Masters of the Nine Disciplines!

[Falcos]

Hi all! I'm here once more asking for help on something!

A player of mine is going on a big, epic quest to gather the nine swords from Tome of Battle and to add his homebrewed discipline as a tenth.

Part of what I'm going to put him through, therefore, will be a sequence in which the spirits of the nine masters who taught Reshar will take up the nine swords and fight him.

This will be followed by a fight with Reshar himself.

So I'm trying to stat a master for each discipline and Reshar himself, and while some are fairly obvious, (Reshar as Master of Nine, Tiger Claw master as Bloodclaw Master, etc) some have me entirely stumped. (Iron Heart master, for instance.)

The ones I've thought of so far are:

Reshar, Master of Nine.
Tiger Claw master, Bloodclaw Master.
Stone Dragon master, Deepstone Sentinel.
Shadow Hand master, possibly Shadow Sun Ninja, but unsure? The light stuff is a bit iffy.

Any ideas for any of the remainder?

EDIT: I have an additional question as well: I'm trying to pin down races for the original nine. I'm having some trouble.

So far, I've thought of:
Iron Heart - Hobgoblin (Because that's confirmed)
Desert Wind - Human? (Canonically desert siroccos, race not stated)
Devoted Spirit - No idea (Really stumped on this one)
Diamond Mind - Githyanki, (Because that's canon)
Setting Sun - Halflings? (It would fit the judo-esque theme, and the fact that the Setting Sun sword shrinks to match a small wielder)
Shadow Hand - Tengu? (It would fit the shadow theme)
Stone Dragon - Dwarf or Goliath? (Dwarf would fit Deepstone Sentinel, the tale of their blade implies Goliaths invented the style, though. Not sure which to go with)
Tiger Claw - No clue. (Hopefully something bestial, but can't think of anything that would fit and be sentient, sapient, and capable of teaching Reshar)
White Raven - Some variety of elf? (Lore on the White Raven crown suggests they came up with the discipline)

Any and all help would be muchly appreciated, please. :)

[Ryuuk]

By the book, Eternal Blade could work for Iron Heart, Ruby Knight Vindicator for Devoted Spirit and Jade Phoenix Mage for Desert Wind. You may need Homebrew for more specialized ones Raven Commander (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?54403-Raven-Commander-PrC) for White Raven for example, but I'm unaware of a good Shadow Hand and Setting Sun one.

[Falcos]

I was unsure on those three, but on further reflection, I'll definitely use them. They certainly fit better than SSN does for SH.

That White Raven one looks good for a White Raven master.

Also, am I just blind, or is there only lore for what the original masters of the discipline were for two disciplines, namely Iron Heart (hobgoblins) and Desert Wind (desert siroccos)?

[Chronos]

Isn't there some sort of rashaka in the books that uses maneuvers instead of sorcerer spellcasting? That might be a good choice for the Tiger Claw master.

[Vortenger]

Isn't there some sort of rashaka in the books that uses maneuvers instead of sorcerer spellcasting? That might be a good choice for the Tiger Claw master.

My reading of the Bloodclaw Master and it subtables tells me that a shifter would likely be the most Iconic master short of a rakshasa, who also play heavily into the lore.

[kellbyb]

Isn't there some sort of rashaka in the books that uses maneuvers instead of sorcerer spellcasting? That might be a good choice for the Tiger Claw master.

Yes, Naityan Rakshasa. Howver, it is to be noted that they draw from the Desert Wind, Setting Sun, Shadow Hand, and Stone Dragon Disciplines.

[Falcos]

Yeah, that school thing is what I was questioning back and forth on. Did think of gnoll, too, but didn't know if that would fit or not.

[Zaq]

I don't think there's any specific textual evidence for it, but you could use an asherati as the Desert Wind master. Asherati are found in Sandstorm, if you're not familiar with them. They can glow, they can burrow through sand, and they've got heat endurance. They don't have anything mechanically tying them specifically to Desert Wind, but they're a fun race of desert-dwellers, so it's a start.

[Hunor]

On the classes, I would actually recommend that the Iron Heart master be a pure Warblade, and the Devoted Spirit Master be a pure Crusader--purely form a thematic perspective. I would also consider the making the Setting Sun and Shadow Hand masters as a duo of Swordsages working together. I can't really give you a good mechanical reason for this, I just like the dichotomy.

[Yael]

Most Swordsage 20's could teach what prestiges can. The amount of maneuvers they get, plus Adaptive Style make them able to use every single maneuver during any day.