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Unlike most of the rest of her costume, the Sword of Fangs was not specifically given to Mantra by Archimage. Instead, Mantra took it from Boneyard, who had the artifact in his possession when Lukasz became Mantra. Despite the question of ownership, however, the sword was clearly meant to be part of her costume; as Mantra quickly discovered, the sword was able to transform into a bracelet-sized ring that would perfectly fit over the gem on her armor. This transformation also appears to work as a sort of compass that points towards Mantra when the sword is not in her possession.
In a bit of historical irony, Boneyard had apparently loaned the sword to Warstrike during the mission where Warstrike killed Lukasz's last male incarnation (Mantra #1)--Lukasz was "killed" by what would soon be his own sword. "Gwendor's Claw"The complete background of the sword is unknown, but what we do know paints a colorful history. Archimage gave the sword and armor as a gift to one of his wives (who would later go on to become Boneyard's wife), but during the conflict between Archimage and his wives and Boneyard, the sword (and indeed, the wives) fell into Boneyard's possession. The vampire Rune also claimed ownership of the item at one point. However, the most compelling case for prior ownership of the sword was made by Topaz, the warrior-queen of Gwendor. Topaz claimed that the armor and sword (which she refers to as "Gwendor's Claw") are considered sacred artifacts to her people, and by tradition are hers to wield. The items were apparently used centuries ago by a woman the Gwendorians refer to as "the deliverer." Although it is possible that this "deliverer" was merely a prior owner of the items (such as Archimage's wife), it is interesting to note that the statue of the woman bears a striking resemblance to Mantra herself. |