The Black Sword was the weapon of Sigismund, first Emperor's Champion and founding High Marshal of the Black Templars, and it has never known peace since the days of the Great Crusade. When Sigismund led the sons of Dorn into the fires of the Heresy, this blade drank the blood of traitors upon the walls of the Imperial Palace, and it has not stopped since.
Within the Black Templars, the sword is not held by any single warrior but bestowed upon whichever brother receives the Emperor's vision on the eve of battle. That champion dons the Armour of Faith, takes up the Black Sword, and strides forth to challenge the mightiest foe the enemy can offer. As a Chapter of the Space Marines sworn to an endless Crusade, the Templars see in the blade the purest expression of their vow: to seek out the alien, the heretic, and the daemon, and to cut them down.
Wielded two-handed with terrible zeal, the Black Sword has felled greater daemons, warlords, and xenos monstrosities beyond counting. Each champion who carries it and falls is honoured; each who carries it and triumphs adds another chapter to a saga ten thousand years long. It is faith made steel, and in the hands of a chosen champion it becomes a judgement from which the enemies of the Emperor cannot flee.
The reliquary continues
