<div class="floatright">(http://cp12.nevsepic.com.ua/5-4/1358322081-0937099-www.nevsepic.com.ua.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Arafel Olandir (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3em24T2jq9bQmxacE5HQ2otVzA/edit?usp=sharing)<br/><br/><strong>Race:</strong>Half-elf<br/><br/><strong>Class:</strong>Oracle<br/><br/><strong>Background:</strong><br/><br/>Arafel's story begins a few decades ago. Back then, people had for the most part understood when the violet flame that gives the town its name would erupt, but sometimes there were... accidents. He was the scion of such an accident, one of the countless orphans rendered parent-less when the violet flame grew in girth and spat its killing flames.<br/><br/>Arafel's birth father was an oddity among the elves. Like most elves he was inquisitive by nature, but unlike most, he was warm and kind and enjoyed working with his hands to shape skymetal into the most elaborate shapes imaginable. This is what probably drew Arafel's birth mother to him, both his warmth and his artistic side, and for many years they were together, the love and trust between them deepening into something that defied words. His father vowed that there would be no one else, that he would take care of her in her old age, and that as long as he lived he would remember her. Arafel was born some years later, and the family was happy together.<br/><br/>Until calamity struck. Arafel's mother was helping his father with the forge close to the violet flame when it swelled up. Before they could cry out or feel a thing, they were both swallowed along with many of the blacksmiths who gathered before the pillar to shape their wares. Now an orphan, Arafel might have fallen to thievery among the streets, and come into his own among the Ropefists were it not for one among the council, Serantha Olandir. She took him and the other orphans in, giving them a home in her estate alongside her husband.<br/><br/>Years passed, and many of the orphans left to find their own path, helped along by Serantha's wisdom and guidance. But Arafel felt a pull, a different call from the others, and after a few years of serving in the City Watch, he transcended and became a fine officer. Armed with the might of his sword-arm, he helped the guardsmen put down a number of the Ropefists, and sent others to the jails to await their just punishment. It was perhaps in retaliation for this, and to send a message, that one day Serantha's husband was mugged and killed in one of the alleyways within Torch, or perhaps he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.<br/><br/>Regardless, his extended family mourned for his loss, and Arafel swore a sacred oath to help Serantha in any way he might to stop the lawless advances of crime and depravity upon their town. He became a paladin, and his faith carried him forward, yet he also began to take a more active hand in the ruling council, speaking before it a time or two, passionately making his case when it came to the laws and helping to push for reforms that loosened the Ropefists' grasp on the city.<br/><br/>However, two of his siblings disliked his sudden rise to political power, having worked so hard to gain for themselves minor seats on the ruling council. While lacking his tongue and the confident way he carried himself which caused people to flock to him, they were far more clever and steered things to impede him. Hella and Markus, they often worked together and at times crossed each other to each gain an advantage, a fact that often stymied Arafel and caused him no little frustration. Yet he never found out why or how he was at times stopped from speaking, or not called upon at all when a relevant topic came up.<br/><br/>To add to the frustration, the Technic League seemed to suck at the city's lifeblood with no sign of stopping. It had irked him time and again that they must tithe so much of their hard-earned wealth, yet Serantha councilled him to her wisdom, that it was better than being forced to live under their rule by force or obliterated from the land entirely. And so he has stayed his hand and tongue when one of their representatives was sent, yet he chaffed under that yoke. Yet it wasn't just them that kept him awake at night. The awakened creatures from ages past with their smooth surfaces and strange, metallic features were a constant source of distraction.<br/><br/>He constantly heard tale of a new monstrosity that had woken rather than remaining asleep as it properly should have, and begun to terrorize the countryside, interrupting not only the scavenging operations that kept the lifeblood of Torch flowing, but also causing bodily harm, and sometimes death to settlers and travellers. The roads weren't as safe as they had once been, and time and again he rode out at the front of a company of men, intent on saving as many as he could. Usually he was able to help the others in destroying these dangers, but sometimes they encountered only tracks out into the distance and broken bodies along the roadside.<br/><br/>It was unacceptable, and yet there was nothing he could do about it. The frustration ate at him, but found no catharsis for nothing could be done as they sometimes seemed to appear at random, and at other times had to be moved in order to mine the starmetal that jutted from the ground. And so he continues to seethe quietly as new stories of travellers attacked reach Torch, unable to do anything but help pick up the pieces and bring down any towering mechanical fiend that he and the others find.<br/><br/>One of the trips found him deep in strange ruins alongside a scavenging team. Here, he and Dr. Raymond Singer unearthed a strange android that appeared... strange, to say the least, attached to some sort of technological device. Doctor Singer deduced that it kept the broken android alive, and with the team's help, Arafel and Raymond brought the android back to Torch. Doctor Raymond theorized that they could return the android to life with some work, and swore the entire team to secrecy, citing the need for silence on the Technic League. None of them wanted to raise the Technic League's awareness, or give them another prize to steal from Torch, and they agreed.<br/><br/>It was a long time later when they were finally able to reawaken the android, an event Arafel was present for, and he helped her take her first step into the world, brought back to life after so long asleep. Befriending her, he often accompanies her around town or visits her at her arcane studies, arranging for her to learn since she seemed to have a knack for the eldritch arts... something he did not particularly understand. Still, her demeanor at times puts him off, due to her lack of emotional response that seems to occur with most androids.<br/><br/>Today, he still speaks to the council at times, though more rarely, and mostly helps the City Watch when they need it in order to restore order to the city or put down a rampaging metal monstrosity awakened from the past that had been unearthed in the search for Skymetal by reclaimers, guarding them against any threats they might face. He is a welcome sight on the city streets, and continues to follow his purpose in the quest to help others.