Joe Boyer (The Smith)

## Overview

A reclusive Enchanter living in the mountains of Southern New York. Uniquely skilled in the creation of bladed weapons. His greatest blades aren't for sale, but he lends them out to causes he deems worthy and will create lesser items as gifts or on commission. He's as close to completely benevolent as practitioners get, but is limited in how much he can act.

His Familiar is a Faerie of High Summer, formerly of high standing. After angering one of her rivals, she was proclaimed to be the next Nimue. The role and name of Nimue act as a curse among High Summer, tearing a Faerie away from their stories and driving them towards Winter as they forever await the return of the Once and Future King. She avoided this fate by becoming the Smith's emissary and eventually familiar.

## Appearance

A bearded man on the verge of turning thirty. Normally seen wearing jeans and a flannel button-up. Brown hair and eyes. Looks more like a hardware store employee than a famous practitioner.

To the Sight, the Smith might appear to be flanked and overshadowed by his three blades.

Nimue appears as an ethereal young woman with long blonde hair, all her other features changing from day to day.

## Powers/Practice

### Public Knowledge:

The Smith is an enchanter who makes swords, three of which are world-class treasures considered on par with ancient relics. The Smith is known to be brilliant at the design of rituals and diagrams, consuming and contributing to the cutting edge literature on these topics.

### Private Knowledge:

He creates his swords as amalgams, combining and exponentially compounding minor objects to create one major one. His three greatest swords are on a level of their own, drawing their immense power from the stories they walk and the roles they will find themselves in. As a result, he does not own the swords, and merely acts as a caretaker until he either finds their rightful owners or passes away.

### The Swords:

Hard Cleft - The Sword of a Warring King. Ornate, European style longsword. Grants the wielder a King's authority to their words and presence. Acts as a power source that greatly strengthens direct workings but weakens subtle ones. Razor sharp and capable of slicing the immaterial, and when used as a blade is notably more effective against 'monstrous' others such as Goblins.

Convalescent Creation - The Sword of a Holy Warrior. Wooden hilt from which projects an iridescent light, and suspended within the light are shards of glittering crystal. Inhabited by an Angel who is completely unwilling to be used except against Demons. When used the wielder must take up extremely restrictive temporary oaths with the Angel, but if all the oaths are taken one can bring to bear nearly the full power of the Angel.

Golden Path - The Sword of a Chosen One. A wooden bokken crisscrossed by a random pattern of golden lines. The wielder gains noticeably positive luck in their endeavors, without the usual potential for a karmic backlash. Acts as a power source that strengthens spontaneous workings but weakens planned out rituals. Despite being made of wood and appearing blunt, it is capable of cutting the physical and immaterial.

### Demesne:

The Smith lives inside his demesne, a quarter mile radius property in Southern New York's Appalachian mountains. The demesne looks like a normal forest from the outside, with his house barely visible through the trees, but from the inside it is a massive clearing with a manor at one end and the Smith's workshop on the other. From the inside, the barrier appears as a wall of fifty foot blades sticking point down into the ground.

The Smith uses his demesne to control his rituals, preventing the worst possible effects of his experiments from coming to be.

### Nimue:

Nimue retains the usual powers of a Fae, with a modest talent for dueling. Her title as Nimue became a great boon to her work with the Smith, allowing her to travel the world through bodies of fresh water.

## History

The Smith became Aware during his first year of college, finding a protector and mentor in his Anthropology professor. He dropped out of school, and began the process of hitchhiking across Europe, scavenging around the few unlooted castles and ruins for the relics that would eventually become Hard Cleft. After five years he returned to the states and created his first blade, using the King's Authority to claim his massive demesne at the summer home he inherited from his paternal grandparents.

After fully realizing the terrible power he had brought to bear, he put himself to the whims of the lords of New York, Moscow, and London, whose competing ambitions checked each other, leaving the Smith nominally free but unable to use the Blade for personal gain. This umbrella of protection from the Lords did little to dissuade the onslaught of Faerie and Collectors who coveted Hard Cleft, leading to the Smith secluding himself in his Demesne. From here, he made a contract with five Fae of High Summer to be his emissaries, those who could bring the blade to those who had need of it and retrieve it afterwards. Only one of these Fae, Nimue, lasted more than a year without incident. During this time, the Smith finished a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology, studying remotely.

After a few years he was contacted by a collection of prominent Evangelists, a meeting that lead to his crafting of Convalescent Creation. The blade's unique use against Demons made the Smith internationally recognized for his skill, which brought more clout to bring to bear, but more Collectors along with it.

The Smith first joined OMO after the move to the new forums, though he had lurked on the older site. The new protections and banning of Diabolism as a topic allowed him the freedom to interact. While only an occasional commenter at first, the Smith aided the quest against King Leer by authorizing the use of Hard Cleft by first the Fool, and then SilverWolf after the former's passing. Around this time he also took Nimue as his familiar.

The Smith also used OMO to trade knowledge of the basic principles behind his blades in exchange for the artifacts that would become Golden Path, as well as a few other trifles for his later projects.