Ralp

Duality of Ralp and Archibald

Archibald Raphael, formerly known as and commonly referred to as; Ralp (/rælf/) the Town Guard was a member of the Maloney's and multiple other organisations who was based in Blackbog. Ralp was also famously a member of the Blackbog Metropolitan Police. Ralp the town guard was one of many personas utilised by Archibald to manipulate key players in Blackbog to unwittingly move towards his grand plan. While he was alive he was the head of the Raphael family of nobles and vied to return them to their former glory as seen under Leopold Raphael.

## Birth and Early Life

Archibald Raphael was born in his home at Raphael Manor in 1400 5e. He looked up to his mother Victoria and his father Zachary, their philosophy of wanting to bring House Raphael back its former glory rubbed off on him at an early age. Through this philosophy his parents politicked their way into some power, as such Archibald was exposed to the high life of Redwain, Morwyr, Warrendeep and Vurbrant and all of the deceit, doublespeak and various shifting of demeanours that came with it.

Archibald loved reading books, his favourite types of books where those of detective and crime novels, usually with a policeman at the forefront of the story. It was these stories which inspired him from his youth to join the Metropolitan Police of Blackbog, although his parents disapproved.

Archibald was very close to his younger brother Ignatius, they would often venture out of Raphael manor to play with fellow children on the streets of Blackbog, usually street urchins, the Raphael's did not discriminate. If anything the two young boys preferred the company of Urchins to the lofty and stuck up personalities of what they saw as spoiled brats belonging to other noble families. As such, through Archibald's young life he gained an acute understanding of both the high and the low life of Blackbog society.

The Raphael family all being innate sorcerers, it was only a matter of time till Archibald was able to control the magic in his blood. Around the age of 6 Archibald was able to cast his first few spells without any major accidents.

Archibald was gifted a Kris Dagger as a symbol of his status at 15 years of age. He would carry this somewhere on his person throughout his whole life, even though he would rarely use it in any martial or combatal setting.

At some point in his early teens, within the same year (1417 5E) all three of his close family would die. His father Zachary was murdered in an accident involving one of the gangs of Blackbog, Archibald believed the perpetrator to be in the Maloneys, specifically Mikey Maloney, the brother of the gang's leader Tony Maloney. However, he had no proof, just the fact Mikey was spotted near the scene of the crime as told to him by the Metropolitan Police. From that day Archibald has a distinct distaste for the colour purple.

Archibald's mother ; Victoria, would end up being poisoned while attending a feast in the Salt Front with all of the high up politicians in Blackbog. This was likely an accident and it is unlikely Victoria was the actual target of this assassination attempt. However, likely in the place of the governor of Blackbog, she passed away within a minute of consuming this poison.

Finally, in an instance of police brutality (an oft occurrence in Blackbog) Ignatius losses his life. He was mistaken for a thieving street urchin due to his affiliation with them. With this final death, Archibald felt he had lost everything, he was 17 years old. He spent the next year and a half recovering, in the meantime, Raphael Manor fell into a state of disrepair.

## Abaddon, Yin and The Beginning of the Grand Plan

Archibald, while tending to the plants around Raphael Manor, attempting to keep the Manor in somewhat of decently pleasant state after his year and a half of despondency, found a peculiar looking Orc passed out, on death's door in his garden. Archibald decided to bring the orc into his care and nurse the Orc back into good health. This orc would share his name upon regaining consciousness, that being Abaddon Falsetto. He shared his story with Archibald, to which Archibald offered Abaddon indefinite asylum in Raphael Manor.

Over the years the two became inseparable, Archibald saw Abaddon as something of a surrogate brother, family which he found rather than was born with. Abaddon thus was enamoured by the plans which Archibald shared with him to unite the entire world and end all corruption and inequality, the last two ideas in particular resonating with him greatly.

With a new lease on life, Archibald began trying to marry in to a wealthy family, so as to attempt to bring monetary power back into house Raphael. Ironically it would not be through political appointments or meet and greets for various noble houses that Achibald would find his wife, but rather through the public library of Blackbog, a place he had not been in years, since usually his parents just bought him the books he wanted to read. This was when he met the Elf; Yin Teralin, the librarian of Blackbog Library, the woman who would later become his wife and share in his schemes.

