Lit Crystal blades in 'the Golden Age of the Sith'

Recently I got my hands on STAR WARS: Tales of the Jedi: the Golden Age of the Sith [now that's a long title] and something I liked was the Sith lords weapon of choice: swords whose blade were made from some kind of crystal and hade some kind of force filed, or maybe just the artist way of showing us that their wielder was imbuing the blade with the force

Wanting to know more about those blades I went to Wookipedia, on Naga Shadow's profile page it states that he used a Sith sword, so to the Sith sword page I go. Here it is were I became confused, the page about Sith sword say, to quote "Sith swords were constructed through various metallurgical and magical means, transmuting base metals into an alchemical alloy possessing an unusual affinity for dark side energies." nowhere is any mention of the crystal like blades in the Golden Age of the Sith .

So my question is this: are the crystal swords in the Golden Age of the Sith some kind of strange metallurgic creation that looks like crystal or has the Wookipedia people missed something, and if it is the later, do anybody know what kind of abilities the Sith's crystal blades has and how they are created?

 

The alchemist alloy is apparently meant to be the strange metal/crystal mix the blades are. The Aura effect is also just to show them getting powered with the force, though it is quite possible that they actually start to glow if it happens, as some Jedi Katanas (which have crystals woven into them) do as well.

 

The "Sith swords" ARE the "Golden Age" swords.

 

I would like yo see some more Crystal Swords too.

 

Thanks, do you what the 'swords relationship [is that the right word?] with the Massassis crystal weapons if, there is any?

 

You mean these?


Or the axes like this fellow has?

 

The sword used by Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh in their duel are the swords I refer in my original post. Since the crystal "look" is rather unusual but is used by both the Sith lords for their sith sword and the Massassi for their normal weapons I was wondering what their relationship was.

 

Well we are told the Massassi tend to use relatively normal and primitive weapons (Swords, Clubs, Axes, Spears etc.) so I my guess is they just use a special crystal instead of iron like we would, the Sith Sword their Masters seem to have used their force powers to shape these special crystal weapons and enhance them with some kind of metal.

 

Could it be that the sword used by the Sith lords in the Golden age was the predecessor to what we now call Sith Swords and were "just" master worked versions of the Massassis weapons that were imbued with the Force by their bearers? Or to use D20 speak Mastercrafted swords with the Force Weapon and/or Dark Side Talisman
Feats used on them.

And yes I know that it is not how the blades are represented in the Dark Side Sorcebook

 

Given that meteoric iron can have a rather crystalline appearance when acid-etched to bring out the crystals- maybe that's what those swords are? Metal in a crystalline form?

 

Part of the alchemical myth is that the alchemist can change the properties of matter, "transmuting" one thing into another, like lead to gold.

 

The problem with that is the fact that Naga Sadow (I believe) broke Ludo Kressh's sword into splinters, so it should be a brittle metallic crystal if it is that. Then when imbued with the Dark Side of the Force, it gets hard and more "sword-like". That's my guess. It's brittle when inactive, strong when in use by a Dark Lord.

 

What about the duel between Exar Kun and his Master. Suddenly, Kun was able to break his Master's staff in two.
Kun probably surpassed his Master and became a very powerful Dark Side user.

 

I know that Ludo Kressh breaks his own sword in the Golden Age of the Sith when Naga Shadow is declared Dark Lord before leaving with his supporters in contempt. The way the sword breaks make it, to my eyes, look like it is made of crystal.

 

Exactly how I saw it originally. But it's been 2 years since I read the book. Crystalized metal doesn't really cut it if you can break it, unless it's very, very brittle. So what good is a metal-like blade if it's not strong without the Force? But there are many forms of crystals in nature, so what kind of crystal are they using? Most likely a synthetic crystal created by Sith alchemy, not unlike the synthetic crystals used in Sith lightsabres, just without colour.

Of course, the term "Sith sword" can mean different types of sword. Marka Ragnos's sword was metal that was made lightsabre resistant when activated by a force user, much like the ones used by the Je'daii (although theirs didn't stand up to a Rakata Forcesabre). Then there is Ajunta Pall's double-bladed metal sword. Apparently Naga Sadow had another sword as well that was poisonous, made of metal otherwise. So that source you quoted is right -- there are metal swords. But that is clearly not the only type.

My theory is that the crystal technology originated with the Sith species and used by the Massassi caste. When lightsabres were no longer being created, the Sith Lords began using that same technology as well as metallic swords. Perhaps the Sith experimented with both just to see what is most effective, eventually returning to lightsabres.