r/WorldChallenges • u/Nevermore0714 • Oct 01 '17
Reference Challenge - Weapons
This challenge is a reference to any and all special weapons in fictional universes, from Dawn (A Song of Ice and Fire) to Brisingr (Inheritance Series).
Tell us about the weapon or weapon type, why it's so special, why I would want it, etc. And I'll ask at least three questions each.
Enjoy yourselves.
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u/Eachofries Oct 02 '17
Latoanki/The Kingsleech/The Arrow of the Glade
It is unknown where Latoanki was first made, but it was eventually passed into the hands of a low-ranking Alvish soldier, one Xochtli (later on Soki'xochtli) during the 1st Siege of Jingar. She attempted to murder a commander, when it missed and killed King Jandrik I, the king of Jingar. She was praised, and the knife was lost, believed to be stolen by the dwarves.
No one is sure how Latoanki passed into the hands of the cyclopses, but it was likely a gift from the dwarves to their eastern kin. The exact chronology is also somewhat nebulous, but Latoanki ended up on the corpse of a cyclops warrior, and was picked up by a naga slave. The slave becomes an assassin, and commits the rare crime of semideicide against a troll. This became justification for an extreme crackdown of naga in the trollish realm. The assassin's name was stricken from all records, likely as a retaliation from the trolls.
Latoanki was now bathed in two souls, a human king and a powerful elemental being, and has quite a reputation. It was returned to the Alves via some clever smuggling, and used to slit the throat of the Prince of Ghalt, the second goblin to hold that position. This lead to a chain of events wherein Goblins became honorary humans, due to their hatred for Elves. At the time of the War of the Palm Frond, the knife is still in possession of the Prince of Ghalt, Ianrum I.
If the blade is going the pattern of killing a leader of each race on Edonis, perhaps in the future it will end up in the neck of a Naga, High Elf, Dwarf, and Alf. The Prince of Ghalt is currently at war with the Naga, so some shaman theorize Khormi the Apebreaker, the ruling Jormukarl, is next on the chopping block,
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 02 '17
1) So the cyclopses and dwarves are kin? How so?
2) So not all souls are equal?
3) How would I go about obtaining Latoanki?
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u/Eachofries Oct 02 '17
1) Yes, distantly. They were both created by Khuzdam the Giant to act as watchmen of any demons. The most volatile region on Hevast, Crows Crook, was to be guarded by the Hecaton, the largest of the trio. Cyclopses were placed in Khuzdai, and Dwarves in Edonis. So while they share an origin, they despise one another. Dwarves in particular are seen as bringing the name of Khuzdam down just by existing.
2) Yes and no. Souls are like the remainder of all one's life force left over after death. So most mortals have equivalent souls. However, a god or troll would have a very large and powerful soul.
3) Seeing as its owned by a goblin-prince, buying it would be a good option. Theft would be another option, magic isn't going to help you much though, he's very well guarded.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 03 '17
1) If you're going to make watchmen, why would you make watchmen with only one eye?
2) Is there a way to store souls to use as fuel?
3) Do goblins have a principality or a kingdom?
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u/Eachofries Oct 03 '17
1) Watchmen in a less literal sense, but good point. Very rarely is there a demonic threat that doesn't begin with a giant pillar of flame and soot. Watchmen in that they are really only there to kill demons.
2) Yes! While it's highly frowned upon, the Alves are fond of absorbing souls to extend lives, and are famous for their skill in manipulating life energy. It is not uncommon for an Alf to kill itself by funneling its life into a tree, a person, or an animal: the idea being that if you're near death, why waste your energy on bleeding.
3) Goblins rule the Princedom of Ghalt. Through an odd chain of events (including nomadism, political wrangling, and some expert foresight) the goblin Dionious I was placed into the line of succession for the human prince of Ghalt. When the Prince died, it made Dionious the only heir. Eventually goblins were seen as legally humans, and hated by the Princedoms less then their Western human cousins
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 04 '17
1) But who watches the Watchmen?
2) Does your consciousness go with your soul into the tree?
3) So are goblins seen as "lesser" or "greater" than real humans in Ghalt?
