Valoria Blackthorne

The Honorable Lady Valoria Blackthorne is the reigning Matriarch of House Blackthorne in the year 1086AE. She is a politician, serving as Member of Parliament for Stormrise East & Darkharbour since 1077AE; she is the founder and current leader of the Aradian Royalist Conservative Party, currently in opposition at the government, and will take the role of Prime Minister & Leader of Aradian Government should they be elected in the 1087AE General Election. She was born as the second child and second daughter of Queen Talia I by her husband, Prince-Consort Kavin Falmar, and in her youth held the title of Princess of the Thunderlands; she was named as heir to the crown following the death of her sister Alyssa in 1036AE, though by her mother's wishes she was eventually passed over in favour of her younger brother Gordon. Under the Monarchy she served as Hand of the Queen, until Gordon took the crown in 1075AE,whereupon she abdicated all positions & power in the Monarch's council. 
As of mid-1086AE, Baroness Valoria Blackthorne (often nicknamed "Val") currently resides alone in the palace of Otzengard outside Bastion City, but is known to maintain apartments within the Palace District for her political dealings. 
== Appearance & Character ==
Valoria Blackthorne is a female human of stormborn ancestry. Although past 60 years, she appears to be aged in her 40s by ordinary human standards. From an early age she has been described as unusually tall and strong-looking for a woman; while her figure is unmistakably feminine, Val is broad-shouldered, and her figure is both lean & athletic, though not quite as wiry with muscle as it was in her fighting prime. She was considered beautiful in her youth, though was said to have a "harsher" look to her than her sister or mother that made suitors less attracted to her. Her features are largely in line with typical Blackthorne and High Elven traits; pale-skinned, with high cheekbones and an angular face. Her hair was a fiery auburn from birth, but with age it has faded to a kind of burnished orange with a distinctive silvery-white streak issuing from the right side of her fringe. She has worn it long throughout her life, woven into a distinctive middle-parting with a warrior’s plait and decorated with a diadem or circlet on her brow. Her eyes are an unusual color, sapphire-blue shot with a "burst" of green like an "explosion" at the center of the iris. There remains a spray of faded freckles across the bridge of her nose that have been present since her childhood. As a warrior Valoria has been subject to numerous scarring injuries throughout her life. She has two disfiguring duelling scars on her face; one cut through her right eyebrow, and a particularly ugly deep one that runs from her chin to her left cheek. Her nose has been noticeably reset from being broken. There is a grisly mass of scar tissue on her back and stomach, marked first by impalement, and compounded by a blackened gash from a caesarean section over the same spot. Valoria regularly receives medical treatment for these lingering injuries. While she is still considered attractive by many, these injuries have stolen the beauty she was said to have as a young woman. 
Valoria is renowned for having a fiery & violent temper, one that has cooled slightly with age but nevertheless colors every other part of her life. She is prideful, rash, arrogant, bitter, easily-insulted, high-strung and vengeful, easy to provoke to physical violence and almost impossible to receive any kind of forgiveness from. In her position on the royal council she was known to always veer towards the most punishing, authoritarian and violent solutions to any given problem, and was said to lack empathy for anyone outside her own family; this selfishness extends outside of her policy-making, as she has little regard for people outside of herself and those she deems worthy of associating with--even these she only cares for as extensions of herself. She is quick to insult others, and equally quick to brag about her own capabilities, simultaneously envious of others and convinced everyone else is envious of her. Above all she is resentful. She resents her enemies for taking her crown; she resents her own party for not being supportive enough; she resents the general public for hating her; she resents her age and her own body, complaining ceaselessly about the pains in her back and the corns on her feet; and most of all she resents the surviving members of the Blackthorne family, for even though they’re her own blood and part of the name she prizes above all else, she believes that they’ve failed her and strayed far from what they once were. 
In real-world terms, Valoria would likely be diagnosed as having narcissistic personality disorder, as well as symptoms of borderline and bipolar personality disorders and manic depression. Lacking access to medication for these issues owing to the setting, she can become highly unstable and volatile when upset, proving a danger to others and herself. This can lead her to engaging in substance abuse; she binge-drinks alcohol and has been known to use both blue diesel and muze. 
== Skills & Abilities ==
Swordsmanship: Valoria often boasts that in her prime she was the "greatest sword in the realm." While her skill cannot be denied, the claim has been a source of debate for scholars and analysts. A chief point of contention is that the sword had faded from 
Knightly Training:
Noble Education:
Political Experience:
Magic: Like the rest of the Blackthorne Royal Family, Val possesses Terramantic abilities. 
