Sacred Rulers
| Type | Sacred title |
|---|---|
| Leader | The Sacred Head |
| Notable members | Alistair Archibald, Lumikki Otsby, Millennium Loftwind, Reagan Hideaway |
| Status | Four seats, all filled |
| First appearance | Sacred: Eslura's Calling |
The Sacred Rulers are the four holders of the Sacred Books. Each is bound to one Book, wields the element that Book carries, and governs the kingdom in which the Book's Sacred Chamber lies. Together they answer to the Sacred Head, who is the guardian of the Rulers and of their Books.[1]
The four seats
- Alistair Archibald, a lizard, Sacred Ruler of the Book of Land at Blighburrow.[1]
- Lumikki Otsby, an otter, Sacred Ruler of the Book of Water at Ovallia.[2]
- Millennium Loftwind, a dragon shifter, Sacred Ruler of the Book of Air at Galecrest.[3]
- Reagan Hideaway, Sacred Ruler of the Book of Fire at Zybersia, chosen after the seat had stood empty since her father's murder.[4]
Earlier holders include Bellbour Polindrad, the first Ruler of the Book of Water and of Ovallia, whose statue stands over the bridge at Bellbour's Strait, and Elmryn, the Ruler of the Book of Fire whom Obellius Kalaar murdered.[5][3]
Choosing
A Book chooses its own Ruler, and the choice cannot be undone.[6] The act is a touch. Lumikki Otsby laid her right paw on the Book of Water; Reagan Hideaway reached her hand into the hole in the spine of the Book of Fire, and the pages closed on her arm while white lightning ran up it into her chest.[2][4]
A choosing ceremony and a coronation follow. Millennium Loftwind has known her Sacred Guard Ferhant since hers, and Lumikki was given an ocean-themed silk robe at her own, which burned in the fire at Morgaedion.[7][2]
The Book does not check where its Ruler comes from. Reagan grew up on Earth and had never heard of Eslura, but both her parents were trueborn Eslurians, which Aero Ellisvat took to settle the question.[6]
Powers
A Ruler draws on the element of their Book. Millennium Loftwind steps off the edge of the floating city and the power of the Book of Air takes her body: a tail out of the base of her spine, claws, horns and purple scales, and she rides the wind as a dragon.[3] Alistair Archibald's claws throw a green light strong enough to draw the Book of Land down out of the air.[8] Lumikki calls a tidal wave up from the sea and rides it out of Ovallia.[2]
The power is not portable without limit. Held prisoner where her captors had made certain there was no water anywhere near, Lumikki raised her paw to draw on the Book of Water and felt nothing at all.[9] Red hair is the staple of the Ruler of the Book of Fire, common enough on Earth and conspicuous enough in Eslura that Reagan had to keep hers hidden.[10]
Law and oath
Laws exist to keep the Rulers dedicated to their given roles, and the strictest forbids them relations of the heart. The day the Book of Water chose her, Lumikki swore away all hope of ever falling in love, and only afterwards learned what the oath would cost her.[2] Both Tabitha Glowdish and Piercio treat the rule as absolute, which is why the existence of Elmryn's daughter startles them.[11][12]
Duties
A Ruler governs a kingdom and hears its people out, work Lumikki found tiresome enough to fake her way through an afternoon of it.[13] A Ruler's life also holds the shield over their Sacred Chamber, which is why Alistair could say without worry that the Hollow of Gewa keeps its power for as long as he is still breathing.[14] The Sacred Guard of a kingdom takes orders from its Ruler and from the Sacred Head, and from nobody else.[8]
The Rulers sit together as The Council, which meets at the High Moon Festival when the moons eclipse and all four are present. The council room in The Sacred City was destroyed, so Galecrest became the next best place to meet.[1][5]
Varaar is the one kingdom the Rulers do not run. It was built by its five gangs rather than by Eslura, and though it still falls under the rule of the Sacred Rulers in name, nothing Sacred is to be found in it.[15]
History
Aezaros took the Eyearke Stone from the sky and made with it a settlement of five people, remembered as Eslura's first inhabitants and its very first Rulers and Head.[16] She gave the power of the elements to those Rulers. Bellbour Polindrad received water and raised Ovallia as an island set apart from the mainland so that his Book would be safe inside the walls of the Ovallia Lighthouse.[5] Demise thought of the Rulers of old as the ones who united Eslura under the Sacred banner.[17]
Not all of that history is kindly remembered. The Olphins imprisoned in Morgaedion after the War of Shadows say the four Rulers pushed to have them locked away for crimes they had not committed, and that they have not forgotten a single one of the four names.[18]
Obellius gained the Rulers' trust, learned the secrets of their world and betrayed them.[19] He murdered Elmryn, and with no Ruler presiding over Zybersia the kingdom lost the protection of its Book and fell to the Nelazgians.[3][20] The seat stood empty until the Book of Fire chose Reagan Hideaway in the ruins of Elmryn's Castle.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Book 1, Ch. 8.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Book 1, Ch. 7.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Book 1, Ch. 5.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Book 2, Ch. 23.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Book 1, Ch. 10.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Book 2, Ch. 26.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 4.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Book 1, Ch. 22.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 7.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 20.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 19.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 21.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 6.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 24.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 14.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 24.
- ↑ Book 1.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 21.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 25.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 1.