Raphael is a powerful leader of the Malverand Empire who combines ice and divine magic through fusion. Jareth met him and Michael while traveling in Valrindor, where the empire's leaders were fighting among themselves.
Raphael is one of the Guardians of Malverand, based in Maraveth. A powerful ice and divine mage, he enforces obedience to the Malverand Empire and seeks to bring its divided territories under his own rule.
Appearance
Raphael has long white hair, angular features and crystal blue eyes. He wears white robes with blue and silver accents.
Personality
Raphael is forceful and intolerant of the guardians' disobedience. His loyalty to Barachiel persists as a determination to hold the empire together, although his fading memory has left him unable to remember the emperor. He retains his intelligence and ambition, and accepts civilian deaths as a necessary cost of conquest.
Magic
Raphael combines ice and divine magic through fusion. He creates golden ice, immense hailstorms and protective divine barriers, and moves on floating ice.
History
The divided empire
Raphael governed from Maraveth alongside Michael and guarded the Malverand Vault. He restricted the distribution of god cores and gave Isandriel a burning frost crystal to find a suitable protector. He also sought the missing geometric core, ordering Isandriel to return it or end the god within it if found.
When Jeremiah seceded, Raphael acted against Michael's wishes and forced him back into the empire. His insistence that all guardians obey him increasingly divided him from Michael. He dismissed the deaths caused by Jorhan-Theris while the atraxi controlled corruption, and refused to intervene against him immediately.
Raphael showed Isandriel the consequences of Remiella's fatal attempt to terraform her lands. He later banished Sariel as a traitor and objected to the unauthorized creation of Thalor. As his memory deteriorated, he retained his desire to control the remaining guardians and restore imperial unity.
Jazarel and the Order
Thalion, posing as a servant of Sigvariel, exploited Raphael's trust in Isandriel. He proposed distracting Eremion with an attack on Morindel while Raphael seized Jazarel. Raphael accepted the civilian cost and committed his forces to the plan.
Eremion arrived during the siege and fought Raphael as floodwaters swept through Jazarel. Raphael froze the waves and countered Eremion's fire with golden hail. Isandriel and the Order attacked the guardians amid the destruction.
Helena's abyss reversed courses in which Raphael was killed. In the surviving course, Thalion chose to save Helena rather than finish the attack, and both Raphael and Eremion escaped. They subsequently consolidated the remaining imperial territories and fought against Skarnheim.
Relationships
- Michael: His fellow ruler in Maraveth. Raphael's coercion of the other guardians drove him against Michael's wishes, and Michael came to regard his rule as dangerous to the people.
- Isandriel: A guardian he trusted with imperial artifacts and duties. Isandriel's alliance with Thalion turned that trust into an opportunity to attack him.
- Eremion: A rival guardian who attacked him at Jazarel. Both survived the Order's assault and continued the struggle against Skarnheim.
- Barachiel: The absent emperor to whom Raphael remained loyal, even as he lost his memories of him and sought his own control of the empire.
Raphael is a former guardian of Malverand, an ice and divine mage who served Barachiel and later sought to restore the empire under his own rule. Eliona restored him after his death at Maraveth, and he now directs his campaign from Rahmavir.
Appearance
Raphael has long white hair, angular features and crystal blue eyes. He wears white robes with blue and silver accents.
Personality
Raphael is a gifted but harsh teacher. He accepted responsibility for raising Isandriel despite doubting his ability to be a father. His devotion to Barachiel became an insistence on obedience to the empire, even when the other guardians resisted him.
He can protect civilians and offer refuge while also accepting their deaths as the price of conquest. His deteriorating memory has left gaps in his personal history without ending his ambition or command of magic. Eliona remains grateful to him but increasingly troubled by his behavior.
Magic
Raphael combines ice and divine magic through fusion, producing golden ice, immense hailstorms and shields. He can freeze floodwaters and shape platforms for movement. His greatest weather spell threatens a golden ice age, but powerful fire and lightning can interrupt it before it fully forms.
His Malverand heart stops his aging and regenerates devastating injuries. It can survive the loss of his body, allowing restoration with enough essence and the knowledge preserved from Arcanis's work. Sustained attacks can still exhaust his regeneration. Raphael wields Gabriel's shard; the god preserves memories he has lost.
