Overview
Barachiel is the founder and emperor of the Malverand Empire, the former leader of Maraveth, and the ruler who commands the Guardians of Malverand. His partnership with Arcanis expands Maraveth from a powerful city into Valrindor's dominant empire, while his disappearance at the Aethrendar Gate fractures Malverand and begins its long collapse.
Barachiel reaches Vireen alive after the Aethrendar Gate collapse. He dies there after entrusting the future to Aruviel, leaving behind the Malverand heart that Eira later implants in the dead atraxi body revived as Belanor.
Appearance and Manner
In early Maraveth, Barachiel is a broad-shouldered, powerfully muscled man with rich brown hair, dark eyes, and plain clothing. By his final days on Vireen, his hair has grayed, his beard has grown, and his body is visibly breaking apart from the failed gate crossing.
Barachiel is charismatic, direct, and easy for people to follow. He does not like imperial ceremony, but he takes command when Maraveth becomes Malverand. As emperor, he assigns guardians to rule Malverand's regions, restricts dangerous knowledge, and later forces the empire to use one shared language.
Magic and Power
Barachiel uses copy magic as his personal origin-magic ability. He copies Michael's ice magic soon after arriving in Maraveth, senses unfamiliar magic in Eira on Vireen, and his copy magic lets Arcanis design specialized containers that trap copied spells or raw essence.
Copy magic has limits, but the spiral shard makes Barachiel far stronger. When it awakens above Morozkaya, it drains the city, the land, and millions of people, bringing black rain, broken ground, lava, and a tsunami. Afterward, Barachiel uses the shard to push corruption away from Malverand, restore damaged land, and grow food.
Inside the Malverand vault, Barachiel creates Isandriel as a newborn and fuses him with Tal'Massar. Isandriel is meant to stop gods, shard wielders, or guardians if they become too dangerous.
History
Barachiel comes to Maraveth from Myrravel after his people leave an earlier settlement where essence has begun seeping through the land. During the journey, he encounters Arcanis in a village near Haverloch and brings him to Maraveth. Barachiel's charisma and spell-copying ability win him a place on the council, and Arcanis's inventions begin transforming the city.
When Maraveth needs new leadership, the council chooses Barachiel. He names the growing realm the Malverand Empire, backs the creation of essence lights, essence cores, skyships, god cores, Malverand hearts, shards, and gates, and places the guardians over imperial regions. Michael becomes guardian of Maraveth, Raphael remains Barachiel's personal guardian, Eremion controls Morindel and Blackcrag, Jeremiah founds Jazarel, Uriandel rules Ashenford, Sigvariel becomes guardian of Varnhallow, Remiella leads the Thiravos and Theryssa colonies, and Isandriel eventually governs Durakarn and Brighthaven.
Barachiel's inner circle also becomes his family. Thamrielle is his partner, and their son Sariel is prince of Malverand. Barachiel trusts Michael with a private command: if the guardians become threats to the world, Michael must use Isandriel against them, even if that means turning against Barachiel himself.
Barachiel keeps Malverand out of full war with the Plains of Eternity while sending defensive forces to Rahmavir. He sends Thamrielle to investigate the Rahmavir-Oracles war over the source and later backs Arcanis's plan to connect Valrindor to Vireen through the Aethrendar Gate.
During the Vireen gate test, Michael and Eremion cross safely. Barachiel enters next. The passage collapses, and the void-bound attacker Oktlix fights him inside the gate. Barachiel cuts off his shard-bearing hand and throws it back through the Aethrendar Gate. He lands alive on Vireen, but his body is already breaking.
Barachiel asks Aruviel to show him Vireen before he dies. He realizes she is from the future, senses unfamiliar magic in her, and asks whether her world is good. Her good future world gives him peace about Malverand's fall. The gate attacker used unknown magic that broke Barachiel's spells. Barachiel then dissolves into white particles and leaves his Malverand heart behind.
Relationships and Aftermath
Arcanis is Barachiel's collaborator and closest friend. During Barachiel's reign, Malverand uses Arcanis's essence lights, essence cores, skyships, god cores, Malverand hearts, shards, and gates. After Barachiel disappears, Arcanis leads skyships and engineers back to the Aethrendar Gate and later vanishes while trying to reach him.
Barachiel gives Michael a private command to use Isandriel if the guardians become dangerous, even against Barachiel himself. After the Aethrendar Gate collapse, Michael rules in Barachiel's place and later prepares the plan that lets Isandriel end the fallen guardians. Raphael is Barachiel's personal guardian and later fights to preserve or restore Malverand after Barachiel disappears. Thamrielle spends centuries trying to recover Barachiel or undo his disappearance, and Sariel's failed succession leaves the spiral shards and Malverand's future unstable.
After Malverand's fall, the Oracles' prophecies name Barachiel alongside a destroyer and a void-bound threat. Later copy-magic users are compared to him. On Vireen, Eira keeps Barachiel's Malverand heart after his death, later places it in the dead atraxi body she revives as Belanor, and sends Belanor through the void toward the atraxi gates. Belanor later lives on Atraxis Prime Alpha and reaches Xalmyrra with the atraxi.