Ghyll:Horreld blade

Horreld blade

To most modern Ghyllians, the name is synonymous with the legendary Avazian heroine, Busco. It is written that Busco wielded a huge sword known as the Horreld Blade. This weapon was said to have been immune to the magnetic effects of the Justice Device, but as with many fabled Avazian artifacts its construction is never disclosed. Artwork featuring Busco depicts the blade variously as a crudely worked tree branch (in Alarius' “Defender”), a glowing yellow blade (generally in pieces from the Dreamy period), or as a long, curved metal sword typical of Harandraffian times.

In fact, the archetypal swords of the [[King Harandraff the Great|Harandraffian] period were known as horreld blades. This meaning became prevalent in the lexicon of the time and the Avazian legend was all but forgotten.

The single-edged Harandraffian swords were of triangular cross-section. They were very long (between and 50 and 58 inches long including the hilt), and curved with a radius of approximately 25 inches. These swords were popularized by Eixis Anos and her authoritative publication Quarters of Horreld Fencing.

As the use of metal armour increased in more modern times, the horreld blade's effectiveness on the battlefield was diminished. Standard sword designs morphed into the shorter, double-edged straight weapons, such as those used by Swordwielders in the Tarkherk Corps.

On the topic of the Corps, after Commandant Elder's embarrassing incident at the Battle of Umbo Moor, he went on record to say that his “White Lady” had carried a “great big shiny golden sword”, rather reminiscent of the Dreamy portrayal of the original Horreld Blade.

The noble art of horreld fencing was dropped from the tri-annual Dagger games in -33 EC, relegated due to the addition of more easily digested, spurious “sports” like hoopkah