Raphael Avantes

Skills : Appraise +6, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +12, Gather Information +6, Knowledge (Geography) +7, Knowledge (Politics) +9, Ride +3, Sense Motive +4, Spot +1

Feats : Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms), Skill Focus(Diplomacy), Trustworthy*

* Feat from Song and Silence

Languages : Mordentish*, Darkonese

Raphael Avantas is a short, slender man at twenty two years of age. He has dark hair, a close cropped beard and a pointy mustache. His brown eyes and slightly darker skin, as well as his temper, reveal his Invidian heritage.

He dresses in bland, dark clothes, generally wearing a bowler hat and a brown coat. The whole makes him sink back in a crowd, and he is often overlooked, a situation that suits him just fine.

Raphael native language is Darkonese. His Mordentish has a slight drawl, which makes some people - incorrectly - assume that he stems from Richemulot.

Raphael Gomez Avantes is the son of Melchior Avantas, a merchant in Darkon, and the beautiful Isabella laGoya from Invidia.

Melchior was a member of the Il Aluk merchant guild, and as a side track of this membership assigned to the board of the original Cartographical Society. While not a bad man at heart, Melchior was ever the profit-seeking manipulator, and he was often found trying to steer the society on the road that would best benefit trade and more specifically, the Darkon merchant guilds.

Unfortunately, Melchior made far too many commitments to people - some of them he could not actually keep. When a particular failure of Melchior to deliver safe smuggling routes left a local crime lord with a loss of one of his transports to the Falkovnian army, the merchant received a special visit to his house. A band of thugs broke into his house, and after breaking most of the furniture and bullying the inhabitants, they dragged the screaming merchant from his home, never to be seen again.

Raphael mother never thought twice. She sold the house, and the family left Il Aluk for Port-a-Lucine. In a way, the tragedy saved their lives, for several months later Il Aluk was destroyed.

Isabella tried to raise her son to be independent and to avoid personal commitments. She especially made sure to steer him away from a career as a merchant.

Initially Raphael followed his mothers advise and started to work as a clerk for the government. He worked hard and accurate, trying to keep out of the higher society’s political intrigue, which sometimes seemed so obvious to him that he could merely wonder why other people never saw through it. His diplomatic skills and ability to stay impartial amongst the departments’ squabbles eventually drew the attention of Claude LaGrange, a counsil member who was, ironically, in charge of regulating trade and commerce in Dementlieu. Raphael was quickly promoted, and started to serve Claude’s as his personal aid.

When Liederick Meier approached him for membership of the newly formed Mordent Society, Raphael hesitated. The thought of making good on his fathers mistakes weighed heavily, but he was hesitant to have politics mix with the societies goals. LaGrange, however, saw a benefit in close contact with the society, so he prompted his assistant to join. Raphael accepted and, at his request, became the society’s membership coordinator.

Whenever someone joins up with the society, they will meet with Raphael Avantas. As the membership coordinator, he determines whether people are fit to enter the society, often scrutinizing their personal lives and asking trick questions to test their diplomatic abilities. He also maintains an extensive archive on the local history of Dementlieu.

As Claude’s assistant, he frequently travels the domains of the western core to discuss treaties, merchant guild politics, or the opening of new trade routes. He knows the geography of Dementlieu like the back of his hand - he has visited every little hamlet, and is very aware of the domain’s politics and the current running intrigues, even though he is never directly involved with them himself.

He does not seem to have any personal goals. This suits LaGrange just fine. In fact, the elder counselor has even considered drawing his new aide into the Society de Legerdemain.

Raphael can be very friendly and outgoing, but most people find it hard to get really close to him.

He has quite a temper and can get quickly impatient with people that do not understand him, or that take far too much time talking. He likes people to get to the point. When on duty he generally uses his diplomatic skills to mask his impatience, but in private life he can, at times, be very blunt.

Regardless, he always seems to leave a good impression, possibly because he sees no point in lying, and has thus gained a reputation of being honest and trustworthy. He spurns commitments and never promises anyone anything if he is not absolutely sure he can achieve it.

He tries to see a situation from all different angles and evaluates all forwarded opinions before he makes his choice, and he expects the same of those he deals with. People who don’t are regarded as closed minded fools.

He is loathe to interfere with anything not directly related to his job or personal situation. He cares not for the fight between good and evil, and the law, while useful in its own right, does not instill in him a sense of duty for his fellow people other than the one of the office he works for.

As such, Raphael has sometimes been referred to as being cowardly or indecisive. He ignores these comments, knowing for himself that he does the right thing.

Raphael is one of few people in the government not under firm control of Dominic d’Honaire. He is relatively new in the scene, and Dominic has hitherto not shown any interest in him.

Raphael is not much of a fighter and has meager combat skills. He does not carry a weapon, but has some practice with firearms and the rapier, as it is fashionable to take lessons.

If threatened, he will normally call upon the city guards to defend him.

When travelling for his duty, he generally takes a few armed men with him. In those case, he carries a pistol, even though he has a -4 penalty in using it.

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