OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Personal weapon for Kaida.
Image Source: Here.
Canon Link: N/A.
Primary Source: Force Imbued Blade, To Hell and Back.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Kaida Taldir.
Affiliation: Kaida Taldir.
Model: N/A.
Modularity: No.
Production: Unique
Material: Force Imbued Durasteel, Tikulini leather, Quadranium-Ostrine, edge.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Classification: Force Imbued Bastard Sword.
Size: Average
Weight: Average
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Standard features of a Force Imbued Sword. It can damage or destroy spirits, apparitions and Force constructs, block blaster fire, resist lightsabres and has greater cutting power than a conventional sword.
- The blade is enchanted with a portion of Kaida's power. It emits an aura that provides protection against mental manipulation, illusion and all manners of psychic attacks for those within its vicinity. It also enhances their coordination and discipline. This comes at a somewhat ironic cost, though.
- Imbued with Kaida's cryomancy, the blade is very cold. Should it strike a foe, it can cause frostbite, siphon heat and slow a target down. Furthermore, it absorbs flames, like a Sith Sword would absorb lightning.
- Ostrine edge that includes a Quadranium enhancement. Due to an Ostrine edge, the blade still emits extreme cold and retains its heart absorption abilities within a ysalamiri field.
- All the standard strengths of a Force Imbued Blade. It has incredible cutting power, can damage or destroy spirits, apparitions and other Force constructs, block blaster bolts and withstands lightsabre strikes.
- The blade has been imbued with Kaida's power. The aura emitted by it steels the minds of allies in close proximity to it. This provides protection psychic attacks and manipulation. Furthermore, it improves their coordination and discipline, allowing them to fight as one.
- It is enchanted with the power of a cryomancer and possesses an Ostrine edge. As a result, the blade can cause frostbite, sap heat, and slow a target should a strike connect. The extreme cold emitted by the weapon powerful enough to cause damage to objects and individuals if it lands a successful strike. Furthermore, it can absorb flames and dissipate the heat.
- The blade's cutting power has been augmented by Force imbuement and the Quadranium edge. This allows for more deeply penetrating injuries as the blade rends flesh and cuts through thick armour.
- Kaidafication. The mental protection is a package deal. Kaida would argue that this feature is a strength, not a weakness. Other individuals might disagree. Regardless, while allies exposed to the sword's aura will benefit from strongly enhanced mental protection and coordination, their minds will also work similar to Kaida's. Side effects include stoicism, laconicism and increased irritability. It has also been observed that prolonged exposure can lead to an inability to use more than one tone of voice, causing the subject to sound cold and dismissive.
- Supernatural qualities are nullified by Force Suppression fields such as those generated by Ysalamiri. Due to an Ostrine edge, the blade still emits cold and retains its heat absorption abilities within a ysalamiri field. However, the other special effects do not apply. In such a situation, it becomes a mundane frosty sword, until the offending lizard has been killed or the wielder has stepped outside the bubble's radius.
- Due to the enchantment, the sword generates a Force aura that can be sensed by other Force-Users unless measures are taken to conceal it.
- The Glacier Blade is a physical blade, and thus typically slower than a lightsabre in a duel. This also applies to deflecting blaster bolts, especially if they are rapid-firing and/or coming from multiple directions. It is harder and slower to move the blade, making it less efficient in that capacity.
- Its ability to absorb heat, while very potent, has its limitations. It can certainly draw away a considerable amount of heat. However, one cannot, for instance, stick the blade into a molten vat and expect it to freeze.
- While impressive its cutting power has its limitations. It is very strong against personal armour but unlike with a lightsabre, it cannot cut through a heavy blast door such as Qui-Gon did, nor can it be used to melt through a solid wall or vehicle plating.
The Glacier Blade is a product of Kaeshana's desolation and the scattering of the Eldorai people. The fate of Kaeshana has not been a kind one. In the old days, it was the homeworld of the Eldorai Matriarchy. Until recently, the Eldorai were convinced that they were the sole form of intelligence life in the Galaxy. Regarding themselves as children of the Great Goddess Ashira, they arrogantly believed they were superior to other races. Because they were a superior race, the Eldorai maintained they did not need innovation or to learn from others. This turned out to be a colossal folly. Slave raids, foreign incursion and the desolation of Kaeshana disproved these notions, revealing them to be tremendous hubris. When the majority of the Eldorai fled from Kaeshana in a huge exodus to escape the planet's destruction, they depended on the support of Firemane, a human corporation. Several Eldorai began to doubt the Goddess, believing she had abandoned her children. Finally, the planet came under the control of the First Order after a devastating battle was fought on its surface.
The end of Kaeshana came to pass as the result of aftershocks of the Netherworld Event. The Netherworld's shockwaves had yet to fully conclude, and so strange and nightmarish things could still occur. Kaeshana was dragged through the Nether, only to be expelled on the other side of the Galaxy. There had been time to evacuate, so any soldiers or civilians in a position to flee would do so. The planet returned seemingly at the same time as it had vanished. But it was in a greatly weathered, aged state, as if a century had passed in the warp. It had been near scoured of life.
The already ruined planet was turned into an inhospitable, tainted tomb world. It became a hellscape. Some Eldorai had not made it off the planet in time and as a result had been trapped in the warp. Many were driven insane. A few scattered groups of survivors managed to band together and survive the wasteland. When the planet emerged from the Nether on the other side of the Galaxy, the Shadow Knights sent a team to investigate. It was led by Kaida Taldir, a former Angelii who had defected to the rebels after growing disllusioned with the ancien régime.
