Rajaat
| Biological | |
| Full name: | R-583D (Serial Number); Danarael of the Chalice (as an Archon) |
|---|---|
| Born: | Date of Manufacture: May 12, 2300 AD (17 WR) |
| Birthplace: | Geno, Guardia, Gate III |
| Sex: | Male Gender Protocols |
| Race: | R-Series Robot; later made an Archon |
| Hair: | Corroded Bronze |
| Eyes: | Red |
| Height: | 6'0" |
| Weight: | 316 lbs |
| Personal | |
| Marital Status: | |
| Family/Relationships: | {{{family}}} |
| Religion: | Spekkian (as Archon), Atheist (after his Fall), Adherent of FATE (after resurrection) |
| Title: | |
| Nicknames: | First of the Fallen, the Warbringer |
| Hobbies: | |
| Known skills: | Tactical planning, Medical training
(Archon) Water Magic (Fallen) Defiling Magic |
| Favorite color: | |
| Inspiration: | |
| Motto: | |
Rajaat is the demon who began The Cleansing Wars. The First of the Fallen, Rajaat was an Archon -- a robot infused with holy magic by Archbishop Meres and made to serve the Church of Spekkio. The story of his rise and fall from grace is the prelude to the Cleansing Wars.
Contents
Rise
Prior to becoming an Archon, he was R-583D, an R-Series robot who was raised as an adoptee by R-Series parents in Bangor. After he successfully completed a period of software adaptation and "maturation," he trained at Fort Arris to become a field medic in the GDF. He served actively in the KMT War, and was part of the Guardian battlegroup attached to Rimmel Coward's Seventh Army in Medina. He was not supposed to have seen active combat duty, but fought to protect a Grand Army mobile hospital when it came under attack by Ozzie-loyal biker gangs. He was awarded commendations by both the Grand Army and the GDF for his service in Medina.
Years later, when the Kingdom was ruled by the Archbishop, R-583D was noticed by those in charge of Project R-CON, and due to his commendations for valor he was selected to undergo the experimental R-CON program enhancement. Following this procedure, he became a Chalice Archon, and adopted the name Danarael of the Chalice.
Glory of the Archons
As an Archon, he was known to be among the best, brightest and most pure. He specialized in Water and Healing magics, and held firmly to the Guardian knightly code that forbade wanton violence. He earned the respect and friendship of the Knights of the Square Table, and when the call came from T.O. Halberg for Esper's allies to rally in the EU's time of need, Sir Toadus himself recommended that Danarael lead a host of Archons in the Battle of New Year's Day. Prometheus forbade Danarael to go, but he disobeyed this order (along with several other Archons) and went to Esper anyway.
Fall
The Leviathan War changed everything. For Esper, for the Web of Worlds, and for Danarael. None are sure how or why, but shortly after Danarael returned home to Gate, he knew that he had changed. He was unsure of how to describe the change that had taken a hold of him, but he felt empty and alone. Soon he noticed that his magic, granted as a boon of faith by Spekkio, had left him. And that was when he fled Gate III in fear.
Perhaps there was a bug on the software side of the R-CON enhancement. Or perhaps it was just a hazzard that came with being made one step closer to human, and he simply wasn't ready to deal with the soul-scarring effects of war in his newfound form, with his newfound soul. Whatever caused it, Danarael had fallen. He had lost his faith. And he would never get it back.
He drifted through Gatespace, intent to suffer the remainder of his existence alone, to repent for whatever sin he'd committed to earn this mysterious and harsh punishment. Eventually he came upon a Zealan ruin, a floating island that the ancient Zealans had blasted into space, rather than deal with on the world they were confined to. Within he found a golem body animated by the spirit of King Zeal. King Zeal tormented Danarael, and eventually convinced him to embrace what he had become and see it as an opportunity rather than a curse. Slowly, Zeal's poisons worked their way through Danarael's tortured mind, and his sanity cracked.
