Item Breakdowns

Because (obviously) the in-game item shop has it's own variety of associated Gods, figures and legendary items.
I'll cover any item in the game's history with an associated figure or interesting facet - don't take any of this as hinting as to who may or may not be introduced later on.

Any names of note in Bold.

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• Achilles Spear / Heartseeker (Greek): No details regarding to Achilles's style of combat is named in any capacity within the Iliad, aside from Achilles being claimed to be ambidextrous (on top of impervious to damage). In Greek terms, probably in reference to a semi-famous relic that claimed to be the bronze spearhead that Achilles used during the Battle of Troy, before it was lost to history.

• Acorn of Yggdrasil / Ratatoskr's Nut (Norse): An oxymoron. Yggdrasil is an Ash / Yew tree, trees which don't propagate via Acorns, but instead by helicopter seeds (Ash) or crimson-red berry-looking seed cones (Yew) - Oaks being the Acorn-trees.

  Without being a killjoy, probably just a feature because NIGGA THATS NUTS of the link between squirrels and acorns.

• Aegis Amulet (Greek): The name of Zeus's Shield in Greek Mythology, and Juno's {Hera's} Shield in Roman Mythology; lent to Athena for the period of the Trojan war. When shaken it's said to summon a storm, and the Gorgon motif was realistic enough that enemies would be metaphorically and in later versions, literally petrified before the wielder. Interestingly in-game, both Zeus and Athena are shown with 'the Aegis' in their default models, albeit with wildly different designs - meaning there are multiple different Aegis's in-game.

• Ancile (Roman): One of the legendary Pignora Imperium Romanum (TL: Pledges to the Imperium of Rome), whose mere continued existence was said to guarantee the supremacy of Rome, and somewhat equatable to the 3 Sacred Regalia of Japan (Amaterasu's equipment, which to this day still legitimises the Emperor of Japan).
  These included the the Ancile of Mars {Ares}, the Stone Needle of Cybele, Jupiter's {Zeus's} Terracotta Quadriga / Chariot, the Palladium (Protective Statue of Minerva {Athena}) & the Sacred Eternal Fire of Vesta {Hestia} - with sources out as it if there were any others (many other contender-items often linked to either Aeneas and the Trojan War). Unlike the comparatively autistic East-Asian Pantheons, the Europeans didn't name their sacred objects or sets of groupings with an included fixed number.

  The Ancile itself was said to be a Divine Shield linked to Mars {Ares} that fell from the sky - and as the story goes, 11 identical clones of it were made so anybody who tried to steal it would have a slim chance of grabbing the real one. Sadly, after the Sacking of Constantinople by the Christian conquests + resultant Fall of Constantinople by the Muslim conquests, all the Imperium Romanum (on top of countless other Greco-Roman relics) were destroyed, stolen, sold, melted down on the cheap (to fund the Vatican) or otherwise lost to history.

• Anhk of the Golem (Jewish): In reference to the unformed mass of clay-like material that YHVH used to form the first man (as well as the precursor concept to Frankenstein's Monster), Golem are given to be mindless constructs that magical jews are able to control with a word (usually God's name) written on the Golem's forehead or inserted into the Golem's mouth. As innately strong as a creature made of rock / clay, Golem are able to turn invisible, perform necromancy and will mindlessly follow orders of it's Jewish invoker to the word (ignoring any others).
  Nowadays used more colloquially within Hebrew to refer to the stupid and easily manipulated / controlled (somewhat similar to the concept of the goyim, but without the believer / non-believer aspect).

  Possibly could be meant to link to the Sand Guardians on the Egyptian-themed Dominion map since Judaism has no intrinsic links to Anhks, but the connection is otherwise loose.

• Arondight (Arthurian): Sir Lancelot's sword, or more specifically it's later romanticized name; Arondight's "true name" being Saeure. Described as The Fairy Sword, Saeure was a supernatural sword given to Lancelot by The Lady of the Lake when he came of age and thus left her protection, and was able to duel supernatural beings with ease.
  Think of it somewhat like a Silver Sword within the Witcher franchise (which coincidentally, it cameos in, as the strongest weapon in the 3rd game's finale DLC).

• Asi (Hindu): Doesn't really belong here, as it is an entity within it's own right.

  See the NPC aside.

• Atalanta's Bow (Greek): Reference to the Greek Heroine and worshipper of Artemis, most famously known for her major role within the Calydonian Boar Hunt, but also featuring as an independant member of the Argonauts for part of their journey. Potentially a minor avatar of Artemis of herself, but usually given as a wild-child that was abandoned to die at birth for not being a male heir, that Artemis took fondly to and raised as her own, aiding her in her hunts and literally guiding her arrows at times. That's not to say Artemis was entire pure-hearted, since Atalanta often 'coincedentally' found herself in situations that 'conveniently' led to the deaths of people who pissed Artemis off.

  Additionally, is the figure indirectly responsible for Eris {Discordia} getting her hands on the Golden Apple, after Aphrodite helped one of her followers distract Atalanta (for the benign reason that Aphrodite just thought it would be funny to dunk on the virgin-Goddess and get her favourite follower to break her vow of chastity and have sex), by dropping the iconically irresistible Golden Apples of the Hespirades in a footrace for her hand in marriage; one of which ultimately went.... 'misplaced' (eventually resulting in one of the largest recorded wars in Greek mythology). I mention this, since it's possibly what is mirrored in Discordia's win screen - where Denton (with a poorly-fitting Aphrodite wig on) and Cynthia an unironically more accurate depiction of Artemis than Artemis's in-game design get into a fight over one of the apples.

• Bancroft's Talon (Norse? / Slavic?): ...doesn't exist.
  There's nothing known as "Bancroft" within any Pantheon I'm aware of, or could find when researching; and the word itself only etymologically came into the vernacular (was invented) a few centuries after the Arthurians. If it's a reference to a Norse or Slavic creature, I can't think of anything it could be, as most of the Wyrms / Eagles / Roosters surrounding Yggdrasil are named already, and Fafnir is the only other Norse entity with explicit talons if I'm going full schizo, I'd say it might be a very loose bullshit fanfic name for Beowulf's dragon? The etymology *very* loosely lines up, but not enough that it seems deliberate and the Dragon is given as unnamed. As for Slavic possible sauces, I've got nothing, and if that's where it belongs, it's certainly from a minor, local legend compared to something more well-known.

  Looking into non-mythological surrounding sources, probably a reference to the old HiRez title, Global Agenda, which featured an NPC of the same name.
  .....yeah it's probably that.

• Baron's Brew (Voodoo): Almost certainly supposed to be Piman Kleren, a type of Caribbean Spiced Alcohol and ritual ingredient for invoking Baron Samedi, iconically made with 21 chilli peppers stewed in during the brewing process (to give it a special kind of... 'kick'). It's the same stuff Maman Brigitte is also invoked with, so it's also probably what's in her bottle, considering the chillies (if you ignore the fact it's luminous green for gameplay / design purposes).
  If you want to buy some for yourself..... well..... you can't. It's closer in nature to a cocktail, rather than something you just buy direct from the bottle (like trying to directly buy a Margarita, a Manhattan, a Cosmopolitan or a Molotov), even before acquiring the 2 ingredients.
  To directly translate;