== History ==
==== Early Life(1021-1032) ====
Princess Valoria Blackthorne was born in a particularly difficult labour in the Soldier's Moon of 1021AE. Her mother, Queen Talia, spent nearly a full day wracked with agony trying to deliver her daughter, who stubbornly could not be budged. The physicians tried to get the Monarch to agree to have the child cut out of her, but Talia furiously refused the offer, as if locked in a contest of pride with the newborn. Finally in the early hours of dawn, the child was brought forth, healthy and lusty and already screaming in outrage. Talia was considerably weakened by the labour and warned to attempt no further children, lest it cause permanent damage to her. 
It is often said that close siblings can experience feelings of jealousy towards each other, vying for parental attention; this was not true of Val and her sister, Alyssa, just eleven months her elder. "Lyssi and Lori," as the infants took to calling each other, were inseparable. Generally harsh and rambunctious with her caregivers, given to tantrums, Val was immediately pacified by the presence of her sister, and regarded Alyssa with a moon-eyed worship, following her everywhere. Alyssa was overjoyed to have a sister and was extremely proud of Val; she would often carry her around under the arms like a doll, taking her up to courtiers and proudly presenting her sister like a favorite toy. 
In 1024AE, when Val was just three years old, Alyssa was abducted by Rebel forces. The child was inconsolable. screaming and panicking for all waking hours, refusing food, demanding to have Lyssi back at once. When her sister was rescued and returned, her sunny demeanour was gone, early signs of encroaching depression. Val's demeanour changed too; she became aggressively protective of the newly recovered Alyssa, as if afraid every person they met would try and steal her sister away again. In one of her very first completed sentences, she solemnly told her father; "Lyssi looked after me. Now, I look after her."
Val did not extend her love for Alyssa onto the next two siblings added to the family. She became furious as a toddler when Talia and Kavin talked about having more children, and when they finally did, the Princess was not happy. When presented with her newborn infant brother Gordon in 1026AE, she scowled and twisted the newborn's ear until he cried, and the two had to be separated. Gordon regarded Val with the same moon-eyed worship she showed Alyssa; however, the feeling was not mutual. Val hated Gordon and looked for every opportunity to belittle, humiliate, and physically hurt him. While greatly upset at the bullying, Gordon never learned his lesson, and kept seeking friendship from her. Letters between the siblings from their childhoods show him begging for her affection, offering her "both my horses, my silver dagger, and my new quill if only you will love me." Another brother, Theodor, followed in 1030AE; Val was extremely dismissive of the "baby" and called him as such even in adulthood. One highlight of this period was Val receiving a pet griffin from her mother, a large and fierce she-griffin that she named "Morrigan."
==== Squiredom(1032-1036) ====
Val was described as a temperamental and tantrum-prone child, but as she grew, the language used by her nurses and teachers changed; they began calling her fierce, and fearless. The girl, one tutor claimed, liked a "scrap" more than any boy he'd ever taught. She proved to be surprisingly effective at this; seeing Alyssa bullied by the older and larger boy Roger Thormund, Val kneed him in the crotch so hard that he required surgery and remained infertile for the rest of his life. This unusual physical strength was matched by her stature; known by her mother and nursemaids to have a tremendous appetite as a baby, Val's transfer to solids was taken with aplomb and she would eat enough for two or three children of her age group at every meal. She quickly outgrew her older sister in stature, and any fat dissolved as she exercised excessively, even at the age of 10 having an impressively strong appearance that was often commented upon. Val undertook all this with a dogged, single-minded determination. She had to be strong to protect Alyssa, but also, she had ambitions to be a great knight like her Uncle Jaster, or her Auntie Arianne, both of him she idolized. Though the two would often quarrel due to Val's hot temper, Talia was delighted to have a daughter who so freely bucked the expected roles of women in Aradian society and was proud to assist the girl, agreeing to have her trained as a knight by Arianne herself.
Arianne would frequently go on expeditions around the Isles; though this was a golden age and time of peace, she felt a calling for the journeying mercenary days of her past and would often serve as a wandering peacekeeper (as well as covertly visiting her daughter Zara). Val longed to accompany her Aunt on these exploits, and as they grew older, her overattachment to Alyssa began to waver in favour of her ambitions to go adventuring. Talia was highly reluctant to let her daughter out of her sight following what had happened to Alyssa. However, as the years went on and with assurances from Ari that the girl would be safe, the Queen finally acquiesced on her daughter's twelfth birthday. Many onlookers claimed it was the only time they ever saw a reaction of wholesome and sincere joy from Val. They set out on horseback the very next day.
