Raulke - In-Game History, Part I

Raulke - In-Game History, Part I

Fates Intertwine

Raulke spent many years wandering the wilderness of the Converged World, settling briefly in an area and killing off wild monsters that were a danger to travelers and other people in an area, and then moving on before anyone knew of his presence. He rarely went to towns, and when he did, he rarely wore his armor, otherwise he might have been recognized. He had made a personal promise to himself never to return to Baron, and so steered clear of that area. He ended up somewhere near Luca (shortly after it was named “New Zanarkand” by Maester Yevon). A short time after he arrived in that general, the Maester declared that a reward for monsters would be offered. Deciding it would be a good idea to remain in the area then--at least for a while; after all, living isn’t cheap--he began hunting monsters. The pay wasn’t good...but it sufficed.

Then something happened. He happened upon a couple of other people along the road as a Chocobo Eater appeared on the road. The three of them managed to defeat the beast. One of the three, a Chocobo Knight who never gave her name, left before she could be thanked for her help. The other, a mercenary by the name of Claec, ended up being eaten by the monster (though by some miracle, he escaped being chomped to bits; even now Raulke does not know how Claec managed this), but cut himself out of the monster’s belly. Claec and Raulke each brought a trophy back to New Zanarkand as proof they had killed the monster; Claec took a tooth and Raulke took its hand. Once in New Zanarkand, Claec decided that a tooth wouldn’t attract too much attention in an inn, so he decided to wait to turn in his trophy (he wanted to wash the monster gunk off him).

Raulke, however, immediately took the Chocobo Eater’s hand to the Maester’s residence for his reward. The Maester turned an rather interesting shade of green at the sight of the monster blood soaking his carpet, but after a short conversation, Raulke was paid for his troubles and the Chocobo Eater’s hand was disposed of. Though only the Maester knows if anybody ever managed to get the bloodstains out of the fine carpets in his residence....

To the Present

Shortly after his run-in with the Maester Yevon, Raulke was recruited into the Vector faction after Claria Godwin of Vector witnessed him using his dark sword powers--specifically, Night Sword--on a “fiend” in the area. From then on, Raulke remained loyal to the Vector faction, though it was unclear why. Surely the money couldn’t have been that good. He never attempted to gain any type of power--political or otherwise--as a result of his inclusion in the Vector faction. He followed orders--tirelessly trained recruits, fought against Vector’s enemies, even deceived people he had no quarrel with, all for the sake of Vector. Though the question of why still bore asking--he was just a paid mercenary, after all.

Some time ago, a huge magicite appeared in Vector. Found underneath the city itself in a labyrinthine dungeon, Claria took control of it, and then used it as bait for a trap. The magicite ended up flying away towards Lindblum, but not before Raulke, in the battle for it, accidentally used “Night Sword” on the magicite. He ended up absorbing a very tiny part of the magicite’s power and getting thrown through a tree for his efforts. This left him with a permanent scar of sorts--a magical “aura” that can be glimpsed by others in the peripheral vision in low light (those with magic training or Light/Holy abilities could see it clearly at any time).

Time passed relatively normally, and the aura persisted, despite all Raulke’s efforts to be rid of it. Eventually he despaired of ever being rid of it, and it seemed that the power he had absorbed was changing him. Making him more standoffish, more cold and distant. The power he had absorbed would not leave him, and it was doing something to him that he didn’t like. But that would soon be a trifling concern.

During a parade held in honor of Yevon’s visit to Vector, the Maester attacked Claria Godwin. As far as Raulke knew, it was an unprovoked attack. Unbeknownst to him, however, Claria had cast Berserk on the Maester only moments before the attack. During the battle, Yevon, who had already absorbed the essences of several Aeons, made for both the shard of magicite that Claria wore around her neck...and for Raulke, who still carried the power of the magicite that he’d hit with Night Sword. Yevon did not absorb it all, but whatever he did was enough that the power now had a conduit. Raulke called...something. He doesn’t remember what it was. But it looked like shadows from the abyss. And then he lost consciousness. Since that event, the aura grew less noticeable, though it was still there. Raulke did not know what this might spell for the future. Beginning Anew, All Over Again

Claria Godwin believed that there was a wider threat to be faced soon, and that Maester Yevon’s attack was just the beginning of it all. The Empire wanted its soldiers to fight as though they were defending their home, and not simply their place of employment. To that end, Raulke--as well as all mercenaries currently employed by the Empire--were dismissed pending a review of their activities and contribution to the Imperial forces. Those that passed the review had a chance of possibly being offered work again, though only on the condition that they were granted citizenship in the city as well. Only time would tell if this offer would be granted to Raulke...and if he would accept if it was offered....

