Success or Death.
- Intent: To make a neat sword for a friend and unleash more sentient weapons upon the galaxy.
- Image Source: Craven Edge by Iona Muresan on Twitter. Fan-Art of Craven Edge from Critical Role.
- Canon Link: N/A
- Primary Source:
Sithsword (Wookieepedia article) - Sith Alchemy (Wookieepedia article)
- Force Drain (Wookieepedia article)
- Force Rage (Wookieepedia article)
- Zaudraka ( Approved Factory Submission)
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
- Manufacturer: Ancient Sith Alchemists
- Affiliation: Closed-Market
- Model: N/A
- Modularity: None.
Production: Unique
- Material: Steel, alchemical components, blood, a soul.
- Classification: Two Handed Sword
- Size: Large.
- Weight: Heavy.
- Sentience: The sword has some sentience. It is vaguely self-aware, it can communicate telepathically through the Force, and it has a will of its own. However, it is more akin to a ghost, re-living a shadow of its sentience, than a living being per-se. The blade has an insatiable thirst for blood and will urge its wielder to fight at any turn. To accomplish this it uses the following features:
Persuasive Presence: The sword can force its will on its wearer (At the writer's discretion) in order to feed. The wielder may hear a telepathic voice whispering to them, and that responds if they speak to it. The voice wishes to incite violence and encourages rash decisions. It is also argues passionately against being left behind. - Blood Rage: The blade instils its wearer with insatiable rage and bloodthirst.
- Thirsting Blade: The blade drains the blood and Force Essence of its victims and feeds it to its wielder, giving them a fearsome ferocity and physical capability, and healing some of their wounds.
[*]Sithsword: As a sithsword, the blade is near impervious to most mundane damage and can even resist lightsabres, it can also absorb Force Lightning. However, it is quite heavy and may be destroyed by a direct blast of pure light-sided Force energy.
Strengths:
- Beater: A blade this size and weight hits with a lot of authority. It deals a lot of damage and has a chance of simply beating its way through an opponent's defence.
- Gift-Giver: As a means of satiating its thirst for blood, the sword grants its wielder certain boons:
Rage: Upon wounding an enemy, the sword draws strength from its victim and gives it to the wielder. In effect, this puts the wielder in a state of Force Rage, granting increased ferocity and physical ability. While the state can be perpetuated as long as there is bloodshed, it comes at a cost. - Blood: Upon taking the life of another, the blade siphons life-force from the victim and into the wielder, giving a them a minor healing boost with each life taken, as though through a variety of Force Drain. This is enough to cure cuts and scrapes, and perhaps stop the bleeding of a larger wound or ease the pain of a broken bone. It does not, however, cure any major wounds in any short amount of time.
[*]Dark Presence: The blade's dark presence deepens the wielder's connection to the dark side of the Force, both through its telepathic connection to its wielder and through its mere being. This may instil a sense of dread and discomfort in weak-minded persons in its immediate surroundings.
Weaknesses:
- Parasite: The blade feeds on the victims of the wielder, but also on the wielder themselves, particularly if the wielder refuses to satiate the blade's thirst.
Uncontrollable Rage: When the blade grants is gift of rage in order to satiate its own thirst, the wielder is unable to distinguish friend from foe and weaken their sense of self-preservation, making them reckless and prone to injury. It also leaves the wielder exhausted post-battle. - Soul Eater: If not fed, the blade will begin to feed off its wielder, slowly eating their soul and sanity until all that is left is a husk, and the blade passes on to the next wielder.
[*]Heavy: Due to its sithsword nature and its two-handed design, the sword has a considerable heft. This makes it more difficult to wield and prone to exhausting its wielder in long bouts of combat.
[*]Dark Presence: Born from the dark side of the Force, the blade has a very distinctly dark presence. Unless somehow suppressed, carrying this blade leaves the wielder at a severe disadvantage in stealth and gains one the disfavour of most who adhere to the light side of the Force. It will also actively draw its wielder to the dark side of the Force and encourage evil deeds whenever it can.
[*]Dark-Spawned: The blade's dark nature makes it vulnerable to energies of pure light. The presence of Force Light hurts it and a direct blast may destroy it.
[*]Force-Born: Living through the Force, this blade loses all of its special properties (Except its toughness) if brought within a force-nullifying field or wrapped in force-nullifying resin. It will resume full function when brought back out.
DESCRIPTION
In the dark eras of the galaxy's past, there were weapons forged for Lords of the Sith and their marshalls. The most rudimentary of these blades were instilled with considerable resillience, some gifted powers onto their wielders, and some yet had a mind of their own. The names of these master smiths, and the techniques they used to trap a mind and soul inside steel are mostly lost, but the blades, impervious to the wear of time, remain as a testament to the skill of ancient alchemists.
The blade, Arkistniya, meaning the Hungering Blade was forged as a gift for a Lord of the Sith sometime around the Old Sith Wars. It was meant to be a gift, cementing the relationship between Lord and Apprentice, but the master was betrayed. The apprentice had been trained by another who sought to supplant the Dark Lord and take his place. The ritual that commenced to bond the Dark Lord to his blade and the Apprentice to his eternal servitude had the blade fuse and devour the Dark Lord's soul. The apprentice, knowing well that he too could so readily be deceived, took the blade for himself and slew his true master as well, and in the end reigned supreme.
The blade was larger than many of its peers, demanding two dedicated hands to be wielded. It drove its wielders to a maddened frenzy, slurping up every drop of blood it could, and whispering words of violence in their ears when it thirsted. It was a mighty companion, but treacherous. Little did the former apprentice know, he was but one drop in the thunderstorm, and another had him slain as well. The sword changed hands, it fought, it feasted, they faltered, it waited.
At the war's end, the blade came into the custody of the Jedi. There it was lain in bondage of force nullification residue for millennia. It slumbered, waited, hungered. And then, the dark side emerged anew. Arkistniya was wielded again, but only for what seemed like the briefest moment. Labelled as a relic it was stowed away. The cache changed hands, from Republic to Empire, again and again, but none picked up the sword.
Its mind withered as it slept.
One day, a new awakening of the dark brought it out of its slumber. Something had changed. The air tasted so much sweeter, and soon it sensed a new wielder had arrived. At last, were it to taste flesh again?
