# Raphius Sunward ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Raphius Main.jpeg|520]] ## Category Player Character / [[Time-Touched]] / Exiled [[Solland]] Paladin ## Known Facts - Raphius Sunward is [[Time-Touched]]. - Raphius is from [[Solland]]. - Raphius was exiled from [[Solland]]. - Raphius fought in the Onus Wilds. - Raphius killed his mentor, [[Aetheric Vhail]], after Vhail was corrupted. - Raphius says Vhail, in a moment of clarity, commanded him to do his duty. - Raphius should have been executed, but was exiled instead because of his family’s station. - Raphius’s father is [[Sir Dain Sunward]]. - Raphius’s mother was Mirabell, a cleric. - Raphius’s friend [[Orik]] has been taken by [[The Order]]. - [[Orik]] is believed or suspected to be held in one of The Order’s laboratories, possibly [[Errowshire]]. - Raphius wields [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]]. - [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]] appeared to Raphius after his exile. - Raphius cannot permanently get rid of the blade. - The blade returns to him each morning, even if lost, broken, or destroyed. - The blade appears to trap or consume the souls of those it kills. - The blade feels good to use. - Souls known or believed to be trapped within the blade include Garric and [[Lem]]. - Elena’s divine duty from [[Nyxthys]] is connected to freeing souls denied their final journey. - This has made [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]] a shared concern between Raphius and [[Elena]]. - Raphius is deeply connected to [[Serapha]]. - Raphius was raised within Solland’s doctrine of law, duty, light, truth, and divine justice. - Raphius is increasingly questioning Solland’s doctrine and history. - Raphius has begun searching for [[The Eternal Flame]], the sacred text of [[Serapha]]. - Raphius gave [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] his mother’s ring, inscribed “Light Protect You.” - Raphius wrote a private letter to his father during [[Session 23 - Peaks Point|Session 23]]. - That letter remains unread by anyone else and is still in Raphius’s possession. - In [[Session 47 - Corruption Abound|Session 47]], Raphius nearly cast Command on guards to gain access to a restricted library section, but [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] stopped him. - [[Elena]] is angry with Raphius because, in the [[Feygrove Forest]], he cast Command on her to make her “moo” during a rushed escape. - Raphius regrets that choice, though part of him still believes he made the only workable decision under the circumstances. ## Current Personal Threads - Save [[Orik]]. - Understand what happened to [[Aetheric Vhail]]. - Find [[Clair Vhail]] and any evidence she may have hidden. - Free the souls trapped within [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]]. - Understand whether [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]] can be destroyed, purified, or separated from him. - Understand what is happening inside [[Solland]]. - Decide whether [[Talador Devell]] and [[The Lightkeepers]] can be trusted. - Reconnect with [[Serapha]] in a way that is not simply inherited [[Solland]] doctrine. - Find and understand [[The Eternal Flame]]. ## Connected Factions - [[Solland]] - Serapha’s faithful - [[Solland]] military - [[The Order]] - [[The Lightkeepers]] - [[House Devell]] - [[House Halvorn]] - [[Free Thinkers]] - [[Hands of Nyxthys]] - [[The Brotherhood]] ## Connected Items - [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]] - Raphius’s mother’s ring - [[The Eternal Flame]] - Letter to [[Sir Dain Sunward]] - [[Weirdstone]] - [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/09 - Items, Artifacts & Documents/Aetherite|Aetherite]], through [[Time-Touched]] status ## Connected Places - [[Solland]] - Onus Wilds - [[Errowshire]] - [[Pyrion]] - [[Crownshold]] / [[Bastion]] - [[Sol Spire]] - [[Feygrove Forest]] - [[Harringdon]] - [[Lavenshire]] - [[Vekuda Archive]] - [[Errowshire Lab]] ## Connected Gods / Powers - [[Serapha]] - [[Nyxthys]], through [[Elena]] and [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]] - Fallen Old Gods, through Solland’s history - Q’ruhm, possibly but not confirmed ## Connected Characters - [[Sir Dain Sunward]] - [[Mirabell Sunward]] - [[Aetheric Vhail]] - [[Clair Vhail]] - [[Orik]] - [[Elena]] - [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] - [[Pipe]] - [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] - [[Talador Devell|Lord Talador Devell]] - [[Walter]] - [[Bedley]] - [[Vosandra]] / [[Vosandra|Yosandra]] - [[Emily Halvorn]] - Garric - [[Lem]] ## Open Questions - What exactly corrupted [[Aetheric Vhail]]? - What is [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]]? - Why does the blade return to Raphius each morning? - Can the souls inside the blade be freed? - Can the blade be destroyed? - Is Raphius being changed by the blade? - Can Raphius clear his name in [[Solland]]? - What evidence did [[Clair Vhail]] hide? - Where is [[Clair Vhail]] now? - Can Raphius save [[Orik]]? - What does [[Serapha]] truly want from Raphius? - Can Raphius serve [[Serapha]] without serving Solland’s doctrine? - Are Talador and [[The Lightkeepers]] allies, dangers, or both? - Can Raphius repair his relationship with [[Elena]]? - What will [[The Eternal Flame]] reveal? ## Character Arc Notes Raphius’s story has shifted from proving his innocence to questioning the system that judged him. His core tension is now faith without certainty: whether he can still serve [[Serapha]] when Solland’s law, history, and truth no longer feel clean. ## Sessions 49-55 Updates - Raphius met the senior members of [[The Lightkeepers]] and presented the party’s evidence. - [[Thiago Radaxian]] promised military action once Raphius can identify a real target. - [[Zormir Ketok]] proposed the [[The Eternal Pact|Eternal Pact]] theory linking [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]] and [[Q'ruhm|Q’ruhm]]. - Raphius promised Pipé that the party would rescue [[Perturbias]]. - He led