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ath-Enchantments are vows ritually worked into weapons to imbue them with power.

The bearer of a weapon vows to use it for a specific purpose or in a certain manner. In a culturally adapted ritual, this oath (in writing or symbolic representation) is engraved, etched, enamelled, or by any other traditional means worked into the weapon. The weapon is thus empowered, and it will aid its owner in keeping the enwrought vow – and fail (or even curse!) him if he breaks it. The source of this power may be supernatural – magic or derived from a higher being – or merely an expression of the bearer's will and motivation.
A typical enchantment is a Vow (p. B160–161), Weapon-Oath (see below), and zero or more Advantages with the limitations Accessibility: “Only when wielding this weapon faithfully to its oath.” (p. B110), Pact (p. B113) if the vow binds the weapon to a supernatural entity, or Trigger (p. B115), each at an appropriate value. The total point value of Advantages and Disadvantages must be positive, and cannot be less than 20% of the sum of Advantages, rounded up.
The Oath-Enchantment is a Gadget, and therefore Breakable (p. B117) and Can Be Stolen (p. B117). (It is not necessarily Unique! You could take another weapon of the same kind and quality and apply to it the same oath for a functionally identical replacement.) It is innate to the weapon, not the original owner, and thus transferable. A very personal and specific Oath-Enchantment will become inert if it's not applicable to a new owner, however.

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eapon-Oath [3 pts]: So long as the wielder of this weapon acts in accordance with its engraved oath, it will serve him faithfully in battle.

An Oath-Weapon will rarely be the point of failure in combat. Its edge will not dull; the odds of breakage when parrying (p. B376) are reduced by -1; firearms get a bonus of +1 to Malf. (p. B407); and the wielder is at +1 to any rolls to resist disarming. These advantages are lost if the bearer breaks his oath. If the oath is violated in an egregious way (e.g. reconciling with a sworn Enemy), the weapon becomes Cursed (see below) and these bonuses are inverted.

Instead of a Vow, you can use Disadvantages like Berserk (p. B124), Bloodlust (p. B125), Code of Honor (p. B127), Destiny (p. B131), Disciplines of Faith (p. B132), Duty (p. B133–134), Enemies (p. B135), Fanaticism (p. B136), Megalomania (p. B144), Obsession (p. B166), or Sense of Duty (p. B153), if these better represent the nature of the oath.

A vow along the lines of: “I will find either victory in battle, or death,” may be substituted with Berserk; a crusader might vow to use his weapon only in the service of his god, and to enact divine justice, which may as well be Disciplines of Faith; and if a character dedicates a sword to revenge upon a hated foe, only whose blood may quench its blade's thirst, the GM may suggest to turn this foe into an Enemy per p. B135, with all the mechanics that apply.

Advantages the enchanted weapon may confer upon its owner are, for example: Blessed (Heroic Feats) (p. B40–41), Danger Sense (p. B47), Daredevil (p. B47), Destiny (p. B48), Enhanced Parry or Enhanced Block (for shields) (p. B51), Higher Purpose (B59), Striking ST (p. B88–89), or Weapon Master (p. B99).

In a setting where magic is prevalent and its workings obvious, a sword may burn with fire or radiate holy light, or lightning strike a target marked by the throw of a javelin. Affliction (p. B35), Innate Attack (p. B61–63), and True Faith (p. B94) could all be applied to the weapon, as well as any other powers that would make sense to dwell within it.

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xample 1: Kettu slits the throat of the fox he brought, and the shaman collects its fresh blood.

The young warrior impatiently watches him crush chunks of mineral, mix them with the blood in his mortar, and drip the paste into the shapes he had carved out of the sword's hilt. A fox, the totem animal of Kettu, the sword's owner; a crown, the old glory of the kingdom; and a red rooster flipped on its head, representing the hated Kicheeman potentates. Before he places the sword in the kiln, the grey elder reminds Kettu: his vow to restore native rule to his island is grave; it's not binding until the enamel has hardened, so if he wants to reconsider... Kettu shakes his head: “My heart is already hardened against my people's enemies, and burns with determination.”

Kettu vowed: “I will free my island from foreign rule,” making Enemies of the small island's disunited Kicheeman princes and their forces, worth -20 points. In addition to Weapon-Oath, worth 3 points, his sword grants him Racial Memory for 15 points, as his ancestor's spirits guide him in his patriotic endeavor, and Longevity to see the end of his long struggle: 2 points. As these are accessible: “Only when fighting against the foreigners and their allies”, in keeping with the vow, they are at a 20% discount each. The Advantages total 3+(15+2)*0.8=17 points, the Disadvantages -20. Their sum would be negative, so this defaults to 20% of the Advantages' value, or 17 * 0.2 = 4 points. The steel Large Falchion has DR 6 and SM -2, is Breakable worth -30%, and Can Be Stolen with a Quick Contest: -30%. The final cost of the Oath-Enchantment is therefore 4 points - 60% = 2 points.

Example 2: Arno's name is called, and he steps up to the Lord Admiral.

After three years of service and one of special training, he is finally initiated to the Wortland Marines. “By the saints above and the sirens below, and upon the shore I leave behind,” he recites his oath, the first two lines of which are etched into the blade. He continues: “I, Arno of Bokkum, do swear that I will serve the Fleet in storm and lull, obey always the orders of my captain...” His oath is standardised, as is his service weapon: Code of Honor (Wortland Marines) [-10], Weapon-Oath [3], Terrain Adaptation (Sand) [5], Fearlessness 1 [2], Hard to Subdue [2], and Legal Immunity [5] – the latter four “Only in service of the Wortland Navy or its purposes.” (-10%). -10+3+(5+2+2+5)*0.9=6; the cost rounds up to 3 points with the same -60% Gadget limitations as above. Arno's axe is not unique – the other 23 new Marines at the ceremony receive identical ones, to serve them throughout their 24 years of service.

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urses may befall Oath-Weapons if their weapon-oath was broken by their wielder.

Mere negligence or complacency is not enough – the weapon merely loses its Advantages until the owner repents and renews the pursuit of his vow. It is when he breaks his vow in a particularly grave and irreversible manner, by doing the exact opposite of what he had sworn to do, or by causing his goal to become unattainable, that the Oath-Weapon becomes cursed. If an Oath-Weapon's owner died tragically with his vow unfulfilled, the weapon may become cursed as well, seeking satisfaction of its weapon-oath, or redemption for its failure, from a new owner.
In either case, the Oath-Weapon assumes something of a will of its own. Where it was created as a tool to aid its bearer, it now seeks to manipulate or even control him. The benefits of Weapon-Oath are inverted whenever the weapon is used in any situation that can be construed to run counter to the fulfillment of its purpose. The vow enwrought into it becomes a compulsion, or events seem to conspire to drive the weapon's owner down a certain path.

The Oathbreaker's Curse [0] is a form of Serendipity (p. B83): Once per session, if your character has lost, given away, or tried to get rid of his weapon, it will find its way back to him by some plausible (however unlikely) circumstances.
Further effects of the curse vary with the nature of the weapon-oath, and may be either on the side of its Advantages or of its Disadvantage, corrupting it and turning it into a more extreme and uncompromising, compulsive, or self-destructive version of itself. A Vow may become an Obsession or Disciplines of Faith turn into Fanaticism. If the weapon-oath was originally a Disadvantage that required a self-control roll, its self-control number is lowered by one step – e.g. Obsession (12) becomes Obsession (9). Certain Advantages may also be perverted: Blessed for example would turn into a Divine Curse (p. B132), and a once favourable Destiny end in tragedy.