The Hundred: Khorduniak

It is hard to say what differentiates this weapon from any of the other broadswords in a well-stocked armoury. But there are those who are attuned by nature to the odd aura that it radiates; to those who are so attuned, this blade is discomfiting indeed. Out of the corner of your attuned eye, you will see a battleaxe — a traditional labrys, double-bladed, four feet from edge to edge, with superb finishing in blue and green steel. Yet, it is obviously a broadsword.

The blade Khorduniak is the crafted dream of Khairin, the Swordhand of Ystrond. Not one for traditional crafts, this dwarven master was said to have indulged in swordcraft, oenophilia, and balladry. In her early years, Khairin was sought by the Silver Elves for her exquisite and extremely lethal mechanisms. (Sadly for those most suicide-prone of immortals, they were never lethal enough, although some went close.)

Khairin was also a master alchemist and a panoptikon, in the parlance of the Metapsychic Guild. As only a dwarven craftsman could, she wove these peculiar skills into the making of her life's work. Khorduniak seeks out the five most potent dooms of the mind it faces, and then it attacks in five correlated ways through physical as well as psychic reality, taking on a form appropriate for each attack.

Somehow, it always appears to be a beautiful axe when not looked at directly, but dwarves will never see it as such no matter how they suspect it to be one. The rest of the time, it is obviously a sword, and it works hard to remain that way. Khairin too had to work hard to be a dwarf — for at heart, she was an elf.