the rescue of Elena from [[Ironmarch Jail]] and exposed the parasite inside [[Captain Dunn]]. - During the escape, Raphius repeatedly used lies and false identities to protect his companions, creating a conflict with his devotion to truth and honour. - Beneath Bastion, Vhail’s Blade pulled him toward an unknown north-western presence and felt like a separate consciousness beside him. - Raphius can read Old Solandish and used the [[Orb of Direction]] to navigate the ancient sewers. ## Current Status Outside Bastion and sheltering at the [[Wendell Ruins]]. Implicated in the [[Ironmarch Jail]] escape and still at risk from the Crown Guard. ## Artwork ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Raphius 01.jpg|760]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Raphius Vhail.jpeg|760]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Session Artwork/Session 54/Bastion Raphius Hiding.jpeg|760]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Raphius - 360 Reference.png|700]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Raphius - Character Study 01.png|760]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Raphius - Character Study 02.png|760]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Raphius - Character Study 03.png|760]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Raphius - Character Study 04.png|760]] ## Session 56 Update - Raphius unleashed a burst of divine sunlight through [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]], scattering rats that were preparing to reinforce the fight at the sewer outfall. - Before anyone entered the forty-foot drainage shaft, he told the entire party that he saw them as family. - Knowing [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] could not swim, he tied himself to her and entered the underground river with her; the rope later became a serious hazard and nearly drowned them both. - The party successfully escaped [[Bastion]] through the underground river. - Raphius remembered his father, [[Sir Dain Sunward]], mentioning the [[Wendell Ruins]] with unexplained disdain. ## Session 57 Update - During his watch at the [[Wendell Ruins]], Raphius began sketching a crude route north from memory, using childhood journeys with [[Sir Dain Sunward]] to think through the road towards [[Pyrion]], settlements and checkpoints. - Raphius proposed using [[Jambo]]’s shapeshifting to help the wanted party pass the nearby checkpoint, although Jambo cannot create the clothing or equipment needed to complete a Crown Guard disguise. - He briefed Elena on the [[The Lightkeepers|Lightkeepers]] meeting and repeated [[Zormir Ketok]]’s [[The Eternal Pact|Eternal Pact]] theory concerning [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]] and [[Q'ruhm|Q’ruhm]]. - Through the sending stone, Raphius learned from [[Talador Devell]] that [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/07 - Characters/07b - Antagonists and Unknown Alignment/Boristov Sokah|Boristov Sokah]] had definitely left Bastion, while the magical assault against the Blight had intensified. - Raphius warned Talador to trust no one because of the [[Brain-like Parasites]] and Xor’s infiltration. - Deeper in the ruins, the [[Wendell Spectral Apparition]] addressed Raphius alone and threatened that he and those he loved would share an old suffering. - Its accusation referred to “blooded butchers,” “wardens of the dread sun,” a purge and a Lady; whether those terms refer to Raphius, his family, Solland, Serapha’s followers or another group remains unknown. - Raphius attempted **Compel Duel**, but it did not affect the apparition. He then deliberately attacked the glowing symbol beneath it to provoke a reaction and test whether the symbol mattered. - He drove [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]] into the symbol and hammered down with his shield until the stone split. - When the symbol finally broke, the shared-pain tether ceased functioning, allowing the party to attack the apparition directly. ## Session 58 Update - After the [[Wendell Spectral Apparition]] was destroyed, Raphius recalled its accusation more clearly: **“you who bear the blood.”** The wording suggests its grievance may concern ancestry or inherited identity rather than anything Raphius personally did. - He connected the apparition's grievance with [[The Great Purge]], the Wendell faith and the unresolved meaning of the **Dread Sun**. - Raphius opened the shattered floor-symbol and helped lead the exploration of the hidden complex beneath the [[Wendell Ruins]]. - He solved the chamber of sound by realising the answer was a living person — the source capable of making the surrounding objects produce sound. - He solved the sacrifice chamber without mutilation by touching his tongue to the ritual bowl after blood alone failed. - Raphius made parchment rubbings of [[The Final Days of Whune]] instead of removing the original tablets. - The tablets gave him a surviving account from Whune's faithful that complicates Solland's version of [[The Great Purge]] and the actions of the **Lands of Sol**. - Raphius wanted to pursue [[Jambo]] after Jambo disguised himself as Raphius and drew Crown Guard away from the party; the others persuaded him not to waste Jambo's sacrifice of safety. - When [[Elena]] chose to leave with [[Jasper]] to begin the Shadowfell infiltration plan, Raphius challenged the danger of her decision and the impact of splitting the party. - Raphius gave Elena his personal signet ring, the one he uses to seal letters, before she departed. - Elena left Raphius **Vivian's Black Veil** and asked him to protect Mealla and Persephone while keeping control of himself and [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail’s Blade]]. ## Current Status after Session 58 At the [[Wendell Ruins]] with [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] and [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]]. [[Elena]] and [[Myst]] have left with [[Jasper]], and [[Jambo]] is missing after drawing Crown Guard away in Raphius' form.