Welcome to Gaia! ::

Intro: This will be a series of 'one shots' all connected together that feature Raphael or will be about him. The intent is to provide a closure for my longest running OC and cover some things I had put in my notes when I was writing the series 10 years ago, but never covered. Most will be weighted towards Raphael...Cause, ya know. xd

I'll be posting when I can, until the website goes down or this is removed. Don't expect many updates, this is just me putting out a few stories I never got to tell.

I don't expect anyone to really enjoy this (if you do, great!) but feedback would be appreciated & I'll do my best to increase the quality. I'm a little out of practice on the creative writing side, but I think I can pull off something half-way decent.

This will function as a rough chapter/ outline:

HvH2:
Prologue: Raphael, another time, another place

HvH3:

HvH Salvation:

The Shattering of the Ice Realm: How Cruxis destroyed the Ice Realm

Equivalent Exchange: Raphael's fight v God of Alchemy

Last Night Together: Raphael & Aurora's good bye

Light upon the Shadow Realm: Cruxis' turning against Morik, why, and what happens to the Shadow Realm.


The Pretender King/Heaven's Last Knight: Raphael's last apprentice and leader of Heaven for a Day

HvH DnD 3.5 Deity Guide: Tried running a 3.5 game based on HvH with friends. Didn't last long. This is the Deity guide created from each HvH character at that time.

Post HvH Salvation:

Alone: Raphael realizing that Inferno has escaped, and he is truly alone.

Wandering Ideal: Raphael's final story and end of his arc.


Again, rough outline. Don't expect much. I'll be posting at a rate of when I feel like it.

HvH3:

(Reserved)

HvH Salvation:

Equivalent Exchange: Raphael's fight v God of Alchemy

HvH Salvation:

Light upon the Shadow Realm: Cruxis' turning against Morik, why, and what happens to the Shadow Realm.

HvH Salvation:

HvH DnD 3.5 Deity Guide:

Tried running a 3.5 game based on HvH with friends. Didn't last long. This is the Deity guide created from each HvH character at that time. The PCs of the campaign were normal people living and adventuring in the HvH world. From their perspective, HvH characters would be deities.

For those not familiar with 3.5 DnD, format is:

Pantheon

Deity Name
Alignment: (Rough personality/behavior. Important for worshippers)
Favorite Weapon:
Domains: (What the Deity presided/had control over. Like Zeus controls lightning, Hades controls Death, etc...)
Holy Symbol: (The HvH character's symbol/signature/item that best represents the character. DnD followers of the HvH deity had have this symbol to invoke the HvH character's powers/magic.)
Description (Either what the HvH player wrote, my impression, or something else in order to balance out the DnD game or flesh out the pantheon.)



Wrote this approximately 2009-2010, so blame early 20's Raphael! xd

Cruxis

Steed
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Favorite Weapon: Gauntlets
Domains: Joy, Pleasure, Destiny, Community
Holy Symbol: A majestic tiger, defending a heart
Description: Revered as the Savior of Love, steed is one of the leaders for the four Paths of Salvation. He finds a way to solve any problem using love and nothing more. He is commonly worshiped by ordinary humans and other beings alike. His priests were well received in areas under the influence of Cruxis but hated in areas in control of Heaven or Hell. He has not set class of followers and can find many different classes following his word. He directs his followers thus:
1. In the face of pain, anger, and hatred, do not fall to their level
2. Oppose all problems you encounter with love and show them that violence is not the only way.


Rom
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Favorite Weapon: Spiked Chain
Domains: Creation, Madness, Craft, Destruction
Holy Symbol: Two Pheonixs, one dying, one coming out of the egg.
Description: The Eternal Maker, the Lush Creater, the Mad Craftsman are a few of Rom's titles. He is the Cruxis representative of a mortal's ability to create, destroy, and wildly change. He is known for his doctrine of creation at any costs, thus his domains also control destruction. To him, destruction is just another form of creation. Due to his view of people as things, something else to be molded and melded, his worshiper's tend not to be the most social of mortals. Among the mortals taht follow him, those who are obsessed with their craftsmanship tend to flock to him; especially half-elves that have been shunned and are creatively inclined.
With their elvish grace and human aptitude for creation, they find quick solace in his temples, where they are treated with an understanding innate to tortured artists. He directs his followers as such:
1. Create for creation's sake
2. Destruction is another form of creation; it clears the canvas and gives you dust to use.
3. Let no man stand in the way of your craftsmanship