Arianne and Val had numerous adventures as Questing-Knight and Squire, becoming a famous duo immortalized in song and folk storytelling. Val grew into a young woman in this time, tall and powerful and beautiful; hers was a harsher beauty than her mother or sister, it was said, but she nontheless had various male suitors. She was given to spurning them, often violently, but it was said that she did this out of fear and nervousness than genuine disdain. Speculation was rife in the realm as to who would win the Warrior Princess' heart. In the summer of 1036AE, after a climactic adventure in which the Princess had saved the lives of both Arianne herself and a great many others, Ari told her squire to kneel before her. She touched Val's shoulders and brow with her blade, spoke the sacred oath, and bade the fifteen-year-old Princess to rise as a Knight of Aradia. She was a squire no more; but she resolved to keep her adventures with Arianne going. They were too good of a pair to stop now.
==== The First Regency(1036-1038) ====
Val frequently returned to the capital to visit her family. On one visit in the demon's moon of 1036AE, she and Alyssa had an argument. The next day, Val and Ari rode out of the capital as usual to return to their questing; hours after their departure, Alyssa committed suicide in the courtyard of the royal palace. Val rushed back into the castle, confronted by the sight of her mother kneeling in her sister's ashes; in a fit of helpless fury, she reprimanded the Queen and blamed her for the death. Talia then struck Val across the face. The Queen immediately wept and collapsed in grief, begging for her daughter's forgiveness. Onlookers record Val not reacting, only having a "shocked, blank look."
That look persisted in her through all of the following weeks, and for a while after. The Princess was never seen to cry or grieve. Instead, she turned her efforts to organizing the funeral. Talia had fallen into a listless depression, unable to govern, and so her eldest living heir (only 15 years old) stepped up to the plate instead, running affairs with brusque and strict efficiency. Many courtiers praised how on top it all Val seemed, and how well she seemed to run arrangements. The realm was for now, it seemed, in safe hands. This began to change when the Queen arranged a long sabbatical from the Palace, an extended break from working that would allow her to recover in peace. Val snappily assured her mother that she could easily handle all of this herself, & that she should go and take her rest. In the Obsura's Moon of 1036, Queen Talia departed from the capital on Griffinback, taking her husband and youngest child Theo with her. The sabbatical ended up lasting over eighteen months.
Queen-Regent Valoria's first action was to have Shiera Karhall, the last living Rebel leader from the Aradian Civil War who had kidnapped Alyssa all those years ago, pulled from her long soft-imprisonment in the Palace's tower. She had the old Elf put in the stocks before the angry population who were incited to violence against her. Shiera was left there for three days and nights without food or water; on the morning of the fourth day, Val pulled her from the stocks and publicly cut her to pieces with King Jaster's sword Drakalibur, which she now claimed as her own blade. This was praised by the public, who were hungry to blame someone for Alyssa's death. It was also a microcosm of Valoria's style of governance that was to come. She was reactionary, vengeful, impatient and short-sighted. She showed no mercy to any of the Crown's enemies, and if there was an option to use violence to solve a problem, she would take it--even sometimes making violence into an option where it was not needed.
The list of her follies in office is too numerous to fully recount here, save to say that it dangerously destabilized the realm. There was a Mage Uprising in Caybourne early in her reign; Val enthusiastically led troops into battle against the rebels, and her gung-ho battle tactics resulted in the death of Richard Holdenhome, one of the crown's most important allies. There was also an uprising on the island of Nagari which Val put down with similarly bloody force. While this was happening, she borrowed copious amounts from the Bank of Volmark to fund her armies that she refused to pay back; this, alongside sums borrowed from the Northern King Drake Morvala, caused widespread economic crises for the first time in the crown's short history. Val blamed the problems on everyone but herself. She fought with her Coinmaster Briona Manford and ended up forcibly dismissing the elder noblewoman from the capital. She also dismissed the services of her mother's hand, the ailing Yven Monmoth, and took his duties on as her own--only worsening the crashing economy. On one memorable occasion, she burst into the royal counting-house in full armor, waving Drakalibur around and accusing her bankers of conspiring against her for failing to balance the books. Around this time, one of her bannermen stepped up; a young man named Caradoc Rookwood, who Val had met before--as a potential suitor for Alyssa, and as a squire on her journeys. Caradoc persuaded Val to let him take charge of the royal finances. By the end of 1038AE he had repaired most of the damage of her reckless spending, though his methods were questionable--his introduction of forced labour for prisoner rebels on Nagari would eventually be a contributing factor to the Pirate War. 
While this was going on, Val became increasingly erratic and unreasonable behind the scenes--even violent. She was particularly harsh towards her brother Gordon, who Talia had unwisely left at court with her. This culminated at the end of 1037AE, when Gordon insulted her during a feast. Val dragged her little brother by his hair, screaming, to the nearest window ledge and told him in full view of their courtiers that if he ever spoke against her again, she'd drop him from this very tower and watch him die. This was the end of Gordon's worship of his sister; from then on, only hatred existed between them. 
