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The Great Debate: The Fate of the Singing Blade


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Many ages ago... before even the formation of the land of Neighpon. A great chieftain of the Longma who would be known as the Ryuma in time was gifted a great sword by the Long Dragons. A sword of great length that sung when unsheathed, strong enough to cut through most armors, and damage even the ones it could not fully break. In the many clan wars that had gone in in ancient Long Guo this chieftain proved to be a deadly opponent and wise, if occasionally hot headed leader. Towards the end of the many clan skirmishes there was talks of a great imperial dynasty and unification.  The chieftain of this particular clan defied the unification of Long Guo, moving to the nearby lands of Neighpon to carve out a new life for his clan in this land along with Pony species that had settled as well.

 

Here was where the sword gained its name,"Ninhonto no Uta": The Sword of Songs. In neighpon this blade and it's wielder gained a name for itself as it was used in and turned the tide of many battles... the most famous of wars fought with it between caribou clans who sought to take the land from the current inhabitants. The blade demoralized enemy troops, sent commanders packing (sometimes worse). Through the many battles the blade had been reforged several times but with the combined efforts of the Daimyos of that age the caribou menace had been pushed back. Over the ages, The Ninhonto no Uta fell into disuse. In time the species of Neighpon came to see it of their victory over the caribou of Whitescar and a symbol of the land's strength and considered an icon of the country's history: a great artifact.

 

On the day it was set to be delivered to Kyoma to be kept safe in a museum... it did not arrive. The vessel carrying the relic of the country's triumph never arrived in port, and never was found. In the end life went on as usual for the country, with prosperous days ahead.

 

... The story of sword however, did not end. There are records of a caribou vessel taking a certain ship's cargo after a battle. An oversized blade the crew called a "Nodachi" was taken with intent of being sold off by the new holders of the weapon. They did not bother to unsheath it, to a caribou the neighponese nodachi was an inefficient tool, not meant to meet the thick armors of Caribou forged steel. Finding an owner who cared for a weapon such as this was hard when the blade was first being left to hang in a shop in a bazaar. One day a Bull named Helgi, from an obscure eastern clan took an interest and spent some money on the exotic tool, and brought it home to his family. When unsheathed it made his wife and calves giggle in delight at the beautiful songs it sung (and curiously in the caribou's native tongue no less!).

 

The Clan Helgi belonged to were a group of crafts-bou. Helgi himself, was a woodcutter. Their clan made the best of the magical wooden Inlays that all the caribou used and perfected the process of making flying longboats. The trees they carved down were tough, resilient... and had magic absorbing and nullifying properties when treated right. Many of Helgi's days were spent cutting down trees to be used in the process, scavenging for food for his family and one day and fixing their hit to protect them from the harsh cold of the land. A day when he was hard at work with the first option was the day that would mark a great change in his fate.

 

A broken axe: This was how it began. He had only just gotten to the perfect point when the tree would fall down. Just a few more good nicks and it would be set for the next stage of the inlay preparation process. He took up the sword: It had an edge... that was good enough. He lifted the blade up and swung... and was surprised when he saw the sword had cut through not only the tree before him like it wasn't even there, but also the five trees behind it!  He could hardly believe his eyes! This was much more useful than he'd thought! The excited caribou named the sword on the spot. He called her the "skogsröjning sång": The forest clearing song". Helgi kept the properties of the blade secret, he was happy enough making enough coin to give his family the better life they needed. No more cold nights where they needed to nail their furskin "door" shut. No more worrying over if they could have a good life... and for a time Helgi had lived happily. Then came the days of the two faced Chieftain.

 

The chieftain of their eastern clan had changed... their older chieftain having passed under mysterious circumstances left them under the reign of dangerous bull. A warrior with a kind face, but the heart of a lindwurm underneath. Forcing crafters to become soldiers in unwinnable situations in attempts to seize power and territories from other clans. Food levels plummeting and some calves being taken to serve as soldiers away from their parents. For the sake of his family and all the Clan, Helgi challenged the chieftain to a duel for the fate of their clan before he brought them into utter ruin. To the duel, the sweet faced monster brought a great hammer. Helgi on his end held an oversized sword still in its sheath. He applauded the stallion's audacity to bring such a weapon to a fight against an opponent in finer armor such as his. The duel started... and with one swing, and a snippet of a verse of a song it was done. The chieftain Fell and Then rose Helgi, The new chieftain... of the Askr Clan.

