Valaar'Keel vas Kretal nar Lankay

## History

To discern Valaar’s life in a cohesive manner is to view it from three unique lenses, each having been influenced and controlled according to the circumstances and contextual changes that shaped both his immediate and general surroundings, leading to a constant push and pull of personal resolve and conflicting ideological drivers.

The first phase of Valaar’s life was marked by a culmination of traditional cultural tenants and a push for constants within the realm of identity and social belonging. It was the formative stage by which several aspects of himself continued to be influenced by fundamental beliefs that permeate through to his present identity and yet he’s completely capable of rationalizing as but the result of a culture in decline. Valar’s formative years, for better or for worse, was shaped by the natural reactionary response of a people falling to the wayside, of a crumbling culture that wished to retain elements of its lost heritage. His father being the research vessel’s lead cultural expert coincided well with his mother’s position as the ship’s chief systems engineer, their vessel holding what amounted to a massive portion of the old cultural and historical databases intact from their exodus centuries ago.

As a result, Valaar’s upbringings held a certain weight and bias towards the traditions of old, stressing his importance as a living element of an unending line of quarians born into this name. A living testament to the will of the Ancestors, and likewise, a burden of responsibility to carry with it the tenants and values worthy of the family lineage.

As the time for pilgrimage came, Valaar’s life would however be turned on its head, with the advent of a fellow quarian that defied everything within his fundamental belief systems, and that showed him the true spirit of tenacity that was quarian ingenuity.

This marks the second phase of Valaar’s life. His pilgrimage starting off with a near disaster, averted by a fellow pilgrim that would soon become a force worthy of respect, regardless of her origins.

The shuttle tasked with ferrying them to the start of their pilgrimage was promptly assaulted by a small-time pirate group, clearly fresh off the block if their single-shuttle operation was anything to judge by. With their shuttle boarded and their chaperone killed, the small group of pilgrims had each other to find a way out of the situation, and the unlikely person to lead them out of this turned out to be none other than a returning quarian, a child of an exile.

With a cold, calculating ferocity this pilgrim commanded an aura of authority that beckoned the rest to follow. From there, and through several close calls, the plan was set for the sheer simplicity of the plan to work. Both ships vented their atmospheres and were depressurized. Without warning and with most of the inexperienced would-be assailants unprepared.

With a shuttle in-tow, and having rendered their former vector of transport inoperable, the pilgrims found themselves at the helm of an alien shuttle, with an entire Terminus waiting for their move.

Through a series of careful maneuvers, the ramshackled crew were able to operate out of the craft using falsified identities related to, or entirely based off of its previous crew. They became something of a recognized name, on the grey markets and Omega’s transit hubs, their name became synonymous with anonymity and trustworthy courier work. Without the stigma of their species, and with the former reputation (as little as their was) of the ship’s former crew, they were able to make a decent living. More than enough to refurbish the initial damages wrought by their initial scuffle, and certainly enough to retrofit it into something more becoming of a quarian craft. The vessel that would’ve ended their journey from the onset, now became their workhorse, and a way of getting back on the fleet with relative ease.

Seeing that such business endeavors would not last forever, especially with the fierce and aggressive competition, the crew of the Vretal cashed in their earnings, and brought back a plethora of gifts to the fleet, ranging from weapons to systems components, with the pièce de résistance being the very craft they had lived and worked on for the past half decade. When given the choice to choose their assignments, all chose a rather strange yet respectable decision. They’d moor the Vretal to the Tonbay, one of the flagships of the fleet. Acting as her rapid-response craft, and tying her name to one of the more revered ships in the fleet.

A means of marking their inseparable bond with ship, crew, and what was quickly becoming family; whilst retaining the ambitions set forth by their dear leader, their de facto Captain now-turned Shuttle-Commander.

The return to the fleet, and brighter prospects for a future back on Rannoch as evidenced by rumors surfacing within the upper echelons marked the beginning of the third phase of Valaar’s life.

This phase was marked with the strengthening of the bonds within their small circle, with work preoccupying each of the quarians, specialties being taken up, time seemed to become scarcer and scarcer still. And with war looming, there was a certain unease that blanketed the cheery and upbeat attitude in a light yet ever present fog. The war against the geth, and the retaking of the homeworld.

The battle came swiftly, and in what seemed to be a flurry of actions that threatened their home, their family, the end came too soon as the shuttle (amidst strafing runs against geth fighters) crash landed on the homeworld.

It was there as news of victory came through that the quarian finally felt at ease, with everyone on board having lived, and with their home battered, broken, but intact, there was now hope…

The news from Earth ruined all chances of those dreams however, as reality soon dawned on the crew, and more specifically, on Valaar himself.

He understood now, what had to be done. Rannoch would fall, their race would follow suit, and his crew, would fade into the annals of history.

But he would prevent that. If anything, he would ensure that the memory of the Vretal lived on, as long as he did, and as long as his work allowed him certain liberties to flourish the data banks with their tales and stories. Contacted by RIFT, he wished to be the Archivist of the operation, as his father was on the fleet.

Now, aboard the last hope of civilization, Valaar dedicates himself to the memory of his crew, to carry on the torch and flame, to ensure that whatever happens next, be it Rannoch’s eventual fall or the collapse of the entire galaxy, that a light still flickers somewhere in the great dark. That the memories of the Keel be remembered, even if others fade into obscurity. It would be his duty, to remain afloat in the void, whilst the homeworld’s fate remains uncertain.

With the newer situation and circumstances, and seeing the severity of the situation in its entirety, Valaar decided against keeping the signature suit associated with the quarian race as a whole. Instead, he wished for something that would satisfy his desires to better fit this new operation, but likewise, to improve on the practical inadequacies of his prior suit. Having put out a request for a new suit within the requisitions letter attached to the main response letter to RIFT, a suit was quickly modified to suit him from preexisting turian frames and components. What amounted to a standard mil-spec set of armor, geared more towards long-term scouting missions, was quickly modified to fit the q

uarian’s unique requirements. Designing a whole new suit from scratch with all of the R&D involved would’ve simply been too much to ask given the current lack of production capabilities and resources to spare.