Raphael

"There is no greater joy than fighting for a cause you know to be righteous."

-Raphael Foehammer, Lord Seraphim of the Third Angelic Legion

Raphael is the thirdborn son of Ynoch, and one of the Ascendant Seraphim who remained loyal to his father as his brothers, led by Lucifer, revolted against Ynoch's rule. The physically mightiest of his siblings, Raphael was also the most openly devoted to their father, naming his Third Legion of Ynochim the Disciples of Ynoch in his father's honor. Countless worlds burned at his command, and he ensured that every one he was given charge over was instilled with absolute loyalty to his father's Dream. For this reason, he is still feared across the realms by those who remember being crushed beneath his heel. Still, despite his outer bluster and openly cried loyalty to Ynoch, Raphael always cared deeply for all his brothers, and sought to be a role model for them to emulate and aspire to. When over half of them betrayed their father, his grief was only outshone by his rage.

Early Life
Raphael was the thirdborn son of Ynoch, born in the early Bronze Age after his brother Lucifer. For the first few years of his life, Raphael and his younger brother Gabriel were adored by their big brother Lucifer, who brought them both into his adventures and antics around Eden. However, after getting in trouble with their eldest brother Michael on too many occasions, he became convinced that it would be better to play more closely to the rules, in sharp contrast to many of his other siblings. For the first few years of his life, Raphael was the only one of his brothers who was not a cause of stress for Michael, for he was dutiful and obedient to both him and their father.

As Raphael grew older, he eventually became a source of authority for many of his younger brothers, and did his best to impart upon them the virtues of loyalty and obedience he felt they should all know. Duty and discipline became his bread and butter, and Raphael became a model son, who his brothers were told to emulate whenever they were disobedient.

This came at a cost, however. Though Raphael was deeply caring and empathic towards his siblings, his primary goal with them was to be their role model. They had affection from other sources. His place was to teach them to be dutiful, and for many of his younger brothers, they saw little of his softer side.

The Gift Manifests
At the age of ten, nearing eleven, Raphael was given leave from his daily combat training to ostensibly allow Michael time to fully devote his attention to training Uriel and Gabriel, both of whom were beginning training that day, at ages seven and nine, rather than ten, which was when Lucifer and in more recent months, Raphael had. In actuality, however, Raphael had asked Michael for the day off to "supervise" their youngest brother Gadreel. Raphael was quite sure that Michael knew he really just wanted to play with the toddler, but nevertheless, his request was granted, on account of the diligence and obedience Raphael showed his brother, in sharp contrast to most of their other brothers. Raphael was filled with pride when Michael told him this, and happily took charge of Gadreel for the day.

Raphael took his baby brother to the palace gardens, Gadreel's favorite spot, and helped his brother catch butterflies. When Gadreel accidentally crushed one's wings, and began crying inconsolably, Raphael used his burgeoning powers in the Dominion of Life to heal the creature, to Gadreel's delight. The sight of Gadreel shrieking with laughter and clapping his hands with joy later became one of Raphael's most treasured memories.

After a bout of butterfly catching, Raphael took his brother to one of the garden's ponds to swim. Though Gadreel could not swim yet, Raphael held him at the surface as he splashed about, and even employed the Dominion of Water to allow Gadreel to walk about on the pond's surface. They were interrupted by the arrival of their brother Abaddon, who leapt down from the small waterfall with a splash which distracted Raphael long enough for his concentration to break. Gadreel plunged beneath the surface, and Raphael dove after him, bringing the toddler up crying and squealing. Furious, Raphael set Gadreel outside the pond as Abaddon splashed him again, Raphael seized his troublesome sibling by the scruff of his neck and dunked him under the surface. Twice Abaddon's age and much the stronger, Raphael overpowered him effortlessly, and easily kept him beneath the water as he tried to wriggle free. When Abaddon began to thrash about, however, Raphael realized with horror that he had kept him under too long.

Abaddon came up sobbing, screaming to let him go. Raphael tried to apologize and give his brother comfort, but Abaddon kept trying to wiggle away. Guilt wracked Ynoch's Thirdborn as he realized how badly he had scared his little brother. He could sense how panicked and terrified Abaddon was, and wanted desperately to take it away. And he did. Raphael felt Abaddon's pain leave him, and enter Raphael himself. Abaddon calmed, and Raphael embraced him, holding him for several moments. Abaddon then said that he would accept Raphael's apology, on the condition that he teach him how to breathe underwater, which Raphael agreed to.

Raphael would tell Abaddon years later that on that day, his gift of painbearing first manifested.