  • Pimen = French word for a Medieval type of Spiced Wine, better known as Hypocras, that was around since the 1100's and popular until the advent of modern medicine in ~1850.
    See, back before the age of 'modern medicine' (what a scam that's been), medicine was intended to balance out various aspects of the body and promote good health according to the Humeric Theory (gotta keep dat blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm in perfect balance), theorised by Hypocrates. While it's clear the drink was named after Hypocrates; it's unclear as to if it's in reference to it's balance of Humeric theory he pioneered, or the method of clean water filtration / straining used that he also pioneered. An aspect of Humeric Theory is to keep an appropriate balance of diet. If you eat something warm, you should have something cool with it. If you have something that is innately damp, you should cook it via dry methods. So on.
    The healthy man eats a spice-laden spitroast with fresh vegetables (wet meat via dry method, hot meal paired with cool side, spices rampantly throughout Europe to micro-adjust and tune various properties), the unhealthy man eats stewed meat with cooked vegetables (wet meat via wet method, hot meal with hot side). Healthy man lives until he's 90, unhealthy man dies of a papercut. Cooking was some seriously in-depth stuff; and just like how your barber was also the guy performing your surgeries and dentistry, your chef was preparing the equivalent of passive medicines. It was pretty sound logic (modern medicine btfo), and that logic extended to drinks too - wine was viewed as a cool, wet (properties) and dry (taste) drink that had a neutral saltiness/bitterness/sourness, which made it an ideal balancing ingredient for a healthy lifestyle (since many things were warm, dry and sweet). But what if you want to drink your wine as-is without giving yourself ultracancer? Well, you simply add warm and sweet ingredients (via spices) then warm it up to room temperature (balancing the heat). Not ideal, but hey, you just avoided dementia, blindness, the plague and arthritis in one go; and if you just did something that would have made you sweat profusely (like working out), you no longer had your 'wetness' in imbalance either. Essentially - Hypocras (among other spiced wines) was a medieval medical energy drink that could be drunk in a casual setting, and an upper class alternative to water.
    Without further derailing into a full-on Medieval Cooking Book + Medical Journal over some booze, the recipe from the period is (roughly) as follows (sadly in imperial, because outdated measurements) (as in, actual imperial, not bastardised modern burger imperial);

    • ~10lb Wine (Red or White) (~4.5L, or a Gallon) (Personal note - Maman's in-game drink appears to be the White version, but Red is just as good, and is the 'usual' for the invocation of Baron)
    • ~1.5oz Cinnamon (42.5g)
    • ~2℈ Cloves (2.36g)
    • ~3ʒ Ginger (10.6g)
    • ~4℈ Grain of Paradise (4.72g) (Equally known as Melegueta, you're not going to buy this anywhere aside from the internet in this day and age. Aromatic peppercorn)
    • ~2℈ Long Pepper (2.36g) (Rare in yuro cooking under that name these days - you're better off checking South Asian markets for "Pippali", which is their name for it. Tastes like black pepper, but sweet)
    • 1.5lb Honey (680g) (Lordship would swap this out for an equal amount of White Sugar for Humeric-medical reasons and status-reasons, while Commoners had Honey for taste reasons - but note that Sugar was much less refined back then, so 600g should be a good modern counterpart)
    • Loosely mix the spices together, crush lightly and steep cold for half a day (if you've ever made tea, same method). Remove the spices, filter until the wine runs clear. Add the honey after that, heat just enough so the honey fully assimilates, leave until it cools back to room temp, drink warm.

  • Kleren = Clairin, a hard spirit that is almost exclusively found and sold in Haiti.
    Despite having a near-identical distillation process to Rhum, Kleren is given as it's own distinct drink due to the fact it uses more traditional / 'outdated' techniques, which results in a much higher proof product. A much higher proof product. So high proof in fact, that its dangerous for human consuption, unless diluted to 50% of it's initial alcohol content. Which they obviously do. It's Haiti, their food and drink consumer standards are very high.
    Additionally, if you weren't aware, the difference betwen Rum and Rhum is the use of Refined Sugar Molasses vs Raw Cane Sugar Juice respectively.
    tl;dr Kleren = Sugar Moonshine.

    Get your Pimen, mix with equal part Kleren, add your 21 chillis without cutting them up. If you cut them open, depending on the scovilles at play, you will fucking hospitalise yourself, as the juices and seeds soak directly into the alcohol. Leaving them unprepared will mean the pepper-skin only lets through the oils and some juice inside, resulting in a more identifiable / better flavour. That said, don't be a bitch - it's supposed to burn, hard. I expect Carolina Reapers, Scotch Bonnets and Habaneros, not Jalapenos or Pimentos and yes, Pimen is etymologically linked to Pimento. Leave it for a few days so the drink can absorb the peppers, then send yourself to death's door and back.
    Not for inexperienced drinkers.
    If you are dumb curious enough to make this, but haven't tried something like this before, be extremely careful. There are multiple parts of this process you can fuck up and accidentally make poison - be it the 90% proof brain-damage inducing spirit, the ridiculous amounts of potential scovilles, or mis-measuring outdated herbs and spices. At which point, you'll be meeting Baron Samedi. But you won't be returning.

  While I genuinely doubt the post-developmental shithole that is modern-day Haiti has much in terms of the 'correct ingredients' for perfect accuracy, and that bootleg homegrown clairin + a splash of unspiced wine + le 21 chillis would likely be more than enough; that's Pimen Kleren for you.

  Finally, for a cross-pantheonic feature, the first known recorded mention of Pimen was in the 1100's - within the Arthurian narrative itself, specified as favourite drink of Sir Percival (the guy who sorted out the Graal with the Fisher King, later christianised into the Holy Grail), indicating that it would have been drunk within the King Arthur's courts. Early Vulgate too, so this is core-canon Arthurian deeplore. For the earliest ever recorded version of the Pimen / Hypocras recipe, 2 centuries afterward (before it was simplified / streamlined for a global market), closer to what those in the Arthurian period would have drunk (again, in real imperial);

  • .

    • 1 Balthazar of Red Wine (~12L)
    • 0.25℥ Cardamom (~7.75g)
    • 3℥ Cinnamon (~93g)
    • 0.1℥ Cinnamon Flower (~3.1g) (Better known as Cinnamon Buds these days)
    • 1D Cloves (~1g)
    • 1.5℥ Galingale (~46.7g) (Almost impossible to get your hands on for cooking these days, but not rare. Just forgotten and no longer cultivated. You're better off checking gardening sites / stores and searching / asking for Sweet Cyperus, the wetland plant it's harvested from, then manually washing the plant off in-person. The part you're after are the thinner, stringy roots. Not to be confused with Galangal, an East Asian family of Ginger, that is also known as Galingale in yurop)
    • 3℥ Ginger (~93g)
    • 0.1℥ Grain of Paradise (~3.1g) (See above)
    • 1D Long Pepper (~1g) (See above)
    • 0.25℥ Marjoram (~7.75g) (Uncommon, but a staple in new-age herbal stores, easy enough to find. Don't get scammed with Oregano, which is sometimes called Wild Marjoram; Marjoram is less aromatic but sweeter)
    • 1D Nutmeg (~1g)
    • 1D Spanish Spikenard (~1g) (Long story, actual Spikenard is an extremely rare species of Honeysuckle plant from the Himalayas. Spanish Spikenard is a species of Lavender, which hits the same notes, and is much cheaper. You can use real Spikenard; but it's really, really fucking expensive, even today. Both are usually sold as essential oils, but the part you're after is the dried stems and flowers. Don't add any more than what's stated, or you'll be drinking soapwater)
    • Mortar and Pestle into a fine power, add the spices to the wine, then leave for a day. Filter until the wine runs clear. Add the honey after that, heat just enough so the honey fully assimilates, leave until it cools back to room temp, drink warm.

• Corrupted Bluestone / Brooch / Pendant (Celtic): An overarching term to refer any of the pillars / rocks of Stonehenge. In geological terms, Bluestone is in reference to Diabase / Dolerite, an extremely hard igneous rock - however has also come to refer to Basalt or Slate depending on the nation it's found in.