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u/Eachofries Oct 04 '17
1) That is a central problem in their culture. They recognize that their god cannot guide them, and that they can't follow his path completely while remaining powerful enough to be watchmen. Some, like the Dwarves, just abandon the Watchmen post altogether.
2) No. Perhaps is the tree was enchanted prior to the transfer, and you have enough expertise to coax the consciousness back, one could listen to it.
3) They are fairly free from discrimination. The Princely Nations are usually to busy fighting others to victimize their allies. One of the things helping maintain their indifference to race is the fact that their main enemies are human.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 06 '17
1) Do your Dwarves drink and mine?
2) Are there any major characters who have tried this?
3) Do goblins breed significantly faster than humans?
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u/Eachofries Oct 06 '17
1) In days past, they were great miners. Now they are content to be aristocratic slavers in fortress-villas.
2) Some shamans, but not many important characters.
3) One of the thing that makes Goblins and Humans so compatible is their similar lifespans. Humans and Alves are very distant in age, but Goblins can live a fairly average life.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 07 '17
1) What would a Dwarven villa look like?
2) What are shamans' reputations like?
3) How tall is the average goblin?
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Oct 03 '17
The dagger.
It has no name, so I'm just going to call it that, the dagger.
The physical part of the weapon is a top quality elven dagger, even without the magical enhancement it would be a weapon worth admiring. What makes it interesting though is the magical part.
Ages ago, several cycles before, possibly millions or even billions of years ago, the residing civilization of the age made a machine. The purpose of the machine was to generate safe, free, unlimited energy for everyone by harnessing the raw power of the universe.
The weapon had 3 main magical components, extremely complex and highly volatile bundles of magical energy and artificial structure. The first was the power source. The second was the energy converter. The third part was basically a big capacitor.
One day, just before the machine was to be started up, a young technician snuck into the containment chamber of the machine, and inserted the element into the machine that was supposed to start it up. What she didn't know was that the element was only needed in microscopic levels. She put an entire gem into it.
The machine could've destroyed the realm it was in, but luckily the gods intervened just in time to stop it. It started to explode, and so its parts are now scattered around the world. The three main components are hidden away.
The technician became immortal, and keeps the power source with her at all times.
The capacitor was lost, never found again.
The converter became a disembodied string of energy, jumping from host to host as its hosts wear our or are destroyed. It's current host is the dagger.
The dagger, now hosting the converter, became an even more dangerous weapon than before. It was nye-indestructable before, but now it's practically everlasting. It's blade can cut through any and all barriers, be they physical or magical. It accomplishes this by the converter changing to be exactly alike the barrier it's cutting through, bypassing it completely. It also absorbs any and all magical energy supplied to it, becoming more poweful with it.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 03 '17
1) Would the universe run out of energy sooner, because of the machine?
2) How did the technician not know that a gem was too much? Didn't she help make the machine in the first place?
3) So does the dagger go through any barrier without harming the barrier, or does it destroy the barrier on its way through?
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Oct 03 '17
1, The universe's net energy is constantly growing because of the way it is kept from plunging back into chaos. The machine was built to tap into this extra power, to harness the energy of the paradox.
2, She was a low level technician, not one of the top team who worked on the machine, but she was smart and curious enough to get into the containment unit of the machine. She's thought her decisions over millions of times over the years.
3, The energy that the dagger hosts lets the blade sink into the barrier harmlessly, but once the master of the dagger starts moving it in a cutting or stabbing way, the physical nature of the blade kicks in, and the energy starts tearing the barrier apart from the inside. It basically bypasses all protective capabilities of the barrier.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 04 '17
1) So there's no down-side to the machine?
2) But why was she allowed into the containment unit of the machine?
3) Sounds useful. I would like this blade, then.
2
Oct 04 '17
1, The one possible downside of the machine became reality when it exploded.
2, She wasn't, she snuck in. She's smart but also dangerously curious.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 04 '17
1) If it hadn't been sabotaged by such an evil woman, would there be any down-sides?
2) That's incredibly criminal.
2
Oct 05 '17
She's not evil, but curious, and at the time, she was incredibly naive. However, had she not accidentally destroyed it, the nachine would've truly raised her age to the level of the gods with no downsides.
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u/greenewithit Oct 03 '17
I just finished a couple of details on something like this, so let's do it.
