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Death, sadness, melancholy, loneliness... such fun things await the "life" of a Raen. But let's be honest, sometimes writers just love to emotionally torture and ruin their PCs. It's character building! While the Raen may not have the easiest of times, especially in a world that distrusts them and scorns them, playing a Raen has potential for great storylines and lore discovery.

Pros of playing a Raen

Well! I'm not going to lie. The pros of being a Raen are definitely not IC, but OOC. As a Raen, you get to be somewhat of a Vitan sociologist. You can play all the races with just one PC! You live longer than any other race in Vita, you won't die for more than five hundred years, and you've got the potential for some seriously cool plots. Have you always been interested in ghosts, the afterlife, and reincarnation? Playing a Raen gives you a unique opportunity to discover the intricacies of life and death in Vita through roleplay.

Cons of playing a Raen

Well... there are quite a few, to be honest. But adversity is what makes us stronger, right? If you play a Raen, you need to be aware that you will not have great physical strength as your mind will be more focused on clinging to a body not your own. The mona do not trust you, and even if you are occupying a magical being, you will have an incredibly hard time successfully performing magic.

All other beings heavily distrust you, viewing the Raen as stealers of souls and murderers. When unbonded, a Raen will slowly lose their memories of their previous life, and corrupt the world around them. When bonded, the body will slowly over time attempt to force the parasitic soul out of the body, often leading to rage and insanity through pain for the Raen.

Look. I never said it was easy being a Raen. But hey, you've got some fun storylines to play with.

Raen Beginning Skills

Like galdori, a Raen has limitations on their Aptitude Skill choices based on their need to maintain mental focus of their incorporeal selves. Their Mental Aptitude Skill cannot be Poor and their base Physical Aptitude Skill cannot be Good, to make up for the mental effort it takes to inhabit a body and the awkwardness of controlling something that wasn't originally yours.

Aptitude Skills

Mental : Good
Physical : Poor
Social : Average

Mental : Good
Physical : Average
Social : Poor

Mental : Average
Physical : Poor
Social : Good

Focus Skills

Upon creation, a player can choose to be either a newly awakened Raen fresh out of their original body or a previously-bonded Raen who has been forced to find a new body for any number of reasons. This affects a player's starting package in the following ways:

• All new Raen begin play with no Focus Skills at all as they have only whispers and vague ideas of their former lives, but instead they may raise any 2 Aptitude Skills or 1 Aptitude Skill twice. Their Physical Aptitude cannot be raised above Average and no Aptitude can be raised to Master.
• A previously-bonded Raen begins play with 5 Focus Skills at Beginner (none of which can be spent in Magic of any kind, galdori or wick) as evidence of the lives they've borrowed previously. They may trade up to 2 Focus Skills to raise any 2 Aptitude Skills or 1 Aptitude Skill twice, but their Physical cannot be raised above Average and no Aptitude can be raised to Master.

While Raen can progress their Mental Aptitude Skill, for a Raen inhabiting a galdor or wick body to be able to use any Magic is next to impossible because of how the mona rejects their existence.

If the body the Raen comes to inhabit is a galdori or wick, that Raen will technically have a field, but it will be weaker once the Raen inhabits the body and they will lack the ability to control their field in the same disciplined manner as a galdor or a wick. The field will become frayed and wild without use, fading only slightly away as the mona continues to reject the Raen's existence, but may occasionally flare to life again like a miniature diablerie of a passive because the mona is attempting to reject the Raen from its host body (this is the equivalent of a Beginner-level spell at random, much like a passive diablerie with an area of affect even if the spell doesn't normally have one).

Getting into Character

• How does your Raen feel about being thrown out of the reincarnation cycle?
• Does your Raen feel guilt for stealing the bodies of the living, or that it is their right?
• Does your Raen prefer to live a nomadic life, or adopt the life of the bonded body?
• Would your Raen ever tell another person their true nature, or would they be too afraid of the consequences?
• Do they long for death, or embrace this new half-life?

Raen in combat

Sorry, but, Raen don't do too well in combat. While they may have some ability to physically control their bonded body, anything too close-quarters or too contact-oriented has the potential to fling the Raen from their body if they cannot maintain a strong mental grip on their connection at the same time. In the rare cases the Raen are adept at combat, it tends to be ranged.

While a Raen can work on their relationship with the mona and eventually perform magic to some successful degree, it is not encouraged to use it in combat, as the possibilities of backlash are much higher for the Raen than for any other race.

Get a job!

The benefit of being a Raen is you can have any job you want - you just gotta steal a body to do it!

Raen goals

Do you want to live a quiet life, ignoring your true nature - or seek revenge on those who scorn and hate your kind? Do you want to achieve a level of glory you never had in life, or simply fade away from your miserable existence?

As I said. It's fun being a Raen.