reanjr
First Post
I've been trying to piece together all the info about Rajaat's champions and I've come up with an alternate history that tries to take into account the conflicting information coming from the boxed sets, Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, and the timeline.
The postulate is basically that the Wanderer's Chronicle is a nice tidy representation of what might be based on disparate sources. It is not gospel. The Wanderer has to deal with limited and false information and has decided to present the information in a nice, easy to understand way.
History is rarely that nice and neat...
First, the numbering of the champions. Outside of the wanderer's chronicle, the only references I can find to designated champion numbers are when Manu states Pennarin is the 1st Champion in Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, and when the Prism Pentad states Borys is the 13th Champion. This contradicts the Wanderer's assertion that Sacha is 1st.
But what does 1st even mean? Is it the first one created? Borys was definitely made before Manu, though, and Borys's 13th position is much higher than Manu's 4th. The first title created. This approach works well. For example, the 4th Champion created was Troll Scorcher and so any who bear the name Troll Scorcher are the 4th Champion. This also seems supported in that the races designated for extermination are much more likely to have been exterminated as the designation number goes down. This could be because the more monstrous or less populous races were targeted first, but could also be evidence of the champion having existed for longer.
Going back to Pennarin and Sacha, they both present an interesting factoid. First, Pennarin was killed by Rajaat, the second Champion to die (after Myron) and the first to not be replaced by another as Myron was with Manu. Second, Sacha was the first to succeed in his genocide, wiping out the Kobolds.
During the time of the Champions then, and as the Cleansing Wars ended, Sacha would be the first among the Champions to succeed. I posit that this and the loss of Pennarin to history conflated to mislead the wanderer into believing Sacha was the 1st Champion.
To answer which champion then was Sacha, I look at one more major discrepancy: Kalak. Per Manu, Kalak was never a Champion, meaning his version allows for a missing 2nd Champion, assuming everything in the Wanderer's Chronicle is accurate where is not contradicted by Manu. So, Sacha then could have been the 2nd Champion, and the 1st living Champion at the close of the Cleansing Wars.
So what about Ogre Doom, Kalak's ostensible title? Manu has an answer for us again, in giving Inenek that title (or Ogre Naught) and even commenting wryly how he believes she crept into the ogres' beds to kill them.
Ok, now what of Aarokocra Scourge, the Wanderer's name for Inenek? Well, for this one, I dive into another niggling detail in Athas's history: the Kenku. The Kenku has exactly one mention as an astrological sign. I believe it is generally held by the community that Kenku do not exist on Athas. So it seems likely that historic kenku might be interpreted incorrectly as modern aarokocra.
Also with the addition of Eladrin to Athas in 4e, it seems the likely reason they would NOT be targeted in the Cleansing Wars is that they are native the Lands Within the Wind and were not in fact a Rebirth race. But this seems it would also apply to pixies who both the Wanderer and Manu claim were destroyed by Wyan and sprites, who Manu claims were destroyed by Sielba (the Wanderer claims Sielba was responsible for pterrans).
It is also implied by Manu that it may only be Wyan who was a traitor and it could have been his lies that involved Sacha in his mad support of Rajaat. This gives Manu reason to despise Wyan in a reserved way.
The animosity between Sielba and Manu is also well documented. Yaramuke is no longer around today because of their strife.
So here's where I get creative. I postulate that Manu intentionally belittled Sielba and Wyan with sarcastic comments about them destroying pixies and sprites. I postulate that the fey races were never targeted in the Cleansing Wars. I also postulate that pixies and sprites died out on their own as the Lands Within the Wind began to retreat. This would imply that the Wanderer had a more accurate source for Sielba, and is right in designating her Destroyer of Pterrans.
So finally, I hold that Pennarin was in fact responsible for cleansing the Centaurs (these creatures are mentioned in passing by Manu, who says they were cleansed before his time on Athas). This coincides with Pennarin being a brute strength kind of Champion (per Manu) and the centaurs great size and strength (other brute strength Champions were designated similar targets).
Kenku then were Wyan's responsibility. And aarokocra are either a post-cleansing war mutation of kenku, one of the many races ignored by Rajaat (like tareks or ssurans), or they represent the remaining kenku. Or - ignoring the kenku note - kenku are simply a mythical creature, and Wyan was responsible for aarokocra.
1st, Pennarin, Centaur Crusher
2nd, Sacha, Curse of the Kobolds
3rd, Dregoth, Ravager of Giants
4th, Myron/Manu, Troll Scorcher
5th, Uyness, Orc Plague
6th, Gallard, Bane of Gnomes
7th, Sielba, Destroyer of Pterrans
8th, Albeorn, Slayer of Elves
9th, Tectuktitlay, Wemic Annihilator
10th, Keltis, Lizard Man Executioner
11th, Inenek, Ogre Doom
12th, Wyan, Aarokocra/Kenku Scourge
13th, Borys, Butcher of Dwarves
14th, Daskinor, Goblin Death
15th, Kalid-Ma, Tari Killer
Hopefully that wasn't too disjointed.
