(gear) cinquedea

[Alice Raizel]

The cinquedea is a truly elegant weapon, displaying the tasteful refinement of a classic swordsman. Each is a treasured possession, a genuine masterpiece. Many of Carnelian's finest families keep these swords as symbols of legacy, passing the cinquedea lovingly from father to son through the generations. The esteemed Kurios family of the White Chateau, to name a prominent example, maintains a collection of seven, presently in possession of the late Senator's eldest surviving...

Oh, what the fuck. The cinquedea is a truly awful sword. It's clumsier than a rapier, too large to work as a dagger, and an embarrassment as a broadsword. It's arguably inferior to a common naval dirk, and over twenty times as expensive.

It's a weapon only someone who doesn't actually want a weapon could love. It's a fashion statement from the very early Copper Age—for people who liked the way things were in the early Copper Age. And if Royalist elves like that really want to kill you, they'll have an assassin do it. And that guy won't use a cinquedea. To start with, he'll bring a gun.

The cinquedea's sole and eponymous virtue is its elvish name, which means "five fingers". This refers to the width of its unwieldy blade, which is perfect if you want lots of metal canvas space to draw pictures on. A proper cinquedea blade displays elaborate embossed imagery, typically in mannerist or baroque style. Every cinquedea thus truly is a unique work of art, representing weeks of mortal effort and hundreds if not thousands of ducats in expense. The sword is thus by definition masterwork—a quality which moderately redeems its otherwise inherent mediocrity.

Naturally, weapons with this kind of prestige become the first candidates for enchantment. Some of Carnelian's finest transmuters have been employed by elvish families thus, applying their engineering genius to imbue layers of subtle ensorcellment onto nonfunctional vanity weapons. This fact alone could account for the enthusiastic support of so many natural philosophers for the Convulsionary Committee. Particularly its policy of regicide.

The traditional scabbard for an enchanted cinquedea is unicorn leather.

A cinquedea must always be pronounced with a flourish of perfect Elvish. The initial c is pronounced ch, as in "chain" or "chatter". A cinquedea is always italicised.

~福~

As with the elven wheellock pistol, Inspector Durant finds it difficult to imagine a cinquedea as a murder weapon until all other possibilities have been exhausted. This usually implies that several gnolls have already been tossed in the Sombre Bastion and spent several days on the prison wheel.

Cinquedea (masterwork shortsword)
Price: 750 ducats Weight: 3 lbs
Proficiency: Martial; Size: Medium

Damage:1d6; Critical Hit: 20/x3 
Damage Type: Slashing
Ability bonus: Strength to attack and damage
Special ability: +1 to attack rolls as a masterwork weapon

+2 prestige bonus to diplomacy checks vs. beings of reason with royalist alignment

see also:
http://myarmoury.com/review_lut_10043.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wIYWG-cz4&feature=youtu.be

[Alice Raizel]

Wow. I have no idea why I dumped so much hate on this poor innocent sword. If any of you are friends with the sword, I so deeply apologise.

Freude, schöner Götterfunken

Tochter aus Elysium,

Wir betreten feuertrunken,

Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!

Deine Zauber binden wieder

Was die Mode streng geteilt.

Alle Menschen werden Brüder

Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

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[Mundens]

It _is_ a terrible weapon. :)

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Frankie