Yin found it slightly awkward at first living in a house with her newly wed husband and a seemingly unrelated mentally ill Orc, but given time and the events to come, she would eventually slot in perfectly.

## The Near-Death Accident

Now with the assistance of a psychotic yet highly intelligent Orc with a unique perspective on affairs and a genius book work librarian Archibald's scheming for his grand plan began to seem a lot less nebulous and a lot more focused. Yin, having a distinct interest and knowledge on the fiendish topics of the hells began to attempt to bring in a hellish element to the schemes. Archibald was against this due to his dislike of the nefarious trickery and politicking he associated with devils and compared to those which led to the death of his mother.

All of this however was cut short when in a freak accident a brick fell on Archibald's head while walking through Blackbog. This incredibly unlucky event however did not kill him, it only gave him brain damage. Notably, this broke the current streak of the recent Raphael family all meeting unfortunate deaths. Archibald and Yin would later attribute this to Archibald's intense worship of Ourous, an old Raphael family tradition which fell out of practice after Leopold Raphael's death (of natural causes), but which Archibald had taken up after the death of his family. During the time of his brain injury, Archibald felt like he was an outsider in his own body, while an imbecile was controlling his every move. Abaddon with his considerable knowledge on mental ailments and the brain and Yin with her proficiency with healing magic attempted to mend Archibald (now insisting his name is Ralp). Progress was slow but steady, during the healing process Ralp insisted he should join the town guard to get money for the house. The other two did not stop him as they believed it beneficial he spent his time doing something active, as a form of mental rehabilitation.

Thus Ralp began his tenure as a Town Guard of Blackbog.

## Ralp the Town Guard

Surprisingly, Ralp's attempt to join the Metropolitan Police was a success. He was allowed in fairly easily and rose the ranks quickly.

Ralp would undergo intense rehabilitation back at Raphael Manor in-between his days at work. For a further year, Archibald would remain in this fugue state until considerable progress was made.

Ralp would often be seen either eating bananas, wielding his trusty spear which he used to fight crime with remarkable success or indeed he would be seen using one of the many catchphrases which the mentally challenged man latched on to. Some examples are as follows:

> "Shut uuuuup Biiiitch" - Usually said in response to something he did not want to hear
>
>
> "I'm just a town guard"- Usually said when asked if he could do something or how did he know something, said dismissingly
>
>
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> "Lets make like a tree and fuck off"- Likely a mistake off of the pun and colloquialism "Lets make like a Tree and Leaf"
>
>

And of course many others not listed.

Archibald eventually was healed but not after Ralp the town guard rose the ranks of the police and was a considerably decorated officer. This experience showed Archibald that the way to get close to anyone he wants might be through seeming like someone who poses no threat and likely cemented his belief that Blackbog was run by idiots in every strata of the city.

## The Grand Plan

### The Plan and Archibald's Psychology

Now that Archibald was fully healed, it was time to set in stone The Grand Plan and put it into motion in earnest. The Plan was as follows. Using his connections he made over the last few years Archibald was going to infiltrate all of the criminal organisations of Blackbog, considering he already had a say in the nobility as well as foothold in the metropolitan police, he would be able to begin playing each of the five gangs, the police and politicians and nobles off of each other so that they would all weaken themselves. He decided after much deliberation the Maloneys or the Millers were the most influential gangs in the town, so they should have his full attention, all the while keeping the front with the police that he was acting as an undercover cop. Use everyone to gain a point of supreme power and then begin to root out all corruption, evil, crime, law, anarchy and supposed moral good outlets such as some clerical and paladin orders. This would ideally lead to a Blackbog without crime, as there would be no criminals. No corruption as there would be no police or politicians etc. etc. This would then, once Blackbog was financially and socially stable, lead to a secession and the creation of Blackbog as an idyllic independent republic. Archibald would then through diplomacy and political manipulation create a war that would span all of Moro, one final war so that no kingdom need war against another again. He would have Blackbog act as a neutral Private Military Company which would attempt to control the eb and flow of the war from the shadows. Only for Archibald to sweep over the weakened nations, gain allies where necesarry and conquer opposing nations. This would be followed by a mass demilitarisation and a carbon copy of the society seen in his idyllic Blackbog being plastered around the rest of Moro, perhaps even the rest of Trea. A world without war, without inequality, without crime and without corruption, this was the ultimate goal of The Grand Plan. When this was done, and only then, that would be when Archibald felt he would be the greatest Raphael in the history of Trea, even greater than Leopold the Philanthropist. If Archibald failed he hoped he would have a son who would follow in his footsteps, if he couldn't be the greatest by creating a world of pure peace, then he would be the one who made it possible.