History
Maraveth and the imperial guardians
Raphael and Michael were Maraveth's strongest ice mages and served on its council. Michael was his best friend. During his travels, Raphael met Barachiel and Arcanis and brought them to the city. He supported Barachiel's leadership and offered Arcanis his help.
Arcanis's Malverand hearts stopped the guardians' aging, but they neglected and outlived their families. Raphael became Barachiel's personal guardian and helped channel essence for Arcanis's god cores. His own shard restored his strength and expanded his control of the weather.
During the disaster in Morozkaya, Raphael sheltered fleeing people behind ice. Michael rescued him, and the guardians survived the waves with Barachiel's aid. Raphael accepted the destruction as the emperor's necessary sacrifice rather than blaming Arcanis.
Raphael and Michael taught Isandriel, but Raphael was not told the secrets of his creation. Raphael developed his golden hailstorms by combining divine and ice magic. At Barachiel's command, he restrained Eliona in golden ice before Isandriel unmade her following the massacre committed by her faction.
The divided empire
Barachiel's disappearance devastated Raphael. He pressed Michael to act as emperor and reserved the missing emperor's and Sariel's shards for them. When Arcanis vanished, Raphael searched for him and proposed another interplanetary ship, but the missing designs prevented the rescue project.
Raphael forced Jeremiah back under Malverand rule against Michael's wishes and tried to make the other guardians obey him. He guarded the Malverand Vault, restricted the distribution of cores and gave Isandriel a burning frost crystal to find a suitable protector. He dismissed the deaths caused by Jorhan-Theris while the atraxi controlled corruption.
Over the centuries, Raphael forgot even Barachiel, while retaining his desire to rule. He banished Sariel as a traitor and resented guardians acting without permission. Michael came to regard him as a danger to the people.
Thalion, posing as a servant of Sigvariel, exploited Raphael's trust in Isandriel. He proposed distracting Eremion with an attack on Morindel while Raphael seized Jazarel. Raphael accepted the civilian cost. He fought Eremion amid the flood and golden hailstorms, while Isandriel and the Order attacked the guardians. Helena's abyss reversed courses in which Raphael was killed; in the surviving course both he and Eremion escaped.
Raphael and Eremion then allied against Isandriel and divided the remaining empire. Eremion gave him Eliona's surviving heart, and Raphael retrieved second generation cores for new wielders. At Crosford, Helena's abyss reversed his killing of Benedict and Sylvia, who then fled before meeting him and escaped his hailstorm.
When the Order's fleet advanced, Raphael attacked with golden hail. John and Tianlei, together with Ignatius, broke his shields and pursued his retreat to Maraveth. Repeated lightning and plasma attacks exhausted his regeneration. Ignatius burned away his remaining body.
Restoration and Rahmavir
Before his death, Raphael had secretly restored Eliona using the instructions and essence signatures preserved in her heart. He taught her how to restore him and used her to study the Order's abyss. She spent centuries searching and gathering essence before bringing him back. Parts of his memory remained missing, but Gabriel could remember for him.
Raphael established his base in Rahmavir, where he, Eliona and Azarion defeated the Oracles and claimed the source. He sought a restored empire and promised Eliona dominion over Jazarel and the surrounding lands. Their attempts to investigate the source lake revealed an immense flow of essence that concealed its origin.
Eliona and Azarion worked to break Varnhallow and attacked when its temporal protection failed. Raphael's campaign suffered a setback when Aldar, Virel and Lythariel countered the attackers. With Thalena gone and Eremion defeated, he prepared elite forces for the Order’s upcoming siege of Omberion.
Relationships
- Michael: His closest friend and fellow councilor. Raphael relied on him after Barachiel vanished, then defied his policies and sought control of the guardians.
- Barachiel and Arcanis: Raphael brought them to Maraveth, supported the emperor and helped the god-forger's work. Their disappearance left him grieving and determined to preserve the empire.
- Isandriel: His pupil, whom he helped raise with Michael, later an enemy whose alliance with Thalion exploited his trust.
- Eliona: Raphael restored her and taught her to restore him. Their reciprocal survival sustains her loyalty despite her concern about his behavior.
