MATTHEW 10:34

 For GLOGTOBER Challenge 2, created by the esteemed Locheil Nothic's Eye. The prompt: A small, local God. Well, just small, in this case. What are you going to do, kill me?

Special thanks to Archon's Court for his advice.

Behold! Look upon the blade of the heavens; is it not the sword of the Thunder Over the Mountains itself, cast down in fire to kill our enemies in this time of strife? Did it not streak down from the sky, burning with such heat that it landed raw and unshaped, taking the form of a sword before our very eyes? It is a God in its own right, and a wrathful one, too- but in the darkest of days, there is NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED.

FALLING THROUGH STARS FOREVER LANDING IN THE HEART AND EYE OF THE ENEMY
I AM THAT I AM. I AM THAT I WILL BE. I AM THAT I WAS CHOSEN TO BE. FALLING THROUGH STARS I LANDED IN THEIR WAITING EYES.

NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED is Its name. No man could ever wield It- not only because It is the size of a whale and hot enough to blister skin at ten paces, but because It is absolutely worthless as a weapon. On closer inspection, It's no sharper than a shovel, and poorly-balanced; this is an image of an arming sword, a sculpture wrought crudely in burning star-metal, as divorced from the real thing as Gods are from people. It soars in an orbit around the world, leaving a long, burning trail in Its wake like a wound, and when It deigns to stop and speak, Its voice vibrates like a ship-sized tuning fork, warbling and humming in the inner ear and chest cavity. THERE SHALL BE MUCH BLOODSHED IN THE DAYS TO COME, It says, MAKE THE BLOOD OF THE HATED MINE.

Its name is one of six words, twice as many as is traditional, for It is the most powerful sword in the world. Among all of the legendary named weapons of the world, only NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED can bestow miracles.

Those few who follow It, and who have taken Its Blade Communion, have a name:

GLOG CLASS: HEAVEN BLADE DISCIPLE

+1 to hit with swords on odd-numbered Templates, and +1 damage with swords on even-numbered ones.

A: Blade Communion, +2 Miracles, +1 MD

B: From Hell's Heart, +1 Miracle, +1 MD


This is a Half-Class. If you want more than two templates, maybe you should worship a more powerful God or start proselytizing. The world's already full of psychopaths with unhealthy relationships with their weapons; you may as well make a flock of them. Or, perhaps, sacrifice a number of very powerful named swords to your God.


Starting Skills (1D3): 1. Bladesmith. 2. Barber-Surgeon. 3. Disgraced Squire.


Starting Equipment: A medium sword, two light daggers, a sick tattoo of a sword over your eye, and a playing card--the King of Hearts, the Suicide King--with the eyes poked through by a needle and the back painted over with your personal mantra.


Blade Communion: No God gives power without a price, and NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED is no exception. You have swallowed a shard of metal from a broken blade, and instead of agonizingly passing through you, it's migrated to some place just behind your sternum in a process that is only slightly less painful. If you ever remove the blade shard, you lose access to your MD and Miracles until you swallow it again, which inflicts 1D6 damage and hurts like a son of a bitch. Any time you...

  • Fail to take revenge on somebody who has wronged you. It doesn't have to be murder, but it has to hurt.

  • Fail to observe NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED when it blazes through the sky on the first night of every month, visible through even the heaviest clouds.

  • Wield any weapon but a sword.

Take 1D4 damage as the shard of metal in your chest twists in your flesh. Ouch.


However, you...

  • Know the name of any magic sword you touch, and have a vague idea of its properties.

  • With a few seconds of eye contact, can tell if somebody hates somebody that you hate. 

  • Reroll any dice that land on 1 when rolling damage for swords. You can get the best out of them.

From Hell's Heart: I stab at thee. In melee, if you are struck by a critical hit, take half of your current HP as damage from a single attack, or are reduced to 0 HP, you may immediately make an attack against your attacker with a +[Templates] bonus to hit and damage.


Miracles:

You get Ironskin and one other miracle off of the table at Template A, rolled on a D4. At Template B, gain another, this time rolling a D6. More miracles can be gained by offering named swords to NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED when it makes its monthly orbit, or from seeking the guidance of your fellow Heaven Blade Disciples. Hell, sometimes you can even find them written in the scarred innards of powerful enemies that you have slain by yourself.


  1. Ironskin

R: Touch. T: A creature. D: [Sum] minutes.

Lend the strength of a blade to weak meat. Target gains [Dice] DR for the miracle's duration, bits of their flesh merely chipping away in place of more grievous wounds.


  1. Pinning Stare

R: Sight. T: A creature. D: [Dice] rounds.

Nail them to the floor with your gaze. Target must Save or be unable to remove their feet from the ground, or have their movement speed halved if the Save is passed. Flying targets will begin to fall on a failed Save, although those that levitate naturally automatically pass and only suffer the halved speed.


  1. Razor Cloud

R: Yourself. T: A [Lowest]×5' radius around yourself. D: [Sum] rounds.

Make the sharp within the sharp without. Anybody caught in the target area, excluding the caster, takes [Dice] damage per round for the miracle's duration as small, invisible razor blades bite at them like insects, carving little eye-marks in their skin.


  1. Blindness

R: Sight. T: A creature with eyes. D: [Sum] rounds.

Cloud their vision with blood and pain. Target takes [Dice] damage as their eyes bleed profusely, and must Save or be unable to tell friend from foe for the miracle's duration. Targets slain by this spell have their eyeballs bisected in their sockets as if by a blade's keen edge.


  1. Excision

R: Touch. T: A creature. D: Instant.

Cut away the sickness, the madness, the unholy. With a blade, inflict 1 point of damage to the target. The target gets to make an immediate Save against any ongoing effects afflicting them, such as diseases, poisons, curses, possession, or other Save-necessitating maladies, with a [Dice]+1 bonus to the roll.


  1. Haruspicy

R: Touch. T: A creature you have just killed with a sword. D: Instant.

Through a lense of blood, see what is written in the stars: more blood. Ask a question relating to swords, revenge, hatred, violence, or the stars, and invest a number of [Dice] less than or equal to the target's HD. Receive an accurate answer of [Dice] words from a harsh, buzzing voice somewhere behind your sternum.


  1. NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED

R: Sight. T: A [Dice]×10' line. D: Instant.

The Blade of Heaven pays a visit. For a fleeting instant NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED Itself appears, cutting through the target area with Its red-hot, pearlescent edge. It cleaves through flesh, stone, and metal effortlessly, no matter how dull It may appear; the sharpness of NO LOVE BUT A SHARED HATRED is not a physical one. Anything caught in the target area takes [Sum]+[Dice] damage, no Save. This miracle is only gained if the Blade of Heaven Itself grants it, usually in exchange for a great task; kill a powerful enemy, raise a successful church or monastery, or sacrifice a particularly mighty named sword in its name.

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