Raeth

"We believed order to be a gift from the gods. What is order when the gods break faith?"

(Lore)

Race - Human
Class - Chronomancer

At nearly three centuries old, Raeth had many regrets. He was among those who failed to protect Ascalon from the Searing. He left Prince Rurik to die in the Shiverpeaks. He had trusted the White Mantle - and that trust led to the slaughter of innocents and the near destruction of the Shining Blade. His actions caused the titans to ravage Tyrian cities. He freed the Dredge and unleashed Palawa Joko to the continued plight of Tyria today. He threatened the balance of Tyria itself. All in the name of justice. To protect innocents. To break the murderous Mursaat. To protect the Emperor. To slay a mad god. To defy death itself in Orr. Each act weighed heavily on the Shining Blade's most storied agent - the North Star of Kryta.

None of his triumphs could prepare him for Balthazar. The god of war holds power beyond what Tyria's champion could hope to match. And yet the people of Elona, already suffering under the consequences of Raeth's actions, are burning and Balthazar threatens to further break the balance of Tyria's magical cycle. Raeth is compelled to act, but that action would come at a cost.

He had met Wren some 250 years ago when Mhenlo called for his aid in Cantha. The young woman had been a Luxon graduate of the Shing Jea academy, and had coupled all of that Luxon's strength and pride with a surprising amount of warmth and intelligence. Outcast from her clan, she was eager to regain prestige by helping this Ascalonian outsider win the Spear of Archemorus and slay Shiro Tagachi. Without her to deal the killing blow on Shiro, their cause would have failed. Without her, Raeth would have spent the centuries alone. She stood by him when he faced down Abaddon, and she shared in the immortality that they gained from the ambient energies released by the god's death. But over two centuries of shared journies and troubled romance was difficult to weigh against one's faith. Wren had long ago taken up the Zaishen mantle, as she held Balthazar above the other gods. With a heavy heart, she would become Balthazar's champion in an effort to quell the god's lust for vengeance and force her husband to see the error of his latest quest.

As Raeth lands in the Amnoon Oasis to take on his latest and greatest foe, a long lifetime of loss and mistakes weigh down on him. Broken and jaded, he wonders if he has what it takes to slay yet another god and face his own partner on the battlefield.

(Notes on the look)

Raeth is my oldest character and has seen a good many appearance revisions - with this look being, in my opinion, his best one yet.

Raeth's newest look is built around The Shining Blade and is meant to convey a regal, militaristic, and celestial design matching the weapon in colors and materials.

Raeth's lore entry places in the shoes of the Ascalonian ascendant of Guild Wars 1 and the first Commander of the Pact. The accomplishments of the Guild Wars 1 and Guild Wars 2 hero are, in my lore, divided between multiple characters. Raeth is credited with the events of Prophecies, Nightfall, vanilla Guild Wars 2, and Path of Fire. His estranged wife, Wren, is the hero of Factions. The Sylvari anti-hero Etheus is the slayer of Mordremoth and the inheritor of Raeth's legacy as the future hero of Tyria.