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Among the zealous crusading fleets of the Black Templars Chapter, no relic is held in deeper reverence than the Black Sword. The first and greatest of these weapons was forged during the final days of the Horus Heresy on the orders of Malcador the Sigillite and the Emperor Himself, and placed into the hands of First Captain Sigismund of the Imperial Fists when he was named the first Emperor's Champion during the Siege of Terra. Armed with that towering, light-drinking obsidian greatsword, Sigismund strode across the shattered ramparts of the Imperial Palace challenging and slaying the foremost Chaos Champions of the Traitor Legions in single combat.
When the Imperial Fists were divided during the Second Founding, Sigismund became the first High Marshal of the Black Templars and instituted the eternal tradition of the Emperor's Champion. On the eve of a great battle, a battle-brother of a Black Templars Crusade Fleet may be visited by a ecstatic divine vision from the Emperor. The Chaplains of the Crusade immediately anoint the chosen warrior, clad him in the sacred Armour of Faith, and place one of the Chapter's ten treasured Black Swords into his gauntlets.
Even when agedSigismund finally fell in duel against Ezekyle Abaddon during the First Black Crusade, Abaddon respected the peerless defiance of the Templar lord enough to return Sigismund's corpse and his Black Sword to Terra as a warning to the Imperium—where the blade remains a supreme symbol of unbroken martial oaths.
Design, mechanism & battlefield effect
A Black Sword is a massive, two-handed greatsword whose blade is forged from an enigmatic, jet-black alloy—described in Imperial records as either meteoric obsidian-iron or folded adamantium treated with lost Terran alchemy so that its flat surfaces drink in ambient light rather than reflecting it. Along the central fuller, golden Imperial Gothic script is deeply engraved: the eternal vows of Sigismund and invocations to the Master of Mankind.
Housed within the heavy cruciform hilt and winged skull pommel is an ancient, overcharged molecular disruption generator. Unlike a standard power sword that crackles with bright blue lightning, an activated Black Sword is wreathed in a deeper, humming corona of dark-edged golden energy that parts ceramite, daemon-plate and bone without slowing the blade's swing.
Because the weapon is balanced specifically for a Space Marine fighting in the two-handed knightly style of the Imperial Fists' Temple of Oaths, an Emperor's Champion can transition seamlessly between sweeping, decapitating arcs that clear ranks of infantry and lightning-fast lunges that punch straight through the breastplate of a Chaos Lord or Ork Warboss.
Patterns, variants & doctrine
According to the annals of the Eternal Crusader, ten sacred Black Swords were originally entrusted to the Black Templars Chapter, each kept within the reliquary chapel of a major Crusade Fleet until a warrior receives the Emperor's vision. Should an Emperor's Champion fall in battle, the brothers of his Crusade will launch an immediate, fanatical counter-offensive regardless of the cost to recover the Black Sword and the Armour of Faith; to lose one is considered an unthinkable stain upon the Chapter's honour.
Closely related to the ten true Black Swords are the Sword of the High Marshals—wielded by High Marshal Helbrecht alongside his combi-melta Ferocity—and the master-crafted power greatswords carried by Castellan champions and the elite Sword Brethren of the High Marshal's household.
Notable patterns & relic examples
- The Siege of Terra: Wielded by First Captain Sigismund, the first Emperor's Champion, to cut down dozens of Traitor Legion champions before the Imperial Palace.
- The First Black Crusade: Carried by an aged Sigismund in his final duel against Abaddon the Despoiler, wounding the Warmaster thoroughly before falling.
- The Armageddon & Eternal Crusades: Bestowed upon anointed Emperor's Champions across every Black Templars Crusade Fleet prior to battle.
Wielded & Fielded By
Characters (7)
Sigismund · First Captain of the Imperial Fists, founder of the Black Templars
Helbrecht · High Marshal of the Black Templars
Angron · Primarch of the World Eaters, the Red Angel
Cypher · Lord of the Fallen
Abaddon the Despoiler · Warmaster of Chaos, Lord of the Black Legion
Be'lakor · The Dark Master, First Daemon Prince
Khorne · Chaos God of Blood, War and Martial Honour; the Blood God
