THE
SWORD
OF MEDOC |
The sword carried by Medoc Ileri when he was serving as the Captain of the Guard in Voldar before the time of the Dragonstorm (1650 b.S.). An outwardly innocuous-looking weapon of utilitarian, sensible design, the sword was forged from metal mined from the deepest of dwarven mines and confirmed as ésh-dél (magical) by the elves. The hilt of the sword was for a time briefly melded to Katya's, Medoc's daughter and later on Erpheronian Queen, hand towards the beginning of Dragonstorm. Although twisted and warped by dragonfire, broken sword was later hurled into the eye of the dragon Ol'dem'brey by the heroine, wounding the beast and effectively ending the months long siege on the city of Voldar.
Appearance.
Forged from the finest dwarven metals and enchanted by powerful human wizards,
in its heyday the rare caliber of Medoc’s
Sword would have made its original owner the subject of all of
Voldar’s envy. To the casual observer,
however, the blade would have appeared quite commonplace; forgoing lavish jewels
and decoration in favor of more practical features. Its unbreakable blade was
long, broad and straight, ideal for hacking, slashing and stabbing into enemies
and its simple, eagle-shaped hilt was weighted perfectly to provide the
weapon with unmatched balance.
The perfection of the Sword of Medoc was quite
short-lived. Though the blade of the weapon was indestructible, the intense heat
of adamant dragonfire melted the eagle-shaped hilt and fused into the skin of
Katya Ileri. Once separated from the young
girl with the help of elven healers of the
Thaelon Forest, the weapon’s contorted
hilt made it unwieldable by most individuals. Only
Katya, whose puckered scars melded perfectly with the warped handle, could
manipulate the weapon with any sort of
skill.
Since the heroine hurled the blade into the eye of the
dragon Ol’dem’brey,
the weapon’s location has been a mystery.
As such, the blade’s current form is unknown, if it even exists at all.
Usage.
Besides its obvious historical significance, the sole factor that allows the
Sword of Medoc to be categorized as an artifact is its superb craftsmanship. The
pure
dwarven metals and
strong enchantments placed upon it make sword nearly unsurpassable in quality
and its blade impervious to physical damage.
That being said, the blade is only as
impressive in combat as the skill of its wielder. Unlike other artifacts, such
as the Sword of Twilight, the
weapon is not imbued with any special
effects, but rather relies entirely upon the skill of the swordsman to be
effective in battle.
History/Origin.
The date at which the Sword of Medoc was
forged has been lost with time and accounts of its origins have fallen entirely
into the realm of myth. Its physical appearance, however, allows historians to
draw some conclusions about its early years. The eagle with spread wings crafted
into its hilt, the banner of Voldar, suggests
that the blade was crafted specifically for Medoc
or another citizen of the city. This idea is further supported by the
elven healers’ classification of the blade’s
enchantments as ésh-dél, a term meaning ‘false
magic’ used specifically to describe the magic
of humans. On the other hand, the
dwarven metal and craftsmanship that created
the blade let historians know that it was forged outside of the city, and thus
most likely given as a gift or a reward.
The first historically confirmed appearance of the Sword of
Medoc is in the hand of its namesake, Medoc
Ileri when he served as
Captain of the Guard
of Voldar in the late 1600s
b.S. While in possession of the weapon,
Medoc is recorded as having excelled as a soldier, winning many battles and
making a name for himself in his community. When the Captain left military
service perhaps a decade before Dragonstorm,
he temporarily retired the blade with him.
The next and final wielder of the owner of the
sword, was Medoc’s daughter,
Katya. The sole survivor of a
dragon attack on her family’s town,
Katya originally wielded the
weapon as a physical extension of her own
limbs. Having been clutching it when she passed out during the assault on her
village, the young girl awoke to find the intense heat of dragonfire had melted
the eagle-shaped hilt and that the warm metal had fused with her skin. Though
the skilled elven healers of the Thaelon Forest
were able to successfully pry the weapon away from her skin, the hilt of the
Sword of Medoc was drastically contorted. From
then on, only Katya, whose scarred hands bore
the indentations of the weapon’s hilt, was able to successfully wield the
sword in battle.
The weapon was last definitely seen wielded
in the defense of Voldar against a siege by
the dragons. In its greatest moment of
triumph, the damaged Sword of Medoc was thrown
like a javelin by the Katya into the eye of
the fearsome adamant dragon Ol’dem’brey. At
this great turning point in the battle, the
sword’s specially crafted blade allowed it to pierce the thick armor of the
adamant dragon and lodge itself in the
beast’s iris. Unable to pry the weapon from
his eye with his massive claws, Ol’dem’brey called for the dragons to relent
their assault and retreat, giving victory to the
Erpheronian forces of
Voldar.
Since it disappeared in the defense of the city of
Voldar many individuals have tried to claim
to have recovered the Sword of Medoc, but, as
of yet, none of these have been able to be confirmed.
Many historians, particularly those who are well versed in the field of
weaponry, have called into question some
important aspects of the story of Katya and
the Sword of Medoc in light of apparent
inaccuracies, particularly the fusion of the
sword to her hand. According to these scholars, since a blade and its hilt
are almost always made of the same material, it is extremely unlikely that only
the sword’s handle was affected by the
dragonfire. If the blade of this famous weapon
was truly indestructible, its hilt should have been as well.
In rebuttal, defenders of the myth have put forth two potential explanations.
The first of these claims that the blade of
Medoc’s Sword was not actually intended for his weapon, but instead belonged
to another. In this narrative of events, while a
dwarf smith was forging the weapon
commissioned for the Voldar guardsman, he was
also working on several blades of a much higher quality. Amid all this hustle
and bustle in his workshop, the slightly overwhelmed smith accidentally
mismatched a pair of blades and hilts when he was assembling the
weapons. As a result,
Medoc received a blade of a far higher caliber
than was intended while being left with a perfectly ordinary hilt on his
weapon.
The second theory commonly put forth blames the discrepancy in quality between
the Sword of Medoc’s hilt and blade on the
earth mage responsible for enchanting it.
Lacking a complete knowledge of weapons,
the mage decided to save his energy and only imbue the blade of the weapon,
which he believed did all the work, with an enchantment of permanence. As a
result, while the blade of the weapon was
magically enhanced to withstand the dragonfire, its hilt was still susceptible.
Myth/Lore.
Much of the mythology surrounding the Sword of
Medoc attempts to reconstruct the famous blade’s origins. The most popular
of these myths traces the sword’s origins to
‘Brok’s island,’ (the Island of Denilou).
According to this legend, the young Medoc
sailed to Denilou where he preformed a great
a favour for the Mitharim residing
there. As a sign of their gratitude, it is believed that the
dwarves forged the blade from best metals
mined from the deepest parts of the island’s mines and awarded it to the young
hero.
From a historical perspective, however, it is unlikely that this myth is based
in truth. For one, there is no evidence that Medoc
ever left Voldar and sailed to the distant
Island of Denilou, nor did he have any
motivation to do so. More importantly, the
Island of Denilou was not discovered until nearly three centuries after
Medoc’s death.
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