Severian was an ancient sword, dating back to the time of the Ancients.[1]
Lore
The original Severian was pale-yellow. It was designed to tear through flesh rather than slice it; its design “a jagged and thorny branch of bone shards bount together with sinew and uncured strips of hide. As it was specifically designed to fight angels and demons, the sword reacted poorly to being drawn against nephalem, for instance.
Severian was reforged by Lilith into a new weapon (its history is also covered here). The second blade was broader and heavier than its forebear, but gave its user the strength to wield it when they were in pursuit of its purpose (the slaying of Corvik and Helgrotha). There is evidence that the blade may have possessed a malign intelligence.[1]
History
The First Blade
Severian was created by Corvik from the bone and flesh of Gratian—in a sense, Gratian ‘’became’’ Severian. The sword was gifted to Bersarik, who set off to confront his makers, to demand answers for Gratian’s death. His hatred seeped into Severian itself, termpering its pores until they were stronger than iron.
Outside the Temple of the Firstborn, Bersarik confronted Kalmor, and the two came to blows. Severian balked in Bersarik’s own hand, as it had not been made to fight against nephalem. This, in part, allowed Kalmor to slay Bersarik, who in his dying breath, entrusted Severian to Kalmor.
Kalmor presented the blade before Inarius, Lilith, and their council, who ordered him to destroy it. Lilith, however, led Kalmor into a place deep within the fortress-temple, where she altered the blade. She kept its strength, pain, and rage, but twisted and imprisoned its essence within a new weapon of her own design. The gleaming sword that emerged was gigantic, far too broad and heavy for even a nephalem to wield, yet Kalmor was gifted the blade upon completion.[1]
The Second Blade
Kalmor was ordered to slay Corvik and Helgrotha, for like Bersarik, they had turned against their makers. Kalmor used the blade to slay Corvik, who recognized it as Severian (or rather, “Gratian”) in her last moments, despite having been reforged. Kalmor had trouble finding Helgrotha, and the blade felt heavier in his hands, as if it knew of his failure and was no longer affording the strength to wield it. One night, at a fire, Kalmor talked to the blade, suggesting that Helgrotha might already be dead. The sword replied with a dark glint that reminded Kalmor of the midnight sky. He came to realize that Helgrotha did not move under the sun, but only during night.
Kalmor later found Helgrotha, but chose to let her live. As such, when he went to retrieve the blade, he found it almost too heavy to pick up, but with effort, he raised it over his head and brought it flat against a standing stone. The weapon broke in two, and Kalmor buried the pieces in the glade.[1]