The Battan

The Battan is a magical melee weapon created and used by the soldiers of The Shield of Saol, known commonly as the Inquisitors. Both them and the weapon they wield are feared and hated by all mage communities throughout Hysal.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The most important component of a Battan is the lycen crystal which is inserted inside a hollow compartiment, between the handle and staff, called a crystal holder. It is made out of tin metal, which has a large Nexurium absorption and storage capability. When the crystal in placed inside the compartiment, the mana inside the crystal diffuses itself into the metal, where it is stored until used.
The tin metal continues inside the shaft up to the steel cap at the top of the battan. The shaft is coated in a thin layer of bronze metal that allows the mana stored inside the tin rod to be transfered from it to the surface upon contact with a mage. The transfer of mana from the bronze metal to the Mage also has the effect of converning it into visible energy that resembling small lightning sparks that appear on the surface of the battan.
The lycen crystals are naturaly very dangerous to elemental mages because of the wild Nexurium they contain, because as they enter the body of the mage, it interacts with their natural Nexurium, or mana. This has the effect of not only physicaly paralizing the mage but also rendering them unable to use their elemental powers. The effects of wild mana on soulmages is lesser but still bad enough to make them also weary of the weapon.
The weapon is designed to amplifie that effect and prolong the use of individual crystals for this purpose as less energy is required by each strike to acomplish the same effect when using a battan, then simply with a lone crystal.

Manufacturing process

The manufacturing process of the Battan is kept as a very precious secret by the The Shield of Saol. The weapon is only manufactured on the Island of Samalan by them.

History

The first battans were created by the cult of Sokral, about 2 and a half centuries before the collapse of the Essanian Empire. Members of this cult, seeked to create an effective anti-mage weapon to fufil the will of Sokral. They succeded and its usage spread within Enask and Arros in the following years.
In the decades before and at the start of The Fall, Massacres against the mage populations of both continents ramped up in intensity and violence. Followers of Sokralism perpetrated those massacres using this weapon, as it was extremly effective at rendering mages defenceless.
After The Fall, the cult was largely disbanded and the remaining members largely abandoned their beliefs, instead focusing on transforming the group into a mercenary compagny capable of taking on Mages. Of course, the Battan was and still is their weapon of choice when dealing with mages in Enask and Arros and is still widely in use by Inquisitors on both continents
Thankfully for the mages, the invention and spread of the battan, combined with the urgency to counter the spread of The Blight Monsters during the fall, eventualy lead to the creation of the The Cerbat, a weapon that amplifies the offensive abilities of elemental mages.

Significance

For a mage who knowns a bit of the recent history of their kin, seeing a battan weilded by a Inquisitor is a frightening and intimidating sight. These weapons -or at least, an older version of these weapons- were used extensively to commit massacres against Mage populations in Enask and Arros.

by Ephraïm Boateng (Me)

Item type

Weapon, Melee

Creation Date

253 BC

Rarity

Only the inquisitors, professional soldiers of the The Shield of Saol are regulary seen weilding Battans with them, usualy within urban areas of both western Arros and Enask. In some countries, specificaly in Kinvalia, Thenia and Gysia, some high-ranking military personel, such as generals, can also be seen with them, especialy in recent years as collaboration between those countries and the The Shield of Saol has increased.

Dimensions

Around 50 cm long, 3-5 cm wide.

Raw materials & Components

The handle, hand-guard and the top cap of the battan are made of steel. The inside of the shaft is made of a Tin rod and the outside coated in a thin bronze layer.

Tools

An anvil, a hammer and metal tongs.