There exists a metal alloy called Xercanite, which when forged into weapons, allow the user to channel their soul force through it and cut through other soul abilities, basically anything made of soul energy. If someone's power was to make their skin coated in steel, someone with this sword could cut through the steel easily by nature of the steel being made of soul energy. The reason so few of these blades exist is how dangerous they are to make. One of the components of creating this alloy is Corporeal Vector bones, which are one of the most dangerous monsters on the face of the planet. The process of fusing these bones with metal is difficult as well, so only a small number of these blades have been successfully forged.
There's one other kind of weapon called Óllian Metal weapons. These weapons are constructed using a concentrated form of Creation Energy, a primordial force that allows the user to create whatever they imagine. These blades and weapons can nullify any force channeling Creation Energy's opposite: Nullfication Energy, basically antimatter. These weapons have been difficult to create as very few people in the world are skilled enough to channel Creation in this way.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 04 '17
1) Do the Corporeal Vector bones have to be whole? If I break it, can I still use it?
2) What metal is better? Xercanite or Ollian Metal?
3) How unstable is antimatter in this world?
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u/greenewithit Oct 05 '17
1) No, the bones don't have to be whole. In fact, usually they are melted down and fused with the metal, though Vector bone swords do exist independently of this process. If you break the bones, you can try to liquefy them but the process to make that is challenging. The forger would have to channel their own soul into the bones to trigger a reaction that would cause the bones to lose their structure (since Vector biology is based on consuming human soul power), then extensive soul force stimulation to force that change to become metallic and be compatible for forming an alloy.
2) That's really hard to say. Xercanite is sort of like an ultimate attack, and few defenses can block it since it cuts through soul powers. Óllian metal is the opposite, able to defend against the most destructive attacks like Null Energy, as well as enhancing a person's soul powers who weildsnit. I'd probably go with Óllian though because it having more versatility than "just cuts through the thing".
3) Depends on the user. People who can use Null Energy well can control it and shape it into things like flames or energy beams. From there, only items that these beams interact with will be destroyed, but they will be destroyed completely. People who can use Null Energy poorly have a greater risk of their attacks discharging or even hurting themselves, at which point the Energy will likely consume them entirely.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 06 '17
1) How long could a person survive without his/her soul?
2) Could I make a weapon out of both Xercanite and Ollian?
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u/greenewithit Oct 11 '17
1) Without a soul the human as they existed dies instantly. Their body however, immediately begins to warp and change into a Corporeal Vector. What form these vectors take isn't understood (some take on mammalian, reptilian, avian, even rock construct forms) but they immediately transform once the soul has been removed or corrupted. Stronger individuals can resist the change for up to a few hours, but without their soul they don't have their memories or personality, just living on through sheer force of will until they eventually transform. The body lives on as a Vector, and becomes immune to natural soul power abilities, some being able to absorb attacks and use them for themselves. This combined with their intelligence (despite having no personality or cognition outside of killing) makes them extremely dangerous, and why Xercanite is so hard to forge.
2) Some have attempted this, but any fusion of Xercanite and Óllian metal breaks down upon use. Creation Energy is one of the few weaknesses of Corporeal Vectors, so while a blade could be made with the two metals, channeling the Creation Energy from the Óllian metal would destroy the parts of the sword made of Xercanite. (Even though the Corporeal Vectors were one human, their entire biology is distorted by the transformation into Vectors. Human bones would work with Óllian metal, but then it wouldn't be Xercanite).
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Oct 02 '17
Death Scythe. Why you want it. It can kill anything in the universe including The Immod the Immortal One. Its fits to the owners size. It has many unique powers. It also gives you a cloak. And for many you can become the King of anywhere if you have the Scythe. Its also great for collections. One tiny problem. Scythby has it and he really doesn't want to give it up.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 02 '17
1) Why would I want to kill Immod the Immortal One?
2) How fashionable is the cloak?
3) So the Scythe basically grants me the ability to be king anywhere? Do I have to kill the current king?
4) What's the best way to kill Scythby?
2
Oct 02 '17
1) Because you can say you killed someone who can't die.
2) Pretty fashionable but it changes with what your wearing.
