are invulnerable to this voice - even spirits of water, fire, and air can hear it, machines can hear it, even if they are unable to wield her - Simply throwing her into a volcano or the depths of the ocean is a temporary imprisonment... she will come out again one day.
Memory of the Metal: Foehammer can assume any shape. War can take many forms - many shapes suit the task, and the form she takes will always be of exquisite quality. The Plumber's war to feed his family saw her become a box of wonderous tools, the journalist's war for the truth saw her become an ultimate pen, the detective's war against a serial killer gave him a powerful pistol, and the soldier's battle to protect his family gave him a spear worthy of the gods. These are her meat and drink. She can take any shape her master chooses, any he is familiar with or an equivalent - like a baseball bat to a sword, etc.
Edge of the Spirit: Her master's power of will determines her ability to help him - the sharpness of her edge, the power of her shot, etc. She emphasizes her master's abilities - if he is strong, while holding her he will be stronger. If he is fast, while holding her he will be faster. If he is skilled, while holding her he will be more skillful. In the right hands, she is a force of nature, an elemental instrument of war.
Dowsing: With a master she likes, she can help him seek his goals. All he need do is shut his eyes, and hold her firmly while asking her to guide him to something. She can point him in the right direction. This... isn't always all that helpful - she is absolutely, positively honest. It is... probably best if she's asked to find something immediate.
By Soldier's Stars: On command, Foehammer can cast an unearthly bluish glow that reaches farther into the darkness than a normal light would. The light isn't... bright, but it is visible, defines shapes in the dark very well, and spreads like a soundless blanket over anything exposed to it. The effect is eerie... but helpful in the right circumstances.
Soul of a Warrior: One part of her enchantment is to read the soul of her master - to reach inside him and help to draw out hidden depths in him. If master has special powers, she can help him to focus them, to enhance his ability to wield them in combat. You'd be amazed how many people have hidden talents, the potential to do amazing things, and don't know it! Means of course she can be a focus for magical power, psychic prowess, mutant might, or just about anything you could think of - her power is to enhance her master.
Hammerer of the Foes: Above all others, Foehammer detests the Old Ones, the beings that exist beyond the fold of reality in that breathless void of madness, those who would destroy dimensions and damage the fabric of reality, and all their servants across the multiverse. She glows blue in their presence, and illuminates them to her master. She is deadly to such... abominations and betrayers. They, and their servants, have no place in any reality and must be purged by warrior's fire. This is her true purpose - this is her ultimate desire. Such creatures and their servants that face her cannot stand to look upon her, and those unfortunate enough to try and grasp her are ignited in blue flames, gripped by terrible, searing agony until reduced to dust. She cannot be taken into their realm - nor can her wielder, not by any power. The mind, body, and soul of her master, are protected from their foul influence, and she is incorruptible.
The Trials: The Trial by Foe is just one trial she can put her master through to gain power (or in the case of a violator, the right to survive her wrath.) Some powers gained are made a part of the master, but others are simply a matter of earning the right to use an ability she herself possesses. Some trials are a result of her power... but some are trials of other powers, and she merely moderates them on behalf of the powers that be. She can help advise or guide a master she particularly likes... but that's up to her - she's not bound to help him...
Each trial is different, set in times, places, and dimensions appropriate to the trials themselves, all within Trialspace, a dimensional pocket created and maintained within Foehammer herself. Each trial is single-try only - in fact... if you fail once, you don't ever get to try any again - unless of course you have more than one life to live. They can take as long as they have to in Trialspace, spanning days, weeks, months, or even years, but only take a second, pass or fail, if viewed from the outside and the Tried return as if only a second had passed. There are a large number of these, and they vary, but there are three kinds.
----A Trial by Ordeal, which is set in a specific time and place, is where the Tried are not themselves, but rather, a specific player in a role within the ordeal itself. They do of course remain the same person inside, even if they've lost special powers... but other details are temporarily changed for the proceedings, and the Foehammer is not available to them for use. Such trials add to the power of the Master, not to the power of Foehammer, and even if they lose her they keep the powers granted by these trials. The ordeal is always the same - it does not change from master to master.
