Raydin Steelfang

**Raydin Steelfang** was the Archmage of the College of Winterhold until he stepped down, handing the duty over to his son, Siris Steelfang. His true nature is still a mystery to all those who know him, in part because of his seemingly strange powers, in part because he does not speak much to others. He is the twin brother to Sylarys Steelfang, the elder brother of Gideon and Sargon Steelfang, the former husband of Astrid Witch-Bane, husband of Virlomi and the father of Annalyse, Horus, Isis and Siris Steelfang, as well as other less prominent children. He is the son of Sorin and Alyssa Steelfang.

## Birth and Childhood

Raydin was not born like most children - when he was conceived, his mother fled to Coldharbour to make sure he was perfectly safe from all outside influence, for she herself was an extremely powerful sorceress who feared the interference of the outside world.

Raydin was born a vampire alongside his twin sister Sylarys, gifted with the warped strain that his father and mother possessed. He grew up with his mother within a Simulacrum constructed by Molag Bal, for hithero unknown reasons.

When Raydin was born, it was said that his eyes flashed with an unusual, even terrifying amount of comprehension that Molag Bal feared. Most details of his birth are sketchy, but it is known he was born before his sister Sylarys, who was taken by Molag upon her birth.

Raydin was trained since 6 to become a fatal killer. His mother Alyssa taught him the art of sword fighting, electrokinesis and other magics, while his own vampiric line came with its unique set of powerful magical abilities. Molag Bal pitted him against daedra everyday, fighting with a single weapon or magic form till he mastered it. Such continued for all forms of magic and weaponry, until Raydin was familiar with most conventional weaponry. He is most familiar with swords.

Such treatment continued until Raydin was biologically 17. He stopped aging when he turned 17.

## Return to Mundus

Raydin Steelfang returned to Mundus after his father entered to Coldharbor to save his mother. Upon his return, the mysterious group known as the Shadow Watch attempted to find him and they did, in the College. Raydin did not see much action, until he began to personally investigate the bombings on Windhelm with the Shadow Watch.

Eventually, Raydin engaged in battle with Tarrov and with the Shadow Watch, he attempted to contain the explosions that Tarrov planned to pull off upon death. At that time, his powers were not fully developed yet, thus he was unable to perform extreme feats of power. He ascended the position of Archmage rather reluctantly on advice from his father's best friend, the Master Wizard of the College, Vauban.

## Time as Archmage

Raydin spent the next 15 years after the defeat of the infamous Tarrov to restructure and renovate the College into a fortress of magic. He increased discipline within the institution entrusted to him and ensured that things ran smoothly, with Vauban's help. Most of the major choices were still made by him, contrary to popular belief.

Raydin was the one who taught Tavion and Qa'Do how to cope with the new powers from the Steelfang Strain. He eventually inducted Tavion into the Shadow Watch after the vampire showed an extreme mastery over all the new skills that he learnt. He was the one who performed the Shadow Watch procedure on Tavion.

Along with the vampire Tavion, Sylarys, the Shadow Watch and the Templars, he brought Whiterun back from the darkling dimension after it was banished. That was the singular remarkable thing he did. He personally tutored a mage known as Astrid in mind magic, after she experienced terrifying visions projected by the self proclaimed Ash God known as Adawulf Sea-Born

Raydin ended up as the lover of Astrid, after he taught her how to master the art of manipulating minds, which she used to block Adawulf's visions. He also taught her electrokinesis earlier, which Astrid could use to fly through magnetic repulsion of the planet's magnetic field. He eventually proposed to her and she accepted.

Raydin was forced to pay 20,000 septims by the Black Fang for the drunken behaviour of his fellow Shadow Watch members. Rather than refuse the unreasonable demands, he just gave them 30,000 septims. Why he did that, nobody knows, even though it was obvious he had better choices.

