Solo The Parts of a Sword

[Alija]

She had made gifts for every Celestial, but Uphis. It wouldn't do to thank all but him - surely that was unfair. Alija smiled, deciding she would make something for him too. More for herself, but what did it matter? She wanted to practice blacksmithing and he would get something out of it. Besides, he wouldn't know a thing.

Of course, she didn't know what to make. The first thing that came to mind was a blade, because that was what he was known for, but Alija had no experience in that. She was a blacksmith, not a weaponsmith, as she told so many people. Her problem was that she had no other ideas. All she could think of doing was make a sword.

In the end, she gave up, deciding to do that. It wouldn't hurt to try. An idea sparked in her mind, bringing a smile. She wasn't experienced at making weapons, but what she could do was an ornate sword guard, something beautiful and decorative to top the sword - no, not top, but to be the defining feature. An ornamental blade, but a beautiful one. Smiling as she entered the store room, Alija looked around for some suitable metal.

Her eyes relaxed, softening and letting djed pool to them. It seemed like a long time since she had last done this, and the magic came quickly, almost eager to be used. She reached out, focusing on several pieces of steel, concentrating hard on each one as the magic brought their auras into sight. None were large, but as she focused, they came into view more, clearer. The foggy nature shifted to a clear view and the stronger, more suitable steels revealed themselves.

Alija took the steel that had the clearest aura, as the others had faint touches of other things in them. Carefully, she pushed the djed away, returning to normal vision. A few moments, to regain her breath and her strength, then she was back to the job at hand.

Moving over to the fire, the smith worked at it for a little while, pumping at the bellows. Once the fire was hot enough, she buried the steel in the coals, letting it heat. Her eyes tingled, Alija finding herself summoning djed to them instinctively. She wanted to use the magic so much. Fighting it, Alija tried to focus on the smithing, not letting herself give in to the magic. She had to have control - she knew the dangers.

[Alija]

Once it reached a white-red heat, Alija took the lump of metal out, drawing it out simply to elongate it at the beginning. She pounded at the metal, watching it take shape as sparks of red and grey flitted off it, dancing through the darkness of the forge. It was night, or so it seemed, no sunlight pooling in through the open door. No Thegans either, nor Kial, running around the shop or making themselves busy.

Alija gripped the hammer tight, accomplishing the desired shape with lots of work and patience, hammering deep into the night. Once it had been drawn out enough, Alija began to shape it, transforming it from a long thin strip to an actual sword shape. This part of it was all basically blacksmithing. She could draw things out easily and shape them, upsetting and shrinking dimensions to make it longer and thinner.

Each blow was directed well, meeting its mark with a resounding clang and a spark of metal. Behind her, the fire glowed warmly, spreading strange shadows across the forge floor of her holding her hammer. Alija wiped her brow, bringing her hammer down again. It missed, striking the anvil face with a much deeper sound. She let out a grunt, placing the hammer down slowly. The chime she started hitting the wrong place, she had to take a break.

Returning the next morning, after a nice warm bath and good meal and solid sleep, Alija went straight back to the forge, getting the fire to a good heat and taking the metal again. Leaving it cool like she had couldn't have been good, but by the time it had come to last night, she had been too tired to think about it properly.

Continuing her work, she found the metal a little more brittle than before and cursed silently under her breath. Why had she been so stupid as to do that?

She drew out one end to make a tang, making this section thinner than the rest by upsetting the metal then drawing it out into the blade part of the sword. Once the tang was done, she tried to make a sword shape, drawing the metal out in a point. It worked, kinda. Alija sighed, wishing she had more practice.

[Alija]

Mainly drawing the blade out, she worked on the shape, still not satisfied. "Oi, Thegans!" she called out, getting her friend to come running down. He simply looked at it, understanding what she wanted.

"Make it pointier," he sighed, Alija nodding. She brought the metal up, drawing it to make it longer rather than fatter. As he had said, it made a nicer shape and Alija smiled, almost happy. Except now she had to make a semi-edge. Working on it, she tried to draw and upset the metal to make it taper at one side. She had done this so many times, she should have been able to do it. But something about it being a sword made the whole thing a lot harder.

Finally satisfied with the edge, she quenched the blade in cold water, but took it out quickly and let it cool and harden slowly, giving it flexibility. Then, she took the guard, heating it and slitting it with a chisel to make a hole, which she hammered out to make larger. She then prepared it for welding, cleaning the blade with flux as well. Slipping the guard on, she brought it into the flames, hoping it would work.

The metal grew warmer, changing colour, and Alija stared at it, waiting for the metal to turn the right shade. Not that she could see much, but still. Eventually, she brought it out, hammering the two pieces tighter together. Now, she wanted to actually shape the guard and make it look nicer.

She drew it out a little, then decided to draw it out a lot, making it long and thin. With the hammer firm in her hand, she drew it out more, rotating the blade to make the guard long and thin. She tapered it towards the end, making it end at a point. Then, she took a chisel, working on engraving small notches into the metal. It formed small lump, and as Alija took a pair of tongs, wrapping the guard into a spiral, it began to resemble ram's horns.