All of these subsections of society who Archibald truly despised, while there would be many innocents within them, Archibald hoped that they would end up being spared in the process. Everyone else would have to die, as in his eyes, they could take the life of his family, who gave them the right to do that? If they had the right to do that to him, he had the right to take the lives of people who he deemed to be scum. This mindset was deemed unhealthy and Archibald was often scolded and disparaged by his wife Yin, as she felt his hatred undermined the ultimately noble goal he had. Archibald however, would hold that hatred in his heart for the rest of his life.

All of the above is the crux of Archibald's mentality with The Grand Plan, most of the handful of people who found out about this plan believed Archibald to be mad, the only 3 that bought into his scheming was Abaddon, Yin and later K'itihn, whom at this stage Archibald had not met yet.

### Summoning a Devil

To succeed at all of this Archibald was going to contact a devil of Maladomanai, a place Yin strongly recommended and insisted that it was renowned for devils whom would love nothing less than to stoke the fire in Archibald's mind that was his anger at the current system, and more specifically the plan to fix everything. Archibald was initially reluctant to contact devils as they were the antithesis of what he respected and thought was right, but he decided to begin making a concession to his morals. This was no feat that could be completed by a mortal with no external help. He was going to work with everyone, until he didn't need them anymore, then he would give them a choice. That choice being, join him and his way of thinking, leave Blackbog forever or die by his hand. That choice would be difficult to give a devil, considering the contractual obligations that would follow, so this devil needed to be worth their weight in gold as far as their usefulness in regard to Archibald's plans. Yin and Abaddon assisted him in setting up the ritual.

The ritual was a success, summoning the Horned Cornazon K'itihnandoroalaiallahoallhomalach. At first no contracts were signed, only negotiations were held. The devil's interest was peaked by Archibald's plans, it seemed everything Archibald had planned would benefit this devil and vice versa if they worked together. Despite Archibald's chagrin, a contract was drawn up which bound the devil to do everything Archibald said and would gurantee Archibald the power to do what he deemed he had to do. But in return Archibald would have to consign his soul over for eternal slavery once he died, this was no issue ultimately to Archibald, as if he died then he has either already failed, or fully succeeded in what he wanted to do. Thus, the pact was created, and Archibald's journey to power both political and fiendish began truly.

K'itihn would act as legal counsel for Archibald. Using K'itihn's advice on unrelated matters, Archibald came up with the idea of signing away the souls of his characters which he came up with instead of his own. This led to the creation of the book of a thousand names, which held the names of many of Archibald's identities which he was in the process of creating with Abaddon. K'itihn did not come up with this idea, if he did he would likely be punished by the hells, however once he saw what Archibald was doing he did not stop it, he was not obliged to, due to his existing pact with Archibald. This would suit both parties and Archibald could use K'itihn to trick other devils to give him more power and K'itihn would have no culpability and would hoard more souls for his own devices. Despite Archibald's hatred of devils he made good use of K'itihn and they had a respectful working relationship up until Archibald's death. Of course Archibald knew the devil was using him for his own ambitions, but he was determined to somehow shatter the bonds of the pact given enough time.

### Preparation of Personas

Archibald insisted that Abaddon, a man who spent his whole life illicitly studying artforms such as theatre, taught Archibald acting. This was a rigorous process where Archibald and Abaddon would draft different characters and personas with various different goals and backstories, all of them moulded on a case by case basis for the different gangs Archibald would infiltrate. Most of them used Ralp the Town Guard as a template, since Archibald was all too familiar with Ralp having ostensibly lived as a spectator in his own body with nothing else to do except study the mannerisms of a mentally challenged and simple version of himself, and the Ralp persona already had (and continued to have) immense success in the Metropolitan Police.