Great Pilgrimage
When all his sons had grown to manhood, Ynoch decreed that it was time for them to leave the safety of Eden, and bear witness to the other dominions of Creation. They were to travel in secret, so that they might observe freely and see how mortals lived beneath the rule of the gods. Raphael was paired with Abaddon, and the two brothers were sent to the realms of the Teohuacan. The pair were disgusted by what they saw there. Vain, cruel gods, who demanded human sacrifice on a daily basis. First, Abaddon urged Raphael that they should cast off their disguises and strike the false gods down, but Raphael insisted that to do such a thing would violate their father's will. Later, when Buluc Chabtan, their king, burned one of his mortal subjects alive as the two watched from within the assembled crowd, Raphael nearly moved to attack him, before Abaddon reminded them that they had promised their father not to reveal themselves. After a year among the Teohuacan, the pair had suffered all they could stomach, and returned home, but not before swearing to one another that one day, the two of them would return and lay the pantheon to waste.

Preparations for War
Raphael and Abaddon were the first pair of their brothers to return from their Great Pilgrimage. There, they found Michael and Ynoch had begun raising levies from Eden's mortal population, and training them in the arts of war. Ynoch revealed to them then his Dream, showing them through Thought his vision of Creation at peace, of mankind freed from the rule of the false gods, with the benevolent guidance of Ynoch and his sons in its place. Without hesitation, the awestruck Raphael and Abaddon both swore that they would see it done.

Raphael was so inspired by what his father had shown him, and so eager to see his beloved, idolized father exalted as the one true god that he set about to writing a great tome, which praised his father's divinity and outlined his divine teachings: The Book of Raphael. With his father's consultation, Raphael set down within his book Ynoch's most sacred commandments, which would later become known as the Code of Ynoch.

The entire process had taken a month, during which Abaddon had taken over training the recruits after Michael had sequestered himself in the palace forge. Upon Ynoch's command, neither Raphael nor Abaddon disturbed him. When Raphael asked what Michael was doing, Ynoch merely smiled, and said that they would know soon enough.

When Michael emerged shortly after Raphael had completed his magnum opus, he revealed what he had wrought, as their father looked on: splendid weapons for them both. Abaddon received two dual axes, dubbed Render and Reaver, whilst Raphael was given a mighty hammer, which bore the name Penitence. Raphael was thrilled by the gift, and pronounced that it was the finest weapon Michael had ever created. Abaddon jokingly replied that his axes must be their betters, since they were, after all fit for his hands. The three brothers all shared a laugh with their sire.

First Campaign
Raphael and his Third Legion were deployed in BA 97 on the first ever campaign in which the Ynochim were utilized, alongside his brothers Michael and Lucifer, and their First and Second Legions. Michael had overall command of the force, which numbered ten thousand Ynochim for each Legion. Raphael was eager to begin the fight against the first heretic pantheon: the Arakur.

And so he did. The Arakur were taken totally off guard by an army emerging from a region they had thought bereft of divine activity. Within three weeks, they had been utterly defeated. Raphael had crushed several false gods beneath his new hammer, Penitence, and fought zealously alongside his brothers, standing with them as they accepted the Arakur's surrender. When Lucifer dubbed Michael the Godbreaker for his victory, Raphael proudly echoed the name, starting a chant that swept across every soldier in the legions. Later, after the First Legion made it clear to rename themselves the Godbreakers in their Seraph's honor, and the Second took the name Lightbearers to symbolize the new order they would bring, Raphael decided that his legion too should have a name. They would be the Disciples of Ynoch, he declared, and would spread his father's creed across Creation, and destroy all those who stood against it.

War on the El'sherah
When it came time for the Fifth and Sixth Legions to be sent into battle a few months later, Raphael found the Sixth and his brother Azazel placed under his command. He was insulted and wounded when Azazel asked to switch places with Uriel, and be placed under Lucifer's command instead of Raphael's. Ynoch reprimanded Azazel for his petulance, and refused.

The campaign began with tensions between the two commanders high. The two were arrayed against the El'sherah (known to mortals in later years as the Canaanite pantheon), a foe who would be formidable against the strength their two legions fielded at the time. Raphael, much to his frustration, found Azazel would continuously deviate from the plans they had established during battles, raising tensions even further. During one particular battle, Azazel was baited into a trap set by the enemy, resulting in three quarters of his legion being butchered. Panicked yet in control, Raphael diverted the entire order of battle to saving his brother, and managed to conduct an ordered retreat, though the maneuvers caused heavy losses. Much of their advances were lost.

Raphael was furious with his brother for his foolishness, and the humiliation the defeat had caused them both. He was forced to request that the newly ready Seventh and Eighth Legions under Abaddon and Gadreel come to reinforce them, before sending Azazel and his legion back to Eden, telling him not to return to the battlefield until he was ready to act like a soldier instead of a bratty child. Together with the two fresh legions, Raphael and his brothers were able to overcome the El'sherah.

