Rahal

Rahal (ラハル, Raharu) is a supporting character in Suikoden V. Rahal is a level-headed, thoughtful member of the Feitas Dragon Cavalry, in contrast to his friend, Roog.

Biography
Rahal is a highly-skilled Dragon Cavalry soldier. His intelligence and calm nature meant that Craig Laden considered Rahal his best advisor. His mount is the elegant dragon horse, Flail. Rahal was considered the most popular (see: handsome) member of the Dragon Cavalry, slightly ahead of Roog. When he was a kid, he and his older sister, Rania, used to play all kinds of pranks, where they'd switch clothes and pretend to be each other. As the more level-headed member of his partnership with Roog, Rahal often lets out sarcastic comments about his friend's hot-headed nature.

Along with Flail and his friend Roog, Rahal represented the Feitas Dragon Cavalry in the opening ceremonies of the Sacred Games in SY 449. Months later, following the Godwin coup d'etat and the revelations about the Barows involvement in the theft of the Dawn Rune, Rahal and Roog traveled to Raftfleet to acquire information on the situation before returning to Sauronix Castle to report on the matter.

After the Godwin Faction allied with the New Armes Kingdom, Rahal left the Dragon Cavalry and joined the Imperial City Recapture Army after it was made clear that Craig Laden would not lead the Dragon Cavalry into battle. He and Roog, along with the Prince's party, would later infiltrate Gordius to investigate the reason behind Craig's refusal to deploy the Dragon Calvary. After helping distract the Godwin guards at Gordius by dressing as his sister, Rahal helped uncover Godwin's plot to hold the dragon horse eggs hostage; the eggs were later secured by the Dragon Knights and the Prince, with help from Georg Prime. Folowing this, the Dragon Cavalry, no longer held hostage to the Godwin's threat to destroy the dragon horse eggs, entered the war on the side of the Prince.

At the army's Ceras Lake headquarters, Rahal initially opposed gambling on dragon horse races but relented when he saw the encouragement it gave to the riders and their mounts. In fact, Rahal was generally more open to new methods and ideas unlike the more rigid and traditional Craig Laden. It was Rahal's willingness to be open to new ideas that could run counter to tradition that persuaded Craig to later appoint Rahal as commander.

And so, following the Sun Rune War, Rahal was appointed Commander of the Feitas Dragon Cavalry. During his tenure, Rahal worked to reform the cavalry. Among other moves, he opened the ranks to women, ending the long-standing tradition that women could not enter the organisation's ranks.

Weapons
Rahal's weapon names, Cuthenkazma (クテノカスマ Kutenokasuma), Forbitor (フォベトール fobetōru), and Lamphinian (ランフィニオン ranfinion) are badly translated names of genus of pterosaurs. Correctly transcribed, the names would be Ctenochasma, Phobetor, and Rhamphinion, respectively. It should be noted that instead of Phobetor, the name Noripterus is now used for the genus.