Cool Surface Lite: #FallingFridayTime! Designing a character's signature weapon always takes a bit of consideration, however, when the item is also magical in nature, it requires even more thought. As I've mentioned before, magic in Falling is going to be used infrequently, and it's not going to be commonplace. There's always some kind of cost involved, in part to stop magic becoming a simple plot solving device. I find it infuriating in a story when a power or item is used just in one circumstance and then ignored in situations where it would solve another problem because it's not what the plot needs at the time. If you apply limitations to powers then there's a good reason they can't solve everything. In Falling, certain items are spirit-bound. Once an item has been 'claimed' by someone, with a little of their own blood, it will respond to the owner alone, until they die. This means that you can't just have a character borrow a magic ability by taking it for 5 minutes, and also that each character is taking a large risk by spirit-bonding to an item, because the power may be desirable to others. It can make them a target. Arisaema, being one of the major players in Falling was a natural fit for a magic weapon. She didn't become one of the most renowned warriors by hiding away from risk. She's a skilled fighter, a celebrity with a sense of showmanship, and moves with both precision and style, so a sword made perfect sense for her. Arisaema's sword, named "Balance", looks impressive in it's resting state, but when Arisaema wields it, Balance's magic unlocks creating a significantly more intimidating weapon, that drains the strength of anyone harmed by it, and transfers that energy to Arisaema. Fun fact: Arisaema's distinctive white hair was an unexpected side-effect caused by Balance! The first time she used Balance to slay an enemy, their energy returned to Arisaema, healing her wounds and permanently giving her a white mane! Magic changes people in a number of ways!