And now for something completely different: it’s time for another “Meet the Characters” post! Today, let’s hear a little bit about Rakariel, hero of Before the Sun Fades! (Yes, that’s the one I’ve finished but am sitting on. Just a little longer…!)
Rakariel, known in her home region as Rakariel Shadow-Bearer, is a travelling adventurer, a former mercenary whose hard-earned experience cost her dear. She’s cautious and careful about the situations she gets into, but once she’s chosen a course of action, she’s very difficult to sway. In a world of magic and a myriad conflicting gods, she forges a path as best she can through the trials of life.
She’s an excellent archer, owning a truly splendid bow spelled with various enchantments to further enhance her abilities. For close-range combat, she has some skill with a shortsword, and her blade bears an enchantment of spirit, enabling her to fend off more intangible dangers. Her horse, Dawn, is often her only companion as she travels alone wherever her path may take her.
Rakariel grew up a child of the open steppes, whose far-ranging people often depart in adulthood to seek fortune, fame, and accomplishment before returning home. As a child, she hero-worshipped the returning adventurers, determined to be just like them one day, with great tales of bravery to tell. Like many of her people, she chose the bow as her main weapon, and demonstrated impressive skill even amongst her equally-trained peers. Her abilities caught the eye of several, and on reaching adulthood, she was given a recommendation to join the renowned mercenary band known as the Snowhawks.
Confident and cocksure, young Rakariel departed in search of them, and bearing the proof of recommendation that she’d been given, was accepted and inducted into the group, quickly proving her worth. The Snowhawks became a strange second family, a tight-knit band who faced down all the typical dangers of the world with equanimity, able to command a high price for their expert services. Though their battles weren’t without injury and casualty, life was, for a mercenary, good.
But it didn’t last. One day, the Snowhawks answered an open summons, a bounty placed by a local lord on the evil creatures defiling a fairly remote area of his lands. It seemed a simple enough task, not much harder than any other similar job in a world of magic and gods, but it quickly became clear that the visible evil was only the tip of the iceberg. Several groups of mercenaries and the odd solo traveller joined the battle in those lands, and were decimated, even the experienced and well-equipped Snowhawks themselves. Still, Rakariel and two others eventually won through to fight the evil at the heart of it all face to face — and for a short time, thought they had won. Yet the dark god, banished in a long-ago battle of religions and plotting revenge ever since, lived on… borne unknowingly by Rakariel herself.
Possessed, she struggled to retain her will against a creature that, though weakened, was rapidly overcoming her. Only the paladin who had joined the battle recognised what was happening to her, aided by the whispers of his gods. He found a way to force the dark god into a new host — but the volunteer, though brave, was not equal to the task. Before they could travel to a place that would be able to banish the dark god properly, it gained control over its new host, fleeing the mercenary band and trailing evil in its wake. Despite lingering weakness, Rakariel set out in pursuit, together with the other survivors, Snowhawks and strangers alike.
Eventually, they won, and the evil was stripped of its power and sealed away once more, but at great cost. Just a handful of the original adventurers lived, each one scarred by their experiences, and all went their separate ways. Since then, Rakariel has travelled alone to nowhere, unable to outrun the shadows of her past, unable to find respite in a peaceful, stationary life, fighting evil where she finds it and holding back her fears with the aid of a simple travellers’ lightstone.
Before the Sun Fades begins when she finds a sealed and shadowed valley, and descends to see what lies within…
Questions about Rakariel? Questions for Rakariel? Ask away!
Distant Realms 
Thinking up questions for Rakariel is somewhat harder than Tsien, as i already know a bit more about her 😉
Hi Rakariel, nice to meet you. I was wondering, just where were you off to when you found the valley? Is someone now irritated at a missed appointment?
One other question: Having carried one about for a while, and especially given it’s terrible nature, what is your general opinion of gods these days? Would you rather just have nothing to do with them yourself?
…Am i getting an arrow in the knee for asking?
