While it's more or less an abandoned idea at this point, Man in the Blade has really entertained me in its run, and I'd like to share a bit of the worldbuilding with you.
As far as basic location goes, the story takes place in The Territories, an area similar to the American "Wild West." Overall, population is sparse, but most settlers are in small towns. A bounty system is maintained by the head government off in the east, and Hora's town is basically taken care of justice-wise by an organised group with Arck at its head and The Gentleman as his second-in-command (although they're prone to inventing a few murderers and such to meet their quotas when crime drops). Gangs are an issue, but they're not particularly big on recruitment in Hora's town.
And now for the fun stuff.
The word "Blade" technically refers to an inhabited weapon and its inhabitant, but it's often casually used to refer to the spirit alone. In order to be inhabited, a weapon must be at least 75% iron, sharp enough to draw blood from the average human forearm, and a volume of at least 8 cubic centimetres. (They've been well-studied, in part due to the cooperation of Blades like Cahokia.) Aside from that, it can be in any form—sword, dagger, sickle, something sharp but not typically thought of as a weapon. The weapon does not have to be under any particular circumstances of location, blessing, or any other things in order to become a host for a spirit.
When a weapon is inhabited, humans may communicate with the Blade by assuming a "Blade Stance" (feet spread a bit, back straight, Blade held horizontally at eye level). After entering this stance (if the Blade is willing to let others in), the weapon user will be transported into the Blade World. Blade World are different according to the different style of the weapon—Ur's is desert-like, while Cahokia's is forest-like—and a larger weapon corresponds to a Blade World with a greater area. The Blade spirit takes up residence here, although it can still view the outside world.
In battle, each combination of Blade and weapon (if a weapon is shattered or somehow made to longer be able to house a spirit, the spirit will flee to another weapon) can use a unique Veneficus spell. The usefulness of more typical spells varies depending on the style of weapon and strength of the Blade.
Blade and wielder can also undergo a process called Internalisation. While the Blade technically remains attached to its weapon, it also fuses with the wielder. The wielder gains access to any physical (chi) or magical (aura) strength that the Blade had as a human. The two also gain the ability to communicate in all situations, and the wielder often experiences appropriate hallucinations of the Blade standing/sitting nearby as they converse.
That's at least a good outline, but, if there's anything else you'd like to know, go ahead and ask.
Oh wow, I really like how in-depth you've gone with this! The idea of different 'worlds' for each blade is really cool. I like the Blade Stance too, it almost seems like a form of meditation. Internalisation is particularly neat, and it would be very fun to read the thoughts of the person/blade as they're fused. I also had an idea: I know that the blades are supposed to be the souls of people who have died, but maybe you could narrow it down to people who have died in combat or been killed by a weapon? That way each blade could have its own unique story of how and why they died.
ReplyDeleteHmm... I'll think about that. As far as I can remember, they were all killed in battle (aside from Cahokia, but his soul was pulled into a blade for research purposes, so that's not exactly the norm). Chiba's Blade had had his arm blasted off from a petard of some type... I'm not sure about the rest. It's been a while since I first fleshed them out, and I haven't worked with them all that much since.
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