Delivery Time: 12 Months
The Stygian Chepesh sword "Akivasha" made of Carbon steel and with black wooden stand
The Stygian Chepesh sword "Akivasha" made of Carbon steel and with black wooden stand
SKU:Schwert-002
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€1.840,99 EUR
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€2.165,99 EUR
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This sword is a custom-made product and will be shipped 12 months after ordering!
The Stygian Khopesh sword "𝕬𝖐𝖎𝖛𝖆𝖘𝖍𝖆".
Named after the 10.000 years old Stygian vampire Akivasha, whom Conan encounters in "The Hour of the Dragon"; and which is the only "monster" that he couldn't defeat. Because neither steel nor his tremendous power helped here. Only his iron will and instincts innate to all barbarians helped him to escape her temptation and finally even the strongest of all barbarians and warriors only had to flee...
In addition to the Khopesh, her little dagger "𝕶𝖎𝖛𝖆". The name is a derivative/short form of Akivasha and it's the pet name that her human father -the first Stygian Pharaoh, gave her so infinitely long time ago.
This sickle sword has been haunting my mind as a part for my Conan collection for a long time, as I try to visualize as many different aspects of this world as possible. Due to the similarity of Stygia to Egypt, it was obvious that I used the Egyptian Khopesh sword as a blueprint; however, according to the fantasy theme, in a modified form. It starts with the material, because the Egyptian swords were made of bronze, mine is made of steel, since the iron age began 150.000 years earlier in this fictional world.
These sickle swords were probably elite or king's weapons in Egypt and are considered to be documented from the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC).
I hand-forged the blade from a spring steel, hardened it and - according to the Egyptian swords - ground it convexly. At the tip of the blade, dark spells are engraved in Stygian glyphs.
For the crossguard and the pommel I forged a rather low-layer Damascus steel in black/anthracite (only 84 layers), because here I wanted a wider pattern for the lines. The handle construction with a tang thus consists of the crossguard over the blade, ebony wood, which is only polished and oiled, architectural bronze and the pommel. The end of the pommel is a forged cobra, with fangs made of architectural bronze, as a symbol of the dark god Set.
This is my idea of the weapons that Akivasha's father, the Stygian pharaoh Tuthamon, had gifted to his daughter 10.000 years ago, when she was a young girl and still human. And, although she no longer needed them as a vampire, she still kept them in her chambers, when Conan met her. Despite her wickedness and her endless power, after that long time, a tiny part of her still longs to be human again... and this gift from her father is the connection to this world...
Atlantean steel alone could defy these terrible blades...
For this weapons I also made a stand. The resting plates for the weapons, as well as the decorative badge, are made of camel bones in accordance with the oriental/Stygian background theme.
This is her story, as it was written in the chronicles of Skelos, discovered by an unknown chronicler:
Beyond an age undreamed of, I finally reached the ruins of the Black Pyramid.
The vampire queen's sword beckons me, and I stand under moon shrouded skies before this Temple of the Black Serpent...
Tales are told to me now in dreams, shadowed lyre strings... and sweet whisperings.
The grim and glorious battles of warrior kings,
and the shining realms of Hyboria...
Carried upon the sweet night winds, piercing the veil of my delirium,
I embrace the rapturous scent of Black Lotus...
"I am Akivasha! I am the woman who never died, who never grew old! Who fools say was lifted from the earth by the gods, in the full bloom of her youth and beauty, to queen it for ever in some celestial clime! Nay, it is in the shadows that mortals find immortality! Ten thousand years ago I died to live for ever! Give me your lips, strong man!"
(Robert E. Howard - The Hour of the Dragon)
When she demanded that the spell that banished her into the black pyramid should be released, even the undead and profoundly evil Stygian magician and high priest Thothmekri, while standing in the protection of the light, spoke to her:
"I recognize you! You are the princess Akivasha. You are the most beautiful woman who ever walked on earth, but your crimes were more brutal than even the black sorcerers and necromancers of Acheron could stand. You were banned into your sarcophagus thousands of years ago. Twelve by twelve high priest of Set had to use all their black magic to bind you, half of them left their lives under your claws and fangs; even their souls you have devoured...
You killed adepts, wizards, princesses, pharaohs and slaves. They were all mere food to you. You had no respect for the brotherhood of the Black Ring or our father Set!
I will never unleash you on Stygian soil again. You are uncontrollable. You are the blemish on the cloth of life, the stain that cannot be cleansed! Every living creature on the planet, human or not, is mere food to you. You would depopulate entire kingdoms and you would drink the world empty of life... Because you are the dream that becomes a nightmare even for gods and demons. You are the lustful death for all"...
Then, showing terrible fangs and smiling cruelly, she said to him:
"Fool! Never insult me again or think you are my master! Your pathetic powers are nothing compared to mine. I have lived longer than you and Xaltotun together. I know secrets that you both can only dream of. I play my game, wizard, so I'll let you play yours, but speak to me again this way and I'll bleed you dry so slowly that you'll wim to your father Set for salvation!
Let's be honest with each other, wizard. I lied about everything. My real name doesn't give you power over me and I've never really been trapped within this pyramid. I can come and go like the shadows of the night, you fool. I didn't need your pitiful spells to allow me to do that! My spell was broken years ago by royal blood; by the one I desire! Time is meaningless for me. I stayed within my grave because I didn't wanted to leave. What is a day, a year or an eon for me? Sunlight doesn't hurt me; no blade can kill me. I am the most powerful being on earth. You were only useful in bringing this Cimmerian back to my crypt. He wouldn't have come back on his own. Only here can I gift him immortality, and now he is coming.”...
Stygia... the darkest of all hyborian realms. An ancient country burned by a ruthless and bright sun. And yet there is no light; there only rules the absolute darkness... within the hearts of the people living there, as well as in the infinitely old tombs and ruins, where ghouls and nameless devils roam, to tear the flesh from the bones of every mortal who dares to enter...
Very similar to our familiar Egypt, (which, following the fictional timeline, will rise from the ruins of Stygia about 8000 years later, after the enormous cataclysm), in culture and monumental buildings, but less colorful...
Huge temples, pyramids and statues in honor of the gods of death and cruelty - especially the serpent god Set.
Ancient ruins full of dehumanized secrets, so old that even the stars no longer remember their builders...
There was no treasure for Conan to win here, no princess to conquer, no slave to be freed. A realm of death under the glare of a bright sun...
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