Raph

Raph (ラフ) is a shared name among all of the monsters of the Raph Race, Raaph Race, Tali Race, Lia Race, and Dafu Race. They are the predominant monster of Naofumi's Village.

Overview
Raph-chan was first created as a familiar or shikigami registered to both Naofumi and Raphtalia and created in Glass' World. Raph-chan was created from Raphtalia's hair and Naofumi's blood. In a desire to make Raph-chan stronger, Naofumi increased the Raph-chan's mutability which gave her abilities far beyond the typical shikigami.

Later, when a large group of tamed monsters from Naofumi's village were about to receive the class-up ceremony Raph-chan provided an option for a special Raph-type class-up path. All monsters chose this power-up method and became the first members of the Raph species. While all these first-generation Raphs had a base Raph form which looks like raph-chan, they also had a second form where they retained some of the characteristics of their original monster form. For example, a caterpiland which underwent the Raph class-up had a second form which looked like Raph-chan with a caterpillar-like tail.

A majority of the Raphs stay within one of the monster stables of the village and provide general security throughout the village.

Notable Members

 * Raph-chan: Raph-chan is Naofumi's first shikigami and the progenitor of the Raph species.
 * Raph-chan II: Raph-chan II is the result of Raphtalia's Ancestor's "spirit" being reborn as a Raph via a special ritual.

Powers and Abilities
Since the Raph species are based on Raphtalia, they all share the same affinities for light, dark, and illusion magic. They also have an extra affinity for spiritual powers. However, their strengths tend to lie in their magical abilities instead of physical abilities.

Innate Abilities

 * Transformation: Most Raphs are able to magically transform into some form. Raph-chan can transform into either an ofuda or a massive form, the first-generation Raphs can transform into a chimera form, and Raph-chan II can transform into her original Tanuki form.
 * C'mon Raph: When Naofumi or Raph-chan use this ability, it can summon select members of the Raph race.

Magic

 * Illusion: The main power of the Raph species lie in their powerful illusion magic. They also have resistance to illusions themselves.
 * Status Effect Resistance: The Raph species have resistance to status effects and can protect others from status effects by touching them.
 * Spiritual Manipulation: The Raph-species do have some spiritual powers since they were able to conduct a ritual to transfer Raphtalia's Ancestor's spirit into what became Raph-chan II.

Volume 8
Naofumi decides to create a Raph as a shikigami to help him find Raphtalia. He becomes close and affectionate for his new familiar as he finds her cute and soothing

Volume 12
In order to increase Raph-chan's potential, Naofumi increases Raph-chan's mutability. This eventually unlocked her ability to level up and gives her additional powers over time.

Volume 15
When it becomes time for many of the monsters of Naofumi's village to class-up, Raph-chan offers a new Raph-type class-up path. Seeing Naofumi's affection for Raph-chan, all monsters choose this class-up path which turns them into the Raph species. He and Rat find that the new "Raph" race now has multiple sub-species which Naofumi names after their unique cries: the Raphs, Raaphs, Talis and Lias. However, hardly anyone can differentiate between the different species. The Raph species start increasing the security of the village and are even able to help keep Atla under control. They also participated in the battle against the Phoenix.

Volume 16
Raph-chan leads other members of the Raph species in a ritual around the largest of the sakura lumina trees within Naofumi's village. This forms a fruit which eventually becomes Raph-chan II. When Takt started his campaign to take over the world, Naofumi introduced Trash to the Raph race which proved to be essential the defence against the false hero.

Trivia

 * The cries of all of the Raph species are based on Raphtalia's name except for Raph-chan II's sub-species which say "Dafu"
 * The Raph shield unlocked with Raph fur allows Naofumi to slightly increase the abilities of a Raph or Raphtalia.