Through this process it was decided that he would be himself when dealing with politicians and nobles. He had the boon of many forgetting who he was and house Raphael as a whole, as it was already in a state of decline for the last few generations. He would be Archie for the De Vries Syndicate, these would be the first gang that he joined, Archie would be a cool down to earth modification of how Ralp the town guard would act. He would be Rich for the Shortboys, a more idiotic rendition of the Ralp character but more rowdy, chaotic and fond of pugilism and engaging in a good fight. He would also use Rich for the Bulldogs but be more stubborn and rowdy, yet marginally more intelligent. He would have to convince these two he was a double agent for the other. He would do the same for the Maloneys, except he would be Ralp the town guard, with no modifications, pretending to be a double agent for the police. The Millers would have to wait till last, Archibald suspected he could see eye to eye with William Miller if given the chance, no lies necessary.

These were only the primary identities for his big infiltrations, there were many more minor operations through the years.

With Abaddon's assistance, Archibald would fit into all of these characters without even thinking about it, convince himself he was indeed these people themselves. He was aided by his own spell which he created; *Archibald's Memory Cage* in keeping his memories locked away until he was safely in Raphael Manor.

### Raphael Innate Spellcasting: Archibald's Memory Cage

Archibald, having been born a sorcerer due to the Raphael blood in his veins, a family once renowned for their innate magic prowess, was quite adept with spellcasting. At the age of 21 Archibald had created his own spell. *Archibald's Memory Cage* allowed Archibald to touch the temple of someone, or himself and choose a memory or series of memories. He can then seal those memories behind an almost impenetrable barrier which if tampered with through the likes of a Detect Thoughts spell causes immense pain to the intruder. This cage disperses once a certain specified condition is met. This could not be used offensively as consent was required for the cage to work correctly.

Archibald would end up using this on himself and others as needed throughout the carrying out of his many schemes. Most famously used on himself to ensure no mortal or devil could see through the ruse of his acting and subterfuge.

## Initial Infiltration of the Five Hats

### De Vries Syndicate

While Archibald hated all criminals, he conceeded he would need to assist them along the way to achieve his goal of eradicating them, no matter how much he might hate it. Archibald would begin his infiltration of the five gangs of Blackbog with the De Vries Syndicate, utilising his persona of Archie. Sure enough his hypothesis was proven quite quickly, his apparent idiocy, simplicity was disarming demeanour allowed him in to the Syndicate without much issue. His contacts with the Metropolitan Police allowed him to apparently assist the De Vries, yet of course, to keep face with the police a steady stream of light tip offs came from him when necessary.

The process was a success, Archibald's philosophy was all but confirmed to be correct by the success of this operation. He used the street smarts he gained from his time fraternising with street urchins as a child to veil his noble birth. Still, the De Vries was more of an educational experience than anything else, he ground his teeth into the criminal life of Blackbog and would use this knowledge for the rest of his Grand Plan. For all that it was worth he enjoyed his time in the De Vries as a student would enjoy going to college classes they found interesting, it was a study to him.

After about a year in the De Vries, Archibald was now 22 years old, he took leave from the gang as his son Jason Raphael was born, he would return to them on occasion however his correspondence from that point forward with the De Vries was primarily through letters sending them tip offs. They assumed he went fully undercover in the guards so when they saw what they assumed to be Archie dressed as a town guard they thought nothing of it. Mission Successful thought Archibald.

### Bulldog Mafia

With the persona of Archie effectively retired on extended parental leave, Archibald would beseech the Bulldog Mafia to allow him in under the act of his new character Rich. The bulldogs traditionally were comprised of denizens native to Hadak'Ura such as Goblins of example. To attempt to circumvent this, Rich would join, feigning a story where he wanted revenge on the De Vries and the Shortboys and would swear to be a spy for the Bulldogs. This act worked, but the Bulldogs were naturally distrustful of Rich until he delivered. As such, a steady stream of information came to the Bulldogs on the movements of the De Vries and strategies to avoid police patrols, Rich over time became a trusted spy master for the Bulldogs.