He battled Adawulf Sea Born with an illusory copy of himself when the latter tried to steal the Amulet of Kings. Adawulf only managed to succeed in taking the Amulet as the real Raydin was distracted by the Maormer Battlemage Koranus, who witnessed the return of Sylarys to the mortal plane, which was a more pressing problem than Adawulf stealing the Amulet.

Raydin battled the empowered Sylarys after she returned, possessed by Molag Bal, alongside the Shadow Watch, the empowered Qa'Do and the snow elf vampire Vorwith. They managed to eventually exorcise Molag from Sylarys' body, which allowed Sylarys herself to repair Mundus and eject the daedra permanently.

Raydin married Astrid Witch Bane in the 10 years that followed. He had a daughter, Annalyse and a son, Siris.

Raydin didn't really do much in the next series of events. He only spoke to a mage named Talion about College books and called a mage to answer an aspect of Adawulf. He eventually rented the books out to Talion, then returned the money when he got the books back.

Raydin then began corrupting the Staff of Magnus into a far more powerful weapon, which is as of yet unnamed. He intended to transcend Mundus and destroy Molag Bal, in the process reshaping Coldharbor into a sort of paradise like land, in revenge for Molag's messing around with his family and also plainly because he hated Molag Bal.

Raydin later attended the wedding of Adawulf Sea-Born with his wife and children. He didn't seem affected when he attended the wedding of his sworn enemy and even presented gifts. During the wedding, Raydin took over Coldharbor by the sheer force of his will, transforming it into his own plane. He created the Tranquil Guardians to act as defenders of his plane and the Daedric Succubi to act as his summons. Raydin then created the Aspect of Administration to administer the plane, before he transcended. Raydin would rename the plane Euphoria, plane of literature, lust and love.

Raydin also took Virlomi to see his sister Sylarys so Virlomi could learn to use the soul gem, in exchange for receiving a signed, fully illustrated copy of his books, which nobody reads. Raydin's Aspect of Administration later had an intimate encounter with Virlomi, resulting in Virlomi's pregnancy. This led to a chain of events that led Raydin to reabsorb all of Administation's sentience, causing him a massive inner struggle.

Raydin also developed a bad habit of writing unsavoury books in that 15 years. He still writes extremely horribly even after 25 years of writing experience. After the run of events with Virlomi, Raydin's writing suddenly took a turn for the better, probably because he understands anguish.

Raydin later passed on the mantle of Archmage to his son, retreating to Euphoria for good, rarely coming out to return to the mortal plane, for he felt his time upon Mundus was done. He is known to pursue his interests in his plane, but what he really does, nobody knows.

Raydin later talked with Vulcan concerning the disappearance of Isis, who was Raydin's daughter and Vigarde, who was Vulcan's son, after he was annoyed by the continued smashing and recreation of a landmass. He chided Vulcan for his childishness and lack of action, seeing his anger as a waste of time.

Raydin managed to track down Isis with Virlomi, Horus and Annalyse. He freed Isis from her imprisonment with a few simple spells. It was the first time he actually saw his daughter in person. Raydin freed Isis from her imprisonment. Raydin proposed marriage to Virlomi after divorcing Astrid, using papers signed by his own son Siris.

Raydin later married Virlomi at a ceremony attended by various individuals, such as High King Kodlak Nikulson. Raydin took Virlomi back to Euphoria with him. Virlomi later birthed a set of triplets, Lucifer, Lamia and Abbadon Steelfang.

The pair had another three children, another set of fraternal triplets, their youngest daughter Alyssa (named after her grandmother), their son Raphael and their daughter Uriel.

Raydin at one point in time disrupted his brother, the cosmic entity Gideon Steelfang, by slicing him into eight shards and sealed him in multiple interlocking dimensions. Raydin could have destroyed Gideon's consciousness, but he did not, again for hithero unknown reasons. The reason for this is revealed in *Ascendant Angel*, where Gideon's return was what allowed Raphael Steelfang to slip out of imprisonment on Euphoria.