 

This is a story of Helgi. One of the oldest heroes of the history of the Askr and his magical singing sword. This blade has been with the Whitescar clan from their earliest days. AS the clan grew the blade would prove to be something they cherished and rarely used... only when situations grew dire. As Askr grew more prosperous, attacks on the hold grew less regular.. but when they came enemies of the clan would come in force. Many of these attacks were repelled on the clan's own strength, but some of the most horrifying siege's required the use of the clan's first  artifact weapon... And always this blade would be used by the best the clan had to offer. The weapon proved to be an excellent trump card against invasions and halted many. Heroes from the rise of the clan rose to the things of legend and would sometimes fall in battle with it in hoof, but always with their enemy having fallen first.  The blade has slain lindwurms and whiteout wolves... and has on occasion disposed of commanders for ages until it's home clan learned the finer points of battle and became the most powerful clan in the east... now it is held safe in the Chieftain's hold and many visiting species from other nations who are brave enough to tour Whitescar have seen this mystical blade. Over the ages and through it's many battles it has been changed, the blade has remained the same but the hilt, the pommel, the grip, it even has a new sheathe...

 

It was on a day that it was unsheathed that a neighponese visitor believed that it was the sword of myth... the Ninhonto no Uta. In the hooves of caribou! Word has spread across whitescar and Neighpon and has reached even neighboring countries of a debate between the chieftain of the clan holding the blade and none other than the shogun of Neighpon. Historians, artificers, diplomats, and nearby rulers and the politically knowledgeable specie is free to observe these events as they go on with messages being relayed to parties in the audience present.

 

The history between Neighpon and Whitescar is a heated one. More stubborn and traditional clans from the region still ransack villages, attack and steal vessels along with the cargo on board... Today a major player in the Whitescar political scene whose territory is close to Neighpon will speak to it's leader to decide the fate of the blade, history, and the relationship between Neighpon and Whitescar.

 

The debate will be held in Canterlot with anyone present free to comment and converse with fellow audience member's via messengers in the audience.

 

 

 

Debaters:

 

Chieftain Sigrun of Clan Askr

 

Rakuen Ryuichi Shogun of Neighpon

 

Debater's advisors:

 

(Sigrun) Halvard of the Vakystra

 

(Ryuichi) Sanda

 

Audience: 

 

Aikuro(?)

 

Medo

 

Ice storm

 

Sunrise skies

 

Javasun

 

Swift Squall
I hope there are some parties interested in seeing how this plays out!

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I am definitely interested in this one!  Halvard will be there to offer Sigrun support, my Shogunate advisor (when finished) will be with Rakuen.  Akairo may be there as well, but her loyalties are likely to be torn.  One the one hoof, a blow to the Shogunate's prestige would be welcome, but on the other hoof, to vindicate what was essentially theft would undercut her case against the conquest of Polynieghsia being invalid because it was taken by force.

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I think Medo and Icy both with be looking into this one. Medo would probably be in favor of Ryoichi, considering Neighpon is her homeland, and with Icy's connections with Askr, she'd likely be on Sigrin's side. Sho that should be interesting.

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The thread is up! 

 

Just to clarify a bit, The audience members are just what I said, the audience. They won't be allowed to voice or talk over the debaters... they can however pass notes and communicate with eachother in the seats however they wish. It can be through a courier scrambling about the seats or some magical device or what have you! 

 

Those who personally know the debaters and have certain High ranking positions within their ircle can communicate with them but they can't walk on the stage... they can however try and voice their concerns to their side's representative in the form of envelopes or in more extreme cases requesting a pause in the debates to speak to their representative.

 

I'm making the changes to the OP of this OOC to place those interested in their most likely positions. Do not hesitate to tell me if I make a mistake in placing you!

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Just a quick question: is this debate meant for one side to convince the other, or is the question submitted to third-party arbitration, with both sides trying to convince the arbiter?

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I can see Swift Squall being there as well. As a swordpony and one well versed in both Neighpon and and Whitescar cultures he will definitely want to see how that's play out (even if he is completely neutral on the issue). After all what kind of Blademaster-In-Training would he be, if he didn't know about Sword of Songs?

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22 hours ago, PrinceBlueblood said:

Just a quick question: is this debate meant for one side to convince the other, or is the question submitted to third-party arbitration, with both sides trying to convince the arbiter?

 

It will be the former. A matter  like this should be settled between the countries involved.

 

21 hours ago, PyroBlaze said:

I think I'll add Sunrise as part of the audience. 

 

Adding!

 

18 hours ago, Ciraxis said:

I can see Swift Squall being there as well. As a swordpony and one well versed in both Neighpon and and Whitescar cultures he will definitely want to see how that's play out (even if he is completely neutral on the issue). After all what kind of Blademaster-In-Training would he be, if he didn't know about Sword of Songs?

 

I'm assuming as an audience member. :)

 

 

1 hour ago, moonshineTheleocat said:

Star Breezer shall send her son, Voronoi (Java) Fractal as her proxy. She will be unable to make it herself due to some recent events in Fetloch.

 

Audience as well?

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