• Book of the Dead (Egyptian): Easily the most famous text relating to the Egyptians, a vital set of around 190 disorganised texts and spells developed around 1,700BC, describing how to correctly perform the complex funeral rites of the Ancient Egyptians, and how to navigate the afterlife for when it would be left within tombs. Beforehand the texts were written on the walls / inside the coffin (as far back as ~2,400BC), however as technology advanced, they were ported onto papyrus to make for easier manufacture and storage.
  The cost to commission one (at least, for the common folk in later years, when it was opened up to people other than Pharaohs / Governance) would roughly be half a years salary for the average labourer (both back then, and today - you're not any more relatively wealthy as the peons were back then). The comprehensive Egyptian guide afterlife doesn't come cheap.

• Book of Thoth (Egyptian): Thoth's signature book, said to contain knowledge of all things that had existed beforehand and up to the present. In real terms, was a collection of 42 texts which represented all known Egyptian knowledge of the time (from religion, to philosophy, to science) - essentially acting as the first ever Encyclopedia. While there is speculation as to if we have a remains of a potential copy or not, most of it has been lost to time.
  The symbol that appears to 'rise' out of it once the item is evolved is just the Eye of Horus, pretty common Egyptian symbology.

• Bumba's Dagger / Hammer / Mask / Spear (Congolese / Voodoo): God of Vomit, Creator and Head of Congolese Pantheon.

  tl;dr Bumba came into existence, but was lonely. Bumba threw all of reality up, and then he had frens. Welcome to the Congo.

  I have no idea if Bumba retains his Pantheon-Head status when taken in the context of the Voodoo Nanchon of Kongo, there's no clear material on the topic. It might be a case where he does (like how Sarkin Aljan retains his head position within the Hause Nanchon), it might be a case where he doesn't (like how Obatala 'loses' his head-position in favor of Ogun in the Nago (Yoruban) Nanchon). Not African enough to comment.
  k-popbros....your pantheon...not like this....

• Caduceus Shield / Club (Greek): Plot twist: This isn't a Caduceus.

  The Caduceus is the design is of Hermes {Mercury's} staff, complete with the iconic two serpents intertwined around it - however bears no relation to healing as much as it does relate more to commerce and successful message delivery once again, thank retarded americans for that one, it's most prominent false-use is that of the US Medical Corp's symbol, coincedentally on a shield too. Initially it was just a barren, plain ol' Rod that other messenger-Gods would sometimes carry; the snakes were later additions, possibly to make the overall Caduceus design closer resemble the symbol of Hermes ( ☿ ), possibly in reference to other entities in the general region.
  Key distinctions / confusions - if the rod has one snake, it's the Rod of Asclepius (Healing Rod), if it's got two snakes looking at one another with wings, it's the Caduceus (Messaging Rod). And if the rod is isolated and has two snakes with no wings (or the wings are attached to the entity holding the rod), it's the Rod of Baphomet (yes, the evil goat-man from Abrahamic teachings, Patron of Witchcraft within Satansim, and the specific demonic enemy above all others of the real-life Knights Templar).

  Though the Caduceus and the Rod of Baphomet are commonly / accidentally equated with one another unintentionally, that doesn't change the fact that without clear wings on them, the design of *these* items are ultimately better named as 'Baphomet's Shield' / 'Baphomet's Club' . Methinks that might cause a... 'bit' of an issue with the abrahamicfags though...

• Celestial Legion Helm (Chinese): Reference to the Tianchao [Celestial Dynasty], the mythical / deified first dynasty of China (and what, up until just over a century ago, China presented itself to the intenational community as).

  China viewed itself (and commonly refers to itself) as the Central Kingdom, in accordance with the idea that the world was built (and to a lesser extent revolves around) China itself, leading it to demand loyalty and tribute from surrounding states regardless of sovereignty A foreign policy which many times got the Chinese invaded and promptly genocided when arrogantly dealing with the Northern and Western nations, modern day Mongolia / Manchuria and Tibet. Said policy / treatment was also one of the root causes of the Japanese blowing a gasket during WW2 and invading / pillaging / genociding / raping the Chinese in revenge for the centuries / millennia of abuse.
  The Japanese / Vietnamese were generally reluctant and payed some respect to the Chinese demands (not wanting to start a war with them), however it was the Koreans who were most enthusiastic to help the Chinese - so to that end one could technically say this item is partially in reference to the Koreans who would conscript themselves alongside the Chinese as footsoldiers / legions of the Chinese / Celestial Emperor.

  In mythological / SMITE terms - could instead reasonably be Zhu Bajie's old helmet, Sun Wukong's Pig-man friendly-rival traveling partner; who took to the Journey to the West after being disgraced as an ex-Celestial Commander and kicked out of the heavens and turned into a monster, after he molested Chang'E when drunk. Bajie and Wukong leaned far more into 'rivals' than 'friends' throughout the literature, almost being more antagonistic and self-sabotaging to each other than their own enemies at times, as the two strong personalities bounced off of each other in the worse way possible, while still trying to find inner peace and enlightenment, only mellowing out near the end.

• Chalice of the Oracle (Greek): Overarching term for those who would relay the words of the Gods to mortals. Most commonly in reference to the various Greek Oracles who would overlook religious affairs within a given city, and oversee the Mortal Realm's affairs with the Divine.

• Charon's Coin (Greek): More accurately 'Charon's Obol'; the Greek currency used to pay the Ferryman of the Dead (...Charon) to transport you across the Underworld Rivers in Greek mythology, into your afterlife region of deserving.

  No Obol / Drachma as payment? Spend the rest of eternity on the banks until somebody charitably gives you one, or wait for a century in the F2P line. Or get torn up by Cerberus as you try to sneak into the Underworld. The coin was hidden in the mouth (not covering the eyes), to ensure you'd have it on your person when you arrived at the banks of the Styx, and the Obol was worth ~1/5th of a Drachma, or in current terms however much you would earn in about 2 hours-worth of work in your own currency (since rates vary across modern world currencies). Honestly, Charon works cheap as a guide for the dead, especially compared to the Egyptians.

  Drachmas and Obols were however phased out of use with the introduction of the Euro - thanks EUfags, guess the Greek dead can just pile up on the Styx ad infinum now.

• Chronos Pendant (Greek): Quite obvious reference to our old pal Chronos {Chronos}, God of Time. An engimatic entity, usually given as the child of Chaos and Aether alongside his sister Ananke {Necessitas}, the Goddess of Inevitability (sometimes the mother of the Moirai / Fates) or in his own right, Chronos is the true father of the Primordials in more obscure texts (which would make him a concept / God above Chaos itself, and thus logically most powerful entity in the entire combined lore / mythos of the game).

  Never given to have a pendant, generally preferring hourglasses (below), but it's pretty clearly supposed to be his nonetheless. In this case, the design of the pendant came before, and possibly influenced Chronos's mechanical design in-game.

• Cloak of the Ascetic (Wider): An overarching term in reference to those who give up physical pleasures in pursuit of spiritual fulfillment. Behaviour typically exhibited by Eastern monks, most iconically Buddists, but has elements within most ancient and modern religions.

• Cursed Anhk (Egyptian): Egyptian Hieroglyph for the concept of Life, similar in use to the Holy Cross within Christian teachings (even used interchangeably by Egyptian Christians today). As in, if you draw an Anhk, you have written the Egyptian word for 'Life'.

• Deathbringer (Egyptian?): Overall just a made-up-bullshit fantasy weapon, but the name may possibly be a reference to a nickname for Deathstalker Scorpions - the species Serqet is specifically Patron of. Perhaps it's why her dash can crit, so she has an excuse to build this. Maybe I'm seeing shapes in the shadows...

