Raulke - In-Game History, Part II
Time Passages
While he stayed in the forests between the two cities, many things happened. Eventually, the voices of the Aeons faded from his head as well, and they were suddenly no longer influencing his behavior. Not long after this, he learned that Maester Yevon’s body had been found. However, Raulke was suspicious--he too had had something taken from him by Yevon’s draining, and it had not returned to him. Not that he was overly anxious for it to. If Yevon was truly dead, would that power have not returned? He kept his ear to the ground, and learned of distressing news shortly after hearing of Yevon’s death--the city of Luca had been eaten by a monster. This came so shortly after Yevon’s “death” that he was almost certain that somehow, the Maester was involved with it.On a more pleasant note, another person from his world had Converged--the bard-king of Damcyan, Edward Gilbert Chris von Muir. Being a musician himself, Raulke was pleased to hear this; however, this was a different Edward than he remembered hearing tales about. Gone was the cheerful bard that he had been told about, and in his place was a morose, pessimistic man who pined for the loss of many things. Nonetheless, Raulke sensed a kindred spirit. Not only because of the mutual interest in music, but because of the sense of loss and sorrow that Edward seemed to exude. Raulke too, had lost much in his life, and was only just now starting over.One surprise was not so pleasant, however—“Mojo”, the giant of a man that had humiliated him in Vector and tried to steal a magicite so long ago, was again in the Vector-Lindblum area. And now he had associates. Naoto, an archer, and a rather fight-crazy Moogle. Raulke’s conscience would not allow “Mojo” to face the group of monsters alone, and so he assisted. He said little to “Mojo”, but bought an Antidote when he was poisoned by a Carve Spider during the fight. He encountered Naoto and his Moogle friend Jinx a number of times after the meeting with “Mojo”, and decided they were just unlucky enough to fall in with the behemoth, but he would be certain to regard them with caution.Raulke met Edward a couple more times, and during one of these meetings, revealed that Luca had not simply closed its port, but the city had been literally eaten by Sin. Edward made a decision--he would go to Baron, that Cecil may know of something to do. Raulke pointed out that Baron was near Luca, and so the refugees from Luca (if there were any) would likely be there, and perhaps one of them would be able to shed some light on the situation. At the very least, they could help the refugees.Raulke agreed to accompany Edward to Baron, and they went to Vector. However, a slight misunderstanding between Raulke, Shalaja, and Edward resulted in the bard-king slipping away into the crowd. With apologies to Shalaja, Raulke attempted to track Edward through the crowd. A fruitless effort, but he knew where Edward was going--the docks. He hoped to catch up with Edward there.
Ever On
Raulke went to Baron--incognito, of course--but did not manage to find Edward. He did, however, find someone else. Tidus. The pseudo-Deepground operation in Luca had left that face one that he would never forget. However, Tidus had dyed his hair in an effort not to be recognized. And for good reason--the last time Tidus had been in the public eye, it had been as right-hand lunatic to the insane Yevon. Incognito Raulke and Tidus chatted a bit, but apart from Raulke not-so subtly letting Tidus know he knew who he was, despite the disguise, nothing came of it.Soon after, a letter came to Raulke in Baron via MogNet. It was from Vector’s High Command. By a vote of 10-4 in the High Command, he had been extended a permanent position in the Vector military, along with citizenship. Given the date on the letter, MogNet had apparently been told it was urgent, as it had arrived the day after it was sent. Claria had mentioned this move to Raulke some time ago. She’d said something about inviting certain mercenaries back, but only if they accepted permanent citizenship as a condition of their employ with Vector. So in a way he’d expected it. He had been a good little soldier during his stay there.Mercenaries were a dime a dozen, but a soldier that would truly do his job and not expect any more than what he needed to survive was a rare thing. He didn’t want power, or fame, or wealth. He just wanted to survive. And maybe to have a semi-comfortable existence. So...what else did he have? But still...he was afraid that if he stayed there permanently, he would begin to lose his relative contentment with life, and want more out of a life that had never given him anything but hard knocks. And yet...Vector was the closest thing to a home he’d had since he was a child. Baron no longer wanted him. And most of his friends were there. So he decided to think on it for now. He kept the card and letter. He had six months to reply, anyway....While remaining in Baron for a time, Raulke met a young woman named Aerith, and they spoke briefly. He had begun by calling himself “Erich” (since the names “Josiah” and “Raulke” were both known in Baron), but eventually came to a decision. He was tired of hiding who and what he was. Reasoning that--for better or worse--he was as he was, and there was no reason to be ashamed of it, Raulke was more forthcoming to her about his identity than he had been to others in the past. He shared a bit of his past with her, and left the conversation feeling better about himself.
So Many Ups and Downs....
But that didn’t last long. Warrior or not, he was also a musician, and he tried to ply his trade a bit once more, to raise spirits. With the attack by Sin, the refugees needed all the cheering up they could get, Raulke figured. However, while he was performing (no singing this time, just guitar music), the King of Baron, Cecil Harvey, happened upon him. They chatted, some of it less than friendly, and Cecil seemed to be convinced that Raulke was mad. Eventually, Raulke came to realize that the Paladin wasn’t going to understand his point of view, and left. But not before he took a great deal of what Cecil had said to heart.Soon he would find himself without pity or remorse, Cecil had told him. Raulke didn’t think he would ever be that way...but looking back upon Kefka’s death (and a couple of other things he’d done while in Vector’s employ), he began to realize something. He’d felt no pity for Kefka; no remorse, no sorrow that the situation had come to that. He had instead felt that it was good riddance to bad rubbish. Kefka was evil, though, and had caused many, many deaths...didn’t that excuse him? No, he realized...it didn’t. At the very least, he knew nothing of Kefka’s crimes, so what gave him the right to be judge, jury, and executioner? And that’s exactly what he’d done, he realized—while he hadn’t actually struck the final blow, he’d helped execute a man for money.It couldn’t be helped now. Raulke had done what he had done...and he couldn’t change his path now. It was far too late for him, and turning away from the dark sword as Cecil urged him to do would leave him powerless. And he would again lose everything. Raulke didn’t think he was strong enough to start all over again. He could not overcome his darkness, he realized. There was little else he could do but embrace it. And so it was that he left Baron, heart heavy in his chest.
A Home At Last?
After his time in Baron, Raulke decided that the time had come. Baron had, for all intents and purposes, thrown him away because he’d taken up the dark sword to survive. None of his family lived there. His parents’ house was owned by someone else. And his mentor was dead as well. There was nothing left for him in Baron. And traveling the world his whole life, while it had expanded his horizons, had been lonely. He had remained footloose long enough, he decided, and it was time to rest his wings permanently. There was only one place Raulke could go. One place where he would be welcomed.Vector.So it was that Raulke returned to Vector, and turned in his card and letter, proof that he had indeed been invited back. Vector seemed to have disbanded its Dark Knights in the time that he’d been away. But Raulke was assured that his abilities would not affect his eligibility for citizenship. However, he was asked not to wear his armor in public while in the city limits of Vector. This is mind, he began the naturalization process, which would take him a few days....Shortly after he officially moved back to Vector, an interesting happenstance occurred. A man whom Raulke discovered was named “Kiros” Converged into Vector. He was asleep, and Converged right into an alley. Kiros apparently thought Raulke was someone named “Laguna” at first...but once the man realized he was apparently not in his bed like he thought he was, he leaped up and brandished weapons. Raulke matched with his zweihander, though he managed to avoid a fight from breaking out. He explained to Kiros that he had come to a different world, and directed him to an inn so that he could finish the rest that had been so rudely interrupted by his arrival in the Converged World.
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