Valaskia Tolpez

Valaskia is the main character of the short story Maskmaker, Maskkeeper, Maskmatcher.

## Valaskia Tolpez

### Occupation

Maskmaker
Maskkeeper
Maskmatcher

## Appearances

### Debut

Maskmaker, Maskkeeper, Maskmatcher

> So I’ve had a hand in creating an unstable, failing Immortal, then. Wonderful.
>
> Valaskia Tolpez, irritated when talking to the constables

Valaskia Tolpez is the protagonist of the patreon short story Maskmaker, Maskkeeper, Maskmatcher which is set on the world of Larvanin. She aids in solving the mystery of the killings performed by Hyamir Hachin, whose body was reported as dead weeks before the story is set. Valaskia is a maskmaker, maskkeeper and maskmatcher. She has a shop where she makes masks and rents out masks. She has hundreds of masks on the walls of her shop and she has compatibility with all them. She is a brilliant maskmaker, far superior to nearly any other maskmaker in the Immortal City of Yuzagrad.

## Appearance

Valaskia is a middle aged woman. Little was described about her appearance.

## Personality

Valaskia hates the Immortals of Yuzagrad and intends to 'gift' them mortality. She, despite her potential with maskmaking to become an Immortal, is proud of her mortality. She tries to be polite to Ilas Hachyn and willing to do what she needed to stop the monstrous actions of delusional squadron that had been harmed by the twisted soulchemist. She dislikes the One-Faced people as they demonise her career but is still polite to those who do not bother her.

## Abilities

### Soulweaving

Valaskia likes to do her own soulweaving to produce soulthread. This is the act of twisting the astral into a shimmering thread that can be used for soulweaving abilities and memories into items. Valaskia manages to produce a soulwoven item that can project emotions beyond the item itself, and in the short story The Legendary Swordsman, is revealed that items with similar abilities are thought to be "rare beyond rare, valuable beyond measure".

### Maskmaking

Valaskia is a highly skilled maskmaker. She can produce masks with high level capabilities like spatial calaculations. Maskmakers are good at placing soulthreads inside soulmasks that can then be worn by others to impart memories, talents and skills. Valaskia is such a skilled maskmaker that she is the closet person to obtaining immortality in Yuzagrad in decades.

### Maskkeeping

Valaskia is a powerful maskkeeper who can, in moments of danger and stress, connect to her masks and draw on them without wearing them. Wearing a mask produces a hybrid personality made from the mask's identity and the wearer's identity.

## Equipment

Valaskia has many soulmasks, masks with skills, memories and identities.

### Soul-Weaving Mask

The soul-weaving mask was given to Valaskia by her teacher. The mask is made from blue-green foamwood and has memory storage and Valaskia stores her sales records memories in the mask. It also helps her with soulweaving. This mask is not the most polite and this aspect bleeds into Valaskia's personality when she wears it. Wearing this mask creates the hybrid identity Crafter Valaskia.

### Social mask

Described as a tiled, mother-of-pearls mask, this mask is used for social interaction and making sales. Wearing this mask creates the hybrid identity social Valaskia or saleswoman Valaskia or Valaskia the conversationalist.

### Analyst mask

The analyst mask is made of multi-coloured petalwood. It has little memory storage but is heavily layered with external reasoning features and sensory filters. It alters the ability to sort by importance, leaving the wearer distracted but able to make connections and notice things that others would miss. Wearing this mask creates the hybrid identity Valaskia the obsessive.

### Detective mask

The detective mask is made of battered brass and was the mask of a good detective. This mask has a particularly strong sense of self which is dangerous for the wearer if they keep it on for a long period of time. Wearing this mask creates the hybrid identity Valaskia the detective.

### Brawler's mask

The brawler's mask is made from leather. The mask is of an infantry woman who loved brawling. Wearing this mask creates the hybrid identity Valaskia the soldier.

### Identity helm

Valaskia's identity helm is an intricately soulwoven ceramic helmet without ear or eye holes. The mask is a reflection of Valaskia's self in the full which helps assert her identity and wipe away the influence of the masks of others that she wears.

### Thief's mask

The thief's mask is made from grey cloth mask and owning a thief's mask is illegal. This mask makes it easy to perform tasks like climbing without detection and managing to land in a roll to prevent breaking bones. Wearing this mask creates the hybrid identity Valaskia the thief.

### Filter

Every filter mask has to be unique to the person wearing it and the mask they will wear. The filter acts to limit access from the foreign mask to the wearer. This prevents any danger or negative influences spreading through quickly.

### Hyamir Hachin's mask

Hyamir Hachin's mask is a lacquered ceramic mask which was singular in density of its memory storage, the speed of memory retrieval, had the ability to handle some basic mathematical and spatial calculations. The mask was a brilliant recreation of Hyamir's face. This mask was so impressive that when placed on the emptied body of Hyamir it brought him back as a failing, unstable immortal. The Empty with Hyamir's mask acted with his mannerisms, spoke in his cadences and tones and said things that only he would say. However, the Empty sobbed as he stabbed his former comrades and spoke to people who were not present and behaved erratically.

### The Mask of Red Revels

*The Mask of Red Revels would always, first and foremost, be her brother’s mask*

The Mask of Red Revels is Valaskia's greatest mask. It is made of rust iron and is filled with a horrible endless bloodlust. The least of the mask's abilities are its killing skills and slaughter Will. Unlike any other mask, these traits do not just effect the wearer of the mask but everyone around them. This makes everyone, but the wearer, violent and insane to the degree that using tools to murder each other is beyond them and they rip each other apart. The Mask of Red Revels is the mask of dozens of failed Empties. Originally, it was just one failed Empty, who was wrongfully punished and tortured into a monster that was a being of pure violence. The mask is layered with soulthreads to a degree that Valaskia did not consider possible but still managed to accomplish. It is filled with the hate, wrath, resentment and forcibly taken madness from the failed Empties who had nothing else. The original failed Empty for the mask was Valaskia's brother and as such he is the most important part of the mask. The mask is an embodiment of violence and hatred that leaves the wearer sane whilst everyone around them kills each other. Wearing this mask creates the hybrid identity Valaskia the monster.

## Senses

**Astral Senses**

As a soulweaver, Valaskia has an astral sense which allows her to feel Will, soul-density and other factors relating to soulweaving. This sense seems to scream and fails to sense anything other than Immortals when in their presence.