Naitachel the Seraph

Name: Naitachel

Gender: Male

Race: Seraph of the 13th Light Plane, an angelic species of another world

Age: 5000+ human years (everyone’s lost track, including himself)

Appearance:
Naitachel is perhaps six feet tall, sleek and lean-muscled, all grace and power. He would make an absolutely gorgeous human were it not for how Seraph walk on their toes like a cat, and the white-gold feathered wings and feathered tail. His eyes are a heart-warming gold, his skin has that sun-kissed glow, his waist-long white-gold hair flows like the reflection of sunlight on water, his facial features so delicate and gentle as to make folk mistake him for a pretty girl, his every movement so graceful and elegant that one questions the integrity of his bone structure. Really, he’s quite an eyeful, but then, most Seraph are (whether they show their wings or not).

Generally, he wears a handsome silver- and gold-edged tunic and trews of white and grey, boots of soft grey leather, a sword tucked into his belt (its sheathe of white and gold). The sides of his tunic lace up to make it easier to don around his wings. His white robes, worn over these, split down the front like a bath-robe (but has multiple fastenings to close that up), and within the pleats of loose cloth are slits on the sides like a poncho (allowing his wings access to and from hiding beneath), and it's long enough to puddle around his feet by a good couple feet, the sleeves long and wide enough that he could hide someone in them if he so much as hugs them. Clearly it is designed for his species--to help him not stand out so much in a crowd by hiding his inhuman differences, though the robes are so loose that it makes it harder to tell his gender. Sometimes he has matching elbow-length gauntlets, but he generally pulls these out only to protect his hands--or protect others from his own touch.

Background:
Seraph are from the 13th Plane of Light. They are indeed allied to many and any of the gods considered “Good” (of the Light), but the 13th is one of the lower such planes/dimensions (one of the closest to the Shadow Planes) and their denizens are not frequent visitors of the human world. At least, not usually without a cleric inviting them ritualistically, or orders from above (a higher plane of Light, such as true angels).

Naitachel is a truly ancient Seraph, so old that even most lesser demons can’t recall when he wasn’t around. As a result, he knows many of the players in the wars of Light and Dark, including many of those between in Shadow. In fact, one could call him an amazingly cheerful gossip-collector, though he has his own agenda. What he’s currently doing here, in the human world, even the gods might not know, though one might have sent him. All anyone knows is that Naitachel is up to something good, probably “good” in more meanings than one.

Personality:
Most Seraph are just friendly and kind-hearted. Naitachel, on the other hand, is also extremely gentle, light-hearted, cheerful, and just a radiant personality. In fact, his good cheer and bright demeanor are almost contagious when he’s around—he’s the type of person who makes everyone feel better by just being in the room, and his beautiful voice is uplifting to hear.

Strengths:
Unlike the other Seraph, Naitachel is truly charming. Literally. It’s almost magical, the way he can charm even some foes with voice alone—and if he sings, it IS magical (it magically charms all in hearing-range, plus his voice is like an angel’s). As a result, he doesn’t fight much.

The best talent of Seraph is to purify. They need only touch what they wish to purify, be it by hand or feather, and it washes out any traces of Dark magic/influence or dissolves anything of Shadow. They cast Blessings on new homes, offspring, or to cleanse fouled locations and remove curses. Their purifying and cleansing abilities are also useful when they are Summoned to fight lesser demons, as any attempts to hurt a Seraph usually hurts the demon by purifying their talons and dissolving their teeth. Their second best talent is to slip from one Plane to the next--an ability akin to teleportation, though it is not true teleportation (as they can't move around within any single Plane/world with this ability).

A Seraph’s wings and tail are special—they do more than help them fly. Their feathers are almost crystalline in nature (think like fiberglass insulation or Kevlar lining in police vests: soft but strong), and because of this strange matrix it cushions against blows, insulates against fire, and shields against spells and arrows to a limited extent.

Seraph blood is toxic, silvery like liquid mercury and tastes as metalic as it looks. Few animals dare bite one, because one taste will make them sick. Even creatures of Shadow and the Dark hesitate because if they swallow enough (it varies species to species), even inadvertantly, it's poisonous enough to kill them. The feathers are likewise--any creature big enough to swallow one or part of one would get severely ill from it.

A Seraph's telepathy is limited in range and strength, weak to moderate at best, for communication purposes only. However, Naitachel's empathy is rather strong and, being an angelic species, he has some innate ability to view other souls and manipulate his own to affect them (typically to heal, soothe, comfort, or protect), but this requires physical contact with the one he wishes to help.

Naitachel carries the traditional fiery sword of his kind, but this is only used as a last resort, and only for defense.

Weaknesses:
Seraph have little defense against physical attacks, especially as their wings can help them fly or be furled to shield but usually not both at the same time. Their robes/clothes are not a physical defense. Claws can shred their flesh as easily as anyone else’s, and though a demon might dissolve its claws by doing so, it still has a good chance that it’ll kill the Seraph first. Nor can any Seraph swim, not with their wings and tails--the sheer weight when all those feathers get waterlogged is simply too much for them to fight, and swiftly drags them to the bottom.

Mentally, a Seraph has too strong a personality for most foes to take over, but any telepathy they have is weak enough that they cannot influence others’ minds at all with it, only talk.

Magically, most Seraph are resistant to spells for the most part, but other than their purifying abilities, they have no magic of their own to counteract with. Their only way to shield others is to literally spread their wings over them, and perhaps sacrifice their own soul by wrapping around the one they're protecting. Naitachel’s singing is the only exception--it may magically charm, but some minds simply can’t be won over.

Seraph need a peaceful, clean place to recharge/feed—like a shrine, or where ley lines cross to form a node, or a Mana well, or a very peaceful and quiet natural setting, etc. So Naitachel can’t go underground much or venture too far from such, because he has to meditate and recover at such a site at least once a week. More than a week, and he’ll start to starve, lose weight, and eventually fade away.

Naitachel’s main personal weaknesses are: that he cannot handle complete isolation from other creatures--no sight, no sound, no telepathy, no feelings for empathy to read, it brings up anchient memories best left forgotten... a reliably profound lack of a sense of direction... and that Naitachel is kind-hearted to the point of endangering himself, because he feels terrible if he so much as injures another creature inadvertently. He really tries to avoid fighting to the point of silliness at times. Then again, he’s so charming that normally nobody minds...