Conclave of Shangri-La
Upon receiving missives from his brother Azazel calling for a gathering of the Seraphim, Raphael was with his brothers Metatron and Uriel, in the midst of a campaign against the Kami pantheon. The campaign had been an easy one so far with the power of their three legions, and the brothers were confident that their foes would surrender soon. Uriel was enraged by the news Azazel's word brought, and Metatron, usually level headed, was driven to anger as well, a fact that Raphael took note of. He too was deeply disturbed by the news of the Two Butchers, their brothers Mephiston and Abaddon, and of the Atrocity of Kyrat they had committed, which violated the tenets their father preached. Nevertheless, the Lord of the Third resolved not to let his emotions be seen, lest it dishearten his brothers.

Raphael offered to take command and finish things while his brothers went off to attend the Conclave, initially rebuffing Metatron's attempts to convince him to come too. In truth, Raphael did not want to face what his brothers had done. He did not wish to know the full extent of their crimes, as no matter what they had done, he loved them still, and had no desire to have a hand in their punishment.

However, when the brothers received a full summons from their father, Raphael knew he had to go himself. He and his siblings appointed some of their officers too command, and went to attend the Conclave of Shangri La.

Raphael sat on the first day in relative silence as the mortals victims of the atrocities committed by Abaddon and Mephiston recounted their tales. He could feel their pain, their fear, their grief, every bit of it, and inwardly, was shocked at what his brothers had done. Yet he remained stoic, showing none of the turmoil he felt on his face. When Gabriel was moved to such anger that he struck Abaddon, and more of their brothers began a brawl, Raphael moved to intervene, but his father struck first, separating the two combatants.

The night that followed saw most of Raphael's brothers confined to their pavilions by Ynoch's decree. Raphael assisted Michael in making sure no one violated it by patrolling the grounds of the Conclave, while Gadreel monitored for telepathic chatter. The next day, Raphael listened to the testimony of the heretic gods who had suffered in the Atrocity, and found that he pitied them, being of the belief that they had not deserved such a fate, despite their heresies.

Judgement
When it came time for the Seraphim to speak their minds on the proceedings, Uriel was first to rise and move to take the floor. He did so without permission, and Raphael moved to block him, but moved aside at his father's command. As Uriel railed against the actions the Two Butchers had taken, denouncing them as cowards, Raphael found that he had some agreement with his brother's sentiment, if not with the lack of decorum with which he conducted himself. He watched with disapproval at the argument that nearly began afterwards, before hearing out Mephiston's arguments. He was somewhat receptive to the Lord of the Twelfth's viewpoint that by killing many, they had ensured that many more, fearful of the reputation of Abaddon and his brother, would be more like to surrender in the future, sparing more lives.

That reception was quickly overshadowed by Gabriel's brief speech. The known wordsmith was short and simple with his condemnations, and the sheer gravitas of Gabriel's short speech weighed heavy on the Foehammer. Gabriel was one of the most morally upright of all his brothers, after all. But then Asmodeus rose, and reminded them all of how he had been forgiven for the Butchery of Krasivya that he had perpetuated, and urged them to do the same.

That line of thinking was something Raphael could get behind, and he was about to rise in defense of his brothers, but Samael struck first. He made the point that casualties were a simple fact of war, and no number of them was too great to achieve the Dream. That struck a chord with Raphael, and finally, he took the stage, giving his agreement with Samael, and reminding his gathered brothers that at the time, those affected by the Atrocity had been under the rule of unlawful gods, and therefore not subject to Ynoch's protections. More and more brothers spoke in defense of the Butchers after that, and with each one that did, Raphael's surety grew. Michael's voice especially swelled Raphael's confidence.

When more denouncers spoke, none swayed Raphael from his course. None save Azazel, whose stirring speech nearly reversed Raphael's thinking. As Lucifer, last to speak, began to condemn the act as barbaric, Raphael thought the cause was done. Until Lucifer affirmed that every Seraph had the right to wield their legion as they saw fit, now matter how much he might disagree with it. Raphael's view was then utterly cemented.

Aftermath
Following the Conclave, Raphael was confronted by Metatron and Uriel, both of whom he had opposed at the Conclave. A brief argument ensued, as Uriel began shouting at him for his cowardice and support of barbarism. Raphael was about to respond in kind, but Metatron's hand on his shoulder silenced him. The youngest of the Seraphim reminded his brothers that, whatever their differences here, they still had a war to finish. Uriel grumbled his agreement, then stormed off. Privately, Metatron pointedly told Raphael that while they finished their war against the Kami, to be mindful that they would not be prosecuting a war like Mephiston and Abaddon had. Annoyed at the jibe, Raphael nevertheless gave Metatron his word that he had no intent of levying such fury against the Kami, and asked Metatron to accompany him back to their armies. Metatron told Raphael to begin the journey, and that he would catch up with him after he spoke to a few more of their brothers first.

