Terminata

Before the stylized but wickedly effective axes used by the Torturer's guild for executions today, the guild used a type of specialized magical sword for the purpose. After the failed uprising of the Torturers against the ascension of an unpopular heir in the distant past, these swords were rounded up and snapped, their magical quicksilver cores draining out, and then they were melted to slag from which the new axes were forged.
But a few of those swords - mostly those possessed by Torturers assigned at that time to positions in the Imperial provinces - survived. They are now vintage antiques, all the more so because their deadly design also makes them more fragile than a normal fighting weapon. Still, in the hands of a person with martial talent, they can be deadly weapons on the battlefield as well as at the executioner's block that they were designed for.
Terminata is one such blade, with a known provenance as the sword of a Naarodian lictor (the term encapsulating both torturer/interrogator and executioner, the two duties of the journeyman-level members of this guild) named Severina - likely a false name connected to her occuption severing heads from their bodies. Her name is engraved into the stonelike metal of the blade, a substance called talusium which is a heavy but hard alloy blending steel and lead, the precise manufacture of which is a closely-guarded Gnomish secret. Despite being made of the heavier metal, the hollow channel through the center reduces the weight to not much more than a normal steel blade of that size and heft. The motion of the heavy quicksilver in the channel makes it difficult to lift and awkward to riposte with the sword, but adds significant power to the downstroke as the liquid rushes to the end of the channel.
Terminata is engraved with a patchwork of decoration, some of it original and some of it added later by subsequent owners. Along each edge of the blade are inscriptions in Cumean, "Celestii aequum sunt', the angels are fair - rendered in the masculine form along one edge and the feminine on the other, which when the sword was made may have simply been a way to cover all the bases but which in tradition marked one edge of the blade to be used on females and the other on males. Later inscriptions give images of stars, bulls, and decorative florishes as well as the names 'Suriel', a lesser angel, and Severina, presumably the last owner of the blade.
Both edges are well stained on this blade. Many people met their end at the Autarch's command under terminata's edge.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

A 1/4" hollow channel in the blade is filled partway with leadweight quicksilver, making it difficult to lift but dead easy to drop with extra momentum to easily split through the gap in cervical vertebrae, or cut cleanly through neckbone on a misaligned downswing, neatly taking off the head with one stroke. The flat tip makes it useless as a stabbing weapon. Celestial favor gives it the ability to cut with radiant or with magical slashing damage.

Significance

Cultural artifact as well as a deadly weapon in the hands of a sword expert

Item type

Weapon, Melee

Manufacturer

The Khazigiri Empire

Rarity

Extremely rare - fewer than a dozen authentic swords of this type are likely to still exist.

Weight

3.2 lbs

Dimensions

3.5" wide by 35" long; blade is 2/5" at its thickest point near the base, thinner nearer to the tip

Base Price

4000 as a weapon, but higher as it is a rare collectible

Cumae: The Orbis

Terminata

Weapon Magical Very Rare (this item requires attunement) [Lawful Neutral; Sanctified by Baraeon, the Celestial embodying justice and the law]

Terminata: (unbroken): +2 to attack, damage and AC.
Radiant or Magical Slashing (your choice per attack, defaults to radiant if you don't specify slashing).
On a natural 20 attack roll or auto-crit (vs incapacitated opponent), before assessing double damage, the victim makes a CON save vs a DC of the wielder's level and is decapitated if they fail. That's usually, but not always, instantly fatal. If the target makes the save, they still suffer the crit damage.
On a natural 1 attack roll, the wielder must make an additional d20 roll to determine of the sword has cracked and lost containment of its magical quicksilver, which occurs if another 1 is rolled (.25% overall chance per attack).
Terminata (broken): Behaves as a 'normal' +2 sword with magical slashing rather than Radiant damage, and loses the ac bonus and extra critical effect. The value of the sword drops tenfold, to 400gp or less, as a broken antique.
No normal means of repair can fix Terminata if it breaks, but presumably there are some arcane experts tucked away in the world who would have a shot at fixing it.
The magic comes from the enchanted and sanctified liquid metal in the core of the sword, so anything that could compromise the motion of the liquid or break containment, in addition to a double-nat-1, could temporarily compromise or permanently break the sword (anti-gravity, hyper-extreme cold, time stop, etc). If the liquid can't flow the sword behaves as if it is broken, until that circumstance passes and the liquid can flow once more.

Type	AC	STR Req.	Stealth Dis.	Properties
Shield	+2	12+

Type	Damage	Damage	Range	Properties
Simple Melee	1d8+2	Radiant	'5	Magical

Cost: 4000+ Weight: 3.2lbs