King Zeal taught Danarael to wield magic on his own, without the aid of divine power. Futher, he taught Danarael his greatest secret: the art of Defiling Magic. He also gave Danarael a new name: Rajaat, a word Zeal claimed meant "Perfection" in some dialect of the Zealan language. In thanks for his tutelage, Rajaat destroyed Zeal's golem body and returned to Gate III, with new and sinister purpose.
The Xenos
When Rajaat returned to Gate III, he found an unlikely home among the ranks of the human supremacists of Xenos. He identified himself to them as an Archon, implied that their cause had holy merit, and explained that he was to lead them in a great crusade. Rajaat spent time teaching the Xenos Defiling magic, which most were able to pick up, and once they began to practice Defiling they progressed rapidly in skill and power. Rajaat chose fifteen members of the Xenos and named them his Champions, the leaders of the Xenos army that would conquer the rest of the Dimension.
Rajaat's Conquest
During this dark time, one of Rajaat's Fallen Archon servants, the Keymaster, had sealed the portals leading into and out of the Dimension, cutting Gate off from the rest of the Web of Worlds. Satisfied that he would not be disturbed by the allies that Guardia and Medina had cultivated in other worlds, Rajaat lead the Xenos to war.
Starting in El Nido, Rajaat's army of Defilers moved up through Porre, across the Zenan Continent, and eventually occupied Truce, in the process killing Doan Pendouris and Archbishop Meres.
After the fall of Truce, Rajaat and his remaining Champions moved into Guardia Castle, where they reigned as lords over the chaos their invasion had sown across the Kingdom. They defiled the corpses of Doan and Meres and desecrated the Pendouris family quarters before a pair of Nu assassins arrived. One of the Nu was exceptionally powerful, and managed to slay Rajaat and all but two of his Champions. After this the survivors hiding in Truce Canyon returned, and the remaining Defilers were hunted down, rounded up or killed.
The heroic Nu were taken to the Archons' Roost to give the good news to Queen Naraya Pandora and Prometheus, but it turned out to be a trick. The Nu had been pawns of Rajaat all along, and he had imprinted himself into their memories through a technique first developed by the Guru Belthasar. With the aid of an assault by two of Rajaat's other fallen minions -- the Noble One and the Deceiver -- the Nu abducted Clarice Viper, and killed Queen Naraya.
Together, the Fallen Archons and the Nu took Clarice Viper back to the asteroid Tomb of Zeal. The mind and memories of Rajaat -- at this point ephemeral data -- were transferred into the body of the Noble One (who wasn't aware he was meant to serve as a sacrificial victim until it was too late), and once Rajaat took possession of this new body he began to twist and change it to suit his former appearance.
In his vanity, Rajaat believed that he could re-make the Gate Dimension, seed it with new life in his own image, by combining his own Defiling Magic with the Preserving Magic practiced by Clarice. It was not to be, however: Rajaat's last remaining followers fell to the wrath of Derik Pendouris and Prometheus. Channeling a spell gifted to him by Elayne Crant'za, Derik cast Balefire and relieved Rajaat of his head.
Seeds of Rajaat
Two of Rajaat's surviving Champions -- Lalali and Sielba -- were actually impregnated by Rajaat during the course of the war. Not long after Rajaat's death at the Tomb of Zeal, the two Defilers each gave birth to a Rajaatspawned child: Lalali had a daughter named Scorn, and Sielba had a son named Iyana. The few accounts of these children indicate that Scorn was devilishly beautiful, and took on an appearance not unlike a succubus demon; while Iyana was malformed, hunch-backed, with stunted wings incapable of flight and twisted, monstrous features. Their births after the end of the Cleansing War were secret, and where they went after being born (and leaving the corpses of their slain mothers behind) remains unknown... although it is known where they eventually ended up.
Sargasso
The Archmage Ariel the Chronomancer, former Grand Master of Time Magic, proved to be the key to Rajaat's second resurrection. Utilizing her command over paradoxes, her future self captured Rajaat's spirit in an obsidian idol that was carved in the Warbringer's likeness. She made a bargain with him: when her time magic paradox spell wore out, she would be forced to return to her prison within the Guru of Time's lamppost at the End of Time. If Rajaat would help her escape, then Ariel, in turn, would help restore him to corporeal form. Rajaat agreed, and after summoning his children to him, sent them to invade the End of Time and break the Archmage free.
