Valeriu Khorshid

~

(WIP)

Valeriu is a beloved character to me. I've been writing him for almost as long as I've been roleplaying, so he is among my most well developed characters. Much of his characterization has happened organically, developing over years of roleplay, and slowly finding his voice the more I went on. Now, finding his voice while writing comes very easily to me. I take a lot of inspiration from many different pieces of media, art, music, and books to flesh him out. I would like to dedicate this space to simply giving OOC insight into the characterization of Valeriu.

Overview

Vali's story, ultimately, is a focus on elements of freedom, of sacrifices for a better life, of making decisions for freedom and autonomy that eventually come to bite you in the ass, about making one's sacrifices worth it in the end, about becoming what one hates the most. His story is one about slavery, freedom, triumph, defeat, love, hate, madness, and desperation.

Vali did not start out his life as many of us do. He did not properly know his parents, for he was bred specifically to be a slave. He was raised by other slaves, that was the closest thing he had to family. This has made sure that Valeriu never truly had a proper childhood, like most Dokkalfar slaves, and now attempts to regain lost time and experience. He was not supposed to have magic -- slaves are bred specifically to lack in it. So soon enough, he became estranged from even his fellow slaves. They feared him. Lacking any sort of support system from early on in life effected Vali deeply, and left him without a foundation that so many of us take for granted. In this way, he can often seem quite childish, self absorbed, overtly emotional and hedonistic. He never had the loving discipline or guidance of an actual mother or father, he only knew the harsh punishment of his masters. He did not understand what it meant to experience pleasure purely for himself until he became a magister -- and so he fell head long into it. He came to develop a very skewed view of how love works, and how authority functions. This has heavily effected his worldview, as evident in how he perceives himself to be treated by the voices of the spirits (who often berate or mock him - this is a result of negative self perception.) This has followed him and shaped his worldview throughout his entire life.

So it is really no wonder that when Vali was given a chance to expand beyond his meager and lowly station, he embraced it with open arms, without much consideration for the long term effects it might have on his life and those around him. In his mind, nothing could be worse than the prospect of spending the rest of long life in banal servitude to others. He didn't realize he would be consumed by a power beyond his reckoning, thrust face first into the world of spirit and magic -- something he could have never been prepared for. While Vali was born with magical abilities despite the meticulous and careful breeding of slaves, he was never given the formal education that most other mages are afforded. Mage slaves are not taught so much as they are contained. But Valeriu still managed to learn, to teach himself in secret, right under the nose of his master. He was not about to let these new found powers given to him go to waste. But if he was not careful, not skilled enough, not devouted enough to his craft and his ambitions, he would destroy everything he planned to build.

Thus was the double edged sword of Aeshma's gift to him -- the potential for nearly unlimited power, provided he had the tenacity and will to tame and understand it, a power that could easily turn on him and destroy him, and everyone around him.

Valeriu's more vengeful side comes out when he finally sets his plans into fruition and ousted Archmage Lucanis from his seat, taking it for his own. While Dokkalfar do have laws and customs of typical succession, with titles and power passing from Sire (essentially the Alfar equivalent of a mother) to the Scion. However, they are also a magocratic kratocracy, and might makes right in the eyes of the Unseelie. They respect power, and those who wield it, more than anything. More than even laws. So where in another kingdom, Valeriu would be accused of treason and organizing against the state, he instead would be lauded for his meteoric climb to power. At least to an extent. His presence within the Unseelie Court is still a very unwelcome one. He is considered an imposter by most nobility, an uppity upstart who posed a danger to the rest of the Court. Annoying new money, a reckless social climber, a slave turned cocky parvenu, unused to the pleasures and privileges afforded to the upper classes.

And yet, he was also a useful asset to the Tribunal -- The Archon, the Hierophant, and the Vizier. They saw great potential to use Vali by giving him the position of Archmage. They could manipulate and use this power for their own. There was also an intense curiosity about where Valeriu, once a lowly slave with no formal education, managed to acquire all this magical ability. They knew he must have been dabbling in some sort of dark or profane magic, but none of them realized yet that he was possessed by the reviled fallen goddess of chaos, Aeshma.

Inspirations

I take inspiration from a variety of characters and sources to flesh out this character. Everything from my favorite video games to mythology. Those familiar with the title might notice that I have taken a lot of inspiration from the video game Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, as inspiration for Vali's mental state and inner turmoil. These aspects were present before, but I was not sure how to properly, and accurately, impliment them until I came across this game. It gave him a ton of inspiration, and I got to thank the game for giving me the courage to finally tackle some more serious topics about my character.

Other inspirations of note include; Lord Summerisle from the folk horror movie 'The Wickerman' -- these two characters share the same sort of disconcerting charm about them. While he can be amicable, even welcoming and kind, there is always something ....'off' about this. The way he holds himself is often effortless and collected (at least until he is confronted with someone who can rile him up), and it just gives off the vibe he knows something most others don't, or that he has secret intentions that he is carefully hiding under that smooth charisma. Because he often does.

Another character inspiration is Fenris from the fantasy video game 'Dragon Age'. They share a similar conflict of being former slaves of cruel masters who ended to use them for their own profane purposes, now trying to find freedom and autonomy in a world that so often denies it to them. Both are living weapons, both are victims of a corrupt magocracy, and both fought for their freedom at great cost to themselves. However, the paths they took are obviously very different ones. Fenris left the life and people that tried so desperately to contain him, creating a new family and purpose for himself outside of being simply a living weapon and magical battery. In contrast, Valeriu tries to become one of them, in the hopes that he might never suffer in the same way, and perhaps (and this shows Vali's lower wisdom stat, lol) do some good with his station.

(WIP)

Tropes:

Below are a collection of tropes that I associate with Valeriu -- mostly just for the fun of it.

Magnificent Bastard
Affably Evil
Beware The Nice Ones
Gilded Cage / Caged Bird Metaphor
Broken Ace
Deal with the Devil
Leonine Contract
Faustian Rebellion
Bad Powers, Good People
Creepy Good
Dark Is Not Evil
Horror Hates A Rulebreaker
Inhumanly Beautiful Race
Rags to Riches