Red Axe of War (Holy Axe of Evil):

Depending on who a person reads, The Red Axe of War is looked at with fear or greed. This is because this weapon has been the cause of several wars and more acts of destruction. The weapon was empowered long ago by Lopnel, the red god and seems to fit him perfectly. While not actually evil, he is well known to symbolize war, warriors, and conflicts. He loves battle and is extremely violent. When the weapon finds its way into the hands of a warrior, the warrior becomes far more violent and prone to conflict. Some of the wielders have fought their way to the head of an army using the power of the axe. If the wielder of the weapon is a general or ruler, he is far more likely to get his people involved in war including senseless wars. In several cases, a general wielding the weapon has assassinated his ruler to take the throne himself. In one extreme case, tails tell of lowly soldier who killed his way up his way through the army until he was general and then killed the ruler. He then declared war with virtually every neighbor. There are also stories of great heroes who acquired the axe and they fell from being hero to being a butcher. Usually, the wielder of the weapon will be done in by the same violence which they created in the first place. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword is an ancient saying. The problem is that the weapon always seems to find its way into the hands of another who starts the cycle over again. Sometimes this person is the very being who defeated the villain. No weapon is known on the Palladium world which has caused as much

The axe is very plain and is obviously a tool for butchery. The axe seems to be constructed from a single piece of blood red metal. The axe also glows a red and some legends are that the axe is red because of all the blood which has stained the blade. Other legends are that it has always been red from the Deity who created it. The axe is designed to be used with two hands, one side is a blade and the other is a sharp pike like tool which is designed to penetrate armor. Even though the weapon is very plain, it is extremely well balance and is very sharp. If you do not consider the weapon to have been stained due to all the blood which it has been immersed in, the weapon appears to have been completely unaffected by time. Some owners have wrapped the handle in leather to make it easier to wield.

Like most holy weapons, the Red Axe of War is not intelligent and has no independent thought. However; the axe does have the ability to empathically affect the wielder's mind. Every being has dark desires buried deep in the primitive parts of their psyche. The magic aura of the Axe preys on the wielders darker desires such as greed for money, desire for revenge, desire for power, and other dark desires. It projects that only the true path to their goals is to seize them through violence. Murder is fine in the path to your goals. If you covet another, you should kill anyone else who has a claim to that person and seize that person. Leaders, such as Generals and Rulers, will see that the lands of their neighbors is really theirs and that they should seize it. War is the path of the strong. Subordinates will often see that their leaders really do not deserve their position and that the wielder of the axe will see that they should seize the position as the rightful leader. Daytime thoughts will be reinforced by dreams. These dreams will be of glorious dreams of battle. The actual events of the battle will be horrible but instead of feeling that, they will feel exhilaration. In many cases the thrill of battle will become something that the wilder cannot live without and they will always get the desire to seize something new and will want to fight over it. There will always be something new to fight over. The wielder will always find a new slight to take revenge over, want a new item or land, or want a position higher then they have achieved. Of course, the more corrupt the wielder is, the easier it will be for the wielder to fall for the axe but even the most pure must beware. The axe has a side effect of strengthening the will of the owner. They are less like to run in fear or be effective by psychic or magical attacks that effect the mind. After all, the wielder knows that they are the strongest that there is.

The wielder has several other additional abilities which it bestows on the wielder. The axe inflict incredible damage and hurts supernatural creatures like few other weapons known. The weapon also has the ability to heal its wielder. Part of any damage inflicted on an opponent goes into healing the wielder. This is one of the reasons why owners of the axe tend to win battles. Any time they hurt the person they are fighting, they heal themselves.

Basic Statistics:

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Weight:

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Powers:

Virtually indestructible and never dulls
Glows with a bright red halo of energy and registers as magic
Adds +5% to all prayers to one's deity.

Special Abilities:

Vampiric Regeneration: Whenever the weapon inflicts damage, the wielder will regenerate damage to themselves. Half of any damage inflicted by the weapon will be transferred to the wielder of the axe. While Hit Points can only been healed by stolen Hit Points, S.D.C. can be healed by either S.D.C. or Hit Points. Wielder is limited to their original S.D.C. and Hit Points but regeneration is permanent unlike the Physical Transferal ability found some normal magic weapons found in the Western Empire.
Damage Bonus: Weapon inflicts 2D6 additional Damage (S.D.C. in S.D.C. worlds and M.D.C. in M.D.C. worlds).
Monster Slayer: Inflicts normal S.D.C. damage +6 points to human and mortal foes, but does double damage to supernatural beings and creatures of magic. It does S.D.C. in S.D.C. worlds and M.D.C. in M.D.C. worlds.
Empathic Effects: The axe preys upon the most dark desires of the wielder and causes them to act violent and be far more willing to act on those dark desires. If there is a position they want, an item they want, want to get revenge on someone, or similar situation they will be hard put not to act on it. If the wielder is put in such a situation, they must make a saving throw against Psionic attack. Those of Principled alignment have a bonus of +2 to save, Those of Scrupulous have a +1 bonus to save, those of Aberrant or Unprincipled alignment have no bonuses or penalties, those of Anarchist and Miscreant alignment have a -1 penalty to save, and those of Diabolic alignment have a penalty of -2 to save.

Bonuses:

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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