Metalwings: I haven’t put Tsien’s bio up yet, I think you’re thinking of Dayna! Particularly since I did tell you about Tsien… 😉
Rakariel: I was just travelling. I’d heard tell of trade across the mesa in the past, so I thought I’d be able to get down the other side. There’s nobody waiting for me.
As for gods… I can’t say they haven’t also aided me. But you’re right: I’d rather not deal with them directly unless I have to. To them, I’m another tool. I’d rather avoid further use.
*She seems amused.* I won’t shoot you for asking questions… at least, not most questions.
Metalwings: Rakariel’s opinions are her own – whether she’s right about what the gods think of her is a question for the gods! And there are a lot of them, so I’m sure she’s right about some. Others might value her for more than that, of course. Imagine all the religions in our world were more-or-less true (as in, their deities/afterlives/etc. existed, even if not all of their myths and holy writs were quite accurate) – that’s something like the world Rakariel lives in. As she moves from country to country, she also moves under the eyes of different gods, though the ones involved in her previous major battles take enough of an interest to keep an eye on her from afar.
Ah, see i did need to go to sleep 😉
Another question: when not fighting evil, what kind of work do you get up to? You mentioned trade, is that your staple, or perhaps escorting traders who fear harassment on the road?
A couple of the gods must owe her a favour or two by now, but knowing Rakariel she’d be more interested in them helping certain friends of hers instead.
Rakariel: When I need money, I go back to mercenary work, usually as an escort or guard for travellers. I’m not sure I’d make a very good trader, myself…
Metalwings: One or two almost certainly will! But she’d rather not deal in those kinds of favours unless she absolutely has to; if she stays out of the gods’ affairs, maybe they’ll forget about her and leave her alone. (Fat chance.) She’ll call on them with only a little hesitation if it becomes truly vital, though. Rakariel’s not the sort to let people die because she was too concerned about the repercussions to call on godly aid – quite the opposite, in fact!
Greetings Rakariel, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am quite curious about magic. If you are not a master mage yourself; I guess you must have met a few of these people along your travels. How far can mages go and what is the most amazing piece of magic you have seen performed? What are your favorites or the most useful spells for you that you can safely reveal having without putting yourself in danger (or in more danger than you are in at the moment at least)?
Rakariel: I’ve known some good mages, yes. I’ve never really spoken to a full sorcerer, but I’ve known those who trained under them. Honestly, if I could only have one spell, I would keep my strongest healing spell. Lightning and so on are all very well, but I have the enchantments on my bow, and even if I didn’t, the ability to heal myself and others is more valuable to me than almost any other magic. *She pauses, thinking.* …I’ve heard of sorcerers doing great things, such as affecting the high air currents, causing and calming storms, changing the flow of the oceans, even quieting fire mountains. But I don’t know how many of those stories are exaggerated – my experience with magic has mainly been in battle.
Metalwings: Random world knowledge time: around Rakariel’s home area, anyone who can use magic is automatically a mage, but further subdivions exist. A battlemage is a well-trained combat specialist. A wizard is a mid-level, typically college-trained mage: you might say he and the battlemage are on around degree level, magic-wise. A sorcerer would be your professor, as high a level as a mage can go in terms of education, with a good breadth of knowledge and one or more specialisations. Healers are offset: while they have equivalent power, anyone who specialises in the healing arts is just a healer, at least to the general population. Your warlock has a little training, but often haphazard or self-taught.
Hi, Rakariel!
Does Dawn know any tricks? And I have a friend who wants to know where you got her and what breed she is.
Also! How did you come by your lightstone?
Rakariel: Hello. *She smiles.* Dawn knows a lot of tricks. She’s trained for me to ride her in battle, after all, and I spend a lot of time working with her. She’s from my homeland – horses are an important part of my people’s lives, though she isn’t the only one I’ve owned.
As for my lightstone, I was given it by the leader of the Snowhawks as part of my gear, after I’d proven myself in battle. Lightstones are quite common, but we mercenaries would look down on those who purchased them without first earning it. …Of course, that was a long time ago.
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