Everybody knows, or at least claims to know, where the first of these black swords came from. In long ages past, an angel of justice was expelled from the heavenly planes because they had become so unceasing and so unyielding in their efforts to root out evil and darkness and chaos that they became little different in actions than the dark creatures they fought. This angel (and some say, their allies) landed on the world with their wings broken and their once-shining swords blackened. Angry and feeling betrayed for what they felt was merely doing their duty, the angel nevertheless did not give up on his task. The evils and chaos of the world were visited and struck down by what some might say is an even greater evil.

Nobody knows what happened to the angel. Some say he was killed. Others say that as the angel was on the verge of defeat by some ancient horror, they put their soul into their sword so that they might fight on again in the future. Whatever the truth of things, the sword has an intelligence and personality that is frequently disturbing. The sword is helpful and very polite, but also has an undeniable hunger for blood and battle as well as a dry and dark sense of humor. It refers to itself as C’rle or occasionally “the Black Blade”, but will not talk about itself in any other way. It does seem to possess a great knowledge of matters arcane and historical, though there is a price to pay for accessing it.

Whatever the story, the original sword or swords have been copied through the years. And though every arcane smith or enchanter has attempted to create a version of the sword without the pitfalls and the intelligence, not one attempt has succeeded. Every copy of the sword retains the same dangerous powers, the same terrifying drawbacks, and (most worrying of all) the exact same intelligence and personality. Some scholars even insist that it’s not a copy of the sword’s intelligence, but something more like a collective intelligence. Every Sword of Broken Angels is mentally connected to every other Sword of Broken Angels. This makes an already disturbing magical construct even more scary.

The Sword of Broken Angels is known by a number of different names, including C’rle, the Black Blade, the Drinker of Souls, and Stormfury. The crossguards and hilts on these weapons are almost always unique, but the blade itself is always the exact same. It is made out of a shining black metal which seems similar to adamant, but is not the same. Seemingly inside the blade, glowing red lights dance like lighting in a thunderstorm. Observant and patient scholars have noticed that these lights often form runes and sigils of light for the briefest of moments, but nobody has yet deciphered what they mean or even what the script is. Whatever they may be, the sight of the blade brings out an almost primal fear in all living creatures and even mindless undead creatures seem to hesitate upon seeing it. Even when sheathed, the sword makes nearby people anxious and nervous even if they don’t understand why.