Then, using a smaller hammer, she drew out the middle of the guard, making a small lump stick out. Again taking the chisel, she marked out a leaf, an oak leaf, the distinct shape taking form. She took the hammer and flattened it, then, with some tongs, grabbed the end of the flatten part that stuck out and curled it round, adding a three dimensional effect. Satisfied with the guard, she moved on to the next part of the sword.

[Alija]

The actually hand grip was next. Alija decided to go with a piece of wood, hurrying to find a suitable piece. There was one wooden handle out of a collection she used for her work that stood out, somewhat nicer than the rest. That was the one she wanted. Alija took it, sanding it a little to make it smoother, before sliding it on, satisfied with the fit. Finding a strip of leather in her store room, she began to bind it around, winding it tightly. The effect wasn't one of a professional swordsmith's, but she liked it all the same. She took a needle and thread, holding it up to the light as she struggled to thread it. Eventually, she managed to slip it through, tying a knot on the other end. She jabbed it through the leather, working her way through, and began to secure them together tightly.

Once she had done that was left was pommel and to finish the sword off, of course. This was the most important part, so Alija took a good chunk of steel, holding it in the forge to heat up to the cherry red colour she loved to see. She had initally planned to make a ram, but now she decided to make it more into a rammed figure instead, like those creatures that came from the sea and had fallen from the sky. Ethaefal. A long beard, a furious face, that could work too, just as well, if not better.

Alija did the same process with the ram's horns, drawing out two long points before marking on notches for the notches on the horns, She curled them round, then realised how stupid it had been to start from there. Trying to keep that work as nice as she could, Alija began to punch a hole, making it deep enough for the tang to fit. She tried slotting it in and met resistance. Using a file and the punch, she slowly worked away at it until it eventually could fit. She planned to weld it, but not quite yet.

The smith worked on fixing up the horns, shaping them very delicately with a chisel. Then, she began to delicately shape the face, first with a rough hammer then with more delicate chiselling, resting the chisel along the side of the face and knocking it lightly, refining the shape.

[Alija]

Alija slowly refined all the details, marking off the curls of the beard and delicate eyes. She rested the chisel on the desire spot, hitting it slightly from the side to make the chisel at an angle. Two beady eyes poked out and she smiled, marking out a slight curve above them. She hammered tiny lines at a time to make the curve as smooth as possible, smiling with the result.

Using a similar process, she added a mouth and nose, then decided to chisel a few faint lines trailing around the eyes, making a wiser look. Ethaefal were wise, weren't they? Finally, she added in a small crown of sorts, hammering at the chisel hardest here to make it very refined. Happy with her work, all she had left to do was weld it together and sharpen the blade.

Alija heated the tang and the pommel, making sure only to heat the part she wanted welding. Both were shaped and cleaned, then brought together in the heat of the flames, Alija frowning with concentration as she forced them together. She left the weld to cool, moving upstairs to find her father. He knew how to sharpen a sword, and so did Thegans, but the latter was out, doing something or other. He was happy to provide some help.

She took a grinder, working at the blade to make it sharper. Her father let her work upstairs, showing her how it was done and doing some of the work for her. They ground the blade until there was an edge on it, then polished it until it was shiny. The blade itself wasn't the best quality, and she doubted it could stand up in a real fight, but that wasn't why she had made it.

It was the hilt that she cared about, the beautifully crafted Ethaefal and ram's horns and decoration. It was a show blade, about all she could make. But it was beautiful and Alija hoped that she wasn't the only one that thought so.

Whatever Uphis thought of it, hopefully he would get the message. She wanted to show her respect to him, and that was what was important. Besides, it had been fun to make. Alija had enjoyed the challenge.

]

[Elysium]

v i c t o r y i s y o u r s

 

Alija

Skills

• Weaponsmithing +2
• Blacksmithing +1
• Auristics +1
• Carving +1
• Endurance +1

Lores

• Weapon: Ceremonial Blade
• Endurance: How to Practice Self-Control
• Blacksmithing: Using your Striker for Reference
• Weaponsmithing: How to Sharpen a Blade

Notes: I would have liked to award more points for this but there were a few things I feel might need to be addressed. This way so you can net more points in the future!

First, now that you're at expert with your auristics, you'll need to start going into more detail about what Alijah sees and how she uses it to her advantage. Rather than say she simply selected the steel most pure, you coul have gone into detail about the different auras of iron and carbon, the ratios and what impurities look like. Even if you've done it in the past, the devil is in the details. More on that in the next paragraph.

Even masters need a reference when doing things they've never done before. A master blacksmith might have an advantage in many ways, but they're still a novice when it comes to weaponsmithing and this is a stat based game. It was definitely a nice touch, having her be tired and make a mistake, but there was a huge margin of error in making a sword given that it was her very first time, given that she wasn't using a reference whatsoever and that she was making it from scratch. This is why I didn't give her the lore on how to make one; I'm not sure she earned it, unfortunately.

In the end, if you'd gotten a blueprint, gone into more detail about what kind of sword specifically, how it was weighted properly and the specific process behind how she deduced how to carve an ethaefal so perfectly while still being a novice at carving, I would have given you a boat load of lore and lots of points! These are just things to keep in mind for the future.

Still, making a gift for Uphis is a great idea. I'd love it if you wanted to make a plot out of presenting your gifts to the Alvina. I could run with this.

Please enjoy! If you have any questions, comments or concerns, don't hesitate to send me a message.