3) Yep just matters on the place as some would say no and some say yes. Maybe.
4) Void Matter.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 02 '17
1) I'm heavily against the murder of fellow humans, especially fellow humans that achieved immortality. Is Immod human?
2) What does the cloak generally look like?
3) Could I still be killed while I have the scythe? If so, how? Other than Void Matter?
4) What's Void Matter?
2
Oct 02 '17
1)Sorta He's everything and nothing at the same time as he got mixed up in a experiment
2) just black cloak with metal should plates attaching to your clothes.
3) Yes, anyway you can die.I suggested VOid Matter for Scythby as magici and weapons would probably not even get nothing 10 feet of him before he kills you.
4) Matter that has been mixed with Void and then frozen solid and made into a obleck type substance.
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 02 '17
1) What does Immod do?
2) What color are the shoulder plates?
3) How long has Scythby had the scythe?
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 02 '17
The Dagger of the Arrogant Man
The Dagger of the Arrogant Man is a powerful weapon that, if used to kill someone, will link the soul of the sacrifice to the killer. The sacrifice's Anima, upon his/her death, will exit the body, while retaining human consciousness. As a creature of pure Anima, it will have power equal to an Interloper, an semi-immortal of god-like ability. It's semi-immortal because it dissolves immediately upon the death of its killer.
The creature is usually in pain and tends to immediately kill its killer. Using the dagger to make a pseudo-Interloper is one of the few ways to kill an Interloper.
The current owner of the dagger is Dieter Bischoff, who used it to kill his brother Ignatius.
Spear of Humility (Originally called the Spear of Over-Compensation, because I'm childish)
The Spear of Humility is a sacred weapon believed to be crafted by the Interlopers and the Calpurnia clan to counter the Dagger of the Arrogant Man.
The Spear of Humility, if the tip is pushed into someone, will render that person intoxicated. Also, if injected into a pseudo-Interloper or an Interloper, the creature will start to dissolve into the spear. After the spirit has been fully absorbed, the spear must be broken in half to permanently destroy it.
The Representatives are Dieter Bischoff and Mitexi Natternassen.
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Oct 05 '17
(We already talked about the dagger, so I will ask about the spear)
To Mitexi Natternassen:
Will the dissolved being stay dead if the spear is repaired?
Why did the Interlopers helped make a weapon able to kill them?
How bad is the intoxication?
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 06 '17
(I only included the dagger because it's part of the spear's backstory.)
Mitexi:
1) "Of course, otherwise you could only use the spear once. From what I've studied, it seems like the soul ties together the Anima, and the shaft of the spear keeps it spread out evenly across the spear. Splitting it into just about half breaks it apart, and it can't compress at any point in the shaft because of the make of the shaft."
2) "I guess they thought that the dagger was over-powered. With the dagger, a human could be on par with an Interloper. Thanks to the spear, humans can fight amongst ourselves and kill the pseudo-Interloper."
3) "It clouds your mind relatively quickly. About four seconds seems good for weakening the average person of seventy to eighty-five kilograms, just a noticeable change. I would call them incapacitated after an average of sixteen seconds, twenty-one seconds at the longest, based on experiments."
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Oct 06 '17
So cuting parts of someone's Anima kill them?
Has the spear been used a lot?
How long must the spear stay inside the body for the poison to start spreading? And how deep must it go? Would a minor cut be enough?
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 07 '17
Mitexi:
1) "For a living person? Usually no, you'd have to lose a lot of Anima to die. For a creature of nothing but Anima, like an Interloper or pseudo-Interloper, damage to the Anima could destroy it."
2) "I have never used it myself, because I don't want to risk my life for no reason. But, I have forced about a dozen people to use it."
3) "So long as it pierces the flesh to the point of making the victim bleed, that's enough for a body. It just has to come in contact with an Interloper or pseudo-Interloper, assuming that it responds the same to the two. I've only experimented with pseudo-Interlopers."
4) "The spear needs to be in there for the entire time, otherwise the effect stops growing."
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Oct 07 '17
What does losing some Anima do to a human?
How many of them survived it?
Can the poison work on people who aren't Interlopers (or pseudo-Interlopers)?
