Valo

**Valo** is the youngest of the six major Gods of the Iridescent Continents, he is the God of Fire, War, Redemption, Knowledge, and he is often seen as a guide and protector. He is a patron God of Valoisa and the protector of the Iridescent Continents, fighting off the beasts that live in the Outerlands. Valo is the youngest child of Umbre, God of Darkness and Death, as well as the younger twin to Myleia, Goddess of Water.

## Personality

There are two sides to Valo, his happy side and his explosive temper. While he always tries his hardest to stay positive and keep his more destructive side in check he is not always successful, having started many skirmishes, and even full blown wars, when his temper has flared. The most recent was a war he started about 200 years prior when he discovered his Avatar/Chosen was missing, starting a particularly nasty war while trying to find him.

When Valo has his temper under control however, he is often described as almost care-free and childish in nature, his high abundance of energy keeping him from staying in one place for too long. He enjoys interacting with mortals, probably one of the more social deities, and he tends to flirt a lot which will sometimes earn him a good slap in the face. He likes to see how mortals live their lives, fascinated by what mortals have managed to create and always willing to give budding inventors to a little nudge in the right direction, he hates to just give knowledge away but he also hate riddles (he claims he’s the God of knowledge and not confusion).

Valo is known as one of the more compassionate and helpful deities (as long as he is in a good mood), and is known to have aided mortals and Chosen alike in the past. He has a hard time letting others solve problems for him, which is the main reason he has only ever selected two Chosen. Ever since a mortal taught him the art of sarcasm and sass he has been using it, mainly against his father Umbre.

Whenever Valo’s temper gets out of control he tries to go to the Outerlands to fight monsters in order to blow off some steam. This does not always work and he has burned down villages from time to time due to the explosive force of his rage. When he is angry his fire abilities tend to get out of control due to the force of his emotions, if he destroys anything the force of his guilt prompts him to change his shape in order to help rebuild whatever it was he broke to try and redeem himself. He hates losing his temper but he has anger issues, tending to hold everything in until it explodes, quite literally.

## Appearance

As a God Valo is able to look like whatever he wants, most of the time he is wandering through his country he will change into cat form, wandering through the streets as a fluffy red tom with a white tip on his tail and unusual brownish-red eyes. Cats are his favourite animal although he prefers to become a Lion or a Phoenix whenever he has to do battle in animal form.

As a human Valo never alters his form from the one he was born with, not even making his various scars disappear. He has curly pitch black hair that is cut short enough that it only looks like it has a bit of a wave to it instead of his natural loose curls, looking a bit shaggy. His eyes are normally brown, the shade of whatever trees happen to be nearby or, if there aren’t any trees, just a plain dark brown. When angered his eyes turn coal black and he has a glare scary enough to make any sane person tremble.

Valo stands at 5’11 and has an athletic build, very tanned from spending most of his time outside. His body is riddled in scars from the countless wars and battle with the monsters but he does nothing to hide them, not one to care about his appearance since the scars are a part of him. The most prominent are the three diagonal claw marks down his chest as well as the scar along his cheek from being cut with his Divine Athame.

Valo dresses from comfort, normally seen wearing whatever is most popular in his country. Right now he is currently dressed in a plain white cotton shirt and beige slacks with no shoes, his prisoner garb.

## Abilities

### Pyrokinesis

Valo has complete control over his element, he can create, manipulate, strengthen and get rid of fire at will. He has also been known to change the temperature of his own skin, raising it high enough that he can glow in the dark.

Valo can even turn himself into living flames, although this ability is very rare and very dangerous as he risks never being able to turn back, or being stuck in that form for years, if he loses some of his fire.

### Shapeshifting

Valo is very adept at shapeshifting, his favourite forms being a red cat and the Phoenix although he will occasionally become a lion to do battle with monsters in the Outerlands. He also tends to change his eye colour but he is fairly consistent when it comes to his appearance.

### Knowledge

While Valo may not look it when you first meet him he is actually quite intelligent, perhaps the most intelligent of all the deities, he just doesn’t put his knowledge to good use. He is quite inventive and will often wander amongst all of the lands and give people ideas for inventions to help improve the quality of their lives.

### Military Tactic/Telumkinesis

This ability almost goes hand-in-hand with knowledge, as the God of War Valo is very knowledgeable on different war tactics, and is skilled with all weapons used in a war. He also excels at different types of hand-to-hand combat. He can also sense the possibility of a war looming on the horizon.

## Known Chosen

Out of all of the deities Valo is the one that has the least amount of Chosen, only having had two in the his entire lifetime. Valo only picks Chosen when he feels he has no other choice and needs a champion to save the people or to accomplish a major task, although he tries to provide whatever aid he can, much to the annoyance of some deities.

### Ezekiel Grace

The founder of Valoisa, Ezekiel was born in a time when the monsters were not confined to the Outerlands and roamed freely everywhere but Întunecime. He was a noble and honorable man, becoming the first King of Valosia and using his given Chosen abilities to kill monsters over a certain patch of land to create a safe haven for anyone needing a place to go. He praised Valo until the day he died (peacefully) at the age of 73. Unfortunately three generations into his descendants ruling they were killed, all except for one illegitimate unborn child.

### Adoiri

Valo’s most recent Chosen, having played a huge part in history about 200 years ago. He was the very first (and as of right now only) Avatar to become a Chosen, but he also happened to be a descendant of Ezekiel Grace. Adoiri was a very accomplished Chosen, having stopped slavery in his country and fought in two wars (both a civil war and a full blown war), although he was rumored to have started one of the two with his temper. When the Royal family learned of his true roots they brought him to the palace to kill him in secret, Valo rushed to his aid and Adoiri managed to escape, going into hiding with his wife where he was never heard from again and the Royal bloodline disappeared once more.

## Known Avatars

### Leona

Valo's Avatar about 1,000 years ago. She was an explorer and decided to venture to the Outerlands with a handful of guards on a job for the Royalty of Valoisa. While she was there she got a hold of the Divine Athame of Fire, unlocking the powers of the God in her. She shapeshifted into a lioness and ended up getting stuck in that form for eternity since she could no longer hold the Divine Athame to channel the power of Valo.

### Adoiri

Adori was both an Avatar and a Chosen, the first of his kind. Once he was turned into a Chosen he was awoken as an Avatar and this allowed him to unlock other areas of his Chosen abilities, such as shapeshifting. He was very powerful but he never reached his full potential, never having gotten his hands on the Divine Athame.

### Prince Haydn Cortez

The most recent Avatar, Haydn was born as an awoken Avatar. He shares a few personality traits with Valo, such as his flirty nature and his intelligence. Unlike Valo however he is quite mellow and does not enjoy war, despite having a natural affinity to any weapon due to his awoken status and Valo being the war God.

## Divine Athame

Valo’s divine Athame was discovered by a past Avatar and taken to the palace in Valoisa, where it has remained hidden for the past 1,000 years. Valo’s Divine Athame is a short silver blade with the handle of a dragon. The sheath is orange with the design of a creature from the Outerlands on it. The blade is bother elegant and deadly, forged by Valo himself and instilled with the power to kill him or to give power to anyone with the ability over fire, it is indestructible until used against an Avatar and to this day it has never been used in battle.

## Trivia

* Valo could be diagnosed with ADHD.
* Valo is the least favourite child of Umbre, the opposite of his favoured twin.