The Arbiter –
Sepharian bless the Noble, for it is his duty to guide those placed beneath them, his burden to withstand the temptation of power.
This sword, which is the most renowned of the Scheinende Sonne relics, is engraved with the symbol of Holy Sepharian. It was previously the blade of a Bishop Lucius of the Sepharahim who had earned a reputation as an unceasingly relentless seeker and destroyer of heretics, specifically those that had fallen in Apostasy to the Triumvirate. An apocryphal story is that the blade still echoes the Fire of Sepharian that lived within Bishop Lucius, imbuing the sword with purpose.
It was gifted to Sir Dietrich von Sonnenheim in Lion Age 417 when he was a Knight Protector (He eventually became the Knight Master of the Order in L.A. 439) assigned as a liason to the Retinue of the Bishop Lucius. Upon finding the hiding place of a Lazarine cult that had sprung up in the foothills in the Vigil, Sir Dietrich and Bishop Lucius had become separated from their forces during the skirmish. They fought their way into the den of heretics, side by side, killing the foul heretics until they reached the Cult Leader. The Unholy creature who continued to send undead creations at them until Bishop Lucius who feared they were becoming overwhelmed, threw his sword to Sir Dietrich and shouted the Lambast; destroying the lesser creatures en masse, while Sir Dietrich rammed the blade though the Necromancer, burning him with white fire from the inside out. Afterward the Bishop bestowed the sword on Sir Dietrich with the injunction: “to never suffer heresy to abide where the Sun’s light shines.”
The Arbiter was also used in L.A. 483 by Knight Commander Sir Amelie von Sonnenheim. She had been working for months to corroborate rumors that a minor member House Heimdall in the Engel Court had become a Tarrantist. After finding damning evidence, Sir Amelie confronted the Tarrantist, with the sword she resisted the Wiles of the seductively terrifying noble and was able to maneuver him into a Judicial Duel, during which she Killed the Heretic, exposing and destroying his foul schemes.
For a time it was lost in the fall of L.A. 506 with the death of Knight Commander Sir Victor der Apfelstadt to an ill fated attack on a Lazarine cult operating on the border of the Bosewald and Wieterland, and was recovered in the summer of L.A. 507 by Knight Protector Sir Kaspar von Sonnenheim in a Quest to stamp out the vile Heretics. It was found in the spoils and immediately inspected by the Inquisitor accompanying Sir Kaspar. The sword was found to be untainted after close inspection and was returned to the Order’s armory in Sonnenberg.
It was last carried into battle by Altgraf Sir Berthold von Sonnenheim against Rimelanders in L.A 568. Lord Bertold had been a childhood friend of Graf Einslan and had offered his support to the Graf upon his appointment to Markgraf of the Cold Throne. During the successful campaign Lord Sir Berthold led the final crushing charge of Scheinende Sonne Ritter. It was reported that it looked as if he were holding a glorious flaming white sun at the head of the thunderous wave of Cavalry.
