Raphael

Raphael was a high-ranking assassin in the Black Guard. He was known for not physically aging past 30, and thus looks 30 despite his age. Some time in the 1500s, Raphael found a way to become immune to aging, though he can still be killed in battle. He was also known for having little-to-no remorse, doing whatever he could to accomplish his goals, even if it meant killing fellow Black Guard soldiers.
== History ==
Little is known about Raphael's life in the 1500s and 1600s, though what is known is that he was sent on special missions assigned by England's highest authority, whether it was hunting for famous weapons and artefacts or assassinating. At some point in the 1740s, Raphael had been stalking Jack Sparrow when the latter was attempting to escape the Kraken, even becoming a temporary crew member in the process; he would later meet up with Steng in Singapore and took part in the town's battle between the Black Guard and Sao Feng's followers. He would eventually find himself fighting in the Battle of Calypso's Maelstrom, but was forced to stow away on the Black Pearl due to the disastrous results for the EITC. He eventually escaped the ship and report the results to his superiors.
March 18, 1750. Raphael was given an assignment by King John Breasly to locate Jack Sparrow after his escape months earlier, giving him permission to use any methods needed to accomplish the goal. Raphael figured he would accomplish this goal by posing as a discharged English soldier, and soon enough gained Jack's trust. However, Raphael needed a chance to get close to Jack in order to capture him. Jack required a crew, and thus assigned Raphael and Christopher Crane to recruit people for his crew so that he could rescue the Black Pearl from the Navy. In time Raphael and Chris recruited many people. Raphael and Chris soon split up, and the former began planning.
March 19. Raphael required information on several people Jack wanted in his crew, and thus sought the information from a prisoner in the Royal Caverns: Jim Wavemonger. Jim refused to give up the information, demanding an heirloom that was taken from him by a Navy officer. After getting a description on the officer's appearance and place of work in the Royal Caverns, Raphael began to hunt him down. After luring the soldier into an empty part of the caverns, Raphael killed the officer, took the heirloom, and then proceeded to dump the officer's corpse into a pit. He then returned the heirloom to Jim, who gave up the paper containing the information. Not wanting anybody to live knowing what he had done—as well as no longer needing him—Raphael planned to kill Jim. However, as he couldn't leave any witnesses, he threw two knives into the nearby Navy guards, killing them, before proceeding to stab Jim to death. He then gave the papers to Sparrow, who then asked for a Black Guard uniform for his plan; a size 6 was preferred.
4:50 PM. Raphael arrived at Fort Charles, searching for a Black Guard soldier with the proper uniform size. Soon he found one, and promptly lured him into one of the hallways before silently killing him, making sure that no blood got onto the uniform. He then stripped the guard and dumped his body into a barrel before giving the uniform to Jack.
===The trial===
April 17. Raphael was still attempting to accomplish his goal, but also hoped to wipe out several enemies. After following another Black Guard member into a building, Raphael found himself in a massive trial for a man known as Jonathan Michael Burnskull. Interested, he decided to listen to the trial. However, a man known as "Kwagar" threatened Raphael and ordered him to leave the building, only to be interrupted when Raphael whispered something in his ear, which seemed to immediately make Kwagar back off. Burnskull was eventually sentenced to death by the judge of the trial, Matthew Louis Goldtimbers, but the former escaped the room, killing several of the people in it. The guards chased after him, and Raphael took Burnskull's death warrant from Kwager before slowly walking out, stopping by Matthew for a second.
"Interesting trial, O'malley. Needs more organization, though. Don't worry, I'll catch him; meet me at the camp with your goons."
Raphael soon met up with Burnskull, and immediately a plan hatched in his mind.
"Do not worry, Jonathan. England has sent me to protect you. Follow me, backup is waiting for you."
Raphael lured Burnskull to a nearby camp; Burnskull hesitated for a moment when he saw O'malley and the other trial members there, but Raphael told him several of them were spies. Burnskull took the bait and walked towards the camp after Raphael assured him by giving him a pistol. When the guards were close to Burnskull, Raphael walked behind him and stabbed him in the back with his sword.
"I lied," whispered Raphael, dropping Burnskull to the ground.
Raphael then spoke to O'malley, confident that he has earned his trust.
"Why did you call me O'malley?" asked Matthew.
"Let's just say, I know you," replied Raphael.
