Raef Silfr

Elemental Instructor at Sator Academy.

Written by Evey

Reena Silfr - Sister

 Physical Description

Raef's hair was once black, but has gained a multitude of silver-white streaks at a fairly young age.  He wears it longer, but shaves the sides, leaving only the top long.  A result of a "hard-knock life" in the Slums of Union City.  His face is sharp and angular, often described as "hard," and he grows his salt and pepper facial hair out in a full beard, but keeps it neatly trimmed since his hiring at Sator.  His eyes are a brown so deep they appear black except in the best of lighting conditions.  He is fairly tall for a human (6'2") and has a solid, muscular frame.  The kind of muscles born from a long life of hard work, rather than anything that can be sculpted in a gym.  His body is covered in burn scars, which he does his best to hide beneath tattoos that cover almost his entire body.

## Personality

Raef has had a hard life, and his demeanor reflects that.  He is often brusque, even rude, especially with anyone he considers a "wealthy snob." He is gruff, even with those close to him, but has a surprisingly tender heart for his mother and sister.  Nothing sparks his rather impressive temper faster than a slight, real or imagined, against them.  Anyone coming from wealth and privilege runs a close second however.  As a teacher, he is thorough and unrelenting with his students, though never cruel.  His body bears the scars of an element not properly contained and he passionately wants to make sure that history is never repeated.  Most fear and respect him, but the rare few may see his kinder side.

## History

Raef was born and raised in the Slums.  His mother was a renowned beauty in her youth who inadvertently caught the attention of his father, a mid-level slum lord who exercised his power to lure her to him. People in the Slums were not afforded many life choices, young women even less so, and so Aleera found herself tied to Red Silfr.  Soon after, she gave birth to Raef.  Red was not a violent man, but he was petty and unkind and enjoyed lording his meager power over others.  Aleera's once shining beauty dulled under the weight of his thumb and though she hardly loved the man, she remained with him to keep Raef fed and clothed.  While his father could rarely be bothered to acknowledge let alone nurture the son he'd created, his mother showered him with the only thing she had to give, her love.  For many years it was just the two of them, with the occasional appearance by Red when he felt inclined to sleep in the hole in the wall he provided for them rather than various other places he indulged vices and likely other families much like theirs.  Despite Aleera's wishes to keep him from the harshest of Slum life, Raef began running with various street gangs at a fairly young age in order to help his mother struggle less to keep food on the table and lessen their dependence on his father.  He and many other "slum rat" kids and teens begged, cheated, and stole for goods and money within the Slums, along River Walle, and the very few places they could sneak into within Union City itself.

When Raef was 19, Aleera found herself pregnant again, despite her efforts to avoid bringing another child into their harsh reality.  Knowing that Red would not care enough to make sure she had proper medical care, Raef began looking for bigger, and consequently more dangerous, scores.  A few panned out, enough to help bring his sister, Reena, healthily into the world and cloth her in more than rags when she arrived.  Raef loved his little dark haired and eyed sibling the moment she was born and he was fiercely protective of her.  It quickly became apparent as she grew older that she had inherited their mother's young beauty.  Both he and his mother desperately wanted to keep her from the life that that beauty had sentenced Aleera to.  Raef taught her everything he knew about the streets, about being quick, clever, and able to completely disappear from sight if danger loomed.  He also fell deeper and deeper into the gang wars, earning himself a reputation as quite the brawler, with an intense temper to fuel him.  People often whispered that sometimes his rage was so hot he left literal burns on those he came up against.  Eventually, his reputation brought him to the attention of a mafioso who needed someone with his skill set to pull off a heist of epic proportions.  The pay off would set Aleera, Reena, and himself up well enough to move out of the Slums to the countryside and a life of quiet safety.  He agreed to the task and set out for one last job.

The details of the job didn't matter specifically, just that it was about knocking off the largest bank in Union City, and reaping the vast rewards from that endeavor.  What really mattered was what happened after it all went wrong.  Raef ended up being arrested by the Enforcers and locked away in the Coalition's lightless prison.  During one of the many riots, the warden noticed Raef's capability with his fists and quickly gave him the opportunity to fight in the Arena for his freedom.  Worry for his mother and sister spurred him to acquiescence and he soon found himself in the ring with a Myrmeke from the Black Wood.

Strange things happen to a person's body when it's fighting for it's life against a creature from a nightmare, like a giant ant, the size of a full grown bear.  For Raef, he literally burst into flames, burning his clothes, hair and flesh, causing serious second degree burns in thick lines.  The Myrmeke fared significantly worse than he did, spontaneously combusting on the spot.  That was how Raef, and all of the Coalition, learned that he had untrained elemental fire talent.  He was 22 years old.

There was a great deal of arguing on what to do with the slum rat who had displayed magical talent so publicly in the House of Assembly.  Many wanted to "eliminate the threat" and simply dispose of Raef, but eventually it was agreed that they would save more face by sending him to Sator to be trained, proving that the Coalition was fully in control of all magic use and users, even those from the Slums.  Raef woke up in Sator's infirmary, his burns partially healed already, to be informed that he had officially become the oldest first year student in history.

It was made explicitly clear that if he failed in his training in the slightest, he would be executed as a danger to the populace, and never see his family again.  Despite having a very rudimentary education, Raef applied himself fervently and quickly learned not only to control his fire with expert precision, but to read, write, and perform other magic tasks with noted success.  The then Headmaster had taken a liking to Raef during his time there, despite the younger man's gruff demeanor and anger issues, and offered him a teaching position post graduation.  While Raef wished desperately to return to his mother and sister full-time, he knew that returning to the Slums would likely put them in more danger than remaining where he was.  And so, he stayed, sending them letters and money weekly and visiting whenever the school was on holiday.