Report: "The Nine Swords Book" and the "Book of Chaos"

[Garak Nightchill]

When: Thursday, 8th March
Where: Britain Library, Castle British, Castle Blackthorn

Led by: Father Reynard Destain

Attended by:

Mela Arkay, Scout Corporal
Erik Arkay, Senior Guardsman
Kurt, Regular Dragoon
Evan Anno Rett, Commoner  (Attended first half)


It was time to resume the search for the eight swords of Virtue.  Vexingly, information was scarce so I led four others to Britain, in the hopes the library there would contain information on these swords.  I had other matters to attend to so I directed the Guards and the commoner to the library.  I later met up with them and to my surprise they had succeeded in finding a tome dealing with these swords.  But the tome contained grave tidings also.  It thusly revealed that Blackthorn had created a ninth sword, in a foolish attempt to balance the Virtuous ones. 

This tome, "The Nine Swords", was a fairly recent work.  It revealed that when Blackthorn betrayed Britannia by joining forces with Exodus, the sword of Chaos turned black with corruption.  With this sword, the forces of the Guardian could corrupt the eight swords of Virtue, which I suspect would release a great evil.  Fortunately by sanctifying the sword of Honesty at the shrine, I have protected it from corruption.  But the other seven Virtuous swords are at grave risk should they be found by one who posseth the Chaos sword. 

Our path is clear.  We must find the eight missing swords and sanctify them, and secure or destroy the Chaos sword.  The book revealed that the paragons written about in the Books of Virtue were each given one of the swords.  This doth tally with what the mage Tobus told the Guards before his demise.  Thusly, the books of Virtue recovered to date, Sacrifice, Compassion, Honour and Humility, contain clues as to where the other swords are.  Or at least, who hath possessed them. 

I sent my companions to Castle Blackthorn in an attempt to uncover the further clues as to the sword of Chaos, but for some reason they failed to return to the inn.  I have thusly returned to Cove and will speak to the Guards anon.

In Nomini Deus,

Father Reynard Destain
Bishop of Cove



The following is for OOC information only.  It is from a page inserted into the journal of Arman Stark

A most interesting development.  Whilst attending to my duties at the castle of my late master, Lord Blackthorn, I was approached by three soldiers of Cove.  They were seeking information on the eight swords of Virtue and the sword of Chaos.  I have heard nought of these swords in years.  The sword of Chaos was taken from the castle to Blackthorn's Ilshenar fortress, whether it reached him or not I cannot say.



These Covians seemed rather barbaric, threatening my person with violence.  I took them inside and searched the bookcases, eventually finding the Book of Chaos in Lord Blackthorn's private quarters.  I took the liberty of smudging my name from the author section, it could have lead to more awkward questions.

Alas, the Covians were not entirely satisfied, one in particular distrusting the written word, a common affliction with the illiterate.  Whilst the female soldier read the book, the two men - I'm loathe to call the gentlemen - resorted to certain crude methods, threatening to throw me off the balcony.  I told them what little I knew of the sword's last know whereabouts and a little history of the swords in general.  They let slip that one of the swords has already been found. 



They were still disatisfied with this and insisted most brusquely on taking me with them to Cove.  With a long and unpleasant trip looming ominously ahead, I offered to speed matters along with a Gate.  They reluctantly accepted and escorted me back to Cove where they locked me up in a dungeon. 

It looks like I must suffer a deplorable lack of comfort in this dank cell, but if it leads me to gaining possession of the swords, it may well prove worth it.  Now I must bide my time.

[Garak Nightchill]

The Nine Swords

By Carrick Freeman

The Fall of Mondain and the Shattering of the world still lingered in the minds of the people.  The great evil was gone but Lord British, the King of Britannia, needed something to give the people focus, a goal to strive for.  He gave them the Eight Virtues.

Not content with spreading the Virtues across the land, he ordered the construction of eight shrines, one for each Virtue.  Many of his courtiers dedicated their lives to the virtues and one such group strove to take it even further.  A sage of Lord British's Court, Redren Mallor, was sent out to locate a paragon of each Virtue, a man or woman who particularly embodied one such virtue.  It took him a year, chasing rumours and tales, but eventually he located eight such people and wrote a short tome on each of them and their suitability.  These people were diverse indeed;  A humble shepherd, a smith who sacrificed a warrior's life of valour to run his family's trade, a paladin imprisoned for holding to his honour above even the law, oathsworn to a lord who turned out evil.   