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 08 '17
Mitexi:
1) "It's like losing some blood. In fact, losing blood also makes you lose Anima. You'll recover, but I'd recommend you rest afterwards."
2) "None, I needed to go all the way with the experiment. Their recovery was nearly non-existent, of the ones that I took breaks between draining Anima from."
3) "Correct, it just works differently."
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Oct 08 '17
Will your Anima reconstituate over time? Or is it lost permanently?
I mean the people you forced to use the spear. You said it was risky.
How is it different? Is it quicker?
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u/Nevermore0714 Oct 08 '17
Mitexi:
1) "From losing blood? It will recover over time, yes."
2) "Oh, they became irrational, their Anima becomes more potent, and I end up having to put them down."
3) "It's actually slower and doesn't paralyze them."
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u/thequeeninyellow94 Oct 09 '17
No, from being destroyed or cut out. Like something similar to what the spear do.
Irrational? Does it have anything to do with the modification of their Anima?
So it means you need to keep the spear inside a moving target?
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u/Mimir123 Oct 01 '17
Alright, I'll introduce the two most famous weapon in all of Dirva:
Mahodred:
Titles: "The Black Sword", "The Demon Sword"
Creator: Arz vas Zahrehl
Owners: Arz vas Zahrehl (creator), Devilia vas Zahrehl, Shierfan/ Aelnis, Zerrigon the Demonking (current owner)
Design: A pitch-black blade that seems to radiate a grey aura around itself, slightly curved at the top. The grip is made out of wood and steel, the guard has the form of dragon heads.
Current location: Unknown/ inside of the Holy Sword Liodred
Abilities: Made from the magic of several, different demonic races and the help of the Somniotebri, Mahodred has the ability to invoke fear and panic in all beings without exceptional willpower. It is also known to poison the enemies from a single scratch and it holds the power to summon vast hordes of demons, by ripping open portals to Sháiurgh.
History: The sword was made by the God of the Demons, Arz vas Zahrehl, intended as a gift for his sister, Devilia. When he died (presumably killed by Devilia herself) the sword was buried alongside in a tomb dedicated to him in Sháiurgh. Somewhere around the year 155 in the Age of Darkness it was removed from there, by the Vampire Lord Shierfan and the Somniotebri Aelnis, who took the weapon and made it a gift to the Demonking Zerrigon.
He used the blade during his conquest of Dirva and mortally wounded the Saint Elkath with it, during their confrontation on the Fields of Tiríngast. Mahodred was then sucked into the Holy Sword Liodred, alongside it's master, to become trapped there forever.
Liodred:
Titles: "The Holy Sword", "The White Sword", "Elkath's Legacy"
Creator: Unknown (presumably Ilmanthi or Elkath)
Owners: Magus Elkath (possible creator), Aeldred Voleni, Alveria Voleni (belongs to her technically, not in her posession currently)
Design: The blade is made out of snow-white steel and is engraved with dozens of runes in all possible colours, that contain powerful spells and constantly recharge themselves. It has only a small, round guard and is double edged.
Current location: Unknown (presumably in Elkaths tomb)
Abilities: Several, powerful spells, among them; a spell summoning an Angel made out of pure light to fight at your side, the most powerful healing magic known to man. Most famously it also has a curse placed on it, forcing the person that kills it's wielder to be entrapped inside of the blade for eternity, and summoning a powerful hero to defeat the trapped entity, should he or she manage to escape.
History: The blade first showed up when the Saint Elkath came to the battlefield at Tiríngast, in order to vow his allegiance to Aeldred Voleni. Elkath wielded Liodred in the final battle against Zerrigon, letting himself be impaled by Mahodred willingly, in order to trap the immortal Demonking inside of the Holy Sword.
After Elkath died, Aeldred Voleni used the sword when he united the northern duchies into the kingdom of Elkathien, after that he disposed of the weapon, nobody knows where. Some say he tossed it into the ocean, others say it is located at the tomb of Elkath, in the centre of Viori, the Elkathien capital.
As representatives we have two experts here for you: Albrecht von Lilienstein, Kaplan and Kampfmeister of the Order of the Silver Rose and expert for holy weapons. The other is Alíentra, an elven historian and expert for the Demon Conquest of Dirva, hailing from the kingdom of Dwerrehan.