----A Trial of Merit, which occurs in an inspecific time and place, is where the Tried ARE themselves, but may not use Foehammer. Powers unlocked in Trial By Merit are wielder-specific, but do not belong to them. If they lose Foehammer, they lose these powers, but if they regain her, she remembers them. Trials of Merit are tailored to the individual.
----A Trial by Force is one by which a master receives powers from Foehammer herself rather than some outside agency of reality. Trials by force are the most difficult, and grant powers that may or may not (depending on the Trial) belong to the master. In these, they may use Foehammer... they'll need her. Each Trial By Force is overwhelming, and tailored to the Master undertaking it.
For Glory or For Death: Foehammer hates downtime, oh how she hates it! She is a working blade, after all, and tries to stay on the move. But she can appreciate that master is not indestructible. With a little help, she can help him feel as though he were though. The weight of years, the agony of wounds, and the uncertainty of the inexperienced fade away with her help - she can keep her master fighting like a demon until he literally drops dead on the spot. Master's body heals quicker in downtime, too, if she likes him - at least three times faster than normal, fighting off diseases and infections with a stick. Requires that he eats more than usual though...
Fight through it!: Foehammer can help a master resist attacks upon his mind. She appears in illusions - even ones intended to hide her or alter her - as is, both in physical form and as her spirit shape. She is a point of reality, visible and audible to her master as something absolutely, positively real, completely immune to such things herself - incorruptible, remember?
Star Bolt: Ever seen legend of Zelda, like, the original? How Link can fire a bolt of energy with his sword? Yeah. She can do that for a master she likes, on command. The bolt itself is both a physical force and a nameless energy, taking on shape and properties from the weapon shape she is currently in at the time - A sword Star Bolt will take the shape of a blade, and strike like an edged weapon. A hammer Star Bolt will hit like the wrath of gods. A gun's star bolt would be a single powerful shot or like a hail of celestial arrows. It is like a normal attack - its potency depends upon master's will, not upon the power of the weapon itself whose form she has taken.
Vorpal: the Hammerer of Foes does not inflict mortal wounds - she either kills, or does not kill. There are no wounds springing from her edge that would end a being's life slowly. When she snuffs a life, she harvests the remaining life energy and severs the soul from the husk after taking a tiny portion for herself. With a master who has her favor, she can choose to share this life energy, healing and revitalizing them some in the event of a kill.
Equipment:
She IS equipment, fool!
Weaknesses
Psychological Flaws:
-She has little sympathy for human frailties. This makes a master's survival chances... often rather slender. She'll tolerate some downtime, but only as much as is necessary - one must be very careful the Pact they make with her... lest they don't live to regret it.
-Being as old as she is, you'd think she knew more of people... could share stuff with master, show him things and tell him secrets ofthe past and future - but she can't. It is a matter of causality. She is FORBIDDEN by the nature of her creation that she should violate causality and the time flow by doing such things as is... inappropriate. She can, however, make reasonable "deductions"...
-She's not compelled to be helpful. In fact, it takes the right kind of master to pluck her ancient heartstrings to make her want to be. Mostly, she does as pleases her. She must serve him with everything she is as his weapon... but the buck stops there. She's not compelled to like her master, or to, say, be nice to him by not using her psychokinesis to give him bouts of... bad luck. Be good to your sword, they say, but in her case you be good to her or she'll make your life hell.
Physical Flaws:
To put it bluntly, she is a weapon. She really doesn't have much say in the matter of how she is wielded, or IF she is wielded, for that matter - she can't get up and walk around unless in very specific circumstances, bound in an incorporeal spirit form that is beyond the influence of materia. She needs to be cleaned and maintained, etc, by her master! She can insinuate herself and work her way into the hands of a new master... but she is just a weapon. She is only as mighty as her wielder.
Other Flaws:
-She will accept a worthy master. Or, rather, she MUST accept a worthy master. Even one who killed a cherished master, provided he is worthy to wielder of course. She really doesn't have much choice beyond her criteria. Gods and Men, Beasts and Monsters have all wielded her, and she's never been able to refuse a master just because she... wanted to. It isn't how she's made, it wasn't how she was forged. She is bound to certain rules, and nothing she feels can change that. Nothing else has meaning that stands up to the test of time. She doesn't have to be helpful to him, but a master who knows his business doesn't need her to like him. He need only follow her basic rules.
