Sword (Scepter) of Mikarna the Black Hand (Rune Sword):


Mikarna is a well known figure in history, an extremely powerful king who ruled one of the first nations after the collapse of the ancient Elven Kingdom. He ruled his nation with an iron hand and legends tell that he took over virtually all of his neighbors, forming an empire and having himself declared emperor. This empire is believed to have been in what is now the Land of the South Winds.


It is said that Mikarna murdered thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. He always killed the entire royal family and most of the nobles of a land which he took over. If even the rumor of dissent came to his ears, he killed any with any suggestion of disloyalty. This included the nobles who often had been his allies before and it is said that he killed several of his own sons and daughters when they were suggested as being disloyal. Of course he was said to have over two hundred children and he took any woman he wanted, willing or unwilling. They were discarded often after a short time.


Stories tell that the final disloyalty came from the rune sword he carried, deciding that it was time for another to be king. It is said that the weapon contacted one of his bodyguards and suggested the idea that if the bodyguard was to kill the emperor, he would them become emperor himself. That never occurred with the bodyguard put to death only minutes after killing Mikarna. After the emperor was murdered, fighting broke out between several of the emperor's sons, some of the more powerful surviving nobles, and finally several of his generals. As might be expected, the Empire fell apart quickly.


The emperor was said to have began his quest for empire soon after acquiring a powerful rune sword and some believe that it is the true cause of his attempt to build an empire. In addition to the sword, Mikarna was known to have an extremely decorative scepter. It is interesting that he appeared to have never carried both at the same time. The sword was normally carried when in battle and the scepter was normally carried when in court. If Mikarna carried the sword in court and especially if he wore armor, someone was going to die. There was some speculation that both were the same item although dismissed by most at the time.


Both the Emperor's scepter and rune sword seems to have disappeared for several centuries after his death. When it finally resurfaced, it found its way into the hands of a powerful noble within the Western Empire. This noble, in every way as much of a blackheart as the Mikarna, attempted to seize the throne from the Emperor. The noble lost his bid for power along with his life and the Emperor started a campaign to seize the lands around him soon afterwards. He also started suspected all those around him and began executing those around him indiscriminately. He was eventually assassinated by his brother. His brother at first seemed to have worked to restore the honor of the throne but eventually became just like his brother. These seems to be a common theme of the sword and several other members of the royal family fell the same way.


Eventually it was lost by the rulers of the Western Empire, some say that it was stolen to get it from the hands of those in power. It seems to have disappeared although a powerful Ogre warrior within the lands of Old Kingdom is said to have joined a bunch of desperate creatures with the sword into a power to be reckoned with and threaten the Timero Kingdom. No one knows what happened to him or the sword.


The people who considered the idea that the sword and the scepter being the same item are correct. The natural form of the item is that of a black sword but it can also transform to appear to be a scepter like some rulers carry as their badge of power.


As a sword, the item appears to be a standard long sword with the weapon seeming to absorb the light around it. The blade comes to a sharp point useful for stabbing and the blade has large runes running along both sides of both the hilt and the blade. The hilt is intricately designed with the pommel coming to a small ball at the end. In its scepter form, the design echos that of the sword’s hilt but is gold and silver with inlaid gems. I appears to be an incredible work of art and worth a king's ransom.


Few rune weapons are as evil as this one is. Unlike most rune weapons, it is completely independent and can use any and all of its abilities on its own. It can even use its abilities against its possessor when it perceives the need. The sword seems to be able to be used by any alignment and it attempts to get itself into the hands of a powerful leader, a king or other noble. It avoids those who are psychics because they are the most able to resist it. Usually the sword will start by talking sweet to whoever lays their hands on the weapon, attempting to corrupt the person and make the person believe that they are special and have a destiny. The sword also convinces its possessor not to let it out of their sight. Eventually the weapon will begin to talk the person into dreams of empire and how they can become a powerful ruler. It will puts is abilities in the possessor's hands to help the being gain their empire. The sword enjoys watching the death and destruction which it causes around it. It will tell the wielder that they should be completely merciless to increase the wanton willing. After a while, the weapon will suggest those around them are plotting against the owner of the sword and convince them of disloyalty everywhere. It tells its possessor that they must deal with these disloyal elements firmly and that if they are not removed, they will continue their plotting. Finally, when the sword judges that they have gotten as much out of its current possessor as they can, it will rebel against the possessor. Usually it will convince someone to assassinating the possessor. In some cases, the weapon will get the possessor to go after someone even more powerful in the hopes of finding itself in their hands.


Like most rune weapons, the sword is completely indestructible. As well, the sword is extremely well balanced and is the equal to any weapon made by a master weapon maker. Unlike many weapons similar, the sword is not a soul drinker. Still the sword appears to be able to penetrate far deeper than any conventional sword and is an incredible weapon in battle. Many possessors will carry the weapon in its sword form when entering into battle and slay opponents with a single blow. The sword has the ability to transform between sword and scepter form almost instantly. Still, the main abilities of the sword are psychic in origin. It has all physical and sensitive abilities. The most common super psychic ability which the sword uses is hypnotic suggestion. Other abilities include the ability to bio-manipulate others, empathically transmit, and even mentally possess others. The final ability is rarely used. The sword can give its possessors any of the abilities and can use them on its own including against the possessor. It most commonly uses hypnotic suggestion and empathic transmission against them but might use mentally possess other if it is trying to get the wielder to commit suicide although it prefers to use other tools to kill its possessor when the sword tires of them.


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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).


Copyright © 2007, Kitsune. All rights reserved.


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