## Personality and Appearance

Raydin can be variously described in various contradictory terms where his behaviour is concerned. He is generally laid back and seems to lack ambition, but when the time to be serious comes, he is rarely at the back trying to pull strings. Also, he seems generally emotionless to most people, but he does empathize with most people around him and tries not to make enemies, unless it is inevitable. He is generally pleasant to others and rarely shows anger, although he has the capacity for such.

Raydin also has a bad taste for writing fantasy, erotica and science fiction. His works are notorious among the mages in the College, who always have insults regarding them. His writing has since improved, to the extent that some of his works are quite popular around Tamriel.

Raydin generally lazes around in the College and almost never uses his powers. He always thinks the world is a great place and generally gives a host of excuses if called into any form of action. To him, apparently, running the College well is less important than pursuit of the "arts".

Sometimes, Raydin might seem henpecked by his wife. It is shown that Raydin tolerated such by diverting his negative emotions to his Aspect. When they recombined, it caused him considerable anguish. Raydin will never accept Virlomi's children with Malpen, seeing them as travesties of Godhood and nothing but a distraction from more important people in his life.

Raydin himself has completely white, straight hair that reaches about a third of the distance to his waist. He has a face that is borderline androgynous, but still masculine looking, with not a single strand of facial hair. His eyes are a light blue colour and his pupils will contract to slits in high light environments. His skin is exceedingly pale. He is tall for a Breton, standing about seven feet and well muscled.

Raydin can manifest six angelic wings, but the pair of wings he normally uses are a pair of energy wings that project from armor plates that float behind his back, detached from his body, yet they are somehow capable of allowing him to fly.

## Powers and Abilities

Raydin Steelfang possesses a vast amount of powers and abilities, a fraction being magical, but many being beyond even common magic. He already possesses extreme strength, speed, agility and stamina, far beyond even a transformed werewolf, allowing him to even break weapons with his bare hands as he demonstrated with a hammer made of multiple daedric artefacts, which cracked and warped when he squeezed it (after he stopped the weapon earlier with nothing but a bare hand). Raydin channels his natural benefits to aid him in fighting unarmed and with a sword, both of which he uses martial arts that have never been seen before. Raydin is nominally right handed and uses his sword "Fatality's Endeavour" in his right hand, although he carries all other weapons with a left handed grip.

Raydin is also extremely resilient to damage and heals remarkably quickly from his injuries. He rarely tires and his magicka seems to never run out. He is capable of flight and so practically immune to falling damage. Due to the use of Raydin's soul as a phylactery for his own soul, a paradoxical loop is created, preventing him from being corrupted by daedric princes in any way and making him immune to all forms of soul trap and daedric powers. He has no weakness to the sun or flames, in spite of his vampiric nature.

Magically, Raydin Steelfang is capable of performing many feats, including massive energy projection on scales that are capable of devastating cities, either as elemental attacks (e.g. electrokinesis) or as purely ejected magicka. His energy projection abilities are so great, a beam of energy from Raydin is just about equal to the powers of all 17 daedric princes, as shown in his duel with his sister Sylarys. Whether that was his limit or if he could actually eject more magicka is unknown, although Raydin did claim to be tired.

Raydin is a powerful mind mage and can easily see into other's minds, alter their memories or crush their brains, while protecting his own (which are still protected by many additional barriers). Raydin has proved more than happy to hijack people's minds when they are engaged in questionable activity so he can see what is going on. Raydin also can use a crimson mist, either as an area attack or as focused bolts to drain his enemies of their vitality rapidly, courtesy of his vampire powers. He can also control the winds to create massive gales that can blow walls apart, send armies flying or crush whole cities of people.

Raydin is also capable of projecting up to seven copies of himself as illusions, all of which can use spells. If the illusions are killed, they explode with enough force to kill everything around them. These illusions are capable of harming his opponents magically and physically. He can also perform a powerful paralysis skill that traps any number of people until he lets them go.