• Emperor's Armor (Roman): Almost a direct copy of Julius Caesar's armour; First Emperor of Rome. Later thought to be a divine being in of himself and worshipped within Rome as a major God within the capital (less so around other areas of the Roman Empire).

• Eye of Providence (Freemasonry Christianity): Guess what the Eye of the Illuminati God is called. Appears on the back of the American $1 bill too.
  'luminati confim!

• Fail-Not (Arthurian) = An extremely obscure, but modernly overhyped and misunderstood tool, utilised by the Knight of the Round Table, Sir Tristain.
  Note the wording - 'tool'.

  Attested to only within the first (and shakily canon) account of the alternate / 'unchivalric' variant of Tristain's legend (Beroul's account) the Fail-Not / Failnought isn't actually a type of bow at all - instead, it was a snare mechanism that the gloomy romantic Tristain would hunt with, while he was repeatedly exiled from Camelot, based off of a theorised medieval assassination technique. The snare-mechanism itself is the conceptual 'perfect trap' for 'getting rid' of somebody without leaving a trace - the idea that by arming a toilet with an internal crossbow and rigging it with a pressure plate mechanism to only fire when the target sat down, the arrow would enter through the anus, lodge fully within the body, pierce heart / lungs to lead to an instant death... and the resulting reactive clenching from the literal ass-hurt would prevent notable bleeding (the rest running off into the toilet itself or staying in the body as the victim keeled over face-first); all in all, leading to a perfect and traceless murder once the mechanism was removed from the rim. The target would have (theoretically) appeared to have just died of a heart attack on the toilet. No accounts exist of it ever being employed and the ultra-precise aim required invites some degree of dispute, but due to the secretive nature of European assassination practices (eluding documentation today, even when compared to the various other assassin-groups around the world and across history), that doesn't necessarily mean it can be written off as purely fictional.
  Back on-topic, bows themselves were highly looked down upon in chivalric culture, and seen as dishonorable and cheap way to kill a well-trained and honorable knight (crossbows especially, being the realest bitch-made nigga weapon of the knighting world) - relegated only to sport and forager-hunting, and in warfare, as a grunt / peasant's weapon on the backlines (while the brave and noble knights fought the frontlines). This is also why, unlike the similar Bushido culture of Japan which produced many a famous bowman (Nasu no Yoichi, Minamoto no Tatemo, Tomoe Gozen etc) or other Asian cultures, the wider Northwestern European sphere has relatively little in terms of archer-greats (the only exception being the countercultural and *definitely* unchivalric outlaw, Robin Hood).
  As for the conceptual Fail-Not itself, it was likely a pit-trap variant which, when the animal positioned itself over, would fire into the abdomen, for similar effects as the assassination device - the name itself in reference to the idea it would 'Fail-Not' to spring. After all, a bow's primary firing mechanism (...the bow itself...) isn't exactly known for it's propensity to 'fail' to fire an arrow. Or well, it wasn't a pit trap, but instead designed to fire horizontally... into... well...

  Or in weebshit terms, features prominently within the FATE series. Probably where LoRez got the idea.

• Gauntlet of Thebes (Various): Reference to the multiple cities known as Thebes (at least, known by the Greeks as 'Thebes', which is what we know most of them by nowadays) that were dotted around the Mediterranean in Ancient times. In order of likelihood of reference;
  • The Greek Thebes - Capital of Boeotian region, Athens's predominant rival-city in terms of commerce and political sway - Sparta being more of it's own entity. This one is the 'original' Thebes, and has multiple myths associated with it; most notably of which being that of the Sphinx who took over the city and preyed at it's gates for a period atop a plinth, until it was outwitted / defeated by Oedipus.
  • The Egyptian Thebes - Known at various points beforehand as Wase / Wahset / Noh-Amun / Nuwe / No, an independent state within Northern / Lower Egypt and the regional capital for a period. This Thebes was the location of the Karnak Temple-Complex dedicated to Amun-Ra and the wider Thebian version of the Egyptian Pantheon, and to this day is the 2nd largest religious complex in Earth's history - after the Angkor Wat in 1st place (Hindu Temple-City to Vishnu, Cambodia) and before Choga Zambil in 3rd place (Elamite-Mesopotamian Temple-City to Inshushinak {technically Nergal or Ereshkigal in Babylonian, but not quite either; overall think an amalgamate of Hades and Persephone in a kinda-Babylonian style and you've got Inshushinak}). Thebes is the predominant use of the city's name in modern times.
  • The Cilician Thebes - Described in the Illiad as a regional capital under the Trojans, and the setting for much of the mortal side of the pre-story, after Achilles sacked it on behalf of the Greek King Agamemnon, back when the two were allied with one another.
  • The Byzantine Thebes - A major trading capital at the North-Easternmost area of the Mediterranean, South East of the modern city of Konya, West / next to the modern city of Adana. Likely a huge amount of potential archelogical findings to be had.... but currently under ~10 million cubic metres of water, after the area was dammed up. Only a few coins were found just before the Catalan Dam was constructed. There are other 'Thebes' aside from this one (Mycenea / Thessaly), but past this point they're mostly minor townships.

• Genji's Guard (Japanese): Genji is in reference to the Monogatari (Tale) of the same name from the Japanese Heian era.
  The Genji Monogatari recounts and romatacises the mythical rise of the (real) Minamoto clan, with Genji Hikaru's escapades ranging between 1,000-1,100AD. The word Genji itself is a synonym for the Minamoto clan, who tl;dr were a clan of golden-children rulers and emperors - most famous of which including Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune (the most famous Japanese folk hero in their history, equatable to King Arthur to the Britons as he overthrew the Taira, only to be betrayed and killed weeks later) and Minamoto-no-Raiko (see Oni-Hunter's Garb).
  Generally contrasted with the Heike Monogatari, set later on in the Heian era - but in the Heike's case, instead of being a soap-opera romantic epic, it's better transliterated as an ancient Japanese samurai mafioso tragedy (the Taira, the clan synonymous with Heike, literally translating to 'The Family').
  Also the Genji Monogatari is the first ever Japanese work with a definite Loli tag - Hikaru falls in love with, kidnaps, grooms and then marries a 10yr old girl as a major part of the plot, before living out his days with her in a successful relationship.

• Fatalis / Hastened Fatalis (Roman): Overall bullshit weapon, but the word literally means Deadly in Latin - the word itself is most notable for appearing within the Sabre-Tooth-Tiger's Latin name (Smilodon Fatalis); and as a recurring final boss / ultimate bioengineered lifeform monster within the Monster Hunter Franchise.
  Take your pick where the SMITE devs borrowed it from.

• Hide of the Nemean Lion (Greek): See the Arena Aside, there's nothing more that I could add here. Impenetrable, light-weight hide from the Lion of the same name, defeated by Heracles.

• Hydra's Lament / Star (Greek): Explained in more detail within the Arena Aside, but the Hydra was a famous mythical beast that Heracles had to slay on his 2nd Trial.
  In this context, it references how after slaying the Hydra, Heracles extensively used it's extraordinarily potent and deadly venom across all his weaponry, to aid him in his other trails; such as dipping his arrow heads in it, or tipping his spear with it (so as much as a single scratch from his weapons could kill). This habit eventually led to Heracles's death however, as a tunic soaked in the Hydra's venom (that he was tricked into wearing) would be the object to finally kill him.

• Ichaival (Norse): An extremely obscure (but definitely accounted) mythological item. Featuring only within the Faroe sect of Norse mythology (far from the mainland / core of Norse); it was said to be Odin's bow, able to automatically fire ten arrows each time one was shot.

