This blade, commonly referred to as The Kings' Folly, is an immensely powerful sword, lightweight, damaging, and ornate, with even more durability than the finest masterforged weapon, This blade was forged after the fall of the last archon, yet before the beginning of the Guild. It's story starts with an old smith, named Grat'thir, who went out looking for possible ore sites. He came across an interesting boulder, which seemed to emanate a powerful presence, and not only that, it showed the telltale signs of iron ore, as well as white gold. When he took his pick to it the next day however, it produced an ore like none he had ever seen. Quickly, he loaded his cart to the brim with this ore, and set a few traps around the boulder, then returned to his forge to find a proper application for this ore. First he tried forging it as he would silver or gold, and making it a ring, however it wasn't flexible enough, and cracked when he put the ring on his hand. Then he tried forging it as he would with iron and make a sword out of it. This time produced slightly better results. It was durable, but the sword could be nothing more than an ornament, as it wouldn't take an edge. Finally, he tried making a style of steel out of it, in hopes of fixing that problem. The results, were amazing. With that, he created the single best work of his life. It took an edge better than any normal blade, didn't need sharpening, and could withstand any assault put against it. Grat'thir, wise man as he was, realised that he could make a fortune off of this blade. So, he took it to the castle of Haran, which stood where Bowerstone does now, in an attempt to sell it to the king, Drakor al'Haran, who as the world knew, fought so much, he could never keep a sword for more than a month. When the king granted Grat'thir an audience, the smith gave him two demonstrations of the blade's worth. First, he placed the blade on the floor, and took a masterforged greataxe. He gripped the axe by the top of the haft, and thrust the haft down onto the sword's blade. Not only did the haft shatter, the entire axe did, and the floor broke open. However the sword was unharmed. Next the smith took a five inch thick piece of masterforged brass, and with the sword, cut it into ten different pieces. However the king was still not convinced, for all he saw on the hilt were leather wrappings, wrapped up so even the hilt guard couldn't be seen. He expressed this to the wise old smith, who then proceeded to remove the wrappings. The simple beauty of the blade in it's full glory took the king's heart. He immediately called his treasurers to bring half the money from the vault and to use it to pay the smith. Now, the king in truth, was not thinking of this blade for himself, but his son, who came of age two weeks from then. It was custom in that time, that when the eldest son came of age, that the throne be passed to him. Now, before you continue, you must know about the coronation ceremony of that particular land. The current king, would take his sword, and cut into his wrist, letting the blood drip onto his succesor, as the succesor swore the oaths of that particular country, and then the king was to fell himself on that blade, thus passing the throne, and the sword used. So King Drakor, two weeks later, performed the ceremony, and thus passed the sword down. Now his son, lived a full and happy life, and did the same with HIS son, and this continued on until the tenth owner of the blade, came across an ambush, riding to peace negotiations between the nations of albion, who were at that time, in a free for all war with each other. He was felled, and when the brigand leader picked the blade up, he was disintegrated, and the sword dissapeared....

Screenshots courtesy of Ralf of blades.

Need new ones.[/img]

10th Squad Captain Toushiro Hitsugaya's zanpakuto is Hyorinmaru ("Ice Ring"). When sealed, Hyorinmaru looks almost exactly like a normal zanpakuto with the exception of the guard, which is in the shape of a four-pointed star. The hilt and the sheath are also light-blue, which matches Hyorinmaru's abilities. Hyorinmaru's release command is "sit upon the frosted heavens" Hyorinmaru is the strongest of all water-ice element zanpakuto in Soul Society. When released Hyorinmaru itself remains the same, but gains a crescent-shaped blade attached to the hilt by a chain. Hyorinmaru allows Toushiro to control the weather, specifically water and ice. His slashes create an immense amount of spirit power which overflows from the tip of the blade, creating a flow of ice shaped like a Chinese dragon. The dragon flies at opponents and instantly freezes anything it touches. The chain-blade also freezes anything Hitsugaya traps with it. Hyorinmaru's Bankai form named Daiguren Hyorinmaru, causes ice to flow from Hyorinmaru onto Toushiro, forming into two large wings and a tail. Ice also forms into a dragon's head around his sword hand, encasing it up to the hilt. His left arm is covered fully until the wrist where it then spans into claws, leaving his hand and fingers free. Toushiro's feet are encased in ice in a similar manner to his left hand. Additionally, his wings are capable of folding around him to serve as ice shields. Three "flowers" of ice, shaped similarly to the guard of his zanpakuto, are also created behind Toushiro with four petals each, which melt away as Toushiro attacks. Hyorinmaru's Bankai has two known special techniques. The first is "dragon hail flower", which freezes any enemy Toushiro stabs, locking them into a cocoon of ice and freezing them to the core. Once frozen, Toushiro can shatter his opponent. The second is "thousand years ice prison" which forms a multitude of ice pillars using the moisture in the atmosphere. These pillars then envelop the enemy.