Patch Tribe

The Patch Tribe (パッチ族) are a group of Native American Shamans responsible for overseeing the Shaman Fights.

About
The Patch tribe reside within the Patch village for the majority of their lives, performing regular day to day tasks, to provide for the general well being of the tribe. However, they are also in charge of overseeing the smooth progress of the Shaman fights, being in charge of monitoring and testing various shamans during the course of this event, e.g. Silva is in charge of observing Asakura Yoh.

The Ten Officiants are members of the Patch tribe and when not conducting their responsibilities concerning the fight, their day job is to sell Patch memorabilia and food items, to cover the expenses of the tribe. It is revealed that each of these Officiants also has an area of the field which they control (mountains, valley, desert, water etc.), called plants, which form the path that the Shaman king must first take to reach the Great Spirit. One of these, called Chrom, was killed in the initial stages of the tournament by Tao Ren, during his entrance exam. However, it seems a replacement for him has been found in the form of his younger brother, Nichrom since there is no mention of 10 Priests. Each individual priests have their own specific roles within the tournament, such as Radim who acts as the general host/referee of the Shaman Fight. Some of the Patch had already formed biased opinions before the start of the fights, throwing their support to Hao's purposes. These Patches are fearful of his power, yet at the same time, feeling protected by his overwhelming strength, they do their best to lower the esteem of the other contestants in the Shaman Fight.

Once the Shaman King has been revealed, the Patch now acts as their protectors, guarding both the new Shaman King and Great Spirit as they merge into one. It is the law of the tribe that the generation overseeing the Shaman Tournament must convert to the religion of the current Shaman King. As such the tribe in the year 1500 became Knights Templars.

Others
Knights Templar were the previous Ten Officiants that now serve YVS. Due to the presences of Shaman Kings within the Flower of Maize, deads are able to act as mortals with bodies in this world, with their respective guardian ghosts, and the knights act as servants of YVS and his teams. Their leader is Thorim.

Abilities and Powers
Spirits

Since a long time ago, animals that are related to the Patch tribe turn into nature spirits when they die. When the young Patches exceed a set age limit, a ritual is held for them in order for them to find the nature spirit that will protect them in the future. Under the guidance of the Medicine Man, they are carried into a process of deep meditation, that sets them into a pseudo-death state. Then the nature spirits start gathering, and as soon as the young Patches receive one they're brought back from death's depths. In the end, each youth is bound together, by a mutual agreement, with the spirit that was brought back with them. It is not impossible for a Patch to bond with more than one spirit during this process.

Five Elemental Spirits


 * See More: Five Grand Elemental Spirits

The Spirits of Earth, Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Fire—the five greatest spirits to exist and owned by the Patch tribe—were once part of the Great Spirit itself, and just like it they formed from a collection of spirits rather than a single individual. Due to this each retains the ability to grow stronger and evolve by consuming more spirits, adding these spirits power onto their already significant power.

500 years ago, Hao was reincarnated as one of the tribe members of the Patch tribe and managed to steal the Spirit of Fire from them. He reincarnated in the present together with the spirit, to become the teenage twin brother of Asakura Yoh. The other four Spirits are currently kept hidden by the Patch Tribe, in the deepest parts of the Great Spirit and guarded by the four kings of hell, to prevent others from stealing them away.

Lady Sati of the Gandhara had plans to obtain the four Spirits and pass them on to Tao Ren, Asakura Yoh, Chocolove McDonell and Horohoro. It was theorized that once Hao had combined with the Great Spirit, the Spirit of Fire would be detached from him and from that point onwards could be claimed by Lyserg Diethel. She believes that with the help of the Five Great Spirits, the five children could defeat Hao even if he has become one with the Great Spirit and obtained the power of the Shaman King.

Anime/Manga Difference
In the 2001 anime series, half of the Patch Officiants are never officially introduced and many of them are only seen in cameos with no real resemblance to the ones seen in the manga. The main focus lies primarily on Silva and Kalim, while Magna is replaced with Zinc as Nichrom's main partner.

Zinc


 * See More: Zinc

Zinc is a shaman of the Patch tribe who fights along with Nichrom, Kalim, and Silva when they attempt to help Asakura Yoh. Due to the fact he is in the anime, he does not have a plant. Like Nichrom, he is given a power boost by Hao. Also, he is given nine other guardian ghosts to make himself a suit of spiritual armor like Silva that can also be combined into Totem Pole Cannon like the Silver Arms.

His guardian ghost (most likely the first one he Over Souled) is a vulture or buzzard with his medium being the feather plates he wore.

Trivia

 * All the Patch Tribe are named after elements of the Periodic Table of Elements.
 * Goldva = Gold
 * Silva = Silver
 * Kalim = Potassium (Japanese)
 * Chrom = Chromium
 * Nichrom = Nichrome (a nickel/chromium alloy)
 * Magna = Magnesium
 * Renim = Rhenium
 * Bron = Boron
 * Radim = Radium
 * Namari = Lead (Japanese)
 * Thalim = Thallium
 * Rutherfor = Rutherfordium
 * Zinc = Zinc (a metallic chemical element)
 * Alumi = Aluminum