• Jade Emperor's Crown (Chinese): Name of the crown of the Divine Chinese Ruler, currently the Jade Emperor, a being of utter perfection except when he fucks up, but ignore that, hong shong fong wong ching chong this how china work who, after assisting Yuanshi Tianzun (Primordial Chinese God of Heaven, one of the Three Pure Ones), meditated and developed for 326,800,000+ years to earn his position as the 17th Ruler, and to this day has been the longest serving and most successful divine ruler.
  While he was benevolent pre-ascension, he's generally portrayed as an extremely busy statesman, rarely with enough time to pay attention to us mortals (and from which an innumerable amount of Chinese myths stem from). The position is said to have 55 title-holders before time itself ends (of which Guan Yu is the 18th, next in-line / most deserving).
  The one pictured appears to be the wrong way around - the part that fits over the head is supposed to be in front of the decorative portion. The one the Jade Emperor wears in-game (the Mian Guan, with 12 beads, representing composure and confidence) is usually decorative and reserved for coronation or important statesman affairs; the design used for the item related (a Pu Tou, or at least, since it appears too rounded to be a Liang Guan) would be the one typically worn on a day-to-day basis.

• Jotunn's Wrath / Vigor / Might (Norse): Reference to the Frost Giant race of the same name that Ymir created in his image. Transliterates better to the traditional idea of a Troll, translates directly as 'Ice Devourers'; however their depiction isn't particularly fixed, aside from being borne from the Icicles of Ymir.

• Lono's Mask (Polynesian): Depiction of the Hawaiian version of the Polynesian promordial entity that represents Peace, Farming and Rains. Brother of Ku, Kane and varyingly Kanaloa.

• Lotus Crown / Sickle (Hindu): Reference to Sahasrara, or the Crown Chakra within Hinduism, the origin point of all other chakra within the human body. More precisely, the Crown Chakra is not 'within' the body. As the origin point, it has no physical location, since it is a representation of the human consciousness / soul, with heavy ties to Samadhi (tl;dr not!Enlightenment).
  The design of the crown itself seems based off of Northern fashions, around the Himalayan region. The sickle.... doesn't make sense and is just because they wanted to have the Crown item in the Ancient Blade item tree.

• Magi's Cloak / Shoes of the Magi / Spear of the Magus (Persian / Iranian): Name of priests within the general Iranian region and within the Persian Empire / the post-Mesopotamian era, most commonly in reference to the Zoroastrian religion. Root stem of the word for Magician, and for basically the same definition - preists were understood to be able to perform most kinds of magic and divination; and were employed as both as spiritual mediums and general advisors.

• Manikin's Scepter / Hidden Blade / Mace (Maya) : A reference to the ruling scepters of the Maya and general Mesoamerican civilizations, similar in role to the Egyptian Crook & Flail as a symbol of divinity on top of rulership.
  What SMITE lacks is that the Manikin should depict a God, in the Maya's case usually either Kukulkan or K'Awiil (The God of Lightning, an Anaconda-humanoid with a face that resembled both snake + human, and a single fully serpentine tail-leg paired with one human leg - whose alternate aspect is Chaac's Axe itself. K'Awiil was far from the Japanese word, Kawaii / Cute.). The sceptre-rod itself would be modeled after their serpentine bodies, on top of the rounded head-mace.

  The item's effect of 'burning' targets seems to at least be a reference to this, as the Feathered Serpent / Kukulkan was moreso the God of Fire and War; his counterpart / friend, Huracan being the God of the Winds.

• Masamune (Japanese): Reference to the famous Japanese Blacksmith (Goro Masamune, circa 1264 - 1343, just after the Genpei War) and the line of weapons he produced, all of the same name.
  All remaining weapons of Goro Masamune are considered Japanese national treasures, and many of them (or ones produced by his clan) were in the hands of leaders throughout various internal Japanese wars, both during and after his life. Contrasting the other major blacksmithing name of Japanese history (Sengo Muramasa, circa ~1480 - ~1530, during the Sengoku Period), Masamune blades are considered Holy and virtuous, while Muramasa blades are considered demonic and cursed - both however, equal in supreme quality.

  The Serrated Edge item (right, on the below image) may be a reference to a Muramasa weapon, considering their iconic tang pattern mirrors the wave-shape found on the Serrated Edge - however that's just an observation on my end, not anything concrete. No sword produced by either master would have had such a rough and unwieldy saw-tooth pattern, and would have been thrown out as no better than scrap metal / melted down to produce a different weapon (due to the high scarcity of iron on the Japanese isles).

• Midas Boots (Greek): Reference to the foolish Greek King of the same name. You already know how it goes, but to recap, Midas finds one of Dionysus's {Bacchus's} lost and heavily inebriated Satyr friends, and Dionysus grants him a wish, which he hastily asks for anything he touches to turn to Gold. Doesn't turn out too well.

  As for something you probably don't know (so this wasn't a complete waste of character count) Zoe of Phrygia, King Midas's daughter, (the most famous part of his myth, as he tragically turns her to gold after trying to console her when she runs to him crying that the (now Gold) roses no longer smell sweet)... wasn't *ever*, at any point present within the original Greek legend. She's the addition of an American writer in the 1800's fuckin' burgers, that was intended to give the tale a stronger moral aspect that chasing riches will ruin everything you love (and have a happy ending, when he relieves himself of his curse by bathing himself and all the things he turned Gold in a stream blessed by the Abrahamic God, because of course Christfags would hamfist him in).
  In the original, Midas either dies after ingesting liquid (gold) / starving to death, or Apollo dunks on him and gives him donkey ears after Midas thought Pan's pipes sounded better than Apollo's lyre.

• Midgardian Mail (Norse): Reference to the Norse Realm in which humanity lives in. Transliteration would be 'Earthen Mail', direct translation would be 'Middle-Earth Mail'. ....now where have I heard that phrase before?

• Odysseus' Bow (Greek): Reference to the Greek Hero of the same name, and protagonist of the Odyssey (or as I like to call it, the second half of the Iliad). After the fall of Troy, our King of Ithaca here does 'the usual' in legend terms, and managed to piss off some Gods from the fallout of the war - in this case, Poseidon. Thus begins Odysseus's journey home, also known as .....the ODYSSEY!!!!, where shit continually happens because Poseidon is still pissed, flinging them all around the Mediterranean Ocean - from Greece to Gibraltar - for another 3 years. Such legendary tales that Odysseus and his remaining fleet greeckboyz from the Trojan War get involved include, but are not limited to:

  • Scylla and Charybdis's key mythological feature
  • The 'main' legend of the Cyclops (Polyphemeus and the Sheep)
  • The 'main' legend of the Sirens (Odysseus listening, while his men had earplugs; located at the South-Western edge of Italy, just North of the Strait of Messina)
  • The 'main' Greek Witch legend (Circe, polymorphing men into pigs, and once again craving the OdyDick, succeeding for a year in getting Odysseus to cheat on his wife, but ultimately getting cuckqueaned)
  • Meeting the God of the Winds (Aolus)
  • Casual Necromancy with the lads at the edge of the Earth (Summoning Tiresias from the Underworld)
  • A Land of smacked out druggie hippies (The Lotus Eaters)
  • A Land of cannibals (The Laestrygonians)
  • Zeus's private island-resort (Thrinacia, their last stop, in which Zeus decisively ...SMITE!!!'s the trespassers for killing his pet cows there)

