Burden

None know whether Vilo Primavidòrio named this sword for the weight of its improbable lead blade or the homesickness of the man who crafted it.

The premier bladesmith of Pincenze, a city in the former Grand Vailian duchy of Irruchetta, Vilo was fêted for the quality of his blades by Pincenze's nobility, and they showered him with coin to create ever more delicate, elaborately styled blades from Grand Vailia's very finest steel.

His work caught the eye of Pietro Balchessa, the estranged brother of Contessa Lina Balchessa and Pincenze's ruler. The Contessa and Pietro were fiercely competitive, and they quarreled over everything - money, renown, lovers. Vilo accepted Pietro's advances and denied the Contessa's, and in a fit of jealous embarrassment, the Contessa had him banished from the city.

Vilo wandered from nation to nation, but never found a home that bestirred his muse as Pincenze had. He settled at last in the Deadfire Archipelago and set to crafting Burden, his final work. He never revealed the method by which he trained a lead blade to keep its edge, and he died that same year of a fever in his blood, so he never will.