Valendra the Sixth

> *"And the Faithful shall endure only by the grace of Holy Advar. For beyond his Sanctum, no life can exist."*
> - Empress Valendra the Sixth.
>
>

Her Imperial Majesty, Sovereign of the Reverent and Justiciar of the Faith Eternal **Empress Valendra the Sixth** is the current ruler of the Holy Advari Empire and spiritual leader of the Faith Eternal.

## Biography

### Early life

Valendra was born and raised in isolation in a consecrate monastery. Like all her predecessors, she was raised to rule the Holy Advari Empire, but in her entire life had only visited four planets in her entire Empire, and rarely met with her subjects.

By the year 0304 PCU according to the Tantalus Cluster's calendar, Valendra was Empress of the Holy Advari Empire. At some point, she began a secret relationship with Inquisitor Castian Vadric. Valendra's unexplained absences from the capital soon became the subject of gossip among her courtiers, among them Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis. Valendra affected to despise them and dismissed their demands.

### Contact with the Tantalus Cluster

In 0304 PCU, Valendra presided over the ritual suicide of several of her subjects as sacrifices to the Faith Eternal before meeting in a tryst with Castian Vadric. Informing him of alarming reports from the Callandra Nimbus (in fact the arrival of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative, sent by the Humans of the Tantalus Cluster), Valendra tasked Vadric to investigate and dispatched him to Deacon's Post the next day.

Following the terrorist bombings aboard the Avalon Exploratory Initiative's Wanderer Platform *Avalon*, the Advari Empire detected the signature of the explosion, and Valendra was kept informed.

Several weeks later, the Empress oversaw the induction of several new clerics into the Faith Eternal by High Cleric Darsellia Lantris. At the time, her Court were busy conducting other activities against her orders, much to Valendra's frustration.

Following Castian Vadric's return from investigating the Avalon Expedition Fleet, Valendra met him in a secret tryst in an abandoned passageway, where they chanced to overhear a secret meeting between several senior clergy of the Faith Eternal, including Darsellia Lantris and Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis. Valendra and Castian discovered that the Faith Eternal was conspiring to suppress knowledge of the arrival of the Avalon Fleet and to ensure its destruction. Shaken by this revelation, Valendra ordered Castian to continue his investigations of the Avalon Fleet, expressing a desire to know the real meaning behind the sacrifices she has presided over.

With Vadric away investigating the Avalon Expedition, Valendra accompanied Darsellia Lantris on a visit to the Giftworld Sirianadin, against the Faith Eternal's advice. Despite being met by adulation and reverence by the planet's population, Valendra was troubled by the squalor and poverty her subjects lived in, and countermanded Lantris' instructions that parishioners from the world were to be selected for sacrifice, leading to a public disagreement with the High Cleric. Lantris bluntly reminded Valendra that her true status was little more than that of a figurehead, and threatened her replacement.

The Faith dramatically illustrated their true position some time later, when the 577 subjects selected from Sirianadin were sent to the Diaconate Reaches aboard the *Mirror of Contrition*. Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis confronted Valendra after she discovered this, who demanded answers as to the Faith Eternal's conspiracy.

## Personality

> *"But these outsiders are proof that the word of Advar cannot be absolute truth. They are a window to greater knowledge and understanding that Arvannis is desperate to keep from us."*
> - Valendra to Castian Vadric, after the discovery of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative.
>
>

As head of state of the Holy Advari Empire, Valendra is publicly dignified and devout. In private, she despises much of her Court as power-seekers who conceal their ambitions behind flattery and sycophancy. Valendra is privately dissatisfied with her life as the Advari's Empress, and resents being isolated from her people and being directed by the Faith Eternal.

Valendra is treated with absolute reverence by her subjects outside the Imperial Court, and she in turn has expressed profound concern at the poor conditions many of them live in despite the Empire's technology.

Despite the Faith Eternal's doctrine that life outside the Sanctum of Advar is impossible, Valendra is curious about the nature of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative sent from the Tantalus Cluster, and privately ordered Inquisitor Castian Vadric to investigate rather than let the Faith Eternal become aware. Since her discovery of the Avalon Initiative, and that the Faith Eternal has been secretly aware of the possibility of life outside the Sanctum for some time, Valendra has begun to doubt the Faith and its demand for sacrifices.

## Relationships

### Castian Vadric

Valendra has been in a secret relationship with Inquisitor Castian Vadric for some time. Castian is one of the few, if any, members of Valendra's court that she fully trusts, and he has been entrusted with the investigation into the arrival of the Avalon Expedition Fleet.

### Hastus Arvannis

> *"He was sent by the Empress. It would seem she mistakenly received part of your emergency transmission when you first encountered the outsiders. She's been conducting what she no doubt believes to be a secret investigation."*
> - Arvannis to Revion Jedrish Carradin
>
>

Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis is publicly sycophantic and flattering to Valendra. Nevertheless, Arvannis is privately dismissive of the Empress and is secretly conspiring against her with High Cleric Darsellia Lantris and the Master Conservator to suppress knowledge of life outside CDC-41-Gamma in order to preserve the Faith Eternal.

### Darsellia Lantris

Publicly, Valendra has a cordial, if tense, relationship with Darsellia Lantris, High Cleric of the Faith Eternal. Nevertheless, Lantris is conspiring against the Empress along with Hastus Arvannis to suppress knowledge of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative, though she still holds the Empress in a higher regard than Arvannis does. For her part, Valendra strongly dislikes being directed by Lantris and the Faith Eternal, and had publicly threatened her with a breach with the Faith over the issue of sacrifices and its treatment of her subjects.

### Cindra Tacira

Valendra is somewhat dismissive and unappreciative of her aide, Cindra Tacira: When the Empress chose to slip away from her duties for a tryst with Inquisitor Castian Vadric, Cindra was left to deal with her schedule. However, she is willing to open up to her about her theological doubts that have arisen from the arrival of Humans in CDC-41-Gamma. For her part, Cindra is somewhat overawed by Valendra, seeing her as the embodiment of the will of Advar and often not recognising when the Empress is making a joke.

## Appearances

* Volume 1
	+ *"Inclement Weather"* (first appearance)
	+ *"Yesterday's War"*

* Volume 2
	+ *"Dust and Shadow"*
	+ *"The Promised Land"*

* Volume 3
	+ *"Theirs Not to Reason Why"*
	+ *"Contact, Wait Out"*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 *Theirs Not to Reason Why*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 *Inclement Weather*
3. ↑ *Yesterday's War*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Dust and Shadow*
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 *The Promised Land*
6. ↑ *Beneath The Banner*
7. ↑ *Contact, Wait Out*