Resolute Sword
Description: 1845 Pattern Royal Navy cutlass, with leather grip and iron cupped guard. The sword suffered slight rust damage in the past, but is currently clean and in good repair. The blade is single-edge and very slightly curved.
Powers: Anyone fighting with the Resolute Sword can never accidentally harm either a British subject or an American citizen. Even deliberate attacks require an act of will for each strike, unless the target is a known, confessed traitor to either the United Kingdom or the United States. It is also an extremely sharp sword.
HMS Resolute has generated its share of mystical artifacts over the years, but the Resolute Sword was overlooked for quite some time. The arcane properties of the Sword were first discovered during the Boxer Rebellion, and gingerly studied during World War I; the Sword was also stolen by Austro-Hungarian mages in 1916. They could never duplicate the effect, though, and the Sword was recovered after the end of hostilities.
During World War II the Resolute Sword was genially fought over by both the OSS and SOE, as both organizations found its powers handy in certain missions. The great advantage of the Sword is that it can be wildly brandished, or even flourished, among American or British troops without being an actual menace; it’s also helpful for defusing up-close-and-personal hostage situations, if the hostage being menaced is from either country and the person doing the menacing is not. Somehow the blade ends up in the bad guy’s throat, and it doesn’t matter how improbable the attack was; it just happens.
Where is it now? In a museum. One that’s traditionally not very security-conscious. That’s another tradition from the OSS and SOE, actually. One never knows when one might need a deniable arcane assassin, after all.