Etu

Name:	Etu
Origin / Meaning:	Navajo, "Sunrise"
Wielder:	Anna Raregroove
Crafter:	Great Crafter, Patch Tribe
Classification:	Sword, Katana
Rank:	???

Belonging to Anna Raregroove, Etu is her primary weapon. A katana forged by the Patch Tribe's greatest craftswoman, the revered "Great Crafter," current events are making it clear that this is no ordinary blade...

Backstory

As stated by Anna herself, Etu was forged by the Patch Tribe's Great Crafter. The Patch Tribe is renowned for their arts of constructing everything from buildings to necessary tools to even toys for children, with the more potent craftsmen and women holding progressively greater secrets. The Great Crafter herself holds the tribe's loftiest secrets in regards to their legendary building skills.

It has been said that no greater honor can be done for a warrior by the Patch Tribe - Of their blood or, rarely, from outside their families - Than for their crafters to design a weapon; let alone the Great Crafter herself. As said by the character Mushima: "It invites misfortune to use the skills of making things to help for the purpose of making an object which can be so easily corrupted." Meaning, the Patch Tribe consider both the crafting and the wielding of any full weapon to be a massive responsibility.

Any crafter is responsible for using their most keen judgment in whom they will make a weapon for; and more importantly, any wielder of a weapon is entirely responsible for knowing their weapon like a sibling and actively preventing anger from tainting its use. To the Patch Tribe, using a weapon for senseless, coldblooded murder is the ultimate betrayal of the crafter's trust. As such, the crafters who will make weapons are few and far between - And Etu is the only weapon known to have ever been born of a Great Crafter's works.

Though Etu has been known as Anna Raregroove's weapon ever since her introduction, only recently has its name and backstory been revealed. No doubt can be left as to Anna's high regard of the weapon: In her eyes, the sword is a shining symbol of her honor as a warrior. For Anna, it is the ultimate reminder of the faith and love the entire Patch Tribe holds for her.

Characteristics

"...It is a fine blade, indeed...I can see, it has not been changed by magic or science. From a warrior who has felt the bite of innumerable blades...You hold the peak of uncorrupted weaponcraft. It is an honor."

- Mushima

Appearance

Having roughly the regular katana length, Etu is largely a normal blade. However, it is slightly large compared to Anna's proportions, and the white-colored hilt is capped on the end by some kind of carved bird's head.

As well, the octagon-shaped tsuba is a matching white, two white tassels of some kind hang from the base of the carved ornament, and two sets of cloth wrapping adorn the black sheath: One blue-green and resembling bandages, and the other a bright red with a single white triangle decorating it.

Notably, Anna has never been seen carrying Etu on her belt or even on her back - Always in hand while on her person, whether sheathed or not.

Potency in Battle

Only finding extensive on-screen use in recent events, Etu has nonetheless proven a mighty weapon. Despite the warrior Mushima plainly stating that his cloak of hyperstrong fibers covers a body of above-titanium strength skin, it came close enough to wounding him that he had to disguise the damage so that the wielder and his opponent would not realize just how close he had come to serious injury.

Simply put, the blade is so sharp that Mushima - A warrior many years Anna's senior and clearly of unnatural strength and physical properties - Entirely felt that a consecutive following strike would seal a victory for his opponent. As well, perhaps the most outstanding quality of Etu's is that the katana is not altered by any unnatrual processes. No magical enchantments or scientific tampering comprises its might.

Traits of Design

In more technical terms, like most katana, Etu's advantage as a sword originates from the skill put into its crafting. One of the most famous techniques in forging a katana is the "folding"; to put it in relatively crude terms, a katana blade's strength and sharpness comes from the blade's metal being folded inward, over and over, while heated to a malleable state.

Through this and many other precise, honed skills that would require a true master in the days before factories, the katana made samurai into unparalleled warriors: A katana was so unique and priceless that in the days of samurai, any commoner could have only come into possession of a katana by theft or looting a corpse. Thus, a commoner owning a katana would most likely be killed immediately.

Adding to the existing strengths of a katana, Etu has incorporated the legendary crafts of the Patch Tribe. This alone would make a formidable blade - But with the secret arts of the Great Crafter, passed by word of mouth to succeeding heirs since the "Days of Quiet," Etu is a weapon of truly unique calibre. Anna Raregroove has repeatedly stated what an immense honor this weapon embodies for her.

Trivia

• Etu is a distinctly unusual blade for BZPB; it is not a high-tech doomsday weapon nor a notably supernatural blade as is the "norm." It is one of the very few weapons to derive its potency from the sheer skill of its crafter, and nothing more.
• As well, Etu is perhaps the game's first katana to not receive a Japanese name; though the latter is entirely natural for a katana, it would seem that the Navajo origin makes sense in this case.