Cut of the Ancients

Cut of the Ancient is a mysterious artefact shrouded in mystery. Historians and researchers are divided as to what it actually is. The only thing that can be confirmed is that it has existed throughout the centuries, and that it has not been destroyed. Some say that it cannot be destroyed, and it is a connate part of a world; if it no longer exists, it will be recreated anew.

History

The Cut of the Ancient has apparently been referenced in the earliest of oral traditions. It has a common theme among most peoples who still practice oral songs and legends; that of a tool wielded by the mightiest of rulers, by the Hero-God that ruled. This heroic figure differs from culture to culture, and even the rest of the culture's pantheon and mythology may differ drastically from another's, but there are several common themes that have led most researchers to believe that at the very least, the tool and the figure who wielded it existed at one point.
Mentions of the Cut of the Ancient do not appear until at least two millennia later, this time in the hands of a female. Most legends centre around a female leader who gathered fighters from rural villages to overthrow an evil king. This one we have slightly better records; most accounts agree that the wielder was a mortal woman who used some sort of cutting implement. The reason for the ambiguity is simple. The wielder has appeared in multiple stories, in multiple areas, during a time when such travel is almost impossible. To add to the confusion, there is a lot of confusion as to how she looked; each version of the story paints her as being "just another one of us" with very little defining traits.
The only commonalities we have is that it is a woman who seemed to "cut" the ties the fighters had that were holding them back; some stories said she cut away their mortality, turning them into immortal soldiers. Still others said she cut down cruel masters and Lords that oppressed the people. And in one particular story, she cut the afterbirth of a newborn child, holding that child up to be the saviour of the land. Some say this is the story of the child who would draw the sword from the rock, but most historians and folklorists agree it was possibly a late addition to enhance the legitimacy of the King, but that is another topic for another person.

Cut of the Ancient evidence

There are actually a few areas in our world and several neighbouring ones that imply at the very least, the Cut of the Ancient did exist. While most stories about how cliff faces are formed, and other "suspiciously smooth" geographical features can be explained through science and geology, places where the Cut of the Ancient have been reported to be used defy all similar explanations. There are several long valleys and mountainsides that have been cut open; these cuts were made precisely to encourage a "leak" of the rich spiritual veins underneath. These cuts are not natural, and the way they have been cut suggest that the wielder was a master. The cuts were also made to ensure future development in these areas would be unimpeded by space constraints.
There are also suspicions that locations such as Drum Valley is a result of a similar cut - however most historians have disregarded this theory as geologists have found a rare but plausible explanation (it is not elaborated in this article due to word count constraints, please understand).

Item type

Unique Artifact