Eradication of the Viracocha
In BA 162, Raphael and his Disciples of Ynoch engaged the Viracocha (known by mortals as the Inca) Pantheon. Though they initially seemed receptive to submission, and peace terms began negotiation, the pantheon revealed its treachery by attempting to assassinate Raphael. After surviving, Raphael repaid their treachery by ordering their annihilation.

Physical Appearance
Raphael is the largest of his brothers, standing several inches higher than the next tallest of them. His massive frame is covered in vast amounts of muscle, with huge, thick limbs, and an enormous chest and shoulders. Raphael is possessed of black hair and green eyes, like his brother Asmodeus, though his eyes are paler, and his hair is usually worn long. When extended, Raphael's wings are usually a misty grey in color.

Personality
At first glance, Raphael is the incarnation of the arrogant and self righteous Ynochim. Proud, prickly, and fearsome in his wroth, Raphael has no qualms about crushing any who stand against him and his allies. But just as he ferociously fights against all foes, he also ferociously defends his allies and underlings. And fearsome as he is, Raphael is not without mercy. Though he will annihilate any being who resists the will of Eden without hesitation, should they repent of their defiance, his typical response is to offer them a second chance... Though rarely a third.

Amongst the most charismatic of his brothers, Raphael's presence sends enemies cowering and spurs allies to fanatical acts of valor. With a voice like rolling thunder, he dominates most conversations he enters, and is never shy about speaking his mind. Passionate and proud, Raphael has always striven to present himself as a role model to his brothers, living by his sworn word and embodying the principles he preaches. Commanding, eloquent, and unyielding once his mind is set, Raphael is the quintessential soldier of the Dream, willing to undertake any task in its name.

And yet, beneath the bravado, beneath the shroud of the unquestioning soldier, there is another side to Raphael. A side reserved for only those closest to him. For Raphael's most defining trait is his loyalty, and his loyalty is born of love. He devoted himself to fulfilling Ynoch's Dream out of love for his father, and for no other reason. As the third son out of fifteen, Raphael always felt keenly the weight of responsibility upon his shoulders, and thought it his duty to be a model son who they could emulate. For his love for them was no less than that for their father. While Lucifer gave their brothers comfort and confidence, and Michael instilled discipline, Raphael sought above all be their role model. He would honor his word, crush their foes, and do his duty. And in so doing, he would be an exemplar to his brothers. Sadly, the role he sought came at a cost: All of his brothers saw all the duty in Raphael, and but little of the affection.

That was ever his secret regret. In his mind, Raphael could never show his brothers the full extent of the love he felt for them, lest his image shatter, and their respect for him die. Beyond the early years of Raphael's youth, the only commonly seen indication of his true devotion towards his brothers was the fact that he never unleashed his full might against them when they fought and trained together. Elsewise, hints of his hidden care rarely came to the surface. Something which changed when over half of them betrayed him and their father, and the hidden fire of Raphael's affection bloomed into an inferno of rage and hate.

Penitence
Penitence is the mighty warhammer forged for Raphael by his brother Michael after he returned from his Great Pilgrimage. A massive two handed weapon, equipped with a metal head for crushing on one side and a spike on the other, Penitence is a godbreaker, like the being that forged it. Though it is suitable to channel any sort of divine energy directed through it, it is optimized to use the powers of Raphael's preferred Divine Dominion, that of Life. It possesses the ability to Lifedrain any being it strikes, even through armor, with each blow struck draining a foe's vitality and sending it into Penitence's wielder. Furthermore, Penitence is equipped with an enchantment that allows it to be teleported back to its wielders hand if dropped or thrown, allowing them to forgo the need to summon it back through other means.

Stats
Power Level: 4

Traits
Strength: 13

Dexterity: 8

Endurance: 12

Intelligence: 9

Charisma: 11

Perception: 8

Skills
Academia: 8

Artistry: 4

Brawl: 9

Charm: 7

Command: 10

Craft: 6

Deception: 6

Empathy: 9

Intimidation: 10

Intrigue: 7

Leadership: 11

Marksmanship: 9

Medicine: 12

Melee: 10

Occult: 8

Performance: 4

Seduction: 5

Stealth: 7

Stewardship: 10

Survival: 7

Torture: 8

Magic
Dominion of Aura: 9

Dominion of Chaos: 0

Dominion of Frost: 2

Dominion of Darkness: 0

Dominion of Death: 3

Dominion of Earth: 4

Dominion of Fate: 0

Dominion of Fire: 7

Dominion of Forge: 3

Dominion of Life: 12

Dominion of Light: 7

Dominion of Order: 10

Dominion of Realms: 6

Dominion of Sky: 9

Dominion of Thought: 8

Dominion of Time: 0

Dominion of Water: 3

Dominion of Wild: 3