Upon detecting signs of life on the planet, she decided to land and look for survivors. However, a disruption field caused the ship to crash. The Shadow Knights had to contend with ferocious beasts, ghosts and Ashiran cultists driven mad by their confinement. They linked up with bands of surviving Eldorai and Kar'zun who had managed to endure hell. One of them was led by Morwen, an Angelii deserter and Dark Eldorai insurgent Kaida had history with. However, to reach the disruption field, they had to pass through what Yohara, the researcher of the group, described as an anomaly; a curtain of red, a dome of crimson surrounding a darkening void.
The heart of the anomaly was a pure pierc eof Nether energy, which should not exist inside the realspace of this galaxy. Therefore, the Force had formed a barrier around it. However, this in turn had caused an opposing barrier of Force null to form. Thus the barrier was composed of three layers, and the party required the three opposite to penetrate through: A Force-User, a Force Dead being and a Non-Force-User. Kaida went through first, refusing to let a subordinate take her place and put themselves at risk. Thus she penetrated the first layer, using a machine Yohara had built.
She was able to succeed in this task, though her trek was arduous. Power spiralled out like a vortex, with Kaida tt he centre. Her immense Force power strove to take the strain. Kaida transfixed by the power bearing down on her. She was saved by her amnesiac sister Lavina, who regained her memories once she was exposed to the Nether energies. However, both paid a price, for the blast temporarily stripped them of their Force affinity or Sciia, as the Eldorai would call it.
Brak'Vrasz, the Force Dead Kar'zun leader of one party of survivors, penetrated the next layer, and Eyrecae Alzari the one after that. Kaida, still dealing with the after-effects of the blast, found some icy cold metal at the heart of the anomaly. It had been touched by the Nether and thus remained supernaturally cold and sharp. Even though her Sciia had been stripped from her, she could feel its power. Exposure to it triggered a vision of the Nether.
Kaida took the metal with her. Eventually the party was able to the planet and reunite with the Shadow Knight nomad fleet. There, Kaida reconnected with her sister, whom she had believed dead since the Netherworld Event. Once Kaida had recovered her Sciiac powers, she enlisted the help of an alchemist to help her forge a weapon. During her early days with the Angelii, Kaida had wielded a Sarix before switching to a lightsabre after coming into contact with the humans. But this weapon would be something different. Thus the metal she had recovered from the Netherworld was used for a sword. Kaida learned that there was a reason why she had come across the metal. When the Force was ripped from her in the anomaly, part of her power had spilled into the Nether-touched metal. It had absorbed some of her chilliness. She worked with the alchemist to refine and forge it. The blade was sharp and its icy touch could cause frostbite. Moreover, it would absorb fire. The blade does not store the fire or convert it for alternate use. It simply dissipates it.
However, Kaida also observed that ice manifested in the sword in more ways than one. This proved pertinent when she and a group of Shadow Knights did battle against a Bando Gora cult. During the engagement, they faced Bando Gora sorceress, who assaulted the minds of the soldiers with illusions. Some of them succumbed to her dark influence. However, those Shadows closest to her were far better at resisting the mental intrusion, as if a shield was protecting them. It did not convey immunity, but helped them rally their comrades and overcome the dark cultists. The affected soldiers showed far better teamwork and coordination, and she likewise seemed far more in synch with them. It was also observed that the Shadows in question started acting more like her, foregoing superfluous chatter. The effect did not last forever since they had not been exposed for long.
Kaida took note though. The metal seemed to have absorbed her personality as well as some of her power and was projecting it outward. Ice freezes, but it also preserves. When she was afflicted by doubt, she sought solace in it. The Eldorai had endured many calamities, including civil war, loss of their homeworld and foreign invasion. Disunity and strife were pervasive among the elves. While they had suffered greatly at the hands of foreign invaders, in many ways they had been their own worst enemy. Discipline was what was needed. The ice would protect them against doubt, fear and corruption. Kaida is very good at mental defence and Force Meld. Her power gave the weapon an aura that would steel the minds of allies against psychic attacks and improve their coordination. When fear threatened to grip them and their minds were assailed, a metaphorical wall of ice would shield them.
The imbued nature of the blade allows it to withstand lightsabre strikes. Kaida has added an Ostrine edge enhanced by Quadranium. The keenness and strength of the latter enable more deeply penetrating injuries. This increases the likelihood of incapacitating an enemy quickly. The Ostrine edge ensures that it remains a frost blade even while exposed to Force suppression fields. However, it obviously loses its other special effects, such as lightsabre-resistance and mental protection. Then again, one does not need to worry about psychic attacks while in a ysalamiri bubble. Like the Sarix Kaida had been originally trained to use, the Glacier Blade's hilt has a crossguard design and a pommel. The crossguards are not only used to counter enemy attacks, but also to give the wielder a better grip on the sword. Like the blade, the crossguard is made of imbued durasteel. Thus it is possible for the wielder to trap a lightsabre in combat. The metal grip is covered in comfortable leather.
The Glacier Blade has a moderate-length blade that can be used with either one hand or two. The most notable benefit is the ability to use it with another weapon or a shield. From her Angelii training, Kaida is used to holding a battle shield in her off-hand, so this is convenient for her. If she faces blaster fire, she may wield her sword in one hand while using her other to hold a shield. She fights an enemy on the battlefield, she may keep holding the shield in her off-hand in order to block enemy attacks or bash her enemy, or conversely switch to holding her sword with two hands for greater strength and stopping power.