===Infestation===
April 20. Raphael, hoping to gain more trust, took on a mission that was assigned to him by O'malley to go to Rat's Nest and steal the Undead's plans from General Sandspine. Immediately heading there, Raphael sneaked past several Undead guards and slowly approached Sandspine on a cliff. Just as Raphael prepared to stab Sandspine in the back, the latter grabbed him and tossed him over the cliff. Narrowly avoiding the destroyed concrete building, Raphael landed in front of it, and turned to see Sandspine cackling on top of the cliff. Sandspine pointed at Raphael, and the nearby Undead immediately turned on him. The fight with the Undead was brutal, but in time Raphael slaughtered most of the Undead. Running back to the cliff, Raphael challenged Sandspine to a duel. Sandspine obliged, putting his grenades away and unsheathing a sword. The two dueled ferociously, but Raphael disarmed Sandspine in the end and knocked him off the cliff. Sandspine landed in the burning building below, setting off his grenades and obliterating him.
===Clemente===
May 6. Raphael was running an errand at Padres. As he wandered, he noticed a familiar figure with a woman. Looking more carefully, Raphael realized it was Carlos Clemente embracing his new wife, Elizabeth O'malley. Raphael chose to simply observe the two for plans, but soon realized what was going on. Groaning, Raphael walked off.
May 7. Raphael was at a training session with other Black Guard members. Now on Isla Perdida, the soldiers began hunting the wildlife there as target practice. Not too long after, Clemente strolled in. Clemente took particular notice of Raphael.
"Oh great, you again?" groaned Raphael.
"Silence!" exclaimed Clemente.
"Make me," replied Raphael, tapping his dagger.
Clemente, irritated, simply turned to Johnny Goldtimbers.
"I am technically an EITC elder, so I am allowed here," said Clemente.
"Bah, ignore him. He's just after attention," Raphael said, chuckling.
"Attention?" Clemente replied, "Only a day ago you were stalking me."
"Correction, Fruity. I was running an errand and happened to notice you and your… 4th… 5th? ...I lost count… wife? Daughter? Niece? Of course, keep it private next time."
"F-F-F-Fruity?"
"I know who you are," replied Raphael, who sarcastically bowed and moved so Goldtimbers could speak to Clemente. The two talked for a bit longer and Clemente left.
"Clemente delivered a message. We are at peace with Spain," said Goldtimbers.
Ile d'Etable de Porc. Raphael was at the wedding of Keira Kinover and Roger Swordgrin. After some humorous arguing amongst the men over who had what role, the two were married. Raphael began walking with Goldtimbers.
"Do you really think Clemente is going to keep the peace?"
"Probably," replied Goldtimbers, "it may last a week."
"He'll probably trick King Phillip again and start another war…"
File:Screen shot 2012-05-07 at 10.34.26 PM.png|Dueling Jack's bodyguard.
File:Screen shot 2012-05-07 at 10.33.22 PM.png|Disorienting and killing the bodyguard.
File:Screen shot 2012-05-07 at 8.50.53 PM.png|Raphael fights and disarms Jack.
File:Screen shot 2012-05-07 at 8.36.05 PM.png|Jack's demise.
Fort Charles.
"So he might betray us again…" said Raphael.
"Possibly."
"I think he's just pretending so he can rebuild his forces… then he'll cause another war-
Intruders burst through the door. Immediately, the guards began fighting, but the intruders were killing them off. Nonetheless, the enemies were killed, leaving their leader left. The leader refused to give up, and continued fighting. Raphael duelled him onto a hangman's platform, disarming him in the process. Jack "Bladebreaker", the leader of the attack, rolled under Raphael's finishing strike, grabbing a sword from a fallen comrade. As he got up, Raphael kicked Jack onto the trapdoor, causing Jack to imbed his sword in a pole in the process. Raphael kicked the lever, opening the trapdoor and causing Jack to lose his balance as he got up. Jack's head got tangled in a noose, but as he fell, he caught the sword by the handle, but it was too late; Raphael broke the blade seconds before, dropping Jack into the trapdoor; the rope stopped abruptly, and Raphael heard him gag for a second. Raphael then checked the corpse in hopes of finding out what was going on, and saw the Paradox's emblem tattooed on the arm.
"I knew it!" exclaimed Raphael.
File:Screen shot 2012-05-09 at 6.16.40 PM.png|The meeting.
