Rafin Evenshade

Personality

Rafin walks a line between shadow and warmth. To strangers, he may seem aloof or sharp-eyed, but to those who truly know him, he is generous with attention and always curious—often startlingly so. His mischief, once the hallmark of a child beloved by village elders and guards alike, has matured into a subtle wit and deft manipulation of situations. Yet at his core is a man who still believes in doing right, even when the path there is unconventional.

He is quietly empathetic, often noticing discomfort before others do, and he will frequently act to ease it—sometimes without revealing himself as the source of relief.

Philosophy

Rafin believes that knowledge awaits discovery and meaning lives between the lines. To him, knowledge is most powerful when not brandished. He values hidden things—secrets, feelings, forgotten lore—not for their own sake, but for the choice they give. His morality is measured not in laws but in outcomes: Who was helped? Who was harmed? Did the truth make a difference?

Public Reputation

In Evenshade, Rafin is remembered fondly—though in recent years, many villagers whisper that he has become "complicated." Some call him gifted, others say he wastes his potential. Elders tend to smile when they speak of him, while foreign nobles might wrinkle their noses. The Watch still trust him, even as he walks past them more often unseen than not.

Outside of Evenshade, Rafin is known as Aewen Wael, a name meaning "drifting owl" in the Elvish language. Under this guise, he operates as a smuggler, fence, and occasional thief, plying his secretive trade first in Berdusk and Iriaebor, before turning to the larger (and safer-to-his-anonymity) Baldur's Gate. As an Oghmanyte and amateur scholar, he prefers to trade in non-magical books and scrolls that he knows so well, although he will procure the magical ones for a bonus.

To most, he is an enigma. To a few, he is a cherished soul.

Relationship with Family

Edric Evenshade (father): Rafin's relationship with Baron Edric, his father, is deeply strained—each disappointed in the other, though neither truly knows why. Rafin’s refusal to accept the mantle of noble responsibility has long irked Edric, who sees it as rejection of the family’s legacy.

Marlena Thryndel Evenshade (mother): they remain distant but occasionally tender—he suspects she understands him more than she lets on.

Althar Evenshade (brother): his bond with Althar, the eldest, is complicated by rivalry and a fundamental difference in temperament. Rafin sees Althar’s rigid sense of duty as both marginally admirable and vastly constraining.

Elenna Evenshade (sister): Rafin’s closest familial tie is with Elenna, the youngest. They share unspoken understandings and private humor. She is the one person whose opinion he actively seeks.

Symbolic Role

Rafin embodies the unresolved potential within Evenshade—the tension between tradition and change, between duty and discovery. He is the truth that the family motto whispers but does not speak aloud.

Where Althar stands for strength and Elenna for wisdom, Rafin is the question mark—dangerous, perhaps, but essential.

Quirks

Rafin always carries a thin stone chip in his left sleeve—an old shard from the tower’s third floor, which he insists hums faintly in moonlight, although it does nothing for anyone else. He flicks it between his fingers when thinking, or before speaking a painful truth.

He also has a peculiar way of tilting his head when asked a direct question—as though listening not to the speaker, but to something else entirely.