The Sattmalradi

"There weren't always dragons in the Valley," Professor Kinari said to the young men and women in front of him. "A thousand years ago, the Valley was a lawless wasteland of raiders, bandits, and criminals. The Council of Dragons saw the area and selected eight champions to go into the area and tame it, as stated in the Book of Heroes.

"The Council initially wanted to send a singular champion to help bring order to the area, but none could agree on what the champion's qualities should be or how to select them. As a result, each member of the Council set out on their own to find champions that met their individual criteria.

"Eldi, the representative from the Salamander tribe held a tournament to select a warrior for his champion, promising the sword Lasair to the victor."

"I thought Lasair was crafted after Eldi's tournament," one of the men in the crowd interjected.

"It was crafted after the Tournament, yes. However, the Council was able to use their magic to create an illusion of the blade. The tournament had four fighters that were likely to become the champions. Can anyone here name these four fighters?" The professor watched as the students raised their hands and he selected one student to name the fighters.

"The elf, Vitesse the Swift. He was considered because of how fast he was with his saber and his in-ring banter kept the crowd entertained, so a lot of people were hoping he would become the champion," a half-elven woman said.

"And why didn't he become Eldi's Champion?"

"He was proven to be a warrior for glory and fame rather than peace and order?" she said in an unsure tone.

"Correct. The other fighters?"

"Sterkte the Strong; a dwarf that wore heavy armor and could tank almost everything thrown at him," a human man answered. "He didn't become Eldi's champion, because of how reliant he was on his armor, but I think he did become Berg's Champion of Earth and used Eldfall, the Earthshaker Hammer."

"Very good, very good!" Kinari praised. "And yes, Berg initially was going to hold a contest of strength to select his champion, but after seeing the honorable actions of the armored dwarf, he selected Sterke Ironhand as his Champion of Earth. Now, who was the third fighter?"

An androgynous half-orc answered next. "Maiku K'wai the Brutal, an orc who fought efficiently in close-quarters combat with a knife. Like Sterkte, even though he didn't become Eldi's Fire Champion, he became Svartur's Champion of Shadows and was gifted Stornur, the Cloak of Shadows ."

"Correct. Now, keep in mind that orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins were not treated the same way a millennium ago as they are today. Many mortals opposed Svartur's selection of champion, but neither the Lindwyrm nor Maiku were concerned with such things and were focused solely on their mission. Now, who was the fourth warrior that become the Champion of Fire?"

"It was the hobgoblin Pyl Pozar. She won the tournament through skill and ardor while also showing her sportsmanship and fairness, and was rewarded with Lasiar and the title Champion of Fire."

"Correct! Now, the Council gained three champions from their tournament of warriors. Havithri of the Wyverns, Vatun of the Leviathans, and Skogur of the Lungwyrms went to the corners of the world for their champions.

"Havithri's Champion of Air was an elven bard named Mugharad Il'Qithara. Mugharad was performing in a small tavern to earn some coin and had entranced many with their technically perfect singing and lyre playing. Impressed by their musical prowess, the Wyvern's representative approached the elf and started up a conversion with them. Over the next few hours, Havithri learned that Mugharad was also dedicated to the preservation of history as it happened, rather than simply how the victors wished history to be written. For this reason, Mugharad received the magical lyre Titringir and became the Champion of Wind.

"Vatun's Champion of Water was a human mage skilled in combative magic by the name of Alexei Mothrani. Mothrani proved himself through a series of trials meant to test both his intellect and creativity. The first trial was a puzzle where Mothrani had to correctly choose a healing tonic from a group of bottles. The wrong choice would have been a deadly poison. Who can tell me how he solved the puzzle?"

The professor chose an elf to answer the question. "It was a trick from the beginning. All of the vials presented to him were toxins, but he was able to combine and dilute the toxins into a highly effective healing tonic by analyzing the chemical properties of each substance."

