Raymond Cobsend

Raymond Cobsend is one of the Cobsend family's pillars, Luke's uncle, and a scientist whose expertise centers on mana-driven alterations of living tissue. His pleasant manners conceal a controlling, predatory political mind. After years of manipulating Khan, his value against the Scarlet Eyes earns survival but not forgiveness: Khan and Liiza bind him into compulsory service.

Biography

Milia 222 and the Nak's hand

Raymond arrives on Milia 222 while Khan's group investigates stolen materials and Rodney's smuggling network. He presents himself as Luke's supportive uncle, but his nearly perfect emotional control and unreadable mana immediately alarm Khan and Jenna. Private meetings reveal his real interest: he studies mutations produced by mana and wants access to the Nak's power, making Khan's scar and the stolen alien hand central to his plans. (Chapters 393–398, 410–412)

The scheme culminates at the dock, where Raymond, Caja, Fuveall, and Orlats attempt to control the Nak's hand. Raymond withstands its pressure longer than most and cuts a path through its chaotic flare with raw mana, but the artifact escapes the group's assumptions and forces cooperation with Khan. Raymond survives the disaster and continues turning family authority, criminal channels, and scientific expertise into influence over both legal and illegal projects. (Chapters 416–423)

Fugitive genius and forced return

Raymond later becomes a hidden enemy whom the Nognes family cannot locate. He leaks information about the Thilku military planet, helping trigger the political crisis that drives Khan away from humankind, while periodically proposing new partnerships. Years later, a breakthrough involving synthetic organic mana cores makes his scientific value impossible to ignore. Khan hates the manipulation but accepts direct negotiations because stronger human warriors may be essential against the Scarlet Eyes. (Chapters 1165–1167)

His work then contributes to two anti-Chaos developments: collaboration around the Niqols' research and an experimental fuel that allows human technology to function temporarily against weaker True Chaos. After Aynor, Khan retrieves Raymond and delivers him to Liiza. She alters the existing blue mark on his neck with her and Khan's blood, turning it into a permanent dark-red slave mark that binds him to their family for life. The punishment preserves a necessary scientist while removing his freedom to scheme without consequence. (Chapters 1344–1345, 1398–1400, 1449–1452)

Universal coalition scientist

Under that binding, Raymond joins Garret Bizelli and Abraham among Khan's lead scientists. His expertise helps the coalition evaluate evolved assets, anti-Chaos technology, and the route toward the Scarlet Eyes. He remains decisive and professionally commanding in the laboratories, but his final position is fundamentally changed: the former broker who dictated terms now works inside the allied front under a supernatural punishment he cannot evade. (Chapters 1503–1506, 1511, 1518–1519)

Appearance and personality

Raymond shares the Cobsend family's grey hair and brown eyes, and his exceptional height recalls Luke, but his body is thinner and his facial features sharper. He wears perfectly fitted suits, often with his long hair tied into a bun and braids framing his face. His elegance and apparent friendliness advertise wealth and status, while Khan senses beneath them a mental state like a bottomless, unreadable dark pit. (Chapters 393, 397)

He is charming, patient, and relentlessly manipulative. Raymond makes dangerous demands sound like generosity, gathers favors through both family and criminal structures, and continues pursuing Khan even after repeated rejection. At the same time, his scientific curiosity is authentic and his nerve exceptional: he faces the Nak's hand, True Chaos research, and Khan's later judgment without losing the ability to analyze what might still be useful. (Chapters 393–423, 1165–1167, 1450–1452)

Abilities

Fourth-level warrior control

Raymond is identified as a fourth-level warrior, yet barely disturbs the synthetic mana around him. Khan sees no active cloaking technique, implying extraordinary natural control over his presence and emotions. When the Nak's hand releases chaotic flares, Raymond swings his arm to open a passage through them without using a named spell, demonstrating that his raw manipulation and conditioning remain formidable even when a specific martial art is not supplied. (Chapters 393, 419)

Mana-biological research

Raymond holds degrees and practical expertise in altering organic tissues with mana and is credited with innovations in mana-dependent drugs. This specialty drives his interest in Nitis mutations, Khan's scar, the Nak's hand, synthetic organic mana cores, and later anti-Chaos research. His work produces useful outcomes, but his ethics are the primary limitation: experiments and bargains repeatedly treat living beings as access points to power. (Chapters 395, 397–398, 412, 1165–1167, 1398–1400, 1450)

Relationships

Khan

Raymond regards Khan as both a unique specimen and a route to unprecedented power. He alternates praise, political pressure, secret collaboration, and damaging leaks in an effort to remain relevant. Khan comes to recognize his genius as necessary for the war but never restores trust; instead, he accepts Raymond's compulsory service after Liiza imposes the permanent mark. (Chapters 393–423, 509, 1165–1167, 1450–1452, 1503–1519)

Luke

Raymond is Luke's uncle and a pillar of the Cobsend family. Luke respects him and initially treats his presence as familial support, but Raymond's independent agenda complicates Luke's Milia 222 operation and forces the younger man to balance kinship against his team's secrecy. Their resemblance makes the relationship visually obvious before its political weight becomes clear. (Chapters 393, 397, 410, 417, 421, 425)

Rodney

Raymond and Rodney cooperate through the criminal and scientific networks surrounding Milia 222. Much later, Rodney uses Raymond's experimental fuel to give Aynor's defenders a temporary technological answer to True Chaos and makes sure Khan's side receives samples and credit. Each man uses the other as a route back toward legitimate influence, without the source presenting their arrangement as personal trust. (Chapters 393, 401, 411–417, 1398–1400)

Liiza

Liiza sees Raymond's desire for the Niqols' bloodline as a violation that merits permanent punishment. After Khan brings him to her, she removes his old blue symbol and creates a darker mark from her blood and Khan's, naming Raymond a slave of their family until death. His final service to the coalition occurs under that coercive bond. (Chapters 1450–1452, 1503–1519)