Valen Lefevre

In his youth, Valen Lefevre accidentally made a deal with a fey who put him to work in Thelanis. There he picked up the larger foundations of his smithing and magical skillset, and is now trying to figure out his place in Eberron post-war.

## Personal Details

### Faith

The Host (not affiliated with any particular sect)

### Languages

Common, Elven, Goblin, Sylvan, Primordial

## Physical Description

### Remarkable Features

Severe, knotted burn scars cover his hands and splash up his wrists.

## Sources

### Out of Core (incl. pg #)

Half Elf Variant; Moon or Sun Elf Descent (SCAG p.116), Skills, Languages & Equipment: Haunted One (COS p.209), Background Feature: Fey Nature (ExE p.198), Forge Domain (XGE p.18), Booming Blade (SCAG p.142)

## Appearance

Valen is short for a Wayfinder at 5'7".

Though fit, he has a leanness that one might associate with someone who didn't eat terribly well during the war. He has light brown skin, dark hair, dark eyes.

A young Aundairian Khoravar, Valen comes from a family of working folk. His clothing is nice enough, but nothing extravagant and tends toward darker blues and browns with only minor embellishment.

## History

Valen was one middle child of several in a family of ironsmiths in Askelios, Aundair.

When he was a newly-minted professional smith in his tweens the Lefevres were short on metal for an upcoming order. A new friend he’d met in the city offered him a portion of their smithy’s surplus of iron stock if only he would help them out at their forge for “a little while,” as they were short handed. Valen expected the offer to fall through (who would trade good metal for a little help from a junior smith?) but his friend came through and Valen only had time to leave the metal delivery with his sister Quinn before running off to fill his end of the bargain.

Valen knew something was weird when he stepped through a doorway on the far side of the trade district and found himself no longer in the cold winter night air of Askelios, but inside a lofty open space much larger than the small building he’d walked into. The stone walls echoed with the sounds of craftsmen and magicians at work. As it turned out what seems “a little while” to the Fey can be a very long time to regular mortals, and things were further complicated when at the end of a year of work the door back to Askelios no longer opened there.

Valen made the most of the years he spent in The Assembly of the Forge Maiden, learning both from stumbling through story layers and from the expertise of the other people and Fey working in the Feyspire. He was always looking for a way home, though.

Eventually Valen won a terrifying bet against another craftsman, though doing so resulted in his hands being severely burned. He was rewarded with a certain magical smithing technique (Artisan’s Blessing) and the reopening of the doorway to Askelios. After healing and collecting his prize he was returned to the streets of the city, finding himself once again in his tweens in front of the hollow shell of a building on a block that had been destroyed by fire.

In Askelios Valen’s homecoming was strained. He’d been missing for six months in Eberron and while that was a very short span next to his years lived in The Assembly no one knew where he’d been. Explaining himself was difficult until a cleric at the local temple stood in to vouch for him with a hundred years stories about people who went missing in the old warehouse district and returned from Thelanis.

Valen also found himself now running into Fey in the city, and developed a reputation for resolving situations that might arise with their presence.

### The Last War

While Valen did at first try to help out in the forges, his own techniques had gotten a little too weird for the smithing guild’s mass production line. Instead he often handled unusual orders and one-offs that no one else had time for, and after some of his newly advanced magical skills came to light he pulled rotations in the city militia (Askelios was close to the Thranish border after all, especially whenever Thaliost was in Thranish hands) and he worked with delivery caravans on behalf of the smithing guild to escort materials out of the mountains.

After the war things became more awkward between Valen and his oldest sister, Quinn, who was set to inherit the business when their father retired. Quinn saw Valen’s now well-regarded smithing skills (especially the magical ones) as a threat to her status in the shop, and after a conversation with his two grandfathers Valen went to work in the forge of Edmond Rodin, the cleric of Onatar who had stuck up for him with a glut of fairytales and urban legends when he returned.

### Invitation

Eventually Edmond sent a letter recommending Valen to the Wayfinders, as it became obvious that he was uncomfortable being in a position of spiritual authority with the temple, and just wasn't fitting back into civilian city life very well. The cleric hopes Valen will find something as an adventurer that he can’t in the city.

### Experience

Edmond's letter called out Valen's service tot the city and the guild during the war, in addition to his unusual magical skills and experience dealing with the Fey.