  After the Zeus incident, Odysseus escapes with his life, and finds himself is 'trapped' safely on an island for 7 years with a 10/10 doting bombshell beauty called Calypso (one of Atlas's daughters) who does his every command in mad, obsessive love and offers an endless lifetime of happy marriage on a private mediterranean island - yet because Odysseus is a faggot, he wants to go back to his old nagging wife - cuckqueaning a Titan's daughter in the process, on top of the witch from beforehand. Odysseus 'escapes' paradise, Poseidon ...SMITE!!!'s him for being such a faggot holy shit, Odysseus washes up ashore on a different island before finally hitching a ride back home with a couple of dudes and a dream. That ride is much shorter.
  As we reach the end, we finally come across the part where Odysseus's Bow features - since it's been over a decade since Odysseus set foot in his own kingdom, nobody recognises him. To prove he is who he is and BTFO the parasitic suitors shitting up his palace, he strings his own bow, an unusually large and thick bow (which, if you aren't aware, is a fucking test of strength and a half); and since no other man on the island possesses the strength to string it, Odysseus re-assumes his own throne. Oh yeah, he also kills everyone who wronged him or his family, ending the tale with a mass hanging of a chunk of his palace staff.
  Happily Ever After~

• Oni Hunter's Garb (Japanese): An almost certain reference to Minamoto-no-Raiko, legendary Japanese monster-slayer, around from 948 - 1021.
  His (sometimes given as a secret 'her') gang were most notable for slaying various major yokai under the guidance of the court magician Abe no Seimei - with their most impressive accomplishments being the slaying of Shuten Doji; the physically strongest of the 3 Great Demons of Japan, a towering 50ft Oni that had completely taken over Mount Oeyama (a mountain that's still haunted to this day) and had begun amassing demons and directly raiding the (then capital) Kyoto (modern day Tokyo) - whose only 'weakness' was his penchance for alcohol.
  The garb is in reference to the aesthetic and failsafe aspect of Minamoto-no-Raiko's armour, as Shuten Doji's decapitated floating head presented a surprise posthomous threat, and crunched down on Raiko in a surprise attack from behind. Raiko however was wearing multiple layers of armour (having anticipated their armour breaking to some extent), thus the attack was ultimately ineffective, and the Oni was slain (for real that time).

• Pridwen (Arthurian): King Arthur's ornate greatshield, large enough to also magically double up as his personal boat. Supposed to have tthe insignia of the Virgin Mary.... unless it already does here - hey, I'm not judging you LoRez, the Christians are. Then again, It might have just been the usual Christian rewriting of history.
  Neat detail with the Gem line of items - all of the tree incorporates the original gem into their design.

• Protectors Mask (Polynesian): A mask depicting Kanaloa, Hawaiian version of the Polynesian primordial entity that resides within the Underworld.
  Sometimes given as a neutral entity that simply overlooks (in this case equated with the entity of Milu / Miru), sometimes given as a scheming and outright evil entity that seeks to bring forth the Polynesian Apocalypse (in this case equated with Whiro).
  Kanaloa is more widely known as the inverse relation (evil brother, dark side of the soul, twin etc) to Kane, Pantheon-Head and Creator figure within wider Polynesian mythology.

• Pythagorem's Piece (Greek): In reference to the Pythagorean Cult, a mathematical proto-religion / offshoot of Greek theology, which was founded around the same Pythagoras who founded much of Western mathematics and philosophy - ranging from his famous theorem to manipulate the angles around a triangle, to the first major recorded proponent of Heliocentrism, to the foundational concepts of musical theory; so on and so forth.
  In practical terms, the obsession with mathematics as a core of everything is very similar to modern-day Atheism, albeit with far less apathetic and cynical ignorance in regard to the role of religion and the importance of moral foundry.

• Qin's Sais (Chinese): Reference to the first major dynasty of Ancient China (Qin-a) that was victorious in the unification War of the Seven Kingdoms between 475-221 BC, whose homeland was Western / Inland China, just East of Tibet. The Qin state was known for it's violent and tyrannical state affairs, where conflict was a norm and a brutal outlook was societally favoured; and it was this brutalist approach that gave them the upper hand in conquering the other kingdoms. tl;dr Chinese not!Sparta.
  Pronounced Ch'In's, not Qwin or Chin - there's a slight delay.

  Not to be confused with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms - a different regional war of unification, 169–280 AD - the one Liu Bu / Zhuge Liang / Guan Yu and Frens feature in.
  Also not to be confused with the Unification of Tribal China, ~2,600 BC - the one The Yellow Emperor / Chi You / Xing Tian / Jing Wei and Frens feature in.

• Rangda's Mask (Balinese): Interestingly, not present in any of the in-game Pantheons at all; but hailing from the Balinese Pantheon, a highly developed Pantheon within Indonesia.
  An amalgamate of the Hindu Kali and the tribal beliefs of the time, fills a role similar to that of The Morrigan, as a singular disruptive female entity that acts as the antagonist to the 'good' / inverse / male god, Barong. The mask in-game is not a very good design of her at all - she has a pretty fixed depiction, complete with more prominent teeth, long feathers cascading from her head like hair and an overall thinner design.
  The Fighters Mask (left) is much closer / near-identical to what Rangda's face is supposed to look like, compared to the so-called 'Rangdas Mask' (Mid + Right). I don't know if this is genuine mythologylet retardation, or just a naming mistake that stuck.

• Ring of Hecate (Greek): Named after Hecate, Greek Goddess of Witchcraft, Journeys, Boundaries and Necromancy (and other, less relevant things because this is about the 5th damn fucking time I've had to describe hecate in this doc, and I'm getting sick to death of it).
  The design is pretty clearly hinting at the 'Necromancy' side of her magical prowess, as the 'undead' within a Greek context were understood to be the same core 'soul' that what once lived (stolen away from the region of the Underworld they were resting at), albeit without a body, and thus manifesting primarily as spooky ghosts. Hecate was the Goddess who literally held the keys of Tartarus's Gaols, and oversaw Thanatos / Charon performing their duties, as the dead 'journeyed' their way to their final destination. As the holder of those keys, she was also the only entity that could / would reliably allow the dead to return to the Earth. Otherwise, once let out of the Underworld, ghosts were free to roam as long as they wanted, before returning to the Underworld at any time at any of the various entrances across the world - Cerberus and the Underworld Nymphs were the guards, but once the soul was free, there wasn't anyone around in the Divine Realm with the specific purpose of recapturing and returning them (Thanatos only being interested in collecting them for the first time around). They'd already been processed, why would they need re-processing? Sounds like a 'their' problem, not the Underworld's.
  So while this might sound like a good deal in concept for the now-'free' soul, when I say they were on their own, they really were on their own - doomed to wander the Earth for an eternity with nobody able to see, hear or touch them outside of specific circumstance or ritual, and condemned to a lower-quality afterlife in the Underworld if they weren't expedient in returning back as soon as possible (which, when to put into simple terms.... are you aware where your closest Underworld entrance is?). Lost for all eternity, invisible even to the Gods on the surface, wailing to themselves, lingering around their corpse / grave for lack of known any way back to the Underworld and doomed to a worse afterlife than the one they were enjoying - hence the stigma against necromancers, especially irresponsible ones.
  For the dead, staying dead was usually the best course of action - and if summoned by a necromatic ritual, they would often wish to return as swiftly as possible...

  One should note - Hecate was not the Goddess of Ghosts. Hecate was (usually) the one responsible for any given ghost's existence, as she'd let them move across the boundary of living and dead - but it was the Goddess Enodia, (the pale, veiled, torch-bearing horserider), who acted as a the lone gathering point and carer for the lost souls as they wandered the Earth.

• Rod of Asclepius (Greek): you know what fuck you, i'm a lazy faggot, i'm not writing this one out ppppfojnlsrjkdnvkjhnxzka cant be bothered fuck you asclepius is boring motherfucker and i've already written about him elsewhere in the doc
  seriously, you couldnt make a more boring necromancer if you tried

  tl;dr the greeks religiously had to have non-venmous snakes (Aesculapian snakes) slithering around in their hospitals because it pandered to asclepius they were fucking savage retards and no matter how much you romanticise them in their white togas or cool marble statues and retard-tier philosophical takes, they were still fucking retarded the end and thats why asclepius has a snake around his rod good bye fuck you

• Rod of Tahuti (Egyptian): Another translation of the Heiroglyph for Thoth, the name Tahuti was more commonly used for the aspect of Thoth that represents the new moon.
  The portion of the Rod (or more accurately, the Was-sceptre) shown in the item is actually the arced bottom-half, not the head. The head of the staff was usually designed after the Set Animal, but would sometimes vary depending on whose staff it was, or how early the depiction of the staff was.

  tl;dr, the Rod of Thoth.

