Player Name: Masamune
Player Journal: thegamehiker.livejournal.com
Player Age: 22
Player E-mail: gamehiker@gmail.com
Player AIM/MSN/YIM: Gamehiker
Name: Graham Cray
Time of Warp: IS 305, end of the Island Nations-Kooluk War

Background: Born in the Scarlet Moon Empire in a small border village near the Kooluk Empire, Graham Cray was an officer in the Imperial Army who eventually became a student of the era's foremost strategist... Elenor Silverberg. As her student she showed great promise as a tactician. In the years as her student (and eventually colleague) he provided crucial strategies in the battles against the Kooluk Empire. At the same time, the Punishment Rune had been released from its shrine, traveling from one bearer to another... Eventually the Rune arrived as far north as the Scarlet Moon Empire. A Kooluk soldier in possession of the Rune was killed when he unleashed it on a group of soldiers under Cray's command. All of his men were killed, but Graham Cray was spared in order to become the next bearer.

At first the Rune was an oddity to Graham Cray, but he did not allow it to interfere with his work. Eventually visions and memories from the past bearers tormented Graham Cray, making it impossible for him to focus on his work. He soon learned the nature of the Rune. The only way for the Rune moved on was after it had killed the bearer. In time he made the decision he would not be a pawn of the Rune. In one horrific moment, he removed his own left arm. Although the Rune of Punishment did leave him, it quickly found a new bearer. His son. He passed out before that knowledge was made known to him.

He was horrified when he learned the curse had passed to his own son. However he could not bring himself to remove his own son's arm. Instead he did all he could to help his son bear the Rune. It was not to be though. During an attack incited by Scarlet Moon nobles, Graham's son unleashed the power of the Punishment Rune on them. The Rune's power consumes the nobles, many of the villagers, as well as the boy himself. Due to the nature of the incident, Graham Cray had no idea what became of the Rune. He was soon after questioned by the officials regarding the incident. Not wanting to speak ill of his son or anger certain nobles, he refused to answer to what had happened. Because of his lack of cooperation, he was dismissed from Imperial Service.

With no purpose left in his life, he became obsessed with the Punishment Rune. In time he reasoned that if the Rune had the memories of the people who had the rune before he did... then the Rune would have the memories of his son as well. Before leaving the Empire, he had a specially designed mechanical hand created to replace his left hand. He then poured his efforts into tracking the Punishment Rune. He deduced (correctly) that the Rune had moved southwards... as far south as the scattered islands between Kooluk and Gaien. To that end he began building a large shipping company to fund his search - and more importantly - determine the Rune's locations. In that time he became ruthless uncaring, allowing his company to engage in many unsavory activities, such as hunting mermaids. He soon pinpointed the Rune to being in the possession of the Pirate Steele. Despite his business, he didn't have the resources to successfully capture such a pirate. So he turned to his old enemy - the Kooluk Empire.

Thanks to his reputation and skills, he was able to manipulate the Kooluk Empire by having them expand their lands further south to the scattered island nations. What they brought with them especially was a powerful Anti-Pirate attitude, which was exactly Cray needed. Having already acquired the Giant Tree from Warlock, a runic scholar from Middleport, Kooluk had a surplus of Rune Cannon shells adequate enough to deal with the many Rune Cannon-equipped ships in that region. In secret he began stockpiling Rune Cannon Shells in a location only he knew about. Due to the origin of the weapons, he predicted that they would eventually run out. During that time the Punishment Rune transferred from Steele to Brandeau, but that did little to deter Graham's ambitions. Soon the invasion had begun.

During the early parts of the war, the Punishment Rune passed to Glen Cott and eventually to Lazlo. When Graham Cray had tracked the boy down to Obel Kingdom, he dispatched his personal agent, Ramada, to kill the boy. The fact this would lead to Ramada's death (from bearing the Punishment Rune) was of no concern to him. However Ramada proved ineffective and eventually the invasion led to conquering Obel, one of the region's more powerful nations. However Lazlo and King Lino en Kuldes escaped Obel in the Dauntless, further complicating matters for Cray.

With the war prolonged by this act, Graham Cray realized he would need more administrative power to achieve his goals. In time he had the Governor of El-Eal imprisoned, maintaining that he was 'ill' and making orders for him. Although his actions were suspected by Troy and Colton, he was able to keep them off the trail by keeping Troy in constant duty. Colton would eventually be captured by the Island Nation forces, giving Graham Cray full control of Kooluk's naval forces. Over the course of these incidents, he caught Ramada spying on him and used a poison dart from his mechanical hand to rid himself of the spy.

Thanks to the efforts of Elenor Silverberg, the tables turned on the Kooluk forces as the islands began allying with one another to bolster their forces. Eventually the Island Forces penetrated El-Eal's last line of defense, leading to a invasion of the fortress. He first confronted an infiltration party led by Elenor Silverberg. Although he tried to get rid of her with another poison dart, Ramada took the blow allowing Elenor to finish her job in the castle. After being defeated by Elenor's escort, he withdrew to the Giant Tree. He suspected that Lazlo himself would come to try and defeat him. Since he was no match for Lazlo, he intended to turn the extra dimensional tree against Lazlo so he could claim the Punishment Rune once Lazlo died.

When Lazlo finally arrived, he was encouraged to hear that the memories of his son were still in the Rune. He turned the tree against Lazlo's party, but in the end Lazlo was able to destroy the tree. The force of the battle caused El-Eal's foundations to weaken. Although Lazlo's party fled, Graham Cray was confronted by his old tutor Elenor Silverberg. In his last moments he mocked the foolishness of humans and told her that he would answer none of her questions. During  this last act of defiance, he died with her as the building came crashing down on him. Or rather, was about to.

Personality: Graham Cray is a man of incredible skill and wit honed by his years as a military officer, a strategist, and as a businessman. Although in his past Cray followed a loose code of ethics used by most Silverbergs, such moral restraints were done away with following the death of his son. Driven by his ambitions, he places little to no value to the lives of those around him. As a skilled manipulator, he is quite capable of appearing a charming person. Once a person outlives their usefulness or discover him for who he really is, he will not hesitate to have them 'taken care of'. To that extent he only trusts himself, he himself having very little faith in those who serve him.

His single driving goal is to possess the Punishment Rune again. Anything and everything he does is for the sake of 'redeeming' what little remains of his long deceased son. Despite his own personal sentiments, he has no such feelings of remorse for others, including those who were close to him prior to his change. Ultimately he finds all humans (himself included) to be foolish and flawed creatures struggling towards their own selfish, futile ends. Because of that, he feels no guilt in doing what he does since he merely sees his actions as the next logical step to what others do.

Runes: Wall Rune (Right Hand) 
(Note: I'm not sure if this should be "Barrier" or "Wall" or neither. One of his abilities in battle is casting a shield around him. In the context of an RPG like this, giving this ability to either of those runes would make sense).

First Person Journal Sample: 

"How pitiful. One moment I am ready to embrace death and then I am brought to this twisted mockery of a world. They call this a world of memories? Nonsense. It is a pale imitation that lacks the details to make it genuine. If it was built on memories, why then do I not see my boy amongst this sea of fabricated people? The endless oblivion might have been preferable to this, but...

That woman. She has my Rune. I will have it again one way or another. I have only to begin drawing plans."