Arbiter of the Light
An ancient precursor weapon originating from the planet of Zanrilles, the Phelke homeworld.
The Arbiter of Light was constructed by the Xadia Ancients on the monolith that seeded the phelke species. For a very long time during the phelke pre-space history, the weapon was locked inside the structure and impossible to remove. Although it was visible from the outside, no matter how much force they tried to use it wouldn't come out of its socket. The phelke has known about its existence since their species existed, but as they slowly started to translate the ancient alien writing, it was deemed that the weapon was "Only to be removed by the truly most powerful individual. It is the enforcer of good.".
Over time, thousands of individuals have attempted to remove it. This included incredibly strong phelke, phelke with a good intent, nation leaders and other incredibly famous people. It was only in the middle of the industrial era of the phelke that one aspiring nation leader removed it successfully, with notable ease. The monolith 'chose' that individual for their dedication to good and potential power they could hold in phelke society in the future. This individual swore an oath to use this power for good, and he became incredibly powerful very quickly, becoming nation leader with the very election after that. And yet, this individual understood that the weapon would largely outlast him and instilled a culture where anyone inheriting the weapon must also swear a similar oath that he did. It became well known that not swearing the oath, or breaking it, would bring the wielder extremely bad luck, often resulting in death less than a week afterwards. This would also apply to anyone inheriting it via the STP. As such, the weapon would always be wielded by phelke with good intent, although 'good' was often loosely defined.
This item was a key reason that the phelke developed a society with relatively little evil compared to other star nations. In modern days, the phelke leader is usually tasked with wielding the weapon as they have the most power. Becoming leader often means swearing the oath in order to use the Arbiter of Light. If they refuse to swear the oath, they are removed form the election and a new election is held, but this means they will not be killed by the weapon itself.
Sometimes, evil powers would try to destroy the item. It became known that the Arbiter was indestructible, culturally anyway, as they attempted many methods such as plasma boring, nuclear weapons and sending it to orbit. After all of these attempts it would emerge unscathed and in the event that someone sent it to orbit its mass would suddenly increase significantly, preventing rockets from being launched. In fact, its mass increased to a point where it would entirely obliterate the craft that was sending it to orbit. It was also powered through precursor perpetual motion machines (although no one knew this at the time), and was an energy weapon and so required no reloading.
Sometimes, the sheer power of this weapon meant that nation leaders would sometimes appear personally on the battlefield. They would be trained for proper action, but several died anyway historically. Traditionally, their names would live on as they died to bring good to the world. Their locations of death often becoming tourist attractions that also double as war memorials.
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