Sera
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Favorite Weapon: Duel-Wielded, Semi-Automatic Pistols
Domains: Law, Charm, Liberation, Trickery
Holy Symbol: A Wolf Leading it's Pack. Typically symbolized by three wolves, one leading ahead of the other two.
Description: Sera is a representation of everything mortal's desire in a leader: compassionate, enthusiastic, and willing to do whatever it takes in order to get mortal freedom--as long as proper procedures are followed. Amongst his followers, he is known as the Master Diplomancer, the Silver-tongued Leader, and the Grand Orator. Indeed, one only needs to watch his speeches on TV in order to be enthralled and enraptured by his word. As such, he is most commonly followed by community leaders and authority figures, who see his message--"take charge of a situation, and do not allow those around you to flounder"--as a day to day truth to live by. Amongst adventurers, he is known to be followed by common leaders of adventuring groups, such as Paladins and Fighters.
He directs his followers thus:
1. If there is no leader, become the leader
2. A wolf pack without a leader is the pack that has failed
3. Lead diplomatically: Take no sides but your own, listen to all who report to you, follow procedure, avoid disputes with words and silence all disputes quickly with appropriate force.


Dom
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Favorite Weapon: Hand Axe
Domains: Competition, Strength, Endurance
Holy Symbol: A Bull ready to stand it's ground or bull horns
Description: If you see a person put their hands together on top of their heads, with their pointer fingers up and the rest of their hand close, while they scowl menacingly, then you witnessed the secret sign of Dom. Dom is the member of Cruxis who teaches self-reliance above all else. As such, despite being immensely popular, people follow him as individuals and their are no actual temples to Dom. His philosophy of self reliance has gained immense popularity with adventurer's, thieves, and youths--for he has shown that need for authority and community is minimal if you can provide for yourself.
As such, his followers tend to be very individualist, highly competitive people who try to place their needs before everyone else's. He directs his followers thus:
1. Stand on your own two feet, don't let others do it for you
2. If you can't count on yourself, who can you count on
3. The lone wolf dies alone, while the stoic bull goes and cleans his horns off of wolf's blood. Stop crying at the moon about an empty stomach and go get food.

Ann
Alignment: Neutral Good
Favorite Weapon: Short Sword
Domains: Weather, Life, Healing, Death
Holy Symbol: A peacock with it's tail feathers spread out
Description: Ann is renowned as the great restorer of Earth, that Nature Mender, and Forest Keeper. Ann is the representation of the mortal's desire to restore the earth. Scholars often debated between who is more popular: Serra with his Awe-Inspiring Sermons or Ann's practice of leading groups into dead forests and restoring long-forgotten wildernesses. His philosophy of stopping the war and focus on having everyone restore the earth ahs earned him great popularity and many followers among New Age Druids; Rangers, and Shamans. Although, it should be noted that Elves inherently distrust his teaching and believe the traditional ways to be best.
He directs his followers thus:
1. Love and respect the Earth, for it is the only Earth we will have
2. Understand that nature moves in cycles: one death must occur for Earth to provide two trees.
3. If you see a battlefield filled with corpses, plant trees. This will cause future generations to remember it as a forest, and not the sinful, sad place it once was.





Heaven

Lannerkin
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Favorite Weapon: A dagger with the ability to turn into water while still maintaining it's sharpness
Domains: Trickery, War, Courage, Spell
Holy Symbol: A large hammer, crackling with lightning
Description:
"Don't send an angel to do a demon's job," that's what can be said of Lannerkin. Scholars are unsure how or why, but apparently the first recorded leader of Heaven was half-demon, half-human. Regardless of how he got the title, he has been the most popular and followed leader of Heaven. He was known as the trickster in battle, for his tactics were always changing and he had an uncanny ability to catch anyone off guard. Be it in one on one battles or Heaven's armies v Hell's armies, he always seemed ready for any situation. His priests are usually a light hearted group that enjoy playing pranks on one and another.
His penchant for mixing magic with melee in rapid succession in order to catch his opponents off gurad had made him popular with spell thiefs, rogue-ish bards, and others who value the style of stealth and spell combined with brutal efficiency. He directs his followers thus:
1) Carry a big hammer, then stab them with your dagger
2) Be quick, be silent, be efficient. Go home quicker, cleaner, and in one piece.

