N'thaniel Garnet
A teenage cipher who walks one of the most difficult paths a cipher can walk -- that of the medic. N'thaniel (or Nate, as his friends and allies call him) seems to have a natural talent for the psionic art of bioregulation, which he uses dutifully to support and aid his comrades. Though he is fortunate enough to be the only son of the wealthiest man in all Tekiel, and having been trained by grandmaster cipher Vizen Vidal, the only thing Nate has ever truly wanted was to find his big sister Karen.

Character Bio
Nate is only 16, but he is exceedingly mature for his age. Most ciphers don't begin coming into their own until their early twenties, but Nate's skills have surpassed even those of his mentor Kaya. Part of this is almost certainly due to his training at the hands of Vizen Vidal, a psionic mastermind, who is the most powerful cipher the world currently knows. The rest, though, is simply Nate's life philosophy which includes hard work, perseverance, and a true zeal for seeing things through to the end.

Though he doesn't know it (for they have never met) Nate shares his older sister Karen's steadfast sense of duty. He lacks her harsh and sometimes cruel adherence to logic, however. Where Karen was trained to ignore her emotions and separate them from her circumstances, Nate tends to take them into consideration and avoid courses of action which would hurt others. Karen's loyalty is to her guild; Nate is truly selfless. Whether this is the result of differences in their training, or simply differences in their personality, is probably impossible to say.

Personal History
926 (Age <1) - Quentin and Tatiana Garnet are blessed with a second child, who they name N'thaniel. After much discussion, it is decided that they will raise Nate as an only child, and not reveal to him his older sister... who no one is even sure is still alive.

934 (Age 8) - Nate finds his way into a previously blocked off room in the Garnet family estate, which he quickly learns was the nursery of his older sister when she was still a baby. His father tells him about Karen and explains that his mother has never gotten over her kidnapping. Nate decides that to best help his family he will run away from home, find the cipher guild where Karen is being held, and bring her back to North Orin. He stows away on a ship and ends up at the wrong cipher guild, however. He is thus taken in by Vizen Vidal, grandmaster cipher (thought dead in Tekiel) and trained in psionics. A teenage girl named Kaya offers to take Nate as her apprentice. Later this year King Deran of Tekiel is assassinated and the war comes to an end, but the turbulent political climate still makes it impossible for Nate to leave Gen-Ri.

936 (Age 10) - Vizen kicks an older cipher named Cor out of his guild for training younger students in psionic arts Vizen deems inappropriate. Among other things, this includes gravity control and advanced ABR. Though Kaya takes up Cor's side in the debate (her argument is that students should have the freedom to learn whatever psionics they so choose), Vizen is adamant in his decision that anyone who wants to learn the so-called "forbidden" arts will have to get them elsewhere.

940 (Age 14) - Cor returns to the guild with strange news. In his travels he happened across a young woman from Tekiel named Erin Quistal, who was trained by Vizen's brash and irresponsible daughter Kenya. Cor reports that Erin is talented in many psionic aspects that Vizen forbids, and that he now understands why Vizen disallows those practices. He describes Erin as "cold, calculating, and without feeling". He also brings two other pieces of news: Kenya has been missing for over seven years and is thought to be dead. Secondly, one of Erin's peers at Kenya's guild is Nate's older sister Karen. Nate insists on leaving with Cor and returning to Tekiel, but Vizen advises against it. He tells Nate the day when he and Karen meet will come, but the time isn't right. After hearing what kind of person Kenya was, Nate is apprehensive about his sister having been trained by such a person.

942 (present day) - Vizen receives a letter from his old partner Shen Ampetoi about tatheril activity in Tekiel. Soon thereafter he is visited by Coliet Thunderclap, a paladin of the Gen-Ri Church. The church fears that this tatheril threat may be a danger to them... or, more rightly, their trade interests in Tekiel. Coliet has been instructed to ask that the senior cipher from the guild (which is Kaya, ever since Cor left) travel to Tekiel for some fact-finding. Though he mislikes crawling into bed with paladins, Vizen has ideas of his own. Thus it is agreed that Kaya and her young apprentice Nate will travel to Tekiel to the logging town of Darmenia to assess the tatheril threat.

Combat Ability

Stats: low high low average high average

Nate is predominantly inellectual, even moreso than most ciphers, so his physique leaves something to be desired. Furthermore he lacks the psionic attacks that make up Karen's arsenal. Nate therefore assumes the role of support in combat, aiding his allies with psionic talents that heal, shield, and bolster.

Nate is the only true "healer" character Karen meets up with. Though he can't really deal damage, his ability to restore the party's is too valuble to neglect. He also posesses the most reliable means of mitigating the effects of status ailments outside of Nero's Refresh skill.

Nate equips whips as his primary weapon, which like Karen carry a chance of paralyzing the enemy on a successful hit. He can also make full use of shields and misc. gear to help beef up his own elemental and ailment defenses while he assumes the role of party doctor. Like all ciphes Nate needs Aeros Pills to restore his , and Pheurus Pills to restore his .

Though Nate will burn through his quite often to heal the party or protect them from danger, he uses his command skill Siphon to replenish it by stealing it from enemies. By managing Nate's properly, and using Siphon efficiently, you can ensure your team has a long, happy life.

Skill Acquisition: Psionics
A promising practicioner of bioregulation, Nate gains all kinds of psionic abilities ranging from the ability to repair damage done to the body (in the form of restoring or reversing status effects) to extending his senses in such a way as to reveal hidden paths and treasures. Some of Nate's skills can change the color of your text boxes, revive fallen allies from the brink of death, or freeze all the enemies onscreen in their tracks.

Nate starts with a basic, non-elemental attack called Psion Blast. In addition he has a healing ability called Psion Placebo, which restores a small amount of and remoes Drain. Every even-numbered level thereafte Nate will be able to learn a new ability in one of four schools: restoration, status cure, protection and navigation. Thus at L6 Nate can decide to increase his healing abilities with Psion Revival, begin learning protection abilities with Psion Shield, or go another direction entirely with Psion Jukebox.