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< Jasteth's Sorrows | Artifact Index | Echoes Long Forsaken >

Sliver

Level Four Artifact
Soulsteel Shiv

This strange blade is pure black, with a silvery iridescence. It's handle is wrapped in a bumpy white leather that resists staining, even from the ichor of the most foul of beasts. Unlike the weapons carried by most exalted, this blade is small, being only a foot long blade with a hilt just slightly bigger than what a young child's hand could hold, though it has a small, sharp spike jutting out the end opposite the blade.

After his mother died, a young boy found himself in need of a weapon with which to protect himself and his sister. He had always enjoyed small knives, but he hadn't anything like that, so one day when he found a large piece of steel-glass jutting out of a young Dynast soldier's chest after a skirmish, he took it, and used some cloth to make a makeshift handle. It became his shiv; his namesake. He called it Sliver.

But Sliver was not to stay the weapon bound to mortal hands. It's owner, Shiv, was brutally murdered by bandit-slavers. As he was approached by Death, he caught Death's scythe and snapped the blade with a sharp movement, plunging it into Death's cold heart, though it burned him like fire with its frigid nature. When he awoke with his second breath, his blade was still firmly in his rigid grasp.

What he could not have known was that the essence of Death, through the spiritual focus of the scythe's shard, had bonded to his dagger. Nightly, it slowly morphed into something different, something strange. A blade worthy of one of the Exalted. A blade whose nature ripped out small bits of the soul of its victims and devoured them.

Anyone attuned to Sliver receives two free successes to any tracking roll against someone the blade has cut before, and lowers the willpower cost to activate Infallible Barghest Mien by 1 when used against such targets. Also, by examining the blade after cutting someone, the user may use Soul-Invading Glance on a target without their presence. This effect can not be resisted with willpower expenditure, as the soul pieces have no will of their own, but they still impose the MDV penalty. This effect must be done within a day of the victim being cut. Lastly, the blade drains its user's Essence in motes every time it makes a successful attack.

The soulsteel bonuses have already been factored into the above statistics. If not fully harmonized, reduce the weapons Accuracy to +4.

Back to Shiv Backgrounds
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