- Gabriel: His longtime god and keeper of lost memories, whose influence accompanies his campaigns.
Raphael was one of the Guardians of Malverand, an ice and divine mage who served Barachiel and later sought to restore the empire under his own rule. After his first death and restoration, he built his campaign from Rahmavir. He died during the battle at Cyndarel, while his surviving Malverand heart eventually passed to Xarion.
Appearance
Raphael had long white hair, angular features and crystal blue eyes. He wore white robes with blue and silver accents, and silver armor in battle.
Personality
Raphael was a gifted but harsh teacher. He accepted responsibility for raising Isandriel despite doubting his ability to be a father, and later raised and trained several of Rahmavir's chosen leaders. His devotion to Barachiel became an insistence on obedience to the empire, even when the other guardians resisted him.
He could protect civilians and offer refuge while also accepting their deaths as the price of conquest. His deteriorating memory left gaps in his personal history without ending his ambition or command of magic. At his final defeat, he regretted trying to rule through force and recognized the value of Michael's care for the people.
Magic
Raphael combined ice and divine magic through fusion, producing golden ice, immense hailstorms and shields. He could freeze floodwaters and shape platforms for movement. His greatest weather spell threatened a golden ice age, but powerful fire and lightning could interrupt it before it fully formed.
His Malverand heart stopped his aging and repeatedly regenerated devastating injuries. It could survive the loss of his body, making restoration possible with enough essence and the knowledge preserved from Arcanis's work. Regeneration still had limits: sustained attacks exhausted it, and survival of the heart did not keep his destroyed body alive.
Raphael wielded Gabriel's shard for millennia. The god preserved memories he had lost, and their bond became so close that separating left Raphael feeling different even though his beliefs remained. They ended the pact so Gabriel could bond with a stronger mage.
History
Maraveth and the imperial guardians
Lothar gave advanced ice magic to Raphael and Michael when they were children. Both later joined his council in Maraveth and became the city's strongest ice mages. Michael was Raphael's best friend.
During his travels, Raphael met Barachiel and Arcanis and brought them to Maraveth. He supported Barachiel's leadership and offered Arcanis his help. After Arcanis made the first Malverand hearts, the guardians ceased aging but neglected and outlived their families. Raphael became Barachiel's personal guardian and helped channel essence for Arcanis's god cores. His own shard restored his strength and expanded his control of the weather.
During the disaster in Morozkaya, Raphael sheltered fleeing people behind ice. Michael rescued him, and the guardians survived the waves with Barachiel's aid. Raphael accepted the destruction as the emperor's necessary sacrifice rather than blaming Arcanis.
Raphael and Michael took responsibility for teaching Isandriel, but Raphael was not told the secrets of his creation. Raphael developed his golden hailstorms by combining divine and ice magic. At Barachiel's command, he restrained Eliona in golden ice before Isandriel unmade her following the massacre committed by her faction. The incident strengthened Raphael's reluctance to grant god cores to the Vireen colonists.
The divided empire
Barachiel's disappearance devastated Raphael. He pressed Michael to act as emperor and kept the missing emperor's and Sariel's shards reserved for them. When Arcanis vanished, Raphael searched for him and proposed building another interplanetary ship, but the missing designs prevented the rescue project.
The guardians' disputes undermined imperial unity. Raphael forced Jeremiah back under Malverand rule against Michael's wishes and tried to make the other guardians obey him. He guarded the Malverand Vault, restricted the distribution of cores and gave Isandriel a burning frost crystal to find a suitable protector. His willingness to leave Jorhan-Theris controlling corruption disregarded the lives lost in Xalmyrra.
Over the centuries, Raphael forgot even Barachiel, while retaining his desire to rule. He banished Sariel as a traitor and resented the guardians acting without his permission. Michael eventually regarded him as another danger to the people rather than the friend who had once governed beside him.
Thalion, posing as a servant of Sigvariel, exploited Raphael's trust in Isandriel. He proposed distracting Eremion with an attack on Morindel while Raphael seized Jazarel. Raphael accepted the civilian cost and sent his forces. At Jazarel he fought Eremion amid the flood and golden hailstorms, while Isandriel and the Order attacked the guardians. Helena's abyss reversed courses in which Raphael was killed; in the surviving course both he and Eremion escaped.