In the meantime, Raulke had been traveling the world. He had been sighted in Alexandria, South Figaro, and Balamb. In Baron, reports of a man matching Raulke’s physical description could be found, although the man claimed his name was Josiah Devereux. In truth, this was of course Raulke, but he had begun to use his real name again, since he reasoned that likely no one existed in Baron that could remember him or the tragedy that took his parents.

While in Baron, he met Valcia, one of Baron’s White Mages, a third time. Two previous meetings with her had occurred, during brief visits he made to Alexandria and South Figaro. In this third meeting, Valcia tripped while carrying an urn of water...which ended up with her dousing Raulke (who was playing Josiah) with the ice-cold water inside it. He tried to convince her that he wasn’t Raulke, but apparently she wasn’t buying it. She began to ask him questions, in an effort to discern whether or not amnesia was to blame for Raulke’s “strange” behavior. In the end, she was unable to find anything wrong, so was left with her questions.

Time passed for him in Baron, and he began to use his music as a way to not only make money, but to raise the spirits of the people in the city after the Reaper decimated the Baronian military--and nearly killed Cecil. But he made forays outside the city, to try to keep his head clear...and to look toward Luca with a desire to end the screaming in his head. It was during one of these forays that he encountered Valcia again. She was playing in the Moonflow, and encountered an unexpected drop-off. Unfortunately, Valcia could not swim. Fortunately, Raulke could. He rescued her, and told her a little about the Moonflow, what the pyreflies were--the little bit that he knew--admitting that he knew very little. The incident frightened Valcia; perhaps it was nearly dying, perhaps it was the new knowledge of the Moonflow, or perhaps it was seeing “Josiah” acting like Raulke. But in the end, Valcia fainted.

Raulke brought her back to Baron, insisting upon taking her to the infirmary himself. He was detained by Baron’s guards, and he and Rosa met and talked. In the end, it was decided that they should refrain from mentioning the meeting to Cecil, as it would only serve to worry the man. Additionally, Raulke told Rosa that he did not want to make it seem as though he was getting her to plead his case or trying to hide behind her skirts, as it were. He promised to tell Cecil of his presence soon, and when the meeting came, to be completely honest with Cecil. Then he was released, and escorted out of town. The meeting was downplayed by Raul and Kristev, Rosa’s personal guards, and it is not widely known that Rosa was there, or even that Raulke was. Only that a “dark figure” rescued one of Baron’s White Mages. A New Chapter

It was too soon, Raulke decided. Too soon after the Reaper’s visit for him to reveal his presence in Baron. Cecil was likely still on edge about the situation, and he didn’t want to have the king of Baron upset with him. That in mind, Raulke decided to leave Baron once again. His wanderlust didn’t take him far, though; he chose to rest his head in Costa del Sol. Here again he met up with Valcia. Additionally, there he met a pair of new Convergees--a woman named Rinoa, and her dog Angelo. He offered them both a meal and gave her directions to Balamb. He noted that she seemed excited to know that Squall was in this world as well. She hardly stayed to finish her meal before leaving on the ferry from Costa del Sol, heading for Balamb.

Raulke also met up with Kityana in Costa del Sol as well, though still playing Josiah. Kityana had a rather unpleasant surprise awaiting her in the sunny coast city, however. A rival of hers, whom she believed to be dead, stole her money pouch. When she and Raulke gave chase, the woman attacked them, destroying property on the beach. Raulke was injured slightly by flames, but no worse than a sunburn. Thankfully he had been monitoring his sun exposure during his time there.

After the attack, Raulke left Costa del Sol, and found himself near the Vector area again. He has begun to visit Lindblum--still playing Josiah, of course--to see what kind of trouble he can get into there. As long as Raulke was in Vector, he had never really visited the place except to back Claria on her appearance on Zidane’s television show (in which he, along with Narra, played the part of a scary-looking piece of background scenery). He managed to fool most of Tantalus (though granted, likely only because neither Setzer nor Lani were the type to pry into his affairs). At the beginning of Tantalus’s theater season, Raulke believed that the time to leave was then. But not before recording a song for Lani (who was out hunting a bounty) and Setzer (who was in Jeuno on business) to show how much the Tantalus kids had improved.

Once Setzer returned from Jeuno, Raulke briefly met with him, and informed him of his decision to leave. Setzer was generous with payment, giving extra pay as severance, as well as a gift--a guitar case and sheet music from Jeuno. Raulke also told Setzer the truth about his identity, and mentioned his fear that Claria would give him grief about his musical abilities if she knew. Setzer laughed and made a rather cryptic comment--that Claria would have no room to give Raulke grief about anything to do with music. However, he said no more of it, and Raulke did not pry. With a request that Setzer keep the truth of his identity secret, Raulke left Lindblum. However, he did not yet go back to Vector. He stayed near, in the forests between Vector and Lindblum. Raulke stayed in this area for some time, trying to decide where he should go next.

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