Sun Swords of The Blades of the Golden Sun

Full Item Description
The Sun Swords are broad blades with a well-developed thrusting tip and a notable quillons. The blades are made of high quality steel. Their handles and circular quillons are made of a highly polished brass. The handles are textured for easy griping and the quillon is nearly a bell guard .

While the blade is just a bit under 2' wide along its link, is has a distinctive broadspot and small hole that has a sun stone is embedded in it. There is always a solar pattern associated with the sun stone etched into the blade.

Total Length 53' (135cm) Blade Length 41' (105cm )Blade Width (average) 2' (5cm) 4.5 pounds (2Kgs) Use 'Bastard Sword' stats

Magic/Cursed Properties
The swords are said to have granted vast magical powers to their wielders. There are many properly documented accounts expressing various incredible feats various Blades have done. To note: their swords are said to become enflamed, grant vast skill to their wielder, deflect arrows, return to the hand when called, grant the ability to fly (or at least leap), and a number of battle magics. This is part of the damming evidence against the Blades of the Golden Sun. No one using their blades can sense or access these alleged gifts. Their weapons were simply swords without magic it seems, thus everything they did must of been staged.

In addition to these, there are the disputed abilities attributed to the Blades. The three that were called heresy or simply scams were the alleged Truth Sensing, Demon Scrying (ability to sense and trail demonic forces and dark magics), and Noble Heart (the strength of the wielder's noble heart impacted the color of the sun stone in the blade). No one could ever duplicate these magical abilities either. Given the charges laid at the feet of the few surviving Blades, who were unable (or unwilling) to produce them (to the satisfaction of the stacked court).

In truth, the blade does not have magical powers, like a normal magic weapon. It's magic is actually quite 'small' really, thus escaping most investigators and experimenters. After attuning oneself to the weapon (72 hours of close possession, 4 hours if you have meditation skill, 1 hour if you know what you are doing), the blade grants nothing more than mystic access (the ability to cast spells). (For those who GURPs, Magery+1, the Hero The Perk to have spells, the ability to utilize spell lists).

To maintain this ability the individual must do one of the following: meditate upon their sword for 10 to 15 minutes successfully, practice several sword katas, for a duration of 15-60 minutes, or say the sacred oath of their order (now lost to common knowledge) with one or more other sun-sword wielder presents.

The training of the order was religious, meditative, physical (akin to kung fu), and combative (various weapons). The Blades were taught spells as well. So these warrior monks can cast spells from the Imperial Battle Magic School, plus the disputed abilities. (Utilize these Imperial spells from The Swords). In truth, their swords assisted them in learning of those spells (allowing them to learn them in 1/3 the time they would of without the swords).

One of the pieces of evidence against the Blades was that no one, not even Corvus, could produced so many magical swords. There were not enough mages to actually make so many blades. The records show 1800 blades, though many are confirmed losted or destroyed. In truth, The golden flecked Sun Stones in their blades are actually a type of Galron Stones. This allowed for the creation of all these spell objects. This technique has been discredited by 'modern mages' (as nobody knows how to do it now), so it never occurred to the judges.

History
The Blades of the Golden Sun were found towards the End the previous Era (Imperial times?). Like minded warriors from a variety of Gods heeded the call given by The Gods to 'Hold back the tide of the Dark Night.'

The warriors managed to keep the force of the Dark Night at bay, never letting them keep a foot hold for long. They slayed the monsters. Eventually they discovered those who were minion or and shadowed (possessed) by Dark Night forces. They fell upon those utilizing their truth finding and darkness sensing. There loses were great and their replacements few. While they stopped the Darkness, they could not keep society creaking forward. It fell. While they helped quell the chaos, the age had ended. A new one was forged from its remains.

As for the weapons, the Sun Swords were originally commissioned as distinctive weapons. Eventually every member of The Blades of Golden Sun was to have one. Originally, a mere dozen or so were supposed to be magical, those of the High Guard. While making them, the mages associated with the Order stumbled over Galron's process. Eventually every Sun Sword was brought in, attuned and given a Galron Stone. Members were taught the techniques to utilize them. (So, to clarify, only the 12 master blades automatically confired the various magics, the rest required someone learning mystical techniques).

As the centuries passed, the Blades rebuilt their numbers and focused on their mission. They began to protect holy sites (for all religions). They hunted down any old Darkness that still existed, and were vigilant for new ones. They protected pilgrims. Because of their transnational nature, they were able to perform banking and loans that no other group could do. They even had their own vast lands around the world. They were wealthy enough to keep their people in some comfort. They were independent of any current government, being charted by their precursors.

This was their undoing. Originally people respected the The Blades... they respected their charter from the Imperium (insert government before). Slowly over time, the kings, councilors, and other governments, began to see them as a power unto themselves, with no 'ruling body' over them. The organization was seen as powerful, dangerous, and possibly subversive... as they could accuse anyone of being of the Dark Night, with proof that only they could sense. With a surge in The Dark Night's plot, timed with a few incidents, public and political support for the organization waned.

Of course, many thought they were just an order of knights. The Dark Night was just a mythology. The order was simply doing little or nothing of true worth. Their standing as an old order allowed them to ammass wealth and property over time and be immune to various taxes and governments. It seemed, since no obvious invasion of the Dark Night had happened for centuries, that the order was just coasting along... a relic of the previous era.

Eventually Emperor Coscious the Mad outlawed the order, citing acts of treason and heresy by the group. The Army marched against all their holdings (other lands soon followed suit). The Blades were killed defending themselves and their charges. Their lands and treasure were seized and all scrolls and books of their creation (being herretical and treasonous) were destroyed. The few survivors were hunted down, tried, and hanged. The order was destroyed.

Or so people say. Every now and again, their are tales that crop up: tales of warriors wielding Sun Swords. They appear from no where, right some wrong (or do something that makes no sense at the time, but eventually does), then disappear as quickly. It would seem they are still there, wielding their Sun Swords from the shadows, protecting The Lands, able to strike where they will because nobody believes they exist.

Side Note
The 12 Master Swords are still unaccounted for. If the order still exists, they are in their hands. If one fell out of their hands, the Order would stop at nothing to retreive it.

Free-Text Imperium will have related things.