User:Admos/Raziel

"Prophets and leaders will try to tell you what your fate is and who you must be, but we have a choice. Our future is shaped by our actions, not by the words of others."
—Raziel

Admos/Raziel
Admos/Raziel Raziel in 3E 427
Race	Dunmer	Gender	Male
Born		3E 372
Resided in		Imperial City Daggerfall Hlormaren Pelegiad
Appears in		Battlespire, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim

Raziel (also called The Nerevarine, The Second Godkiller, The Agent, The Apprentice, The Soul of Conflict, Azura's Servant, Hermaeus Mora's Lapdog, The Emperor's Right Hand, The Emperor's Ghoul, and The Mantled Sheogorath) is a Dunmer Nightblade and legendary mercenary mainly known for slaying Dagoth Ur, triggering and subsequently destroying the Numidium, and ending the reign of the Tribunal in Morrowind. A resourceful and unrelenting survivalist, he has realised multiple dangerous campaigns which have pitted him alone against armies, Daedric creatures, the undead, gigantic automatons, and even Gods.

Along with his companion, Kaye, he would trigger the Warp in the West in 3E 417 which would result in the two becoming "unhinged" from time. Daedric Princes and Divines alike would use the pair as instruments to fulfill the prophecies of the Elder Scrolls, though Raziel would continually resist this role in order to determine his own fate.

Biography

Childhood and early life

In 3E 372, Raziel was born to unknown parents and left abandoned in the Waterfront District of the Imperial City. He was taken in by an Elder Breton woman, Ysyna, who ran an informal orphanage for street urchins. His earliest memories punctuated by deprivation and struggle, Raziel was raised communally by many people and quickly became a hardened, self-sufficient youth. Wandering the city streets one afternoon, Raziel captured the attention of an older Dark Elf as they observed a typical scene of street gambling. The precocious child, hardened by crime and poverty, pointed out exactly how the street swindler regularly cheated his players during a card game, even mimicking the sleight-of-hand.

As the two watched, the older Dunmer immediately recognised tremendous potential in the tough and unusually perceptive youth, and introduced himself as Dalam. Giving the malnourished boy some food from a street vendor, he explained that his patron was on the lookout for an apprentice. Taking a moment to look beyond his instinctive distrust, Raziel agreed to meet Dalam’s patron in the city, Sirollus Mero, a childless Imperial scholar and a researcher of the magical arts.

Two apprenticeships

Almost immediately, Sirollus saw a surrogate son in the young Raziel, and within a short time had informally adopted him as a successor. Raziel was thrust from the open brutality of poverty to the more subtle, cloak-and-dagger world of politics, from the Waterfront to the heart of the Elder Council. Bright, observant, and determined to hold onto this chance at a new life, Raziel etched an important guiding principle into his heart: that one must adapt and master new environments in order to survive. He learned disparate lessons from each of his mentors; Dalam had taught him how to defend himself with blades and arrows, as well as how to escape danger with quick-wittedness, while Sirollus imbued him with his gifts for analysis, patience, and deep study of the arcane.

Dalam, a Camonna Tong debt collector and mentor to the young Raziel.

The nature of the relationship between the older Dark Elf and the scholar became clearer as Raziel reached adolescence. Sirollus owed money to the Camonna Tong in Morrowind, and Dalam was the "friendlier" face that the Tong had sent to oversee the situation as part-bodyguard, part-enforcer, watching over Sirollus as he made good on his debts. By 3E 389, at the age of seventeen years, though Raziel had shown considerable promise in magical arts, Dalam had his own designs and saw a future for him in the criminal underworld of the Eastern provinces. Raziel regularly overheard the two arguing about the debt, when one day the conflict came to a head and Dalam suggested that handing Raziel over to the Tong as a novice enforcer might be enough to convince his bosses to forgive the sum that Sirollus owed.

The old man, stubborn and protective, refused. Instead, he made plans with Gallian, a personal friend and former Emperor’s guard to smuggle himself and Raziel out of the city, with the aim to travel to Daggerfall. Waiting until the early morning hours, the three quietly embarked on the plan, only to be ambushed by Dalam and a group of Camonna Tong thugs; bandits with bows emerged from the side of the road and fired on their carriage. The Legionnaire attemped to protect Sirollus from the projectiles with his shield, but to no avail. When the old man was struck with an arrow, Gallian desperately charged his horse, dispersing some of the bandits as they jumped from the path or gave chase. Time seemed to slow for a moment, and Raziel heard Azura’s whispers in his ear. Either by supreme skill or divine intervention, Raziel evaded the sniping arrows and nimbly escaped the carriage. When he found his footing, he was eye-to-eye with Dalam.

Dalam lunged for Raziel, who in his quick thinking cast a great, flaring spell at the ground between them, blinding all who were nearby. Raziel disappeared into the trees. Now seemingly alone, the older Dalam cursed Raziel for throwing away his future. Without Sirollus or Dalam, he exclaimed, Raziel would have no place as either a thief or an apprentice. Dalam shouted into the woods, infuriated that he had lost both Sirollus as a debtor and Raziel as compensation. He gave chase to Raziel and furiously swiped his dagger at shadows, intent on killing the youth for his betrayal.

Listening silently, Raziel crept behind Dalam as he raved, unsuspecting, and in one deft motion slipped the spare knife from his boot into Dalam’s neck. There was no opportunity for an exchange of words, much less any reconciliation between the two – only an exchange of glances as the shock of Dalam’s face turned to grim recognition. The boy, seeing the situation for what it was, had maintained composure and survived, exactly as he had been taught. Raziel quietly laid down Dalam’s body for the other bandits to find. With their targets gone and chief enforcer dead, their ambush was now clearly a failure, and as quickly as they had appeared, the Camonna Tong thugs scrambled for a retreat back into the forest.