This plan would go south when the Bulldogs captured a member of the De Vries due to information given to them by Rich. They asked Rich to take revenge on this member of the De Vries, as due to his story they believed him hungry for retribution. The De Vries member was gagged but he noticed Rich, he recognised who he was despite the disguise. The De Vries member became restless and despite gagged made loud noises of horror. Knowing what he had to do Archibald took his dagger he received as a boy and brutally murdered the De Vries member. He had not killed before, but he certainly would have to do it again. Through this bloodying of his hand, he had now gained the trust of the Bulldogs, with no witness to tell the De Vries what he had done. This experience reaffirmed Archibald's inner belief that he would do absolutely anything to deliver on his conviction.

Now that Archibald had tapped into the De Vries and the Bulldogs, before tackling the Maloneys and the Millers, the two strongest gangs in Blackbog, he sought first to infiltrate the Shortboys. This would also assist his illusion of wanting revenge on the Shortboys which the Bulldogs believed.

### Sammi's Shortboys

While Archibald had been an information gatherer and job man second, it seemed to him through his tangential interactions with the Shortboys that the inverse might be more effective of a bargaining chip. As Rich, he went to Shortboys and beseeched to join them on the basis of being their muscle, being a double agent for them for both the police and the other two gangs he infiltrated and lastly the fact he was indeed short for a human. Again, his simple mannerism allowed him entry into the shortboys.

Rich during this time became quite the pugilist, he used his fists many times to solve problems. He found doing this reinforced his illusion of stupidity. As such, later in life Archibald would utilise his fists much more often when he became more physically powerful and more magically adept as he would not oft need to rely on weaponry.

Archibald would juggle all of these identities successfully for the next few years, with the help of his sorcery, assistance from K'itihn and his other allies as well as prompt disposal of any who came close to his true identity all allowed him to prosper. Nobody would suspect an imbecile to playing a mastermind's game. If someone did come close to realising who he was, he either lied to them which often worked due to his disarming façade of stupidity or he murdered them. All of this however would leave him spread incredibly thin, so his plan slowed down keeping up appearances with the police, the nobles, other minor infiltrations and the 3 gangs.

Archibald would continue to do this for the next 8 years, until he was 30, making his network air tight. In this year, Archibald's plan would move lightening quick to its grim conclusion. The last stages of his plan were upon him, beginning, with the Maloneys, the purple toppers who he believed took the life of his father.

## Physical Training

Archibald was very physically adept due to his constant training. He was doing this from a young age, but had only gotten more and more zealous in his training when he began infiltrating gangs. Due to his hiding of his magical abilities and his devilish fraternisations, Archibald had to rely on his physical prowess more than ever, so he could keep up the guise of a dim but strong gang member/ town guard. Archibald had trained with his fists, a baton, a spear and perhaps most importantly, the heirloom of the Raphael family *Hell's End*.

## Hell's End

Every prospective Head of the Raphael Family by tradition had to bond with the heirloom passed down from generation to generation, The Hell's end. Archibald however was the first to bond with the weapon since his grandfather as his father thought the custom was silly and went against his ideals of politicking. So after his father had died, Archibald bonded with the weapon. Hell's End takes a different form depending on the Raphael holding it. Archibald's took the form of a great sword, formed together with hellish fire, magma, pumice and brimstone. This would highlight both his immense anger and hatred for those who he deemed to be poison to Blackbog society, as well as his ironic bonding with devils and perhaps even foreshadowing his inevitable fate and death.

Archibald was disgusted by the sword as he perceived the blade was mocking him, as if it were telling him he would be evil. It was only after Archibald was faced with the decision to make a pact with K'itihn that he re-interpreted the blade's meaning. To him, it now had to mean that it was foretelling this pact, and the acts he needed to do to save Moro, he had to use evil to fight and defeat evil. He was no longer disgusted by it. As a devout believer of Ourous, he saw this as a message from him, reaffirming his beliefs. After making the pact, Archibald would begin training with the Hell's end, but never using it while infiltrating as it would give away his true identity.

He would primarily use this blade during his tenure as the Lord of Bedlam as well as his time in hell. He would however not use the blade at the Battle of Raphael Manor, instead it would lay atop his mantelpiece. This was due to the fact that Archibald for most of the fight held out a belief he could sway his former friend's belief and get them to join his side, instead using a magical simulacrum of it at some points during the battle.