Max noted instantly the difference between Northfort and Çördük . The capital of his homeland lacked the huge towers of this city he was seeing for the first time. A local bylaw stated clearly that no building could stand taller than the 99meters tall tower of the Temple of Helus. As such the city skyline lacked the prominence of many buildings here. In fact many wondered if it was the reason why the city had not grown as fast as others such as Portworth and Roberton. Max thought his own King, David, would have enjoyed the Palace as he often took breakfast on the palaces rear patio when it was summer. The swordsmith thanked the driver and shuffled himself out the car. He bowed to King Timur. He was impressed with the Kings greeting "That is perfect...and May the Gods Watch Over You and Your People Know Joy" Max returned the greeting, "sadly I'm not sure how your people would greet each other Your Majesty" he said taking the seat he was offered. "Nice to meet you Muna" he said dipping his head towards the spiritual adviser. "Thank you" he added as he took an interesting looking pastry. "Well Your Majesty my role is quiet a simple one, I bash bits of metal into points" he smiled, "I make swords, and the occasional dagger or knife, to be used by the Royal family and other people they permit me to work for. That basically means their extended family so the Kade's and now I've even made a few for the Pelagiya family. I maintain and look after the blades owned by the King and his family and as King David is a collector of them....something his young daughter is inheriting the love of, I'm kept busy repairing and restoring them." He took a sip of the mint tea, it was nice but not the kind of beverage he would have ordered as it was far too sweet for his personal taste.
"Now as for the significance of the sword its linked to our nations religious stories. Our Cult of Helus says that at one point in the dark distant past of Mundus a battle took place between the forces of good, lead by the God Helus and the forces of an evil domain known as the Underlords. This battle went very badly for humanity as many refused to follow Helus teachings or thought they knew better. The Underlords, best described as kind of giant mutant humans, ran rampant slaughtering humanity. Helus therefore determined mankind was doomed as they refused to follow him. However the God of War Jekar wouldn't give up on us and so found the most devoted human to train and teach. This was Raimond Unasson. The problem was the Underlords with their giant spears always had an advantage in combat, not only where they bigger but the spears gave them extra reach. Jekar however slaughtered thousands of them with ease as he carried a sword, with a simply twist of his wrist he would turn the spear blade to one side and then once past the point found it simple to kill the Underlords. Several other humans had tried replicating this with stone, wood, even basic metals but the blades would shatter dooming their carrier. Jekar taught Unasson two things that changed the tide of war, first how to make the sword he carried, second how to use them. Unasson passed this knowledge on to his followers and soon they began to find success, the problem was non-believers still refused to accept Helus teachings and so the Underlords ended up taking out most of humanity, our homeland was all that was left and despite being great warriors Unasson and his followers were outnumbered. An epic last stand began and as Helus looked down he saw the devotion and bravery of Unasson and took pity on us. He returned and the tide of battle was turned, Jekar, Helus and Unasson won the day however in the last moments of battle Unasson sacrificed himself to save Helus from a spear blow and as such died but not before learning that Helus would watch over the faithful and ensure that no matter what they would be protected and that he would ensure Unasson's son, and grandsons etc would lead us in this world. As such the sword is a symbol of devotion to the Gods, it is a symbol of duty and love and it is almost like a contract. That contract is that you may carry it in Helus name if you follow his laws of Canley but by carrying it you agree that should the time come to defend others you will do what is required. As a result no one in East Moreland may carry a blade outside of practice until they have been through a religious ceremony."
It was now that the matter became a little more tricky. "This is why I have from King David an agreement with him I have made. I'm happy at the moment to make swords for you but there must be two conditions. "First is that whatever design you wish to be made can not include any traditional imagery from the Cult of Helus. These will not be sacred Morelander blades like I make for the royals but they will be simply worldly tools and decoration. The second is that it is made clear that these are not endorsed by the King of East Moreland, the highest honour King David gives to foreigners is presenting them with a sword and sadly in the past he's been burnt by who has received these. He wants it to be very clear these blades have nothing to do with him and its just a coincidence that its his swordsmith making them. But before I agree I have to know a little bit more about the symbolism of this as a gift to these....I think you call them hill tribes."