Spirit champion



A spirit champion is a mighty warrior who embraces the spirits, to assist him in his battles. He strengthens his spiritual connection until he can feel the spirits flowing within his body and thoughts, strengthening his arms and quickening his mind. Whispered fragments impart insight into battle as ancestors speak of ways to overcome all foes. The spirit champion ceases to fight for his own reasons; he battles to honor the spirits and to further their wishes. Often these wishes coincide with his own, but occasionally the spirit champion embarks on a path for reasons that are unclear to him. He does so faithfully, trusting in the spirits to point him in the right direction.

The spirit champion is a deadly melee combatant. His spiritual nature strengthens his mind in ways that most warriors ignore. Insight grants him speed and accuracy, and he can call upon native spirits to lend him aid. He is a contemplative warrior, likely to meditate through the dawn before silently lifting his sword or totem and walking calmly into battle.

Spirit champions rely on the spirits to protect them, through insight and wisdom as well as direct intervention. To wear heavy armor is to insult them. They focus on the mind, and with their focus they can transcend physical limitations. The spirits protect the spirit champion, providing him with instinctual insights to avoid blows. He swings his weapon up and steps to the side, not really knowing why, and an instant later he parries a blow from an unseen source. Ancestral spirits whisper in the spirit champion’s mind. Since the spirit champion is a being of combat, many of these ancestors are mighty warriors, perhaps spirit champions in their day. They speak of maneuvers and tactics, of feints and cleaving blows, and their whispers bypass the normal means of understanding and bleed into the spirit champion’s subconscious mind.

Spirit champions meditate, especially before battle. They prefer quiet places of natural beauty, such as mountaintops and forest glades, but they can meditate anywhere as long as they are undisturbed. They use this time to renew their bonds with the spirits and focus themselves on the tasks that lie ahead. The spirit champion’s mind is at peace and is difficult to disturb. A skilled spirit champion can request certain spirits to enter his weapon and lend their fury to his strikes. The experienced spirit champions can contact the spirits and ask a question of them. The spirits usually answer, but often do so in cryptic ways meant to improve the spirit champion or reveal to him something about himself.

A highly skilled spirit champion has such an understanding of the spirits, and has established such a strong relationship with them, that he has both the ability and the permission to join them to a small degree. The spirit champion can turn himself and everything he carries incorporeal. He remains incorporeal until he chooses to end this effect or an amount of time that depends on the spirit champion's skill.

Spirit champions in the world
Since the orcs' rediscovery of their spiritual heritage, their mindsets have changed. Shaman appear and commune with spirits and with their ancestors. The orcs' relationship with the tauren further broadens and strengthens their new faith, and with it comes new psychology. No longer are orcs bloodthirsty crazies; they are an ancient and noble people, bound by honor and ties to their allies. This societal revolution sweeps up all orcs in its flow. Some orcs combine this new understanding with their warlike natures and become spirit champions.

Many tauren also take up the mantle of the spirit champion. Indeed, the tauren legacy of spirit champions extends back millennia. It was they who helped the orcs discover this path. Most tauren spirit champions call themselves followers of the totem. Orcs and tauren sometimes teach the secrets of the spirit champions to their allies, but the class is rare among other races. A few half-orcs, half-ogres, and jungle trolls become spirit champions. Forsaken and forest trolls favor their own dark faiths and care not for the spirits. Spirit champions in the Alliance are unknown. Most spirit champions are orcs or tauren. All current spirit champions are members of the Horde. The Alliance has different values, and even spirit champions who might break with the Horde do not defect to the Alliance.

Speculation
Spirit champions bear a great deal of similarity with the blademasters of Thrall's Horde - both are warriors who tap into the shamanistic powers of the elements. As such it is highly likely that these blademasters are a peculiarly orcish form of spirit champion.