Recognizing the deception, Raphael and Eremion allied against Isandriel and divided the remaining empire. Raphael received Eliona's surviving heart from Eremion, retrieved second generation cores for new wielders and sought obedience from other cities. At Crosford, Helena's abyss reversed his killing of Benedict and Sylvia; they then fled before meeting him, escaping his hailstorm.
When the Order's fleet advanced, Raphael attacked with golden hail. John and Tianlei, together with Ignatius, broke his shields and pursued his retreat to Maraveth. Repeated lightning and plasma attacks exhausted his regeneration. Ignatius burned away his remaining body.
Restoration and Rahmavir
Before his death, Raphael had secretly restored Eliona using the instructions and essence signatures preserved in her heart. He taught her how to restore him and used her to study the Order's abyss. She spent centuries searching and gathering essence before bringing him back. His restoration left parts of his memory missing, which Gabriel could remember for him.
Raphael established his base in Rahmavir, where he, Eliona and Azarion defeated the Oracles and claimed the source. He helped raise leaders including Ravira and Zorath, binding the nation's war against the Order to his campaign for a renewed empire. He promised Eliona lands of her own rather than granting her an existing throne.
Raphael investigated the source lake himself and saw machinery through the breach at its bottom. He recruited Alistair's researchers and agents to find mages capable of closing it, intending to gain the affected nations' loyalty. He and Gabriel also used Alistair's influence in Ulzathir to encourage the war against Thalassai, hoping to weaken both sides.
Eliona and Azarion worked to break Varnhallow and attacked when its temporal protection failed. Raphael sought to destroy the opposition, but Aldar, Virel and Lythariel forced the attackers to withdraw. The Order's subsequent return from the vault made a rapid campaign necessary before its members recovered.
Gabriel recharged at the source, while Raphael distributed crystals formed from the god's transformed body to strengthen allies and provide Gabriel with bearers through whom to act. Raphael later separated from the god, but kept his ambition to restore imperial rule. He privately praised Alistair, disguised as Alice, for destroying Zarephon while publicly giving Eliona and Azarion the credit.
Cyndarel and the surviving heart
Raphael made Cyndarel a fortified front against Garrik's forces. He counted on Eliona to conceal an attack on the enemy commanders and ordered Zorath to strike their rear. Unknown to him, Eliona and Azarion had agreed to turn against him if the Order could close the source.
Aldar's darkness trapped the city. Raphael helped maintain its shields and assured the citizens they would survive. Ravira's origin shields eventually allowed groups to cross the veil, but Virel's prepared meteor scattered the escaping mages.
Aldar confronted Raphael and countered his golden ice with fire. Repeated burns slowed Raphael's regeneration. Gabriel descended and picked him up, but Zhang knocked them apart while Khoradyn helped contain the god. Aldar resumed his attack and finally exhausted Raphael's regeneration. Defeated, Raphael regretted his rule by force, named Michael his only true friend and asked Aldar to protect Valrindor.
Alistair placed a device on Raphael's chest and detonated it with a cosmic ray, killing Raphael and Aldar. He stole Raphael's surviving heart and absorbed it. Cassian later recovered the heart concealed beneath Alistair's surrendered spiral shard. Thalena then gave Raphael's heart to Xarion, who implanted it in his own chest.
Relationships
- Michael: His closest friend and fellow councilor. Raphael relied on him after Barachiel vanished, then defied his policies and sought control of the guardians. At his final defeat he recognized Michael's care for the people as the better path.
- Barachiel and Arcanis: Raphael brought them to Maraveth, supported the emperor and helped the god-forger's work. Their disappearance left him grieving and determined to preserve the empire.
- Isandriel: His pupil, whom he helped raise with Michael, later an enemy whose alliance with Thalion exploited Raphael's trust.
- Eliona: Raphael restored her and taught her to restore him. Their reciprocal survival sustained her loyalty for centuries before she secretly agreed to help end his rule.
- Gabriel: His longtime god and keeper of lost memories. Their bond shaped his power and campaigns, but ended when Gabriel sought a stronger wielder.
- Ravira and Zorath: Chosen leaders he helped raise and train. Their personal loyalty supported his influence in Rahmavir and his final campaign.