Revealing Knife
Value: 8
Visions • Swans • Blades • Water
Meanings: Revelation, discovery, finesse
The Revealing Knife cuts everything. It slices through buildings or mountains as easily as paper or flesh. Anything that obfuscates what lies beyond or within is cut with precise strokes. We all long for such a tool to cut away the confusion and the lies, but we fear it as well. For what would such a knife slice away from us? What would it expose? The philosopher Timon Grein said, “We always assume that what lies beneath, buried deep, is what is real. But what if the truth is actually the outermost layer? What if the grandest secret in the world is that there are no secrets, and everything is what it appears to be?” Most believe the Revealing Knife to be the counterpoint to Grein’s idea.
Divination: When the Revealing Knife card is turned, it suggests that careful, precise action is required for what lies ahead. It indicates that there are secrets to be discovered, and whether their revelation is a good or ill tiding is up to the individual concerned. When the card is turned, most assume that the next card played on the Path of Suns indicates the nature of the secret revealed by the knife.
Game Narrative: A secret is revealed, or, at the very least, there is a secret that might be revealed. A challenge arises that requires finesse. Something is cut or severed.
Joy: The PC discovers a vital secret. The PC uses finesse to succeed at an action they would have otherwise failed.
Despair: A secret of the PC’s is exposed. The PC learns a truth that hurts them.
The blade carves away all that obscures, leaving truth exposed for all to see.