[✗] [Invention] Xyve

[The King Of The Moon 7016]

Xyve

The Sacred Tooth of the Stilt Strider

Singular: xyve

Plural: xyvezh

“Zob uhv’laht xyve oghu zy kazo.

Yyrel vex!”

-A dark elven duelist, embracing the challenge of ritual combat.

 

Origin

 

The Stilt Strider is timid by nature. Its gangly form, though armoured in chitin and blessed with immense size and strength, is not that of an agile hunter. Such has been well documented by the many cultures which have tamed these beasts and made them into mounts and shelters; despite its immensity, the Stilt Strider much prefers to be fed by its riders than to seek out its own meals. 

 

However, that is not to say the Stilt Strider is incapable of fending for itself. In the wild, Stilt Striders have been observed to curiously ‘invite’ the likes of wild hogs into their mouths, which have inexplicably been subdued without much struggle beyond first contact. To the superstitious Maehr people, this was an act of sacred providence. The truth, however, lies in the unique venom of the creature.

 

Beneath a Stilt Stiders mouth rest two mandibles of layered wafers of keratin. These layers secrete a potent, clear and odourless venom which is sprayed as a mist in the face of its prey as well as injected in bites. In less cunning beasts, this venom is intoxicating, to the point where many animals will willingly march into a Stilt Strider’s maw.

 

These pincers usually deteriorate in a manner of days following a Stilt Strider’s death, as well as if broken off of a living Stilt Strider’s jaw. Essential to their survival in the wild, these mandibles will naturally regrow on a surviving Stilt Strider within four years. Curiously though, when saturated with sufficient blood the thin keratin plates will coagulate and bond together into a lasting, solid yet fragile tool akin to a wooden knife.

 

In higher creatures like descendants, the venom in a Stilt Strider’s mist is negligible and ineffective. However when injected into their blood, descendants are subject to a milder dose of the venom’s intoxicating effect, becoming covetous and reverent of the specific pincer by which they were poisoned.

 

In many cultures that feature domesticated Stilt Striders, such as that of the superstitious Maehr diaspora, this has led to the interpretation that knives hewn from Stilt Strider mandibles and ritualistically bathed in the blood - called a ‘xyve’ - are in some way sacred extensions of the wielder’s soul, to be carried and treasured at all times. 

 

 

Harvesting and Creation

 

A xyve is created by harvesting one of a Stilt Strider’s pincers and submerging it in blood within [3] OOC days of extraction from a living Stilt Strider, or a Stilt Strider’s death (whichever came first). 

 

The process of blood-quenching causes the layers of keratin to shrink together and solidify into a black dagger, which will last indefinitely. If the treatment is not done in time, the wafer-thin layers of keratin will rapidly deteriorate and crumble to dust, suitable only for use as a mild incense thereafter. 

 

Stilt Striders have [2] mandibles total, and each will take up to [4] OOC weeks to regenerate if removed, during which time the Stilt Strider must be kept sustained. 

 

• Only [2] xyvezh can be harvested and crafted per Stilt Strider per OOC month.
• A xyve item must be player-signed by its creator, and must also detail who (if anyone) is subjected to its Bond effect.
• Knowledge of xyve creation is not gated and may be discovered by any character through experimentation with Stilt Strider chitin.

 

Properties

 

Appearance

Blades made from the mandibles of a Stilt Strider, known as xyvezh, are strange in appearance. Ranging in hues of grey, black and red, these daggers are dried organic matter and lack the intentional design motifs of most man-made blades. The outward texture of a xyve is akin to damascus steel thanks to the innumerable layers of papery chitin which have been melded together in its creation, though its composition is dull and visually closer to bone or chitin than any sort of metal.

 

These daggers are always mostly straight, thin and pointed with fine double edges, like a flattened knitting needle, and are often marred with imperfections wrought by the Stilt Strider’s diet and experiences, making no two identical. A xyve is limited by the size of the pincer from which it was made, capping at no longer than 13 inches, inclusive of its handle.

 

Sharpness and Durability

A xyve is formed from countless layers of extremely thin keratin, preserved by dried blood. Thus, a xyve is far more fragile than most stone or metallic knives and is more akin to willow wood in its hardness and flexibility. This limitation makes xyvezh far too malleable to mount as effective spear or arrowheads or to any sort of handle besides a simple fabric wrapping. Crossguards or pommels affixed to a xyve would inevitably become dislodged as it bends and attempts to secure them with nails or screws would cause its layers to split and fragment, though the xyve itself could be filed down for comfort or carved for decoration and still remain functional.