Raydin Steelfang can also manipulate life energies by converting them into magicka or vice versa. He can perform such to rapidly kill many opponents, including entire nations. He is also capable of transferring the life energies among any number of individuals. This ability is non magical in nature, being an innate part of his warped vampirism and costs no magicka, unless he uses it to heal others.

Another ability Raydin possesses is the ability to send fear into anyone simply by locking eyes with them, causing permanent insanity in those who look into his eyes. It is an ability inherited from his mother and it is non magical in nature. The daedric symbols on his left hand allow him to create portals to Oblivion, Aetherius and beyond the Aurbis which he can use for transport or to trap people. By using this, Raydin can banish things out of the Aurbis and prevent their return, no matter how powerful the thing might be.

Raydin is capable of accessing the Neural Network, a psionic network for communications and data storageHe is capable of modifying the data stored in it and regulating access by other users, as he is one of the administrators of the network, other than his son Siris.

Raydin can utilize flower petals as deadly weapons, and can form constructs out of them. He prefers to use rose petals for such and he can summon, multiply and control rose petals in all sorts of unimaginable ways, allowing him to use them as razor wind, or even a shield. Raydin can further detonate any flower petals in his vicinity to greatly hurt opponents. Raydin can also just throw the petals at a person similar to a dagger, the thrown petal proving more deadly than a direct shot from a ballista.

Raydin can unlock his greater powers by uttering the phrase *"my illusions become reality, your reality becomes and illusion"*. This power allows Raydin is able to freely transfer damage and repair done to anything to anyone, letting him cut enemies even by cutting things such as trees, the grass or air. Also, enemies stop healing, and their healing heals Raydin's allies as well. Raydin can also freely change the scale of the damage, letting him kill a person just by poking something.

Raydin's ocular power simply dematerializes anything that he gazes upon into its constituent atoms, if activated and used. This allows him to disintegrate things just by looking at them.

Raydin was unable to be damaged even by his nigh Omnipotent brother Gideon, when they fought outside the Aurbis. Why this happened was unknown. Gideon managed to scratch Raydin with his sword, though. Raydin has the powers to negate and erase objects, boundaries (real or imaginary) or physical laws, which he rarely uses.

He still has many as of yet untapped, unspoken and unknown abilities. It is known he will survive even if the godhead awakens and the Aurbis is erased, although why this is so, nobody knows, although generally it is thought to be due to his Steelfang Bloodline.

## Aspect of Administration

Raydin's aspect of Administration is essentially a perfect copy of Raydin, having his mentality, personality, powers, looks and even skills. The Aspect is capable of autonomous thought and action. Raydin created him by essentially taking all his emotions and combining them into one aspect. Raydin can combine and split from his aspect at will and they can think as one, or autonomously. They can also swap places any time. Raydin himself is still in control of the Aspect at all times, so long as he is vigilant. Since the Aspect technically is Raydin, any children fathered by his aspect is essentially a child of Raydin himself.

Raydin's aspect of Administration wears a set of armor plate of white and gold. He uses a gold and white copy of Raydin's weaponry. All weapons are equally powerful as Raydin's weaponry. The aspect has six white wings, unlike Raydin's six black ones.

Raydin's Aspect of Administration has complete dominion over Euphoria and rules it, while Raydin is allowed to continue moving in the mortal plane. He no longer needs this function of it when he permanently retreated from Mundus.

Raydin's aspect is now mostly part of him, splitting off only on demand. He generally speaks through this aspect to anyone on Mundus, rather than visit Mundus himself, since he finds is a waste of time to leave his offices in Euphoria.

## Equipment

Raydin uses his silver longsword, enchanted with banish, most often. It's a normal sword with no extraordinary properties, besides its bluntness, because Raydin is lazy to sharpen it. Raydin prefers this weapon generally, since unlike his sword "Fatality's Endeavour, it rarely causes collateral damage and is much more likely to not kill his opponents, as Raydin personally finds no joy in murder. As with most weapons, Raydin uses it left handed. The silver sword can transform into a storm of razor sharp rose petals that shred anything with ease, after Raydin passes his hand along the blade.

