The Razor Which Cuts Through Self-Deception
Artifact ••••: The Razor Which Cuts Through Self-Deception (Black Jade Reaper Daiklave)
Master Iron Breather is a widely-respected scholar from the Littoral tradition of Immaculacy -- the Pure Way and its fellows. Known for his unusual teaching style focused on humor, subversion, and deprecation, Master Iron Breather is often called the Great Wise Monkey of Kamthahar or Old Master Bastard.
In his youth, Master Iron Breather defeated a mighty spirit with his bare hands, and took the spirit's mighty sword. For the rest of his life, the Great Wise Monkey of Kamthahar wielded it not as a weapon, but as a razor for his bald head and a knife for his bread -- a final insult to the spirit's arrogance that its legendary sword was put to mundane use.
Master Iron Breather was said to use the sword to cut the hair of his students into embarrassing haircuts to teach them humility. Legends say that once a prince of a mighty Prasadi family came to him and boasted that she was wiser and stronger than the old, bright-eyed monk. Without looking up from his meal, Iron Breather unsheathed the sword and threw it at her head; as it sliced through her hair, a fingernail's breadth from her skull, it embedded itself in the wall behind her, it sliced through her arrogance and she fell down crying, humbled for the first time. It is said that she bore a slice in her hair down the middle of her head for the rest of her life.
Iron Breather's sword is now known as the Razor Which Slices Through Self-Deception. Today, it is known to be wielded by a hero who styles themselves as the monkeylike reincarnation of Old Master Bastard: an itinerant warrior and self-styled monk who uses its edge to bring justice to bandits and criminals. It is said that the Great Wise Monkey's laughter can be heard echoing in the hero's shimmering slices.
