Devenay Ragath

**This page contains spoilers for Revenant Gun**.

> "*Cultural heritage. I realize we're all Kel, but try to pretend you didn't have to look that up on the grid.*"
> ― Kel Ragath
>
>

**Devenay Ragath**, also known as **Kel Ragath**, was a Kel infantry colonel and historian, later promoted to general. He appears in Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, and Revenant Gun.

## Appearance and Personality

Ragath has narrow eyes, a long jaw, and a cynical mouth. General Kel Khiruev knew him by reputation and respected him; the two later worked well together.

## History

### Academic Career

One of the best Kel colonels, Ragath had a well-regarded career until the scathing papers on Kel policy written for his secondary specialty as a historian made him some high-ranking enemies and Kel Command neglected to promote him further than lieutenant colonel. During this time, Ragath studied a paper trail associated with the black cradle and deduced that Hexarch Nirai Kujen was still alive, but did not pursue the knowledge since he lacked high enough security clearance.

### Fortress of Scattered Needles

Returning to the Kel after his stint in history, Ragath was chosen as the null swarm's infantry colonel by Brevet General Kel Cheris and General Shuos Jedao, who had been ordered to retake the Fortress of Scattered Needles from heretics. Cheris noticed that his service record was exactly identical to that of the fourth competitor for the honor of retaking the Fortress, though she kept silent about the observation. Jedao recommended relying on Ragath to keep some potentially problematic Nirai personnel in line.

Ragath appeared politely bored during Cheris's first speech to the swarm. However, he was amused when Cheris threatened the swarm during her second address.

Once the Fortress's shields were disabled, Ragath oversaw hopper transport of Kel infantry into the Anemone Ward. Cheris kept him informed of armed conflict near the ward's communications post and instructed him to have captured loyalists returned to the heretics as long as the heretics didn't attack his troops.

Ragath's infantry activity early in the assault included assigning Corporal Kel Iasure's patrol to hold a residential complex against the heretics; ordering Kel troops in the Umbrella Ward to hold their positions despite losing weapons to a corrosion gradient; and forwarding a message from Captain Kel Miyaud about the effects of the heretics' amputation gun, appending a note and diagram describing its geometry. He prepared a list of units for the next assault; Jedao approved of his competence. Ragath also aided Jedao in preparing propaganda pieces about the original Liozh heresy to be broadcast to the Fortress.

After servitors were included in infantry formations, Ragath arranged an assault on the Drummers' Ward, warning against looting in the culturally significant area. Once the heretics arrived in force, Ragath ordered a retreat, leaving six companies to hold the ward. When Captain Kel Mieng offered her company as well, Ragath refused, explaining that Cheris had ordered the other six left to die to make the heretics believe they had won a significant victory. He next ordered an assault on the Radiant Gate and the factories within the Radiant Ward as a distraction while Nirai teams set up threshold winnowers in the ward, warning troops to leave before the winnowers were activated. When the heretics responded to the advance on the gate, Ragath ordered rear units to change front and go straight to the factory once the gate had fallen.

Once the threshold winnowers were deployed, Ragath gave the Nirai personnel an opportunity to retreat, which they declined, and ordered the infantry troops to leave the Radiant Ward. Informed that heretics were advancing on the winnowers, Ragath ordered them activated even though three Kel companies had not managed to leave the area. He allowed infantry to cooperate with the heretics in locking down all passages out of the ward in order to contain the damage and arranged for the Nirai to be extracted an hour later if they didn't have to destroy the winnowers to keep them out of enemy hands. Afterwards, he reported the winnowers' destruction of all life in the Radiant Ward, along with the three late Kel companies, to Cheris, after which Jedao remarked that Ragath approved of her.

Ragath continued to report on the destruction in the Radiant Ward, collapsing resistance in the Umbrella Ward, and riots in the Drummers' Ward over the next few days, attributing the riots to "the generalized unfairness of life." With Cheris's authorization, he ordered civilians conscripted in the secured wards to dispose of all the bodies.

Several days later, Cheris's swarm was destroyed by a carrion bomb. Ragath was supposed to be on board the *Badger's Stripes* at the time, but missed his shuttle due to a riot on the Fortress of Scattered Needles and therefore survived the attack.

Instead of reporting his survival, Ragath left the Fortress as soon as he could, taking advantage of the fact that Kel Command believed he was dead and had not issued him any further orders. After learning that Cheris was alive, he sent a communication to her via "a channel" he felt would satisfy her, describing his survival so far and appending a detailed strategic report of the surrounding marches, believing it would help her if her goal was what he suspected. He later raised an army on a planet in the Stabglass March; Cheris considered asking him for tips on consolidating forces.

Though Ragath, like Cheris, made a private decision to no longer consider himself Kel after Kel Command's massacre of their swarm and identified himself by his given name, Devenay, from then on, such choices are so rare that other Kel and official identity records still refer to him as Kel Ragath.

### Calendrical Reset

After the broadcast of the revised calendar and Cheris's disappearance from the Swanknot swarm, Hexarch Shuos Mikodez recommended High General Kel Brezan contact and promote Ragath, which, after consultation with Khiruev, was done.

Once promoted, General Ragath held a high position in the Compact, despite other generals having served longer. He handled military affairs along with Khiruev, sharing her concern that the Protectorate controlled the last four remaining cindermoths after the *Hierarchy of Feasts* was destroyed. In a rare instance of euphemism, he referred to the period after the Compact's formation as nine years of "putting out fires." Ragath also made a study of the economies of neighboring realms, and Brezan relaxed economic regulations in the Compact on his advice. Protector-General Kel Inesser considered his work managing the Compact's operations stellar, and regarded him as a dangerous opponent.

During the alliance between the Compact and the Protectorate, Brezan included Ragath in a conference call between himself, Khiruev, Inesser, Mikodez, and High Magistrate Rahal Zaniin to discuss logistical options. Ragath was the only person pleased to see the conversation turn to Hexarch Nirai Kujen, having believed he'd never have clearance to officially know Kujen was alive. As the alliance resolved to move forward, Ragath advised Brezan to pressure his constituents into cooperating by reminding them that it was either this or random destruction; Brezan remarked that that was the world they already knew.

## Trivia

* A plot strand involving Ragath as a main character was planned for *Raven Stratagem* but removed for reasons of length.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 15
2. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 15
3. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 19
4. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 3
5. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 19
6. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 6
7. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 7
8. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 10
9. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 11
10. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 13
11. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 14
12. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 15
13. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 16
14. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 13
15. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 17
16. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 18
17. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 19
18. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 20
19. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 15
20. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 3
21. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 27
22. ↑ Open Thread: Revenant Gun
23. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 3
24. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 19
25. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 19
26. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 12
27. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 8
28. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 19
29. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 19
30. ↑ Author's remarks; TheBookSmugglers interview: Oops, I Accidentally Wrote A Trilogy