### Motivation

A desire to be useful, and another desire to feel “real” for lack of a better description. Since returning from Thelanis, life seems to fade to a kind of gray for Valen if he falls into habits and routines for too long, and he feels restless. This is the main reason his cleric mentor thought that he would make a good adventurer as opposed to a more steady profession.

### Secrets

Valen’s homecoming from Thelanis was a little strained because while he'd been missed for a few months, he’d lived nearly thirty years in the Assembly. Upon setting foot in Eberron the years he'd lived in Thelanis had melted off and he seemed the same age as the day he’d left. Everyone at home saw him as the same twenty-something kid, but after so much time how could he be? Valen has a pocket mirror that still reflects his lived age from Thelanis, which upon inspection reveals some middle-age wrinkles and gray hairs. It’s nothing dramatic but Valen values it as confirmation that the time he spent in The Assembly was real.

### Enemies

**Quinn Lefevre** isn’t really an enemy, but she does have a bit of a chip on her shoulder about how Valen disappeared for a while and came back to the smithy with shiny new magical techniques and a sudden leap in mundane crafting experience that she never quite got over. While not consciously malicious, her moods drove Valen away from a smithing career in Askelios.

### Family and Friends

**Kerel** is the young(?) Fey who extended the deal that stranded Valen in Thelanis for thirty years in exchange for some iron.

**Fabrice LeFevre** and **Estenar Durond** are Valen’s two Grandfathers and only currently surviving grandparents, who have always been close to him. As long as he can remember, these two have been best friends with creative, quirky habits and hobbies. Affectionately called “the Granny-papas” by the Lefevre siblings.

**Edmond Rodin** was the head cleric at the temple to Onatar near the smithing district in Askelios. He took an interest in Valen after he returned from Thelanis, and became something of a new mentor and friend. It was his recommendation (along with testimonials from people Valen worked with on guard and caravan duty) that earned Valen an invitation to the Wayfinder Society.

## Personality

**Personality Traits**

* Restless. Valen always feels a need to make himself useful, and has a restless energy when forced into idleness.
* Curious. It’s been a while since he was outside Askelios for long, and the world is full of novelty. He does try not to be too obvious about it, though… as a townie from his own region he’d rather not be “one of those tourists.”
* Sentimental. He carries several trinkets from Thelanis, places an almost reverent value on his scars, and enjoys retreading childhood memories over the food and drink that stir them in his mind.

**Ideals**

* Aspiration. Valen is determined to forge his own path in life.
* Generosity. Valen remembers how important sharing and community were to his own family’s survival during the war, and he is determined to use his talents to help others.
* Hospitality. Adherence to old traditions of hospitality saved Valen from several dangerous situations in Thelanis, inspiring his heightened reverence of Boldrei alongside Onatar.

**Bonds**

* Family. Valen still thinks constantly of his family in Askelios, and writes back and forth with his Grandfathers. Once upon a time he did spend decades trying to get back to them, after all.

**Strengths**

* Persistence in the face of failure. When a door slams shut, Valen will work 30 years to open a window.
* Valen is an instinctive helper. When he sees that something is broken he wants to repair it, if he can.

**Flaws**

* Valen’s family placed a strong emphasis on keeping oneself busy and useful, and he cannot stand being idle. There is an almost-anxiety that rises out of feeling like he should be working, and at times this can drive him to jump at the chance to do something. This isn’t to say that his distractions are productive, and despite playing many games he’s never become particularly skilled at any of them.
* Valen remains ignorant of much of Eberron outside north-eastern Aundair and the tiny slice of Thelanis he fell into.

## Completed Missions

### Insert Mission Name Here

(Describe anything from the mission that particularly impacted your character, any achievements, allies or enemies acquired, etc.)

## Crunch

### XP & Gold Log

*This transaction list must include all finished expeditions and the gold/XP earned for each, as well as all expenditures (what you bought and for how much).*

### Inventory

* Mace (fluff: this mace appears to be a smith's hammer)
* ^ Ruby of the War Mage, bound to the mace listed above to serve as a Holy Symbol
* Spear
* Chain Mail
* Shield
* Holy Symbol (an amulet pendant of strangely twisted slag on a chord around his neck)
* Explorer's Pack
* Common Clothes
* A small pocket mirror that shows Valen's reflection somewhat older than he seems
* Silver Piece with strange and incredibly detailed sides (an otherwise normal 1-silver coin from Thelanis)
* Smith's Tools

### Character Sheet

* https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2340935