Cora Valen

Cora's base sprite

Cora Valen is a necromancer and a member of the Gifted Few. She is forced to participate in the Game of the Gifted at Espera's Keep alongside her fellow students.

## Appearance

Cora is slender and fairly tall with blonde hair, grey eyes and pale skin. She wears her hair in a tight, fishtail braid draped over one shoulder and fastened with a grey bow. Her style is simple and sophisticated, wearing a smart, soft blue shirt, a knee-length blue skirt, knee high socks and pale blue kitten heels. Her glasses are thin, rectangular and semi-rimmed.

## Personality

Cora is stern, calculating and very reserved. Spending much of her childhood isolated and rejected by others, she shuns company whenever it isn't absolutely necessary. She sees the people around her mostly as obstacles or nuisances she must overcome in order to get what she wants. Her demeanour is cold and unyielding, a warning to the world to keep its distance.

Having very few friends growing up, Cora is extremely self-serving. Every decision she makes is for herself and herself alone. She is determined to outlive and outgrow everyone who ever doubted her, a goal she is willing to do anything to achieve. She works alone at all costs, going out of her way to refuse any form of cooperation or teamwork.

When faced with danger or threats to her life, she becomes extremely paranoid. She begins to see people as enemies rather than obstacles, leading her to become much more openly hostile. In these states of high tension, she physically shuts herself off from the rest of the world in the belief that it will keep her safe. While she still tries to keep herself reserved, she struggles to hide her animosity towards others when she believes they might do her harm.

## History

### Early Life

Cora's gift manifested at the age of 2 - a slightly earlier age than average, but not completely unheard of. Her gift itself, however, is extremely rare and widely considered taboo because of its macabre nature. As a child, people tended to treat her with extreme caution, never outright avoiding her, but never quite hiding their unease. Growing up, she spent most of her young life alone in her room, rejected by her peers at school and in her local area.

As she grew older, she taught herself to reject others before they can reject her. She developed a cold exterior to keep herself numb to any feelings of loneliness or longing. She became purely goal-driven, focussed only on proving herself to be better than everyone around her. While her peers were never openly malicious to her, she was more than aware of the stigma against necromancers. As a result, she grew to resent her gift and magic in general, avoiding using it at all costs.

Her family lived in a small, middle-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of a fairly big city.

### The Prequels

Cora receives her summons to Espera's keep shortly after she arrives home from school. She goes about her daily chores alone in the house, feeding the cat and setting the table ready for dinner later in the evening. When the letter comes, she is initially unhappy about being disturbed, but forgets this as soon as she recognises the letter. She leaves it in the kitchen for her parents to find and goes back to her room, where she finds a dead fly on her windowsill. She uses her gift to revive it, something she doesn't often do, and considers whether joining the Gifted Few might be a chance for a fresh start. She quickly dismisses the idea, reminding herself of how little good her gift has done her throughout her life.

*You can find links to the prequel chapters here.*

### Game of the Gifted

#### Prologue

Cora is the first of the Gifted Few to meet Kahia Rothwell. She is initially hesitant to introduce herself, resorting to her usual cold demeanour, but eventually agrees to explore the Keep with her. After Kahia returns from her room, the two meet Gabriel Elwyn and Wren StClaire before beginning their investigation. The others seem to collectively assign Cora the role of leader due to her collected, sensible nature, something Cora strongly dislikes.

Along with the others, she meets Lyssa Masterson, Malachi Linden and Ambrose Delaney in the Keep's entrance hall. She is reluctant to introduce herself to them, but eventually concedes, deeming it an unfortunate necessity.

After Lyssa and Ambrose leave, Cora is the first to make her way out to the grounds, drawing the attention of the others to the wall and the towers. Her suspicions about the Keep are echoed by Silas Reid, who seems to particularly irritate Cora with his suave and superior attitude. As Silas returns to the Keep, after using his gift on Kahia, Cora decides to follow him in order to pursue her suspicions further. Gabriel decides to go with her, much to Cora's distaste.

Cora isn't seen again until the Interface summons the group to the Great Hall. When its intention to have the group try to kill each other are made clear, she takes it particularly badly. She leaves the room, lashing out at Kahia when she tries to stop her. She goes and locks herself in her room where she remains for most of her time in the Keep.

*More coming soon.*