RAYMOND "RAY" DEWITT .
"one minute, I held the key. next, the walls were closed on me. and I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand." ─ viva la vida, coldplay
IDENTIFICATION .
full name : raymond amir dewitt .
nickname : ray, shepherd, sentinel, sheriff .
gender : cis man .
pronouns : he / they .
sexuality : no idea (the likelihood of me having a straight character is in the negatives at this point) .
age : forty .
date of birth : november 13th .
status : resident .
class : rejected ( ex virtue ) .
hierarchy : rejected ( ex knight ) .
occupation : mediator .
FAMILY .
father : frank dewitt ( deceased ) .
mother : judith dewitt .
siblings : jacob dewitt ( older brother ), angelie dewitt (adopted younger sister) .
significant other : miriam dewitt ( open ) .
children : unnamed dewitt ( open, one biological & one adopted ) .
REFLECTION .
face claim : rahul kohli .
height : 6 ' 4 "
hair color : black & gray .
eye color : brown .
PSYCHOLOGICAL .
zodiac sign : scorpio .
meyer - briggs : infj : the advocate .
positive traits : courageous , loyal , resilient .
negative traits : withdrawn , guarded , resentful .
character parallels : vander ( arcane ) , sheriff hassan ( midnight mass ) , joel ( the last of us ) , booker dewitt ( bioshock: infinite ) , rick grimes ( walking dead ) , atticus finch ( to kill a mockingbird ) , elphaba ( wicked ) , prospero ( shakespearean ) .
TLDR .
Raymond “Ray” Dewitt grew up in Virtue, the adopted younger brother of Jacob Dewitt [wc]— his older brother turned Knight and Ray’s lifelong hero. Following in his brother’s footsteps, Ray joined the force at twenty-one, built a steady life with his wife, Miriam, and their two children, protected his younger sister, Angelie, as if his life depended on it, and believed wholeheartedly in the system that shaped him.
That faith was shattered when a fellow Knight assaulted a civilian, and Ray refused to cover it up. The officer he reported on was influential, and Ray was warned that if he didn’t drop it, someone would disappear. He thought they meant him. He could handle it. Instead, it was Miriam and their children.
When Virtue found no evidence of foul play, the courts accused Ray himself. Stripped of rank and sentenced to exile in Rejected territory, they were buried alive by the system they'd defended for years... Until they discovered an old legal loophole granting neutral jurisdiction to mediators between factions. Using that forgotten clause, they reclaimed limited authority and began serving as an independent peacekeeper across Virtue, Vice, and the Rejected.
Now, at 40, Ray’s become something between myth and necessity. To Virtue, they're The Sentinel: a reminder of the consequences for questionable morality. To Vice, they're The Sheriff: the rare man whose word carries more weight than violence. And to the Rejected, they're The Shepherd: the one who greets them at the gates and reminds them they still belong to the living. At the end of everything, he just wants to be seen as worthy by his family again someday.
FULL STORY .
Raymond DeWitt grew up in a quiet Virtue household, the youngest of two brothers. When he was six, his parents adopted him from the system, and he officially became a younger brother to Jacob DeWitt [wc]: brave, strong-willed, and protective. Jacob [wc] became both a role model and a myth to Ray, someone they looked up to. Soon after that, and suddenly, he wasn't the youngest anymore. Angelie was adopted into the family, and his family became that much bigger. He promised, on the day she was brought into the family, that he would always protect her. No matter what.
By the time Ray came of age, Jacob [wc] was already a Knight. It felt natural to follow his older brother and honor their father... At twenty-one, Ray joined the force, swore the same oaths, and built a life that looked almost ordinary: a wife named Miriam, two children who laughed like sunlight, and a home with plants that somehow stayed alive despite his hours.
He wasn’t a hero... Just a man who believed in the system they were helping to make better.
Then came the night that faith broke.
During a patrol, one of his fellow Knights assaulted a civilian... Brutality passed off as “procedure.” Ray filed a report. He was told to retract it. The knight he reported was an influential figure in Hiraeth, and it was advised that he push it under the rug just that once. When he refused, he was warned that if he kept pushing, someone would disappear.
He assumed they were threatening him. He could handle it.
It wasn’t him they were threatening.