-She is vulnerable to the touch of an equal, but opposite artifact - Heim, the sheath made as a counter to her because such things must exist - The Watchers, who forged her, feared that her power could destroy causality in the wrong hands through no fault of her own. Heim, for his part, was made to do this - he has an attraction to Foehammer, and she to him despite her best efforts to avoid him - male and female are a basic factor of reality, found everywhere in every species, in one way or another. Her power is sealed from within her sheath, and she can only be visible in the glinting of her faceted gems and heard in a faint voice that rasps at the subconscious.
-She is not the only such weapon out there. Might not sound like much of a flaw... but it is when this comes about unexpectedly. There is one other. The two are fated to meet at opposite sides, again and again... a conflict that has gone on since their forging when they as one destroyed the forge of their creation. This edge, named Anglachael, Blade of the Divide, Needle of Space. Again, good and evil don't figure - the two oppose one another... because it must be so, for the sake of all reality and all things in balance. Their relationship seems amicable, however, when they do meet. She, and her sister blade, must always keep one another in check.
-She does have a job to do, you know - she's opposed directly to the Eldritch abominations of the Elder Gods, all who would tamper with the stability of the dimensions, and all beings who are like them and who serve them. She and her current master could be enlisted to the fight at any moment, when the need arises...
Brief History:
The Smith stood back and inspected his handiwork.
He wept, for he knew he had never created anything so fine as the twin blades in his grip then, and because he knew he never would again. He etched their names upon the blades - the black blade accepted the name Foehammer as he had chosen, and the white blade took on the name Anglachael. Brushing away the dust of the etching, he admired his handiwork by the light of the Apex's greyscale glow, and nodded, clicking the twins into their sheathes. Just like that, his daughters were completed at last, after the work of an endless age. He had never worked in a more exquisite forge - it was... magnificent, made from a dying white star at the perfect point when it was a pinprick of light, frozen in time with infinite heat and energy, stretched out in a place where time and space had little meaning. Truly. Magnificent.
With a twinkle in his eyes, The Smith turned to the Watchers. The greyscale light did nothing to improve how they appeared - they looked like... nothing wearing robes, the shapes filled but empty as air, each at the same time infinitely massive, but the same size as him and infinitely smaller all at once - it was eyewatering to see, and he couldn't stare into the white motes of light that signified the foremost's eyes for long before having to look away for the sake of his comfort.
"It is done." The Smith said softly, staring out into the infinite black of eternity that held and did not hold the shapes of the Watchers. "They are my greatest work... And I have named them as I was instructed." he said, and offered the fruits of his endless labors, the red and blue of their sheathes glistening and strange in the odd greyscale light of the Apex.
The foremost watcher moved closer, and took them gently from his hands, soundless in his appreciation of the twin swords. They had watched The Smith the whole while... they never said a word, never offered a hint of advice, just, in absolute silence, watched and waited while the age of their forging passed by. He'd only heard this one speak to him, and he did so again, now.
Your work is excellent, Smith, as always.
It said simply, its voice failing to be heard by his ears, but arriving in his head without apparently involving his ears at all. As such, it didn't make a noise, but if it had, it would have been a young man's voice, laced with the sounds of billions of voices making noises that approximated speech, but failed to actually assemble themselves into words he could understand.
You will be remembered. Every smith will be a child of your spirit. Every weapon will be a memory of these two greatest blades. Every forge shall be an echo of this one. This is immortality.
And then, with a soft nothingness that swallowed everything with white light, the star exploded.
We couldn't say that this was the beginning. No, this is just where something started - but time is not a straight line like most people think, and space is not straightforward. I'm afraid that the birth of the Sister blades Anglachael and Foehammer happened many thousands of years in the future, and their timelines are as convoluted as any madman's psyche could grasp. They've panned through dimensions, sailed through time, and been wielded so much that their stories are best left to the mists of time. Even if you could sit there long enough to hear the retelling of so many battles, the sisters never went in much for Personal - after all, they are weapons, and their stories are in fact the stories of their wielders.
Reason for being on AM: <3 <3 <3
Theme Songs:
The Handiwork of The Smith
Blade of Soldiers, Needle of Time
Our Story is Theirs
