Dawn Blade

The Dawn Blade

The Dawn Blade is a unique, alien artefact sword wielded by the Tau leader known as Commander Farsight to the Imperium of Man. The rebel Tau Commander who founded the separatist Farsight Enclaves on the far side of the Damocles Gulf in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy recovered the weapon from the pre-Imperial xenos ruins of the Dead World of Arthas Moloch, wrenching it in desperation from a fallen alien statue to fend off the assault of a Bloodthirster daemon following the incursion of the Forces of Chaos upon that deserted planet. The Dawn Blade is older than even the Imperium of Man, and it was fashioned aeons ago by the strange xenos race that once inhabited the haunted world of its origin. Forged from materials that even the finest Earth Caste minds cannot fathom, its blade is sharp enough to cut through rock and all known forms of infantry and even vehicle armour; and its sculpted surface flickers with unknown energies which paint glittering arcs of destruction as it is swung. Since taking it up on Arthas Moloch, and modifying it for use in battle on his personal XV8 Crisis Battlesuit, it has been Commander Farsight's weapon of choice for close-combat engagements.

Unbeknownst to Farsight, the ancient sword has a dark secret. Its blade is made from alien chronophagic alloys. This means that whenever its wielder cuts a life short with the blade, the natural lifespan that he stole from his victim is added to the wielder’s own. This has allowed Commander Farsight to live for almost three Terran centuries, far beyond the natural lifespan of the Tau race. Though he has his suspicions that it is the Dawn Blade that had prolonged his lifespan to such a degree, if Farsight ever found out the horrible truth, he would likely end his own life in ritual suicide then and there.

Sources

• Codex: Tau Empire (6th Edition), pp. 65, 67
• Codex: Tau Empire (4th Edition), pg. 44
• Codex: Tau (3rd Edition), pg. 50
• Farsight Enclaves, A Codex: Tau Empire Supplement (Digital Edition), pp. 187-188, 193-194