Miriam and their children vanished before the trial. No records, no witnesses, no explanation. Virtue called it a coincidence; Ray called it a consequence. Then the courts called it guilt.
Charged with their disappearance, Ray was stripped of his badge and sentenced to exile in Rejected territory— a bureaucratic way of burying him alive and keeping him from looking for them in the outside world. They arrived there with nothing but his uniform coat and the faith that truth must mean something.
Months into his sentence, while working mandatory civic service in the crumbling archives of an old courthouse, they found a forgotten clause in Virtue’s old archives: a relic of the Council of Neutral Mediation, granting neutral authority to mediators serving “across civic divisions.” No one had closed the department. No one remembered it existed.
He invoked it. The scanners read his old badge as valid. Suddenly, the exile had jurisdiction.
Now, he mediates disputes between Virtue, Vice, and the Rejected... The jobs no one else wants: violent border incidents, drunken patrons, missing persons, collapsed trade deals, arguments, family disputes. The Council didn’t exist anymore, but its seal still carried weight in the system’s memory. The city tolerates him because the paperwork still says they must.
To Virtue, they're a cautionary tale that won’t go away. Known reluctantly as The Sentinel. The name sounds honorable, but is whispered as a warning. He’s proof that the system remembers its crimes, and the system hates reminders.
To Vice, a moral thorn in their side. Called The Sheriff. It began as a joke and became gospel when he stopped a gunfight with nothing but his badge and his voice. In Vice, respect is rare; mercy rarer. He manages both.
To the Rejected, the man who never turned them away. To them, they're The Shepherd. He’s the one who meets new arrivals at the gates, explains their rights, and ensures their names don’t vanish from the record. In the silence of exile, his kindness sounds like a hymn.
At the end of everything, Ray only dreams of being seen as worthy by his family again.
In actuality, he works and lives on the borders where laws overlap, and empathy goes to die. He's the neutral mediator of Hiraeth, the man who keeps the peace where peace isn’t profitable. He wears his old wedding ring on a chain around his neck, sips from a coffee cup reading World’s Okayest Knight, and still uses their virtue badge that expired years ago. The thing is, the scanners still turn green. It still works. No one knows why.
WANTED CONNECTIONS .
1 . the brother : Once a hero in Ray’s eyes, now a ghost in his story. They were brothers by paper and blood alike, raised under the same roof and oath. Jacob was everything Ray wanted to be: loyal, respected, unshakable. But when Ray fell, Jacob didn’t defend him. Maybe he couldn’t. Maybe he wasn't sure he should.
Now, years later, Ray still wears the badge Jacob pinned on him, the one that got him through the gates of exile. Whether Jacob regrets staying silent or is still unsure of his brother's innocence depends entirely on who you want him to be .
2 . the liar : Someone who still insists that Ray overreacted to the situation or downright lied about it. They both know the truth and Ray would love do something about it. He just can't and they both know it .
3 . moral mirror protegé : A younger knight or just a younger person who secretly admires his work. They come to him looking for mentorship or guidance on cases that don't fit the system. A kind of Hagrid and Harry relationship from Harry Potter .
4 . quiet ally : Works behind the scenes to keep his virtue badge active in the system. They're terrified of being discovered, but can’t bring themselves to cut him off. They could be doing it because they feel responsible for their sentencing or something else .
5 . good criminal : Someone who they've "let off the hook" more than once. This could be because they help him quietly or because Ray sees something human in them .
6 . bar regular : Someone who drinks with them semi-regularly. Not out of friendship (they say), but routine. Might not know who they really are, just that they “listens better than priests.”
7 . new arrival : Recently cast out of Virtue or Vice. Ray’s the one who met them at the gate. They’re still disoriented, furious, or terrified, and he’s their reluctant anchor. Could mirror the way he wishes someone had helped him when he arrived.
8 . journalist : Could be a college student, writer, or journalist. They just want to write about him... Either as an exposé or a redemption story. Ray despises attention but can’t deny someone should remember the truth.
9. someone they saved : Someone who survived a conflict or a bad situation because of them. Years later, they might idolize them, resent them, or both.
10. loneliness companion : The man has been alone for a long time. He might have a crush, but he just doesn't even wanna address that right now. Either way, they're drawn to them, and they're one of the only people that he's totally comfortable around.
