What Paracelsus once lost and doesn’t like to talk about.

Paracelsus Sword

First off it should be mentioned that Paracelsus was a braggard and a heavy drinker at the end of his open and official lifetime. He was often seen intoxicated in Basle (the last city where in one could say he still had a promising career) and where once he was a respected doctor his bragging about being a sorceror, having thousands of Spirits at his command and all in all being the best damn doctor the world has ever seen soon ruined his great reputation.
After a legal fight over medical fees (he did actually save the man from death but was rewarded with even less than the nominal fee for a home visit) he left the town, but before he managed to loose this precious artifact during a drunken binge in Downtown Basle.

The History of the Sword
Little is known about the age of the Sword, a good estimate would be that it was made somewhere around the year 1450 and in Denmark but to be quite honest not even Paracelsus could have told you its exact date of creation. Its fate may have been to sit in an attic in northern Europe, spending its days collecting rust but appearently fate had other plans.
The 8th and 9th of november in the year 1520, the conquering danish king Christian II (Known to this day in Denmark as “Christian the Good” and in Sweden as “Christian the Cruel”) staged a mass execution of nobles on Stortorget in Stockholm to secure his power over the Swedish throne, a power that didnt last long, three years later he was ousted by the Swedish noble Gustav Vasa who then claimed the throne and became King Gustav/Gustavius Vasa I. But back to the Sword…
The Sword was used in many of the 82 death sentences carried out under the guidance of the Commander of Executioners Jörgen Homuth but its not very likely that it was a personal property of his. Most likely the sword belonged to one of his underlings stemming from Germany.
Now Paracelsus was never in Sweden, but did travel more or less all over Germany and did make a quick visit in Denmark during those years so chances are he ran into one of the executioners who must have been strapped for cash.

The Sword was sold from one man to the other and now Paracelsus, allways the braggard, had under his command more than “20 demons” to fling this way and that towards those that wanted him ill. Now off course in the middle ages people didnt take lightly to that kind of trash talk – remember this was the era and area that served as theological basis of the Inquisition (The Hexen Hammer/Maleus Malificarum/The Witch Hammer was written by two German Monks around these parts) and its not like many would accept the “Its just the booze talking” speech.

From the time of acquiring the sword Paracelsus was seen in most pictures holding it, resting one hand on the big iron pommel that functioned as counterweight to the blade of this huge executioners sword. Now some time before his “death” in 1541 in a small room in the White Horse Inn suffering from an ailment he obviously couldnt cure – some say a death hastened with the help of assassins paid for by the medical community Paracelsus so enjoyed insulting – he lost the sword. The tale told is that he lost it on the very same night he had that scuffle with above mentioned assassins. The problem then would be that its in Salzburg (where he died) instead of Basle which may have been more accurate – but keep in mind that when it came to historical biographies the vogue of the day was to add a little spice and ignore the details…

But somewhere in either Basle or Salzburg, a certain drunkard staggered home one night with a huge and oddly famous executioners sword – his wife must have been surprised.

The Look of the Sword
It is to begin with a huge sword, atleast to a guy of Paracelsus stature – it went up to his chest. But remember that people from the middle ages was a good 30 centimeters (about a foot) shorter than us modern giants making the sword somewhere around 110 to 130 (3.6 to 4.2 feet) centimeters long. It has a double grip and ond the end of the handle is a huge pommel on that pommel was inscribed the word Azoth which means more or less “Mercury” but also according to the texts of the time it described an elixir vitae (a kickass elixir) more specificly an alexipharmakon, a counter poison, that many believed the good doctor had stashed in the pommel.

Now remember that Paracelsus worked his entire life searching for the Philosofer’s stone? In many ways alexipharmakon, the counter medicin of everything is that very same thing…

So What Does it Do?
Well this is up to whomever is holding it, to some its a great symbol of betrayal – the Stockholm Bloodbath taking place mainly because a certain Gustaf Trolle the Swedish noble whom assisted the good king Christian II in the executions, mainly with picking the targets, most of whom where political enemies of Trolle.
To others its just a huge magnet for ghost, spectres and demons (whatever you want to call them). This sword did lop of the heads of some of that days movers and shakers in Northern Europe – two bishops and a whole bunch of noble men – which in prolongment hasted the future king Gustav Vasa into action (some like Erik Johansson where relatives of his) so in whatever way its an historical artifact.

To the small cabal of Swedish National Socialists it would be a sword of betrayal, but to a group of danish spellcasters it would be a sword of conquest. To anyone with ahlf a mind its a powerful thing… But lets theorise about its powers, shall we?
1) It may contain the cure for all diseases
2) It sure as hell has some very angry, insane noblemen ghosts attached to it – somewhere between the number 20 to 80’ish and thats never a good thing.
3) It is a very potent symbol of many things; betrayal, hatred, power, death, life and all of the above…
4) Whatever it is, its only good aslong as you keep it – and considering the personality shift Paracelsus seems to have gone through when he got it, from simply loud mouthed to a trash talking megalomaniac who didnt seem to care that he told anyone peasant to priest that he had allot of demons under his command, it may be a good thing to visit your shrink on a daily basis.

(In general its up to the GM, Im sorry)

So Where is it Now?
Well thats a good question, some Rosicrucians in northern Germany claim they have seen it but refuse to say anything more – a group of occult neonazis in Switzerland say that they use it frequently – its supposed to be in the private museum of the last member of the Oxenstierna family in Uppsala, Sweden but then again only one person have seen it and she doesnt seem keen on revealing it to the world. But the truth is – its in the attic of Teufel strasse 31B outside of Hamburg, an appartment that used to belong to Anna-Yosefine Beecher the widower of Martin Beecher, an English soldier. Saldy she couldnt take the nightmares of people screaming at her in her dreams in an archaic form of germanic so she hung herself last week and all her belongings will be auctioned out in anonymity day after tomorrow and god knows who will get it then.

(I prefer copyleft)