After being freed, Ariel whisked Rajaat and his children away to Sargasso, a space-time pocket of the Archmage's own design. It was there that the plans were set in motion to resurrect Rajaat: he sent his children to gather the tokens of his slain Fallen Archon minions: the Bell of the Mesmerist, and the Helm of the Deceiver. All that remained was the Key of the Keymaster, but unfortunately that token was in the possession of King Derik, and he meant to destroy it by casting it into the sun.
As Ariel and Rajaat plotted to abduct the King and keep him from destroying the Key, Ariel made another desire known: she had not rescued Rajaat's spirit out of the goodness of her heart. She wished to learn from him the secrets of Defiling magic, believing that it would make her more powerful and that it would be the key to her revenge against her great foe, Alkar the Black. Rajaat used this as leverage to keep Ariel doing his bidding, but over time, Ariel began to chafe at Rajaat's manipulations.
When King Derik, Sir Toadus, Grand Admiral Malvo Thames and Barry Svensgaard left on their mission to destroy the Keymaster's Key, Ariel and Rajaat ensnared them and their small fightercraft (Derik and Toadus were in the Epoch, while Thames and Barry were in a Dactyl-class fighter) in Sargasso. Rajaat's spirit manipulated them through a series of nightmarish memory "monuments" before they finally reached the top of a tower in a twisted "what if Rajaat had won" version of Guardia Castle. Derik and his companions faced Scorn and Iyana together, empowered as they were with Rajaat's magic; but Ariel had betrayed Rajaat and used her time magic to help the King. Almost effortlessly, Derik and his friends slew Rajaat's children. They then encountered the obsidian idol that held Rajaat's spirit and shattered it -- a move that they believed would ensure Rajaat's destruction forever. They then took all three of the Fallen tokens with them, boarded the Epoch, and left Sargasso.
Rajaat Restored
Of course, it was a trick. I mean, of course it was.
The tokens weren't important at all. What was important was the deaths of Scorn and Iyana; after the idol was shattered, Rajaat's formless spirit took possession of the twisted, broken remains of his children and reincorporated. Ariel was repaid for her service not with knowledge of Defiling, but with a snapped neck.
Joining Forces with FATE
After being resurrected, Rajaat laid low. Eventually, he became a party to the FATE conspiracy, and indeed became one of its most important members. He assumed a human disguise, calling himself "Dr. Daniel Chalasser," and signed on with Khalid Morris as one of his top advisors.
The pale-skinned Chalasser was almost always at Khalid's side, directing the Chancellor in how to maneuver the Guardian government to best serve the interests of FATE. After Terence Shale and Yoshiko Morume nearly blew their cover, Rajaat directed the Flying Fates to kill them. Shale survived the attack, but Yoshiko did not, and this sent Shale (in his power armor as The Shield) into a rage as he attacked the bureaucracy building in Trann. Norstein Bekkler interceded (totally not with teleportation magic though) and stopped the Shield from doing anything he'd regret. Instead, he sent Terry along with Osprey to the Mana Dimension to hide out.
Bekkler knew what was coming. Rajaat, as Chalasser, knew that the ZAPS director was their most significant obstacle. And so Chalasser instigated the ZAPS Corruption Hearings, forcing the Justice Ministry to bring Bekkler up on trumped up charges of bribery, embezzling and illegal domestic surveillance. In the end, Bekkler fled Guardia (with the aid of Mister Bones), which was all the same to Rajaat. He had Khalid install Dr. Chalasser as the new Director of ZAPS.
Unravelling
As Dr. Chalasser, Rajaat played a role in the events that ultimately came to a head with the Guardian Civil War. Along with Atropos, the Flying Fates and the Pyra Syndicate, Rajaat was one of FATE's great champions, opposite Dregoth and his coterie that championed the Dragon Gods. His cover was eventually blown, and he confronted Derik Pendouris once again in combat, but this time he managed to escape without Derik killing him (again).
Rajaat's current whereabouts are unknown.
