Valas Tlin'orzza

## Description

Like many of his Shadar-Kai kin, most of his features are dark with the exception of his gold eyes.. a extremely rare feature for his kind. His people believed his gold eyes are the product of his abnormal nature in that he is not devoid of emotions like most of his kind. His gold eyes stand out against his other darker features, including his long raven black hair with silver tips and his dark, but still somewhat pale bronze tinted skin. His neck, shoulders, and upper chest are decorated in black, tribal looking tattoos that were forced upon him at a very young age. Like most of his kin he is slender and small framed, even for an elf.

When in public, Valas can almost always be seen keeping a close eye out on anything and everything, especially exits. He always seems on high alert and rarely lets down his guard. He walks and carries himself with a sense of agile grace which becomes even more apparent the faster he moves.

## History

Valas's story is a tragic one, as one would expect from anyone living within the horrors of the Shadowfell all their lives. Born into a people who are almost entirely devoid of emotion can seem hard enough to the common person.. but being born into them fully capable of all of the emotions that they aren't, is even worse. From the moment of his birth his family knew something was wrong the moment they saw his golden eyes. His father claimed it was an omen that they had fallen out of favor with the Raven Queen, the goddess who is responsible for the shadar-kai's entire existence.

As Valas grew up, he was shunned by most of his kin as an outsider and a sign of ill omen, which was all the harder with his deep reservoir of feelings that his people did not share. As he got older he tried his best to hide his emotions, but it became harder, the most he grew to understand his plight.

When Valas had come of age, around 22 years old, his family began preparing to conduct a ritual that would "cleanse him of his impurities" and hopefully make him more like them. Valas of course, did not want this, so in the weeks prior to the ritual, he began searching for answers to save him from this fate. After alot of searching, he found an old tome among his father's belongings that detailed a history of his people's worship of the Raven Queen, including history of how she came to be. His people worshiped the Raven Queen as a benevolent deity and one who kept balance in the cycle of life and death.. but the tome he found had tales in it that were far more insidious.

In hopes of changing his father's mind, he brought the tome to him and urged him to read it, warning his father that the Raven Queen was not who they believed her to be, but his father was a devout follower and instead, burned the book and warned Valas to never speak of it again. It was then Valas knew, the only path left to him was escape. The next day he stole as much as he could to survive, but was caught by a sibling who warned his father. As he was leaving the village, his father called out to him and warned him if he left, he would never be welcomed back and he would be hunted as an abomination and heretic.. but he knew he had no choice, so he ran.

In the 25 years that followed, he continued to run for his life and in the process caught the eye of a powerful vampire lord who ruled over much of the lands who took interest in how Valas was different from his people. Valas went from running from his people, to also now trying to evade capture by the vampires minions. He spent everyday fearing for his life, never getting a moment's rest.

Finally, at the age of 47, Valas got a reprieve for a time. After being chased from any sign of civilization, he stumbled across an old hermits cave far from anything for days. Late one night he tried to sneak into the cave to steal food, when he was caught by the old hermit, an elderly seeming man named Eluvius. Eluvius was a monk who had fled his decimated monastery to live out his remaining days in peace, but he was growing old and it was becoming harder for him to defend what was his, so the two struck a deal. Eluvius would teach Valas to fight and give him shelter and food, and in return Valas would help protect the old man and his home.

For seven years their pact held until one evening while Valas was out gathering supplies, the cave was found by a minion of the vampire lord, a vampiress named Nirandria. She made a deal with Eluvius, that he could live out the rest of his days, with servants and safety in her castle if he turned Valas over to her. Like so many in the Shadowfell, Eluvius ultimately cared about one thing above all else.. himself, so a deal was made. When Valas returned he was ambushed in the cave by Nirandria's minions and he was captured. She did not however, hold up her end of the bargain, and she forced Valas to watch as she fed Eluvius to her worgs alive.

Valas spent the next 16 years as a prisoner of the vampiress who was tasked by her lord to find out what made Valas "tick". She took great delight in finding different ways to torture Valas to make him "feel" and to see what all he could "feel". Sometimes he would have lulls when she got bored, but she would always eventually return to her task. As time went on, Valas began to devise a plan to try to get free. He did his best to study her, and learn what made HER tick. He learned she had a great desire for the more carnal pleasures and he knew she found him pleasurable to look at, so he decided to use it. He started out by acting as if she had broken him, pleading to serve her and do her bidding. Over time she started utilizing him as a servant, cleaning, bringing her things, and allowing her to feed on him. He began to gain more access to the castle until he was able to finally crafted a weapon in secret, a wooden stake from the remnants of a piece of her discarded furniture she deemed unworthy of her estate.

Finally, one night she called for him to her bed chamber to "service" her. She was vulnerable and he used this long awaited moment to finally reap vengeance. He drove the stake deep into her heart, looking into her eyes the whole time as she looked back in horror, realizing the terrible mistake she had made. Before morning, he raided the armory, gathered supplies and escaped the castle before she was found.

He was 70 years old now, and he spent all his remaining days, again, running for his life. The vampire lord was after him in full force now, enraged at the death of the vampiress and his family still hunted him as well. He would have lulls when he found a good place to hide, or if he got far enough ahead of his hunters to breathe, but he knew he could never stop if he wanted to live.

He was 146, still on the run when something happened that would change his life forever. While running the streets of one of the Shadowfells ruined cities, evading the minions of the vampire lord, he was suddenly ripped away as he was rifted to Osteria. He came crashing into an alleyway in the city and found himself in a new, strange place. Now he starts a new life, away from the horrors of the Shadowfell and his past, but his journey has left many scars and ghosts that will always haunt him.