Sirollus, father figure to the young Raziel, killed during his attempted flight from the Imperial city. Gallian kneels at his side during his last moments.

Finding the carriage overturned a way down the road, Raziel looked on as a regretful Gallian knelt over his dying friend – Sirollus had been mortally wounded. The two quietly mourned the scholar as he drifted away. Raziel had lost both of his mentors.

In the weeks following the incident, Gallian had passed word of Raziel’s deeds onto Emperor Uriel Septim VII directly, having single-handedly driven away a bandit attack and saved a former member of the Emperor’s Guard. Gallian also revealed that Sirollus had been praising Raziel for many years in the Elder Council. Though they had initially planned for Raziel to adopt a path to the Imperial Council, just as Sirollus had intended, it had become apparent that Raziel’s talents lie elsewhere.

Service in the Imperial Legion

In 3E 390, Raziel became an auxiliary Legionnaire and served as a soldier on multiple campaigns. He served bravely during the regional outbreaks of war across the Empire during the Imperial Simulacrum, showing a special talent for lone missions, spying, and sabotage. While stationed in Azra's Crossing during the War of the Bend'r-mahk in 3E 397, Raziel killed the malevolent Shadowmage Pergan Asuul and destroyed the monster Umbra'Keth. Based on the strength of these activities and aspiring to the elite Shadow Legion, Raziel entered the competition to join the next cohort of students sent to the Battlespire, in which he placed second.

In 3E 399, Raziel became known as The Apprentice due to his efforts during the the attack by Clan Dagon in Battlespire. His will to survive in an unpredictable and hostile environment, overcoming tremendous odds to expel Mehrunes Dagon, turned Raziel into something of a legend among the Legion and martial forces of Tamriel. His newly earned reputation led him to the inner circles of power in the Imperial Council of Elders. Councillors began sending messengers to Raziel to request his service in unofficial tasks and personal favours, which he completed from a sense of duty.

However, it was around this time that Raziel began to question the motives of the Councillors, and even to begin questioning the health of the Empire as he saw more of the internal strife and corruption which lay at its core. Despite this, he would eventually form relationships with those Councillors he found trustworthy, and eventually with the Emperor Uriel Septim VII himself. Raziel's feelings of internal conflict about the role of the Empire in Tamriel would grow, but he felt that Uriel VII was a rare man whose humanity matched the power given to him by history, and the two formed a close but ill-fated bond.

The Warp in the West

By 3E 405, Raziel had become a trusted agent of the Empire and a member of the Blades. An ideal candidate for handling the intrigue of the Royal Courts in Daggerfall, he assisted Kaye in resolving the murder of King Lysandus and locating the Totem and Mantell needed to control the collosal golem, Numidium; keys to power in the region. Raziel and Kaye disagreed on who to grant the Totem to and thus, together, inadvertently caused the Warp in the West.

Hearing Azura’s voice whispering once more, the warp had transported Raziel 22 years into the future. Suffering from a partial loss of memory and shaking as though injured, Raziel found himself in the hull of a ship travelling east. He would learn that the Emperor had dispatched him to his anscestral homeland, Morrowind, in the belief that he was the most likely candidate to fulfill the Nerevarine Prophecy.

The Nerevarine Prophecy

Notes for future expansion.

• Raziel survived an assassination attempt from Helseth and confronted him about it in Mournhold.
• Raziel killed Almalexia, and defeated Vivec in combat, though Vivec's fate was less certain after the fact.
• Raziel met with Divayth Fyr, completed the challenge in the Corprusarium, and reclaimed the Savior's Hide.

During his time in Morrowind, Raziel took the opportunity to exact revenge on the Camonna Tong, and eventually (alongside Grace Bonney’s piracy ring) displaced them with a new underworld faction run from the Hlomaren Stronghold west of Balmora.

After having been named the Nerevarine, Raziel brought down the Tribunal Temple, taking with it Dagoth Ur, Vivec and Almalexia. He realised that his role in the history of the Dunmer people had ultimately been destructive, and whatever unity there was among the Dunmer under the Hortator was short-lived. The Red Year destroyed much of Vvardenfell and House Hlaalu eventually collapsed. Seeing what he had wrought, Raziel left Tamriel behind and attmpted an expedition to Akavir with some of his trusted allies, but caught amidst a powerful storm and having his ship destroyed, fell short at Windbreaker Keep.

The Oblivion Crisis

Notes for future expansion.

• Raziel eliminated the Dark Brotherhood in Cyrodiil.
• Raziel met with the King of Worms once more, though this time, Raziel killed him.
• Raziel faced off with Mehrunes Dagon again, though this time he is unable to recite neonymic in time. Ultimately, Kaye and Martin defeat Dagon, with Martin sacrificing his life to become the embodiment of Akatosh.

Raziel in 3E 433, stalking the Imperial City streets.

• Raziel defeated Jyggalag and became a mantle of Lord Sheogorath, where he ruled without aging for 200 years.

The rise of the Last Dragonborn

Notes for future expansion.

• Raziel finally fulfilled his "end of the bargain" with Hermaeus Mora, and killed Miraak in Apocrypha.
• Raziel killed Lord Harkon.
• Raziel councils Kaye in fulfilling her ultimate fate as the Last Dragonborn.