File:Screen shot 2012-05-09 at 6.10.12 PM.png|Dueling Fresh.
File:Screen shot 2012-05-09 at 6.14.21 PM.png|Fresh's demise.
===Training===
May 9. Raphael, while searching for Goldtimbers, was at a training session for the Black Guard. During the training, John "Fireskull"—a soldier fighting for Captain Kwager—suddenly leaped out of nowhere, cut down several soldiers, and stole plans from one of the officers. John ran frantically with the stolen plans, and Raphael turned to officer Charles.
"I'm going after him!"
"Permission denied!" replied Charles.
"I never asked!" Raphael said as he ran after John.
John ran through El Sudoron, turned around, and saw Raphael in hot pursuit. Raphael threw a dagger, sticking John in the hand. John continued running before climbing onto a tree. He then severed all nearby branches with his sword to keep Raphael from climbing as well. Victorious, John started running from branch-to-branch, tree-to-tree. Raphael originally planned to shoot John, but he didn't want to hit the stolen plans. Raphael ran, searching for a new way up, before finally finding several vines. Meanwhile, John had almost climbed his way out of El Sudoron, but as he was about to escape, Raphael jumped out of nowhere, stabbing John in the shoulder. John pushed Raphael out of the way, but the latter unsheathed his sword and ran at him. John unsheathed his sword as well, slashing at Raphael; the two dueled on the branches for 5 minutes before Raphael grabbed John's sword by the hilt and stabbed him. John let go of the sword and fled, but Raphael—tired of the chasing—simply threw John's sword, impaling him in the abdomen. John collided face-first with a tree and fell off, but Raphael caught him. Raphael took the stolen plans and several weapons from John, then let go, sending him to his death in the forest below.
Tortuga. Raphael returned the plans to Charles, who brought him along with him to arrest Captain Fresh, known anti-Black Guard terrorist. During the arrest, Fresh sent his bodyguards on the Black Guard soldiers that arrived, triggering a battle. Raphael—who sneaked up behind Fresh—attacked him, eventually disarming him. Despite Fresh begging for a civil way to end the fight, Raphael stabbed him through the chest, ending his reign of terrorism.
Fort Charles. Another terrorist—known as Ryan—attacked the fort in hopes of taking it as his own for an "empire". Attacking with only 4 other men, Ryan killed several guards, but in the end was surrounded. Ryan and his soldiers pointed their guns at Goldtimbers and Raphael, who pointed their weapons at them.
"Surrender," ordered Raphael, "or die."
"I will fight until the end," replied Ryan.
"Is that so?"
Raphael nodded at a guard, who went into the jail for a moment and returned with a woman in shackles. Raphael pointed his pistol at her.
"Surrender, Ryan. If you do not, she dies. If you start another fight, she dies. You will drop your weapons and surrender your soldiers over to us. If you refuse, she dies!"
Ryan looked sadly at the woman, who turned out to be his sister, Piper Ruby Rose. He nodded; he and his soldiers dropped their weapons. Raphael nodded to the guard; Rose was unshackled. Ryan was allowed to leave with his sister, but suddenly Ryan turned around with a pistol and fired at Raphael. Raphael ducked, narrowly avoiding the shot. The assassin lunged at Ryan, knocking him to the ground. Raphael forced Ryan to look at Rose, who was then shot.
"That's it!" yelled Ryan, "I am going to destroy-"
He died shouting; Raphael fired a second shot from his tri-barrelled pistol into Ryan's mouth.
May 15. Raphael still could not locate Goldtimbers. After finding clues to where he could be, he headed to Las Pulgas, Padres Del Fuego. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of a huge battle between the English and several Paradoxians. Raphael knew it would be best to help his men, so he and Jason Foulvane organized the soldiers. Though several of the invaders' dinghies sank, plenty of them made it to shore, forcing the Black Guard soldiers to retreat to El Sudoron; that area was swiftly taken over, and multiple soldiers died as a result. Foulvane was badly injured in the fight, but continued on. Eventually the soldiers made it to Fort Dundee, where they managed to kill off several more invaders.
"Raphael, get to the armory and bring some weapons!" ordered Foulvane.