• The Norse Runic items do have real Runes on them.... they're just.. aahhh.. a.. tad bit inaccurate / irrelevant;

  • Runeforged Hammer uses a poorly drawn Valknut (better seen as the symbol for the Norse Pantheon in-game). An odd symbol that nobody really knows the meaning of any more. Not even a technical rune - it appears to have just been more of a mascot-like symbol.
  • Runic Shield ...seems to use an inverted Odal Rune, translating roughly to Lineage, Ownership and Estate; which in this context means nothing.
  • Flameforged Hammer uses a Kenaz / Kaunan rune, translating roughly to Torchlight, Fire, Opportunity and Enlightenment.
  • Runebreaking Hammer uses a Thurisaz rune, translating roughly to Giants, Thorns and the concept of Threatening.

  Funniest of all though, is how the Runic Shield evaded censorship while it was still an item (probably because it was an extremely situational item for Solo laners, and it was a shit item that nobody built at that) - the Odal rune is quite literally a formally recognised Nazi symbol and is strictly banned in all depictions across Germany lol (along with most other letters in the Old Norse alphabet - because it 'appeals to history too much' / because the Nazi's had some fetish about 'muh heritage' and 'muh blood and soil' or some shit). And I'm not talking some minor meme-law everyone has forgot about - it's the same legislation that enforces the banned symbolism of the Hindu / Buddhist Swastika in Germany.
  Chalk it up to the germs to ban their own fucking history 1984-style and make shapes illegal, even if it was (and still is) intrinsically Norse-Germanic, from way before the stormfaggots were kicking around.

• Shillelagh / Blackthorn Hammer (Celtic): Both describing the same general item (Shillelaghs literally being Clubs / Hammers made out of Blackthorn - hence, they're both Blackthorn Hammers).
  Firstly, Blackthorn is indeed a real plant species; a thorny bush with distinct small white flowers, produces blueberry-like Sloe berries and can be cut down for high quality, distinctively black wood (imaginative name, Black-Thorn, I know). They're extremely common across Europe, so chances are, if you're a Yuro, you've seen a Blackthorn bush before.
  As for the Shillelagh itself, it's a type of duelling weapon (specific to the Irish sect of Celtism), historically used to settle disputes between two upstanding gentlemen. Duelling pistols or rapiers never caught on in Ireland, because for Iregroids, a big stick with a rounded bit at the end is enough to cave the other fucker's skull in. If you're feeling especially Irish, your Shillelagh can be 'loaded' with metal hidden inside the core of the rounded head, to make it hit harder (like the scumfucks who fill snowballs with rocks, then pour water over them to make them as deceptively deadly as possible). The Irish's disgusting bong neighbors innovated their duelling weapons to become the elegant, thin swords hidden within walking canes - the Irish just used the walking stick itself to kill their enemy, like a slightly more refined caveman. Even to this day, Irish Apes militarymen lug around Shillelagh's, though more for tradition over duelling.

  For the mythological connection; Blackthorn is the signature plantlife of the fair maiden Brigit (Celtic Goddess of Domestic Affairs, Marriage and Childbirth), youngest member of the Tuatha de Danann and daughter of The Dagda - likely in reference to the delicate nature of the flowers the Blackthorn bush produces.

• Shogun's Kusari (Japanese): A Kusari isn't a mythological item, simply in reference to the chainmail of Samurai times.

  More notably is the 'Shogun' part, in reference to the ruling / Command structure of Ancient Japan. The Emperor of Japan may have been the leader on the surface, but after the Shogunate system was established, they were more ceremonial leaders who commanded respect in name (and divine lineage from Amaterasu) alone - the Shogun overlooked the 'real' issues such as the military, economy and civil affairs. The two entities of Emperor and Shogun worked well alongside one another - the Emperor granted the Shogun legitimacy and took the fall for major civil issues, while the Shogun 'sorted everything out' for the Emperor in the background and ensured the Emperor wouldn't be executed by any angry peasant uprisings (along with any of the benefits that being 'the real leader' granted).
  Furthermore, both sides had checks and balances for the other - the Shogunate itself existed to remove power from the Emperor and prevent tyranny or incompetancy from any heritigial morons that succeeded the throne, while the Emperor himself still technically had control over who his shogun was and thus could back any other member of his political court if he felt the current Shogun was getting too big for his boots. The Emperor's word may not have been absolute, but there was no need for it to be - he had enough sway to get most of what he wanted anyways, without having to worry about the nitty-gritty of ruling a country.
  The Shogunate system ended roughly in 1867 after the Meiji Restoration / Civil War (literally 'restoring' absolute power to the Emperor, and unilaterally allowed him to open up the previously isolationist Japan again, so they would be able to advance as a country via the use of Western Industrial technologies), however the concept of the Shogunate persists today in spirit within the post-WW2 Japanese government - the 'new Shoguns' not being the leader of the military, but instead the various political leaders of modern Japan.

  One might consider it as the Japanese counterpart for the Roman Emperor's Armour item, further up this list.

• Soul Eater: Anime reference to a franchise of the same name. Lots of VA's for SMITE have worked on it's dub, so there's that at the very least.

• Soul Reaver: The item itself is mundane, the name is a Legacy of Kane reference.

• Spartan Flag (Greek): Famous region of Ancient Greece, famed for it's military strength, masculine-focused rituals, patronage to Ares and rivalry with Athens, City of Athena. THIS. IS. *SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.*

• Staff of Mana (Polynesian): While probably a reference to the Videogame term, the phrase 'Mana' in of itself is the the concept of spiritual energy within Polynesian cultures, and is used to explain the minor regenerative abilities of all living creatures, as well as any supernatural phenomenon.

• Staff of Myrddin (Arthurian): Reference to Merlin's secondary name, Ambrosius Myrddin; which in of itself is lent from the name of two famous sorcerers that came before him (Ambrosius and Myrddin).

• Stone Cutting Sword (Japanese): Given it's early release, overall design and name itself; is most likely a reference to Amaterasu's Grass Cutting Sword (Kusunagi no Tsurugi) - one of the 3 Japanese Regalia that were the product of Yamato-no-Orochi's carcass (courtesy of Susano-O), that was later depicted in her Shining Heaven skin in of itself.

• Stone of Fal (Celtic): One of the Tuatha de Danann's Four Sacred Treasures (and a real landmark, the Lia Fáil), a elongated stone which could determine if the person stood on it was worthy and capable of being a strong ruler. The concept is mirrored to some extent throughout most of Celtic Europe, with two other major examples being the Arthurian Sword in the Stone and the Scottish Stone of Scone; indicating that the general symbology of a stone determining rulership was a common ritualistic practice for many Celtic peoples.

  Of the other 3 Sacred Mythological Celtic Treasures (to the Irish Sect), there was also the;

  • Caiomh Solais - The Sword of Light, an unblockable sword that blinded its enemies and would doom enemies to be slain by it when drawn (likely inspiration for the Norse Sword of the same translation, wielded by Surtr after it was stolen from Freyr)
  • Sleg de Llugh - The Spear of Lugh, a spear that guaranteed no conflict would ever be waged against its holder.
  • Coire de Dagda - The Cauldron of The Dagda, an endless cauldron of food, able to keep an army of any size fed (similar to the Greek Cornucopia)

  Additionally, Fal is the historic name of Ireland (much like how Mercia or Tsushima applies to the English and Japanese respectively). The item can be translated as the 'Stone of Ireland' equally correctly.