 

Like the claws of a cat, the many layers of a xyve are each roughly ⅕ the width of paper, resulting in a surgical outermost layer, more than capable of rending softer materials like skin and flesh with ease. With successive use, the exposed hems of these layers will splinter and flake away, giving way to the next thin layer without need for sharpening. However, the flexibility of the xyve as a whole makes it unwieldy and incapable of damaging harder materials without immense precision.

 

Without augmentation, a xyve will simply bend toward the path of least resistance, struggling to with piercing even Light Armour, which would bend the tips and eventual whole thrusts from a xyve off course. The edges of a xyve could conceivably slash through Light Armour, though this would require [3] successful slashes to the same spot.

 

• During combat, a xyve is incapable of stabbing through Light Armour, and would require [3] successful slashes to the same spot in order to cut through Light Armour, bone or wood. Whilst a xyve could be carefully handled to cut through most non-metallic materials, the precision required to do so is not possible during combat.

 

Augmentation

Made from mundane Stilt Strider pincers and blood, a xyve has no inherent magical properties and may be enchanted or alchemically treated like any other material.

 

The flexibility and relative softness of a xyve, coupled with its strange organic sharpness - retained not as the sharpened edge of a single object but rather the result of innumerable competing layers of keratin - makes it uniquely compatible with oscillit manipulation, provided the xyve has not been alchemically or magically augmented already.

 

Core applications of resonance such as Condensing, Hardening and Friction (and their Aggressive ranges during combat) may be channelled into a xyve. Further, simply carrying a xyve would not disrupt the aggressive ranges of the Moon and Sun paths, however a xyve’s complex makeup renders it incapable of channelling the energies produced by the abilities of these schools.

 

• Only Core Abilities of Kani can be applied to a xyve. Though an oscilit may still use abilities from the Sun and Moon Paths whilst carrying one, they cannot be cast through the xyve itself. For example, Condensing and Hardening could be used on a xyve to make it rigid enough to pierce Light Armour like an ordinary dagger, or Friction could be used to improve an oscilit’s grip on their xyve. However, a Sun Path oscilit could not use Delayed Inertia or Penetrative Inertia to alter strikes made with their xyve in any way (though they could still use these abilities as normal whilst carrying it).
  • This compatibility is nullified by any incompatible alchemical or magical augmentation or enchantment made to the xyve.

 

Bond

If a Stilt Strider’s mandible sheds the blood of a descendant in the creation of a xyve, its residual venom will enter their bloodstream and leave a lasting impression. For as long as it exists, the character in question will become addicted to the trace pheromones clinging to the weapon, seeking to always keep it close and taking great pride - if not spiritual reverence - in their possession of it. Because of this, a poisoned descendant can always recognise a xyve that was theirs when standing within [6] blocks of it. If separated from the xyve, characters will fall into a deep melancholy as they battle with withdrawal symptoms from the Stilt Strider venom, which subside after [2] OOC weeks.

 

If the xyve was quenched in blood already let or poured onto the pincer in its creation (meaning it did not break the skin), then its venom would be nullified and no character would be subject to the Bond effect.

 

• Only [1] character can be bonded to [1] xyve at a time. A Stilt Strider mandible will quickly eject all of its venom into the first person whose skin it breaks, meaning the Bonding effect will not be applied to any characters subsequently cut by the xyve. Bonded characters develop an immunity to the venom of other Stilt Strider pincers (even those from the same Stilt Strider) for as long as they carry the xyve without breaks of [2] OOC weeks or longer.
• Characters may only identify the xyve they are bonded to if they are already aware of its presence (e.g. by seeing it or already knowing it is being carried by someone). 
  • Bond does not allow characters to supernaturally locate their xyve nor react to incoming strikes from it.

[StingyParrot 1595]

[Tentoa 3160]

Oh based, Stilt Strider relevance 

[Pallodium 3775]

This lore has been denied.

 

This piece, being a psuedo-material that attempts to pass off as an invention, isn't something that we're really inclined towards accepting in the forseeable future. Feel free to make a cultural post about using Stilt Strider fangs through the already-approved Chitin piece, though sadly we won't be considering this for a lore submission.