The postulate is basically that the Wanderer's Chronicle is a nice tidy representation of what might be based on disparate sources. It is not gospel. The Wanderer has to deal with limited and false information and has decided to present the information in a nice, easy to understand way.
History is rarely that nice and neat...
First, the numbering of the champions. Outside of the wanderer's chronicle, the only references I can find to designated champion numbers are when Manu states Pennarin is the 1st Champion in Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, and when the Prism Pentad states Borys is the 13th Champion. This contradicts the Wanderer's assertion that Sacha is 1st.
But what does 1st even mean? Is it the first one created? Borys was definitely made before Manu, though, and Borys's 13th position is much higher than Manu's 4th. The first title created. This approach works well. For example, the 4th Champion created was Troll Scorcher and so any who bear the name Troll Scorcher are the 4th Champion. This also seems supported in that the races designated for extermination are much more likely to have been exterminated as the designation number goes down. This could be because the more monstrous or less populous races were targeted first, but could also be evidence of the champion having existed for longer.
Going back to Pennarin and Sacha, they both present an interesting factoid. First, Pennarin was killed by Rajaat, the second Champion to die (after Myron) and the first to not be replaced by another as Myron was with Manu. Second, Sacha was the first to succeed in his genocide, wiping out the Kobolds.
During the time of the Champions then, and as the Cleansing Wars ended, Sacha would be the first among the Champions to succeed. I posit that this and the loss of Pennarin to history conflated to mislead the wanderer into believing Sacha was the 1st Champion.
To answer which champion then was Sacha, I look at one more major discrepancy: Kalak. Per Manu, Kalak was never a Champion, meaning his version allows for a missing 2nd Champion, assuming everything in the Wanderer's Chronicle is accurate where is not contradicted by Manu. So, Sacha then could have been the 2nd Champion, and the 1st living Champion at the close of the Cleansing Wars.
So what about Ogre Doom, Kalak's ostensible title? Manu has an answer for us again, in giving Inenek that title (or Ogre Naught) and even commenting wryly how he believes she crept into the ogres' beds to kill them.
Ok, now what of Aarokocra Scourge, the Wanderer's name for Inenek? Well, for this one, I dive into another niggling detail in Athas's history: the Kenku. The Kenku has exactly one mention as an astrological sign. I believe it is generally held by the community that Kenku do not exist on Athas. So it seems likely that historic kenku might be interpreted incorrectly as modern aarokocra.
Also with the addition of Eladrin to Athas in 4e, it seems the likely reason they would NOT be targeted in the Cleansing Wars is that they are native the Lands Within the Wind and were not in fact a Rebirth race. But this seems it would also apply to pixies who both the Wanderer and Manu claim were destroyed by Wyan and sprites, who Manu claims were destroyed by Sielba (the Wanderer claims Sielba was responsible for pterrans).
It is also implied by Manu that it may only be Wyan who was a traitor and it could have been his lies that involved Sacha in his mad support of Rajaat. This gives Manu reason to despise Wyan in a reserved way.
The animosity between Sielba and Manu is also well documented. Yaramuke is no longer around today because of their strife.
So here's where I get creative. I postulate that Manu intentionally belittled Sielba and Wyan with sarcastic comments about them destroying pixies and sprites. I postulate that the fey races were never targeted in the Cleansing Wars. I also postulate that pixies and sprites died out on their own as the Lands Within the Wind began to retreat. This would imply that the Wanderer had a more accurate source for Sielba, and is right in designating her Destroyer of Pterrans.
So finally, I hold that Pennarin was in fact responsible for cleansing the Centaurs (these creatures are mentioned in passing by Manu, who says they were cleansed before his time on Athas). This coincides with Pennarin being a brute strength kind of Champion (per Manu) and the centaurs great size and strength (other brute strength Champions were designated similar targets).
Kenku then were Wyan's responsibility. And aarokocra are either a post-cleansing war mutation of kenku, one of the many races ignored by Rajaat (like tareks or ssurans), or they represent the remaining kenku. Or - ignoring the kenku note - kenku are simply a mythical creature, and Wyan was responsible for aarokocra.
1st, Pennarin, Centaur Crusher
2nd, Sacha, Curse of the Kobolds
3rd, Dregoth, Ravager of Giants
4th, Myron/Manu, Troll Scorcher
5th, Uyness, Orc Plague
6th, Gallard, Bane of Gnomes
7th, Sielba, Destroyer of Pterrans
8th, Albeorn, Slayer of Elves
9th, Tectuktitlay, Wemic Annihilator
10th, Keltis, Lizard Man Executioner
11th, Inenek, Ogre Doom
12th, Wyan, Aarokocra/Kenku Scourge
13th, Borys, Butcher of Dwarves
14th, Daskinor, Goblin Death
15th, Kalid-Ma, Tari Killer
Hopefully that wasn't too disjointed.
