I won a contest with this. The theme was Magic Sword. Contestants had to write a story about the origin of the sword as well as make a computer graphics picture.

Click on the picture to see it full size.

Here is how I made the picture and the story I wrote …

This is the Sword of Tyrants. Its magical powers turn vices and weaknesses against people to give the tyrant who wields it power over them.

The sword is made of several parts.

Here are the alchemical symbols I put on the blade.

I used trueSpace 7.6 for most of my pictures and this one. I have some new graphics software now including Messiah Studio 5, Bryce, Daz Studio, and Hexagon. All from free or super cheap deals. I used Hexagon’s UV mapper to fit the glyph image to the blade.

… and here is the story.

The
Sword of Tyrants

Kropark was a magician. He made enchanted objects and was very good at that. One of the best. Soldiers of king Ukjag were at his house when he returned. His family was not.

Ukjag ruled the neighboring kingdom and had defeated Kropark’s previous king and added the land to his realm. Kropark didn’t like kings at all but now he stood before Ukjag and wondered if he would be better or worse. Ukjag said that Kropark would be rewarded if he worked on a magical sword. Then he took Kropark to his family and showed him the luxurious palace rooms they would have and told of the riches that he would be paid. Then he took Kropark to the dungeon where some townspeople were used to demonstrate what would happen to his wife and children if he refused.

So Kropark worked on the Sword of Kings. He enchanted gems that would influence everyone within hundreds of leagues of the sword except its wielder and those told of a special charm to say. The gems would reflect the spirits and powers of vices and virtues and of strength and weakness. The gems would activate in pairs and Ukjag would test the people by giving them a choice. If they followed the good influences they would be rewarded. If not … Kropark made the gems of vice and weakness. Then he lived for some time in the luxurious rooms with his family. He thought the rare things needed to enchant the gems of virtue and strength were being gathered but then he was called to see the making of the blade and its joining with the rest.

Not magicians. Sorcerers. In league with darkness so long that now they were more demon than man. They did not fear Ukjag. They did not treat him like a king. Kropark saw the outline of a blade amid symbols and heard the sorcerers incantations and saw their urn. They poured blood from the urn. The blood of child. All the blood of a child. It took the shape of a blade in the outline. The sorcerers invited one of their masters. Kropark could not see it but he knew it was there. A demon. It entered the blade willingly, eagerly, and the blade turned to metal. There was one gem left to make and Ukjag told Kropark to finish the sword. Now Kropark knew he had been deceived. This was not the Sword of Kings. It was the Sword of Tyrants.

Kropark pretended to work to give the final gem a vice power but instead he prepared something to work against the sword’s powers. When the last gem was almost finished he went to his family. He had a bead, ages old, that would make a wish come true, once. Its power was not limitless but it was enough to send his family to a far away land and ensure that Ukjag would never find them. Then he returned to the sword to finish the last gem. He must make it more powerful than reflections of spirits. More powerful than a demon.

He added a ruby to the sword. If a tyrant uses the powers of the sword to rule then the ruby encourages rebellion with equal power. Now the soul of Kropark resides in the Ruby of Rebellion until all men are free.