Raydin's sword "Fatality's Endeavour" is a daedric longsword which tears life out of opponents it hits. Souls taken by it burn up instead of the dreamsleeve. The sword is unbreakable and will fly to his hand if he calls for it. He can project dimension disrupting energy crescents (of extreme sizes) with this blade and control it from afar. The weapon can also shed the silver layer of its blade into a storm of
black petals, that kill anything they touch, except for people Raydin
does not want to kill, of course. This reveals the true black blade of
the weapon.
The weapon is longer than Raydin is tall, but he can handle it with ease and only a single hand. It is very light, although it easily cuts through armour. It recognizes its owner and is inert in all other hands. Raydin uses this weapon exclusively right handed.

Raydin warped the Staff of Magnus into a far more potent weapon. Its powers are yet to be shown. The staff is capable of creating explosions of rose petals that instantly shred anyone caught in the blast. It also has more abilities to be revealed.

Raydin can also turn his Daedric Succubi into living weapons and control them mentally. When he does this, the Daedric Succubus will lose her form temporarily and turn into a daedra powered living weapon. This change is only temporary, though, and the Daedric Succubus will resume her original form once her term of service has ended. She will also gain temporary invulnerability so long as she serves as Raydin's weapon.

Raydin wears a full set of armor plated robes, made of strange, ebony like material, except the black plates that make it up are much shinier. It regenerates if it takes damage. It has a consistent blue glow from the runes on it and between the plates of armor. After he became a divinity, Raydin armor took on a golden shine instead of black.

## Trivia

* Raydin is commonly described as "the most useless character ever" by his creator, Datadragon Odahviing, for he has powers similar or even beyond the divines and daedric princes, but never uses them at all in the RP, except to deal with the Darklings, and later his own sister.
* Raydin is extremely forgiving to anyone who is not obviously his enemy. He will generally take the pacifist way out, even though direct fighting will probably cost him nothing and his opponent everything. He even forgives his enemies, such as when he didn't outright erase Setsuna even though he could.
* Raydin is based on the concept of the "superflous man".
* Raydin loves to write erotica the most, even though he is completely incapable of writing it. A section in the arcaneum is dedicated to his writings. His perfectly good stories are often spoilt by bad erotic scenes in them. Even his kid's stories have erotic scenes...
* Raydin is generally seen as incompetent by most members of the College. People laugh at him most of the time and nobody takes him seriously, even though the only reason the College advanced to what it is was him.
* Raydin will only date girls that are Breton or Nord. He has an extreme distaste for female beastfolk. Virlomi was an exception, although it was Raydin's aspect, who thought differently, that made out with her. They eventually married, though.
* Raydin secretly considers his wife Virlomi a rather average looking woman bordering on plain. He doesn't care to admit it, though, since he doesn't want trouble.
* Raydin is a talented artist and can draw almost anything. He is draws erotic pictures of women very, very well, making them look almost 3D. He has sketched Virlomi and Astrid many, many times.
* Raydin is perfectly ambidextrous and can write and draw equally well with both hands. He favours his right hand for most activities, but always uses his left when sketching females, for reasons unknown.
* Raydin's former wife, Astrid, is the daughter of a well known vampire hater. Raydin does not seem to care, though.
* Raydin's son Siris considers his father immature. Siris himself is much more mature than his father.
* Raydin's looks are based on the final fantasy character Sephiroth, down to the length of his hair and eyes. The only thing that is different is that he has *five more wings*.
* Raydin's aspect of Administration wears armor based on that of the Archangel Itherael from Diablo. His wings are also copied from said angel.

## Alternate Art

Raydin Steelfang in his full fabulousity.Raydin redrawn in new style, still as fabulous as ever.