BogModWeapons/MoltenBlade
This ancient weapon was forged through accident instead of purpose. The Twilight artificier called Unfettered Sky had set herself to reforging her signature daiklaive, Four Wisdom's Blessing, into something greater. The weapon was a relic of the Primordial War. Primitive, basic, the simple blade had no great enchantments or great kills to its name. Unsuitable perhaps for a later incarnation that thought herself more than that. Deep in the southern Summer Mountains, where one of the great volcanoes of the First Age still raged even with Hesiesh asleep she sought to reforge it.
Yet times were not always safe for the Solar Exalted in the First Age of Man. As she worked at a forge sit inside the volcano she was set upon by assassins. Forced to defend herself she had but one choice. Grabbing up that blade from where it had been resting, being treated by both the heat of the volcano and mirrors directing the light of the Daystar she fought back at them. Her hand burned at the heat of the weapon yet she fought through the pain and struck back at her attackers slaying them all.
In the aftermath of that battle she found that the weapon retained its molten nature and heat even as she tried to cool it. She found that it had been changed. The Unconquered Sun still watched and favored his Chosen and seeming to be aware of her being attacked his blessing had fallen onto the blade that was being bathed in his light. Rather then finish her planned enchanting and working of the blade she worked its handle with enchanted leather so she could grip it without burning herself and forged a sheath of red jade to contain its heat.
The tragedy is of course that she would turn from the Unconquered Sun and become an Akuma for the Yozi. Amongst the Sidereals it is believed that her supposed loss of the weapon in battle against the Fair Folk was just a lie to cover up that she could no longer wield the blade. Touched by the Unconquered Sun's power it resisted all her efforts to use it and would strike no one in her hands. What the Sidereals do not know is that she locked it away in one of her secret vaults and layed a sorcerous curse on the whole thing so that none would ever dredge up that aspect of her past.
So it would no doubt have remained, a lost footnote in the histories of the Chosen of Battles, but for the Great Contagion. Perhaps where the vault was ended up being consumed by the Wyld and in so doing changed the spell layed upon it. Or perhaps the way Creation's essence changed with so much death weakened the spell. The details are not so important. What has happened though is that certain places will at times find their dreams dominated by a blade of molten gold that glows with the light of the sun. The dream of the deeds Unfettered Sky once did with the blade before she was turned. For a time it is all that the people of an area can dream about then it is gone. The Vault and what it contains vanishing for a time, years often, only to return and reach out to the sleeping minds of others once more.
Though no one has yet followed those dreams to a vault that appears and vanishes throughout Creation stories have been written of the lost blade as it has inspired writers and playwrights. Tales of the destruction of the Behemoth Emmonat, the Star Swallower. Stories of lost Meru and its wonders. In places where the Immaculate Order hold sway these are of course changed to tales and deeds of the Dragonblooded or even to Hesiesh in one case conversing with Mela rather then the story of a Solar doing the same. Still it is only a matter of time before someone heads the dreams and finds the vault, braving its defenses and reclaiming this lost holy relic.
The blade itself has all the appearance of a molten orichalcum that somehow retains the shape of a Daiklaive. The glow it gives off is more the golden glow of the sun then the hot glow of metal. The hilt and crossgaurd remain wrapped in a black leather of unknown origins to keep its wielder from burning themselves at its touch. To hold the weapon without that protection would inflict 2 automatic unsoakable levels of damage and inflict an additional -1 penalty to all actions from the pain unless the target is immune to heat or fire damage in some way such as through Element-Resisting Prana.
Given its massive heat when it strikes flammable objects they ignite. Yet turned against the living it has a greater power. On any hit that inflicts damage solar flames flare out from the wound like the flares of the Daystar. This flareup is unsoakable and inflicts damage dice equal to the victim's Essence.
Even after being struck the wounds continue to burn and smolder, throwing off light and heat. This light though is not from flesh burning but instead from the ignition of their very Essence. Each time someone is struck by this weapon they start to burn off motes at 1 point an action. This stacks up to a max of the victim's permanent Essence and is a Crippling effect. Only when their spiritual power is all burned up do the flames go out or when anti-Crippling charms are applied.
Finally no mortal weapon can stand before it. Treat any attempt to defend against this weapon by weapons not made of a magical material as destroying the weapon wether the parry is successful or not. Any successful parry by the Molten Blade against such weapons also destroys them. Finally, the weapon has been touched by the Unconquered Sun and any Creature of Darkness trying to wield it finds that every swing with it will miss, every parry will fail. Charms such as Eldritch Secrets Mastery could conceivably deceive it though it contests such attempts with a 10 die pool rolled when the user first puts up a charm that would hide their nature.
Speed 5, Accuracy +3, Damage +10L, Defense +2, Rate 3, Mins Str 2, Attune 8, Cost , Tags -
Given the weapon's burning nature there are but two ways to store it. A charm to put it in Elsewhere would work or to use the Red Jade Sheath it is currently held in. The sheath itself is a potent artifact in its own right giving its user immunity to heat and fire and assosciated problems including the toxic fumes that come from such.
Second the sheath has held the weapon for so long, absorbing the heat that constantly burns off it that all that stored up power can be unleashed. Firing out from the open part of the sheath a line of fire shoots out only to ignite in a potent firestorm. The attack costs 5m to use and where it strikes damages as an unblockable effect everything within 5 yards. This attack uses Archery and can benifit from appropriate charms and has the followering statistics.
Speed 5, Accuracy +3, Damage 8L, Rate 1, Range 50
The sheath costs 5m to attune and grants no magical material bonus for attunement and counts as a 3 dot artifact.