Redren Mallor, Canton de Guise and the eight Paragons met in the frontier town of Minoc.  Once there eight swords were forged and each one imbued with the blood of a Paragon and sealed with to that paragon's Virtue with spells of binding.  The swords were then placed in the care of that Paragon with the intention of each sword one day being sanctified at the Shrines that were being constructed.  Individually each sword was no more than a sharp piece of metal.  But once sanctified, and brought together, they would embody the power of the Virtues.   

But not all agreed with Lord British and his Virtues.  Indeed, his old friend Lord Blackthorn opposed him in this endeavour.  Not content with opposing the eight shrines with his own Chaos shrine, he sought to oppose the eight swords too.  And thus a ninth sword was constructed.  Over time the swords became forgotten, either lost in battle or left to gather dust in an armoury.  The swords were, in truth, a folly.  Had they been sanctified then much good might have come about, but instead they remained open to corruption.  And one such sword fell victim to this fate.

Lord Blackthorn, perhaps through jealousy or greed, fell from grace.  His philosophy of Chaos had proved an ideal foil against the threat of Order becoming totalitarion, despite the skirmishes between the Order and Chaos guards.  But Lord British vanished and Lord Blackthorn began to feel he should be King.  And one such being offered him the chance.  Exodus.  This mysterious entity corrupted Blackthorn with the promise of power.  Just as his spirit was corrupted with greed, his flesh was corrupted with vile machinery.  The abomination that arose from the mangled limbs of a man had betrayed his own goal.  Instead of promoting freedom through Chaos, he now sought to use Chaos to replace Lord British's Order with his own.  The Sword of Chaos, linked to Blackthorn, turned black in that instant, corrupted.  One of the Chaos Guards who travelled to Ilshenar to become of the Chaos Dragoons took the sword with him.  Whether it reached it's master is unknown.  When Blackthorn was eventually slain the sword was not on his body.

The threat presented by Blackthorn's sword is now clear to us.  With one or two possible exceptions the Virtue Paragons are dead and thus cannot refute their Virtue, which would corrupt their sword likewise.  But with the Sword of Chaos in their possession, a nefarious individual or group could ruin any of the unsanctified swords of Virtue.  It is theorised that such a sword could be corrupted simply by taking it to the Chaos Shrine with the Chaos sword and uttering the relevant virtue's mantra backwards.  With all nine swords scattered, the threat of all swords becoming corrupt is faint indeed.  Should a majority of the swords become corrupt then the consequences could be dire indeed.  Should a majority of the swords be sanctified then the threat will hopefully be nullified. 

[Garak Nightchill]

*In the possession of Mela Arkay, having not been handed in to the Church at time of posting and thus unknown to them*

The Book of Chaos

By *Smudged*

Lord Blackthorn rose to prominence during the early years of Lord British's reign.  His closest friend and confidante, the two spent many evenings playing chess and discussing the well-being of the realm.  The two did not always agree, British often placing more importance on the society whereas Blackthorn was more concerned with the freedom of the individual.  This was oft a source of conflict between them but both recognised in the other a dedication to the realm and so the friendship endured.

It was around the time that Lord British announced his code of Virtues that the friendship became strained.  I know little of this estrangement but what I do know is that Lord Blackthorn had many grave concerns over how these virtues might interfere with the freedoms and choices of the individual.  As he was fond of saying, even pawns have lives and loves at home.  He posed many a hypothetical question, such as, what if these shrines of the Virtues Lord British ordered built were to risk the existance of the world.  In his tome "A Politic Call to Anarchy", Lord Blackthorn clearly shows his genuine concerns over these shrines.

Despite their differences, the two men retained great respect for each other and oft lamented the strain placed on their friendship.  There was great conflict in Lord Blackthorn;  On one hand he had the friendship of the King, much influence and clearly this would increase if he supported Lord British's Virtues and notion of Order.  But he perceived some great threat to the world in Lord British's actions, and in his heart he knew that Order should not stiffle the freedoms of the people.  And so he chose the wondrous and terrible freedoms of Chaos over the stifling bonds of Order.

He ordered the construction of a Shrine of Chaos to stand as balance against the eight shrines of Order.