"Correct! Without even using magic, Mothrani created a recipe for a healing tonic that is still used to this day. The second trial involved the removal of a curse from an amulet. The curse itself was one that prevented people from being able to cast spells through their aura, making them entirely reliant on the power of the magical tools at their disposal. To make things worse, the amulet could only be removed upon the wearer's death. Similar to how he handled the Trial of Toxins, Mothrani analyzed the components of the curse and carefully constructed a counter-curse to cancel out what was bestowed upon the amulet. Now then, who can tell what Mothrani's final trial was?"

Only a few people rose their hands, so Professor Kinari chose the only goblinoid student with her hand up. "The final trial was one of combat. Vatun and Alexei Mothrani engaged in a mage's duel that ended in a stalemate after three days of continuous combat, proving not only that Mothrani had massive reserves of auric energy, but also was more than able to protect himself and others on his own if need be. For his intellect, creativity, and raw power Mothrani was granted the title of Champion of Water and Straumer, the Staff of Oceans."

"Excellent! Excellent! Skogur was the next member of the Council to select his Champion of Wood. Skogur saw the majority of his comrades choose warriors as their Champions and chose to have his Champion be a spiritual, pious individual to help heal any who were injured and eventually give sermons to the people of the Vale. Traveling the world disguised as a vagrant, Skogur gauged how people would treat him and ended up spending almost three years searching for his Champion. The end of the journey came when a young man came to him with a bowl of soup. The boy was impoverished but was willing to share what little he had with someone he felt needed it more. Upon talking with him, the young man admitted that he had immense faith in the gods and believed that they had a plan for him to be able to help more people. While unable to quote specific scriptures from the Ritining, he took the stories of the prophets to heart and tried his best to live by their teachings. Impressed by the young man's faith and devotion to the gods, Skogur gifted the young man with Thriggith, the Robe of the Devotion.

"Rafmagnir let nature choose his Champion of Thunder, enchanting the ring Thruma to seek out worthy Champions based on their affinity for storm magic and their love of justice and order. The ring chose the human Eoin Smith as its first Champion. Smith was previously a guard for the Elven palace of Buqat Shamis, which is currently...?"

"The current capital of the Republic of Solaria!" three students rang out at once.

"Correct. At the time it was the home of Duke Abin Alnir and the Alnir noble family. As one of the Alnir's guards, Smith had proven his courage not just in battle, but in his willingness to reprimand to nobility for thier misdeeds and speak his mind on actions he thought would be a mistake. When Thruma slid itself onto Smith's finger, a bolt of lightning struck the guardsman and teleported him to the Meeting Chamber of the Council of Dragons, where he refused to be Champion until some sort of binding oath was created to remind the Champions of their duty. Can anyone recite the Champion's Oath for me?"

"Upon this Sacred Relic, Before this Sacred Council, I swear to dedicate my life to the pursuits of justice, order, and liberty. I swear to use this Relic only in defense of myself and the innocent, or suffer destruction at the hands of the Gods. This I swear and take my place as Champion."

"While technically correct, I was hoping for the original Draconic oath," Professor Kinari mentioned before continuing. " Upon swearing-in as the Champion of Thunder, Smith refused to work with any of the other Champions until they swore in before the Council as he did. This created a binding magical oath that when spoken while holding one of the Relics, would grant one access to the full powers of a Champion.

"Los' Champion of Light, his nephew Kerti, was the final member of the Sattmalradi to take the Oath. Very little is known of Kerti's prior life or even why his uncle chose him as a Champion, but his knowledge of the laws and punishments of the Council proved invaluable to the Sattmalradi as they were able to deliver proper punishments to the people they fought rather than killing them outright. Kerti used the Sunlight Gauntlet, Sualir, and was often the arbiter of disputes between members of the Harmony Keepers."

Kinari looked at the clock in the corner of his classroom and clicked his tongue in mild annoyance. "Unfortunately, we will have to go over the Relics themselves tomorrow as class is about to finish. Be sure that you writing all of this down and that you are doing the assigned reading as there will be a test on this at the end of the week!"

As with every class when he reminded them of tests, his class groaned and quickly left the classroom as the hourly bells rang throughout the campus and students began to shuffle their way to their next class. Kinari took a moment before pulling a small ring out of his pocket and examining it. When electricity began to bring his aura into the visible spectrum, the historian sighed and began to slip on the ring.

"No rest for the weary, I suppose."