A C'tan Phase Weapon (also known as a Fractal Edged Weapon), is a sword-like melee weapon based around a metal blade of unknown composition that, through the use of highly advanced Necron physics, is capable of phasing through any object irrespective of its physical properties.
Energy shields, armour and even daemonic bodies are of no defence against a Phase Weapon. However, as a C'tan's raw substance is made of the same necrodermis alloy and has the same properties, attacking a C'tan with a C'tan Phase Weapon disarms the attacker, as the metal becomes a part of the C'tan's body.
In one instance, a Callidus Assassin attacked an Imperial planetary governor, only to have her C'tan Phase Weapon absorbed into the "governor" and become a part of his body. This planetary governor was most likely the C'tan Shard called the Deceiver in another of its myriad disguises.
The most notable users of C'tan Phase Weapons are the elite Officio Assassinorum Assassins of the Callidus Temple in the employ of the Imperial Inquisition.
The Deathwatch utilise a similar weapon, known as a Xenophase Blade, an ancient and barely understood artefact weapon who some believe has its origins amongst long-defeated xenos dynasties, though speaking of its history has long been forbidden on pain of excruciation. Whether this type of weapon is one and the same, is not currently known.
Imperial Phase Weapons
C'tan Phase Sword
It is believed that the first Phase Sword was found on one of the long Dead Worlds of the C'tan. Excavations by the Adeptus Mechanicus uncovered numerous artefacts of extremely advanced technology, but of their makers, there was no evidence.
Each individual phase sword utilised by a Callidus Assassin is optimised to reflect its user's favoured combat stance and personal strengths, but they all take the form of an elongated punch-dagger. These deadly blades are thought to utilise the lost xenos technology of the C'tan, though the Callidus Temple keeps their true nature a close secret.
The blade of the Phase Sword is unusual in its ability to phase in and out of realspace by molecular realignment, allowing it to plunge clean through armour, flesh and bone as though they were not there at all.
Notable Phase Weapons
Cypher's Phase Knife
The elusive Fallen Angel known as Cypher is also known to have once carried a C'tan Phase Knife which was lost in battle with the C'tan Shard named the Deceiver during the 13th Black Crusade. Due to the fact that it was lost within the Warp, this seems to have caused a mysterious temporal loop which causes the knife to reappear at random times on Cypher's person.
Sources
- Assassinorum Executioner Force: Rulebook, pp. 26-27
- Codex: Assassins (2nd Edition), pg. 14
- Codex: Assassins (3rd Edition), pg. 6
- Codex: Daemonhunters (3rd Edition), pg. 28
- Codex: Deathwatch (7th Edition), pg. 106
- Codex: Necrons (3rd Edition), pp. 8-10, 14, 54
- Codex: Witch Hunters (3rd Edition), pg. 31