Harvest

### Description

A bastard valyrian sword, with a leather grip made for whoever currently owns it and a valyrian steel pommel. Scabbard is dark brown leather, stamped with the Darry sigil.

### Origin

Purchased in Valyria in 739 BC

**Harvest** is the ancestral sword of House Darry, made of Valyrian steel. It is a bastard (hand and a half) sword made of the metal which has been owned by the family intermittently for over a thousand years. Belonging to the main branch residing at Castle Darry, its wielder is the oldest son of Lady Amerei, Ser Desmond Darry.

## Meta

*Harvest* was one of 18 entries to AWOIAFRP 3.1's Valyrian Steel Writing Competition[1], being selected by the moderation team as their winner after failing to accrue enough support to win the popular vote. The full entry can be found here. [2]

## Description

*Harvest* is a Valyrian steel sword, constructed for House Darry during the 740's BC. The sword is a bastard sword, with a straight and uncarved blade designed not for any kind of finery; the very sword itself is enough, the only one known in the Riverlands. The grey rippled blade was forged for one purpose, that purpose being to kill any and all who oppose the Darry holding the weapon. The pommel is also a circle of Valyrian steel with a small lead core to provide the peculiar metal with the weight needed for proper balance.

The grip itself does not contain the jewels and precious metals of other swords. It is plain even for an older sword, with a grip made of the softest leather, the grip shaped to fit the current owner's hand and changed for a new one upon bequeathing the sword to a new owner. The current grip is made of leather dyed a deep black, molded to the hand of Desmond Darry. The blade is light enough due to its metal to be held in one hand by even a half-decent warrior, while it can be used in two hands even by minors or women.

## History

*(As detailed by Amerei Darry in her scrolls on the subject, written 415-416 AC, updated following the Great Council of 439.)*

### A Sword Created (740's BC)

 It has been said that seven hundred and fifty years before the First Conquest, House Darry reached its zenith, or at the very least the height of its power before the Conquest. We had risen high in House Teague's esteem through our loyalty and riches had been heaped upon us as a result, including our first stone hall. Yet even with such a thing, Lord Addam Darry desired something to show his house's power, something to show our power to all. And so he sent three hundred loyal men and half the Darry treasury to the topless towers of Valyria, to the forges of the dragon lords. Their goal was to bring back what at the time would have been one of only a couple dozen in Westeros; a sword made of Valyrian steel.

The sword produced would be plain, almost mediocre compared to some of the other swords that have been found in recent years both in Westeros and abroad. I have no shame in admitting we could not have afforded the rubies and gold that adorn more ostentatious pieces but such plainness would prove to be not a curse but a boon. The sword they could afford was a bastard sword, made almost entirely of the metal but for a leather grip that was torn off and replaced with each new wielder, the current grip being customized for Clement's hand after *Harvest*'s rediscovery.

The plainness of the sword makes it easy to hide when it must be carried covertly, the weapon appearing like any other upon a brief visual inspection as most lackluster guards are wont to do.  This also makes the sword lighter, so light that for proper balance the pommel is rumoured to have a lead core.  This makes the sword even lighter than most sword of its type, enabling a talented fighter such as my husband to dance through his enemies with a speed that a heavily ornamented sword could not to hope, even if it too was made of the same metal. This also enables less talented fencers such as myself *(see Table 14 for further comparisons)* to use it more effectively than a normal sword, as the weight is low enough even an unfit user can swing it safely with two hands.

### A Sword Lost (739 BC - 282 AC)

Lord Addam died as all men must, bequeathing the sword to his daughter Bellena, who would be the first recorded user of the sword in a small skirmish against the Storm King's forces. While of course the sword did not make its user invulnerable, it made them a force to be reckoned with, able to cut through armour with a single stroke.

Through time it fought, through good and bad. It was used during Aegon's Conquest by both sides, and when the tyrant Maegor was cast down. *Harvest* was used in the final ambush where the Blacks finally won the Dance, though the winged monsters had already torn apart our home. Man or woman, young or old, the sword performed ably and well.

The sword would be used in the War of the Usurper, by our brave and misguided Kingsguard, Ser Jon Darry. He would fall upon the Trident and with him the sword, which would fall into its murky depths.

### A Sword Found (314-415 AC)

*Harvest* would be found as many other objects are, washing up on the Quiet Isle. The monks of the Isle would find it, thankfully identifying the sword for what it was. It was not returned, for reasons that I will not dare to presume upon such an order. At the very least it was kept safe by their order, a secret passed from one Elder Brother to the next as the years wore by on the Isle.

They claim they had but two requirements; the piety expected of any follower of the Seven and humility required for the owner of the sword to be truly worthy. ~~How dare they decide who owns our rightful ancestral weapon!~~ The summons was sent in 365, 379, 391, 406 and 411, though it is to the latter that a response was received, the rest going unanswered. My husband and I would journey to the Isle in early 415, as soon as we were able. The monks were to their credit kind, offering us the sword willingly despite long holding it without our knowledge.

### A Sword Used (415-439 AC)

It was a sword of great majesty, and a gift that surely must have been guided by the Seven themselves. It is said the Quiet Isle is a refuge for many things that should not be lost, and *Harvest* is now one of only a few in the known world. The grip was mortal and long destroyed by the roar of the Trident, but the blade itself was sound, and so sharp that it nearly broke the stones first used to sharpen it, before such an endeavour was given up as a lost cause.

The blade was supposed to be shown for the first time at Summerhall, one of nearly half a dozen that had appeared in a decade of rapid discovery. But alas that tourney ended with a torrent of blood, and instead its existence was known through slow rumour, travelling from those few that my darling husband and I showed to the entire realm.

In time it would be that the children would grow from little ones too frail to even lift a sword to proud warriors in their own right, and it was my oldest son Desmond who would obtain it. As strong as an ox and a fraction over six foot, while the sword may have looked most dashing with Clement's armour of green and yellow, upon him it looked as it should be, a weapon of war.