#outofspirits

     After Niflheim’s invasion of Tenebrae, it was quickly decided among the council and Ravus that he would join its forces, with the end goal of attaining a position of high power so he would have some level of control over Tenebrae’s fate, even without his position as its Prince or King. Even despite his blindness (self-inflicted approximately two years after he joined), he was quick to prove himself and maintain his facade of loyalty to Niflheim, and was promoted through the ranks until he was given the position of High Commander.

Throughout these years, efforts have been made to cultivate a certain reputation for Ravus. Niflheim didn’t care who he was, but rather what they could make him into. A deposed Prince was useless to them, but an inhuman-seeming force of nature? That was of far more use, and so they worked to shape the public’s perception of Ravus into this very weapon.

Not long after the blindness was when Ravus began to hide his face, and Niflheim was ‘kind’ enough to provide one for him, and he took to wearing it whenever he wasn’t in his room. It was shortly after this that the hooded robes became just as common, for comfort as much as deception - in those robes, the shape of his body was so much harder to discern, and nobody would expect a hooded and masked man to be a threat. It soon became a daily habit ; Ravus would be masked and hooded at all times when not in his room. Over the course of ten years, nobody would recognise him if they saw him without the hood or masl by the time he was twenty-eight.

Another part of their plan was to carefully monitor all scheduled public appearances. Ravus wasn’t given scripts, but he was briefed beforehand on what to say and how to say it. MTs would be posted, the events would be recorded (at times edited, and rarely to paint him in a favourable light to the public), and he was only seen in public for three things - to give or listen to speeches, to attend formal functions, and when being sent out against Niflheim’s enemies.

Ravus was also taught to use his magic as a weapon. He despised using it against people, but it was something he knew had to be done if he was to maintain his lies of loyalty. This was another way of separating him from people - it would be a constant threat, the possibility of Niflheim sending their dreaded Sorcerer out to deal with rebels or foes, and he quickly earned a reputation of mercilessness.

Nothing about Ravus’s identity was ever made public. If anyone suspected Niflheim’s Sorcerer of also once being Tenebrae’s Prince, steps were taken to ensure such suspicions were never voiced. If anyone was ever curious about who he was, they knew better than to try and learn more. Tenebrae was cut off from the other nations, so anyone in Tenebrae was generally unable to speak up about the fact that Niflheim’s newest ‘weapon’ was using magic from their stolen Crystal.

Over the years, Ravus’s isolation became self-inflicted as much as subtly encouraged by other Niflheim personnel. Nobody had any wish to be near him, either out of fear or anger, and he quickly learned that there would be no warmth there. He was assigned guards, but they would always keep their distance and Ravus made no protests about this treatment. He was more than happy to make no attempts at friendship, when the guards were so obviously against it - though, the guards knew not to be overly cruel, after one attempted to harm Ravus and was burned across the face and chest with his magic.

It was also during these years that Ravus taught himself to avoid all physical contact. He would keep a deliberate distance from people, and was visibly uncomfortable with any form of touch. He gave no thought to how this would make others perceive him, the fact that he was always deliberate in placing space between himself and other people.