• Stone of Gaia (Greek); Reference to the Greek primordial of the same name, Gaia {Terra}, Primordial Personification of the Earth itself, who is responsible for much of the Greek creation narrative.

• Talaria Boots (Greek): Reference to the iconic golden winged sandals of Greek mythology that enabled one to run through the air, typically worn by Hermes {Mercury}, but lent to Achilles for the duration of the Trojan War (as well as in a few others, in other places).
  The wings themselves were the torn off wings of Arke, the messenger of the Titans and rival-sister of the Goddess of Rainbows, Iris (Arke being the etymological root of Arch-enemy; a phrase with a close link to 'Arch-Nemesis', with obvious relation between translation and Gods).

  The Heavenly Wings / Sprint Relic are pretty clearly also in reference to the Talaria boots.

• Telkhines Ring (Greek) - In reference to the Greek race of the same name, sometimes correlated in role with the Cyclops when forging the Adamanitine Sickle / Thunderbolt / Trident / Cap of Kronos / Zeus / Poseidon / Hades.
  The Telkhines were dog-headed, mermen / mermaids who raised Zeus and Poseidon during / after Titanomachia, while they were babies / children, but most were later executed for dabbling in particularly evil black magic (including, but not limited to using the water of the Styx in alchemy to create the perfect killing compound). Henceforth given to be a race of pure, absolute, unrepentantly evil aquatic sorceror-blacksmiths.
  Likely the Ancient Greek interpretation of Mediterranean Monk Seals. Evidently they didn't think they were cute flipper-dogs.

• Thousand Fold Blade (Japanese) : ONRY FINEST JAPANESE SHORD SHTEEL FORDED FOUSAN TIMES!!!!
  If you want to know why this is the case, Iron is a relatively rare ore in the Japanese Peninsula outside of Ironsand deposits (quite literally as the name implies, limited Iron granules found in Iron-rich sand), of which is extremely difficult to conventionally work with without creating useless Pig Iron. While European Knights and Arabic Faris of the period could pile that shit on thick and throw armor on an entire horse / clad select areas of an entire castle in it (on Portcullass's or Gate's) or manufacture devastating Siege Machines (Cauldrons, Reinforced Trebuchet's / Ballista), the Japanese Samurai comparatively had to make do with very little material, so wastage was far more impactful.
  This is also why Japanese weapon engineering didn't develop much past the Katana or the Naginata on a widespread scale. With no armour-factor to deal with, there simply wasn't much of a need to develop into Bilhooks, Maces or Rapiers; and why Siege Warfare / Castle Development was polished yet primitive until Nobunaga popularised Cannons (and brought the end of Feudal Japan as a concept entirely within a few decades, during the Sengoku period). This is however, was a military climate that demanded better quality manufacturing techniques (hence the meme) and allowed for a faster evolution of Cavalry and Archery and allowed for Ninja to become a thing, so it wasn't all a negative.

• Titan's Bane (Greek): Reference to the group of big Gods, above the Olympians in Greek mythos for you. More specifically in referrence to the smithing tools used by the Cyclops / Telkhines to craft the Thunderbolt of Zeus, the Bident and Cap of Hades & the Trident of Poseidon. If it wasn't clear; each was a three-pointed item in various ways - Zeus's Bolt was pole of lightning which arc'd three times, Hades's Bident was a two-pointed staff with a spear-like end (his cap also having 3 points), and Poseidon's Trident was a staff with three points on one end and was rounded off on the other end.
  After all, we know all the names of the weapons used to fight the Titans - and none of them were Hammers of any kind.

• Typhon's Fang (Greek): Reference to the monster of the same name. Zeus's arch-nemesis (the concept-nemesis, not Nemesis-nemesis); the King / Father of the Monsters, Usurper to the Olympians and Zeus's combative equal (from a different branch of the Greek-Family-Tree, splitting at Pontus / Gaia instead of Uranus / Gaia).
  A winged, caped, fire-breathing, posion-spreading 'humanoid' made entirely out of a mass of hundreds, if not thousands, of writhing snakes heads and bodies, who struck absolute fear into the hearts of any who beheld him; Typhon was the antagonistic leader of the Typhonomachia (+ sometimes the Gigantomachia) as he attempted to overthrow the Olympians (sometimes on behalf of Gaia), until he was underhandedly defeated by Zeus, scarred across the face by the Lightning Bolt and sent to suffer, imprisoned under Mt. Etna for the rest of eternity, a short distance Southwest from the Strait of Messina (Typhon's writhing around being mythologically what causes the largest eruptions in the Mediterranean).
  Pretty fucking major name in the Greek Pantheon, even if his wife (Echidna) has become more anecdotally popular over the years.

• Warriors Tabi (Japanese): Nothing mythological, but something mildly interesting; Tabi aren't shoes, but socks, typically with a sewn split at the big toe, to easier allow for the wearing of sandals.
  Unless there's socks inside (which, for some reason would be sandal-socks worn in boots), this item is simply incorrect.

• Wind Demon / Demon Blade (Japanese): Almost certainly a reference to the Kamaitachi, a well known Yokai (Demon / Monster) within Japanese Mythology, characterized as weasels with blades or sickles for hands [TL is literally Kama-Itachi / 'Sickle Weasel'] that would ride and glide around on winds. Kamaitachi were given as explanation for how a strong wind seemingly can rip things apart invisibly, how whirlwinds / tornados can visibly manifest or how one can mysteriously get thin cuts without realising when travelling.
  The elongated outer arms on the design of this shuriken are quite clearly reminiscent of Kama - which for reference, one can be seen ingame as one of Tsukuyomi's abilities, his 3 (a Kusarigama is a Kama attached to a chain with a ball, and was a semi-common farming tool that was adapted into disguised ninja weaponry).

• Witchblade / Bewitched Dagger: Aesthetically seems to be a reference to the comicbook gauntlet of the same name, from the series of the same name.

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BONUS ROUND

• Vajrayudha (Hindu): With nowhere else to throw it, this little fucker popped up throughout the Season 9 Conquest maps, known as the Sceptre of Indra.
  A real referenced weapon (shorthand Vajra), much like in game, it was said to be an indestructible weapon capable of shooting out bolts of lightning at enemies, and was / is overall an important symbolic ritual tool, even today. As the legend goes, after Indra and the Suras were purged from the heavens by the Asura's (led by Indra's arch-rival, Ahi, a being immune to all weapons previously made, and any new weapons made of either wood or metal), the Great Sage Dadhichi sacrificed himself, and the weapon was made from his spine (the weapon made of bone and lightning in turn circumventing Ahi's impermeability rules). Suras take back the heavens, everyone is happy.

  While you may hear that it's "THA MOST POWERFUL WEAPON EVARRRRRR!!!!!", in reality it seems to be usual pajeet overhype that they like to claim for many things. Other divine weapons such as Narayanastra (an arrow-firing war-disk gifted directly from Vishnu, with the ability to singlehandedly destroy any army), Trishula (Shiva's trident-like weapon he literally uses to destroy the universe) or Asi are each stated to be "THA MOST POWERFUL WEAPON EVARRRRRR!!!!!" too, and the Vajra flat out does not appear to be able to harm the Suras (as seen in various myths, such as one relating to Hanuman) - giving 'the most powerful weapon' a pretty clear flaw. Overall, I personally give it to Asi as the one that actually seems to be the strongest weapon within Hindu mythology.
  It goes without saying however, as divine weapons, they would all still be a definite step above the rest in terms of power-scalings.

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