==== The Grand Tourney and the Grand Return (1038-1044) ====
In early 1038AE, Val entered a council session in a manic mood. She declared that to repair relations with the Northern Kingdom, she would hold the greatest knight's tournament ever seen on their lands at Avamor. it would be seven days and seven nights of feasting, festivities and glorification of the accomplishments of her reign thus far. Her Coinmaster quietly suggested they not spend so much so soon, and the Queen-Regent became immediately furious, and the two argued ferociously. Eventually Caradoc capitulated, though with considerable chagrin. The extravagant finances were drawn from the royal coffers and the Grand Tourney of 1038AE commenced.
The Tourney culminated in the Queen-Regent having a complete meltdown in full view of her court, and pulling a sword on the Northern King & Queen--both of whom physically beat her. The deathly-expensive tourney grounds went up in flames in the midst of it all, and the Northern Kingdom formally seceded from the Crown's rule--a disastrous diplomatic failure. When they returned to the capital, Valoria had her worst fallout yet--this time with her old partner and aunt, Arianne. This ended in Arianne punching the Queen-Regent in the face, breaking her nose. Valoria flew into a fit of rage so violent that Arianne was forced to flee the palace. She demanded by royal decree that Arianne be found, and hanged. The next morning, Valoria called another council session that was almost entirely empty, as she'd fired most of the council. Halfway through, however, a familiar face joined them; it was Talia. The Queen calmly approached the high seat and stood over her daughter, calmly asking her to step aside. A few words were exchanged. Finally, Valoria, at long last, burst into tears and collapsed into her mother's arms, where she remained, sobbing. Talia quietly took charge once again, and set about righting her daughter's wrongs.
Valoria was described, over the next several months, as having the manner of a "beaten dog with its tail between its legs;" she became quiet, submissive, withdrawn, her old fire absent. She followed her mother everywhere, often clinging to her like a helpless babe--regressed to earliest childhood. Talia saw to it that she personally apologized to those she'd wronged, repairing relationships with the crown. But the Queen's reprimands only extended so far, for she was fiercely protective of her only living daughter--she did not seek to capitulate to the Northern Kingdom, for example, furious that Drake had physically beaten her child. By her eighteenth birthday, Val was demoted to a minor council seat, but she was still a council seat, and though Talia did not explicitly train her in statecraft or name her as heir, the assumption was that the Crown-Princess would some day once again get to be Queen proper through inheritance. Only one change from Val's regency was kept, and that was the addition of Caradoc Rookwood as coinmaster.
==== A Most Violent Young Woman (1044-1050) ====
==== Motter’s Spiral(1051-1052) ====
==== Motherhood & Monarch's Hand (1052-1068) ====
==== Downfall (1068-1077) ====
==== The Solemn Covenant (1077) ====
==== Member of Parliament (77-Present) ====
== Recent Events ==
It was the 21st night of lady's moon 1086AE. Valoria, Baroness of Blackthorne, was present at a masquerade hosted by Armand Piers. While there she tracked down an act hired for entertainment at the party, who was in actuality her niece Gwen, now accompanied by her daughter Iris. Valoria had been under the illusion Gwen fled from her because Iris had been sired by Edmund. However, when Gwen kicked back against this by insulting both the Dark Prince and his mother, Valoria spun immediately out of control and physically assaulted Gwen, only stopping upon being threatened by Iris' display of volatile magicks. Retreating, she vowed to capture her niece and great-niece both upon her return with reinforcements. On her way out she accosted her bastard granddaughter Daria in a desperate ploy for affection mirroring what she'd seen between Gwen and iris, becoming increasingly unstable upon being rejected. She insulted the other guests, physically assaulted a bard, and stormed out accompanied by her guard and the Duke of Monmoth.
== Ancestry ==
A family tree, with some of Val's immediate descendants and relatives, is viewable here.
== Trivia ==
* Named after the Pixies song of the same name&pronunciation, though spelled differently.
* "Valoria" was originally the name of Talia before being the latter's name was changed to its current one during various Aradia reboots circa 2015.
* She was the second-last of Talia's children to be conceptualized by the writer behind Gordon and then Alyssa, coming much later in the process. Yet her character has always existed in plans for the sequel, with Talia always having a middle child of that name. 
* Val was originally going to be a werewolf before her current version took shape.
* Her characterization is heavily influenced by Queen Cersei Lannister from George RR Martin's Song of ice and Fire books--though crucially not the Game of Thrones character of the same name, which is a poor adaption of the original character.
* Two other influences on her characterization are Sweet Dee from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and especially President Selina Meyer from Veep, with the latter an ideal source of inspiration when writing "political" scenes for the character
* Her status as the failed protégée/sidekick of a hero who grew up to "become evil" is influenced by DC comics character Jason Todd, a former Robin to Batman.