The group known as the Grey Eight, or more properly the Thir'ral (thir meaning "eight", 'ral meaning "grey") in Valerian, were a small collection of Mages who spent most of their time and energy on magical research many hundreds of thousands of years ago. This group made the vast majority of magical discoveries, and experimented with and recorded most of the original spells. Each of the students was required to maintain a copy of Garin's spellbook, with their own notes added to it. They used a Longevity spell, known only to the Grey Eight, to stay alive for thousands of years.