I-385: Raphael

Personality: Calm, quiet, and bookish, Raphael is somewhat slow to act and prefers to move at an easy pace. While he often comes across as lazy, Raphael is actually conserving his energy for both his, and his friend Vélréth's, health. Easygoing, if somewhat aloof, he has taken to learning Braille in order to be able to sate his desire for knowledge - to help with this, he's taken to carrying with him an enchanted book that translates nearby texts to braille. He prefers his anthro form over his natural form, and is frequently seen near or riding Vélréth.

Extras: Raphael was born blind, hornless, and with a heart defect that made exercise dangerous for him. As he grew older, this slowly worsened as his blood could not oxygenize very well, making it difficult for his heart to meet the needs of his growing body. Vélréth encountered Raphael in the forest, where he'd wandered off to die. Instead of death, Raphael found life when this keirolté decided to speak with and befriend him, ultimately resulting in Vélréth deciding to gift the sickly Nightmare his own soul gem. With some help from Theodeth and Kéveith, the transplant was successful, resulting in Raphael and Vélréth being dependent on each other's proximity for health and, ultimately, life.

The soul gem keeps Raphael alive by regulating his heart rate and ensuring proper oxygenation and distribution of blood. However, keeping two bodies maintained and alive is a significant drain on a lone soul gem, leaving both Nightmare and keirolté often at low energy, sunbathing and seeking warmth to try making up for the loss - food alone is not enough to sustain them for long periods. Raphael is forever grateful for Vélréth's sacrifice, and has taken well to learning how to control the soul gem's energies himself - well enough that he's slowly learning how to use keirolté abilities and psionics. Very slowly, however, as such training greatly wears on them both if done in lengthy bouts.