Raphael immediately ran to the armory and returned with rifles and ammo. He then ran upstairs and began to man the cannon on the fort, opening fire on the invaders. Within minutes, the Black Guard killed off the remaining invaders. However, the commander leading the attack remained, stabbing Foulvane multiple times and tossing him down the stairs at Fort Dundee. Raphael leaped from cover and tackled the commander down the stairs before stabbing him. Raphael then climbed the stairs into the fort, where he attempted to carry Foulvane to a safe area. Foulvane noticed the Paradoxian commander slowly limping up the stairs, sword in hand. Thinking fast, Foulvane grabbed his pistol and shot the commander, sending him rolling back down, dead.
File:Screen shot 2012-06-01 at 7.47.24 PM.png|Raphael in his new uniform.
File:Screen shot 2012-06-01 at 7.47.37 PM.png|Preparing for training.
== Betrayal ==
June 1. Raphael and Jack Stormrage were ordered by Foulvane to meet him in his office for their "heroic actions." They came as ordered to find their "reward."
"Gentlemen, the subject is betrayal," Foulvane started, "The Company has judged me too much. Now it is time to leave it. You men are coming with me, and in exchange, you'll become the second-in-commands. On my orders, you men will kill the Black Guard soldiers who refuse to join me, and we will take it over in time. Now, MOVE OUT!"
Raphael and Stormrage did not understand this, but did so anyways. They recruited several soldiers into Foulvane's group, killing those who refused. Raphael, Stormrage, Foulvane, and the others who joined Foulvane soon met up and began designing the uniforms of the group. In time, they came up with a design. Foulvane then ordered Raphael and Stormrage to practice martial arts with him. Raphael tackled Foulvane, who kicked him off and attempted to punch him in the face. Raphael caught Foulvane's fist and twisted it, while Stormrage tackled Foulvane to the floor. The two held Foulvane down until he tapped out.
It wasn't too long until Raphael's cunning led to him learning Foulvane's most vital information, and reporting his treachery to Goldtimbers. With this information, Raphael's further orders were to continue spying on Foulvane, thus sabotaging more of the latter's operations. This led to Foulvane's eventual discharge and exile from England, resulting in an all-out war between the parties. With assistance from La Mafia, the English won the fight, and what Goldtimbers described as "Ishamel shooting him in his perfect ass… with a tri-barrelled rifle."
== Personality and traits ==
Raphael was regarded by his co-workers as cold and antisocial, as well as calculating and highly intelligent. He possessed a dark sense of humor, occasionally making light of serious situations. Considered lethal, ruthless, and cruel, Raphael stopped at nothing to get the job done and rarely showed a sense of morality in his actions. Ultimately, his sole loyalty was to his living, though he also made sure to preserve his own reputation as someone not to be trifled with. Dedicated, resourceful, and clever, Raphael's superiors could always count on him to succeed at his tasks, as he has displayed numerous times; regardless of the dangers of the situation, he would chase his targets unwaveringly until the assignment was complete.
Raphael preferred to work alone, viewing other people as nothing more than a liability. Still, he was often forced into situations in which he had to work in a team, though his accomplices were simple tools to him&mdsah;expendable assets to be disposed when their usefulness was outlived. Regardless of his antisocial behavior, Raphael could still work successfully in a team, displaying excellent leadership skills. Despite this, his lack of empathy and preference to distance himself from people often got his teammates killed, forcing his superiors to establish guidelines for him depending on the mission.
Raphael formed few positive relationships as a result of his cold nature, though he was known to befriend some when off-duty. Still, these occasions were very rare, as Raphael preferred to spend his time alone.
== Skills and abilities ==
As a high-ranking assassin in the Black Guard, Raphael was a formidable opponent, utilizing his combat prowess and agility to quickly and efficiently slay his enemies. While skilled in all forms of combat, Raphael preferred duelling, showing off an aggressive and fluid fighting style unmatched by most. He also possessed great speed, allowing him to swiftly track down his targets. His reflexes and thinking process were considered unnatural and gave him an advantage in battle, which enabled him to formulate complex plans, read his opponents' movements, and overpower them through a mixture of physical superiority and cleverness.
In addition, Raphael was a master marksman, gunning down targets from afar despite the inaccuracy of flintlocks.
Raphael was also skilled with daggers, both in melee combat and throwing the blades. He practiced almost obsessively in his spare time, and within years was able to wield daggers to great efficiency, demonstrating near-perfect aim while throwing them from a distance.
== Gallery ==
File:Screen shot 2012-10-01 at 5.40.56 PM.png|Raphael in his Society of Light uniform.
Category:POTCO Characters
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