Kite Toshil
Alignment: Lawful Good
Favorite Weapon: Scimitar
Domains: Law, Pact, Nobility, Travel
Holy Symbol: Feathers flowing in the wind. Most often symbolize by 3 feathers forming the peace sign.
Description:
Kite is one of the most beloved angels in all of Heaven. Kind, gentle, honest, and most importantly--honor bound. Practically the ideal angel. He was the natural choice for leader of Heaven after Raphael vanished, and thus he became the third recorded leader of Heaven. IN all the towns that have temples to him, he is idealized as the deity of travel and honor.
It is said by his followers that when he was human, he made a list of promises and used his dimension hoping powers to travel the world and fill them, thus making the world a better place. It is because of this, his followers will tell you, that he was allowed to ascend to Angelhood.
This is easily reflected in his well-received paladins, crusaders, knights, and other clergy. They travel from place to place, promising to solve the problems they see and do not leave until they do. Other than his clergy, he is prayed to by honest traveling merchants, mortals undergoing trials, and oath-makers. He directs his followers thus:
1) Don't make a promise if you don't intend to keep them
2) Your word is your currency, spend it wisely.

Kano
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Favorite Weapon: Duel Wielded Daggers
Domains: Deathbound, Retribution, Mysticism (Evil)
Holy Symbol: A Single tear drop
Description:
It is said in Kite's life, there were too many promises for him to full fill at times and he would often freeze up when a promise would come crumbling down. Out of his desire to act, Kono, Kite's other personality, was born. Although fiercely denied by all followers of Kite, one must wonder what happens to those who follow Kite's doctrine and fail to keep their promises?
It is rumored they become "Broken Ones," individuals that roam with no purposes but to fulfill their broken promises--by killing everyone who knows of the promise.
As a deity, Kono is the deity of retribution. Specifically, against those who cannot keep their promises. A person might utter a 'word' or two in his name, but he does not have any devote followers. Other than the Broken Ones, not much else is known about this side of Kite. However, the Broken Ones all seem to have one thing in common: the reiterating murmur of these words:
1) "Rain...Rain...Go away"
2) "Don't worry, we'll be fine. We just need to keep all of our promises."
3) "See? Look! All this red means that we have filled a promise! Everything will be ok for us now! We just need to fulfill another one..."

Rapheal Sol
Alignment:
Favorite Weapon:
Domains:
Holy Symbol:
Description:

Raphael Sol
Alignment: Neutral Good
Favorite Weapon: Duel wielded rapiers, one black, one white.
Domains: Creation, Magic, Artifice, Transformation
Holy Symbol: An intertwining Sun and Moon that forms the Alchemical Symbol for Equivalent Exchange.
Description:
The Angel Alchemist, the Grand Sage, the Watcher of the Moon--all are titles that Raphael Sol has held. He also had the honor of being the second recorded Leader of Heaven, after dueling Lannerkin for the position and winning.
Unlike the other leaders, Rapheal was hated during his tenure as leader. Many thought Yume Teishi, Kite's wife, should've inherited the position. Despite that, Raphael retrained all the armies of Heaven himself, maintained a constant vigil on earth, had contingency plans to attack Hell at any given notice and was leading Heaven in the greatest reign of peace yet recorded.
For the 1,000 years he ruled as leader, it wasn't until the last 200 that war broke out between Heaven and Hell--a war which ended when he dueled Inferno to the death.
He is mot commonly followed by Arcanists, Sorcerers, Wizards, and other magically inclined mortals--those who would imitate his think first, act second philosophy. He dissipated along with Inferno during their duel, but his followers hold hope for his return, for they are still able to draw power from him. Many theorize this is just residual energy leaking from his supposed 'Moon Temple.' His writing direct his followers thusly:
1) Research, study, and explore Magic and Alchemy to the brink. Ignore technology, for it is a blight upon the world the will rend us Magic-less.
2)The world revolves around Equivalent Exchange; to get, you must first give something of equal or greater value.
3) Be both master and student. Master your field and be peerless in it. Studiously learn and continue to learn.

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Hell

Deity Name
Alignment:
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Description:

Post HvH Salvation:

Wandering Ideal: Raphael's final story and end of his arc.