Valentine Coffey

> "Nobody smart plays fair."
>
> Valentine, in Deserter

Bringer of Death

Makian Army

The Family

BOND

**Resonantia "Valentine" Coffey** is the main protagonist of Resonantia*,* its sequels (Emissarium, Out Of Beta, and Posterity), and its prequel (Deserter). Valentine is the twelfth and final Daughter of the Black Sun, and her seraphic origins make her one of the most powerful people on the Continent. Her supernatural abilities make her a target to a number of groups, and she spends a large part of her life fighting captivity.

Over the course of her youth, Valentine was transformed into a mentally unstable psychic weapon intended for secret governmental use.

She meets Leje and his crew when they undergo a mission at the Bauer hub, where she and dozens of others were being kept hostage. Valentine earns their trust by saving Genevieve Harding's life. Almost all of her time after this is spent with the crew, and they eventually become her extended family.

## Biography

### Origins

Valentine was born "Resonantia Coffey" to a woman named Josephine, outside of Sowe. Since Valentine was born during a prophesied eclipse (known as the Black Sun), it was highly suspected that she may be one of Lilith's women. Josephine had no record of a partner and died less than two years after giving birth, and these were both usual characteristics for women who birthed Black Sun children. It's later confirmed that this is true and that Valentine draws most of her abilities from this connection.

When her mother dies, Resonantia is transferred to a Child Center in Sowe. Fearing her name represents a connection to Lilith, the government marks *Resonantia* off of her records, allowing the Child Center to rename her as they choose. After she arrives, one of the staff begins to playfully call her "Valentine" because of a heart-shaped birthmark on her shoulder. The name sticks, and she's called Valentine from then on.

For a long time, Valentine's background remains a mystery to her. She finds out about her mother (and why the name *Resonantia* is so important to her) many years later, during her return to Makia in Emissarium.

Throughout her time at the Child Center, she forms few relationships with any of the staff or children due to the come-and-go nature of an orphanage. When she's seven, she runs away from the center, deciding that she would rather fend for herself than "wait for parents who don't buggin' exist."

### Anchisa's Gang

> "What if you get sick of me?"
>
>
> "I wouldn't!"
>
> —Anchisa and Valentine, Deserter

Shortly after leaving the Child Center, Valentine realizes that living on the streets alone is impossible, and that she has to join some sort of gang or family. Her issues are solved when she encounters a seventeen-year-old gang leader named Anchisa. When the two first meet, Anchisa has no plans to take on another crew member. She allows Valentine to stay for a few days, however, and Valentine finds her way into the gang by offering Anchisa a plan she devised to get more food by recruiting a "bully" to get them into the soup kitchen. Anchisa realizes Valentine can be an asset to her and she allows her to join the gang.

Over the three years Valentine spends with this crew, the most prominent issues they have are with a group led by a boy called Pollo. Valentine knows Anchisa is much stronger than Pollo, but whenever Anchisa has the chance to kill him she always backs down. Valentine sees how truly dangerous Pollo can be, and consistently advises Anchisa to kill him.

One evening, Valentine overhears an interaction between Pollo and Anchisa in which he asks her to meet with him at the docks. Valentine follows them that night when they leave together, primarily out of anger (thinking that Anchisa is somehow romantically involved with Pollo). On the contrary, these docks would be the place of Anchisa's death. That night, Valentine witnesses Pollo brutally murder Anchisa and throw her body into the river. This makes Valentine so furious that the next morning, she immediately tracks down Pollo and in a fit of rage and adrenaline, murders him by strangulation and blunt force. She was ten, and he was eighteen. Pollo's murder is the first time that Valentine significantly experiences her power.

Since she commits this crime in broad daylight, Valentine is promptly captured and arrested. She's not given a trial; rather than prison, she's sent to the Aperture Science institute, which specializes in the science of the supernatural.

### Aperture Science

During her time in the institution, she's treated by many doctors and scientists, most often a man called Dr. Martin Rannels. The doctors at Aperture quickly discovered the extent and potential of her psychokinetic abilities and severely pushed her limits through various experiments. She was extensively tested on, including surgery that partially stripped her amygdala.

When she attempted to defy orders, she would be locked in a cramped room as punishment, potentially for hours on end. These painful experiences lead her to develop severe claustrophobia. She also showed some signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, frequently remembering her harrowing experiences in the years following. She lived in the institute for another three years.

When she was around thirteen years old, a woman named Nande Ebersole arrived. She stated that she was from Dol Muiren, and that Valentine's use of her powers were being picked up by the mages on the Concordat. Nande requested that Valentine be transferred to Dol Muiren, and when the institute requested more time, Nande offered them a price they couldn't turn down. Despite her cries of protest, Valentine was taken from her home region to the Dol Muiren, on the Maribonne Islands.

When Nande locked her inside a room the night she arrived, Valentine shattered a mirror in the room and and grabbed a shard of glass, contemplated taking her own life. Despite slitting her wrists, Valentine survived the night after her failed suicide attempt due to Nande's intervention.

### Dol Muiren

> "Sometimes a flower is just a flower, and the best thing it can do for us is to die."
>
> Nande Ebersole to Valentine, Deserter

The morning after Valentine arrives, her schooling begins. She starts in Gen Ed (as all new students do), where she learns about the history of Makia and the Continent for the first time (as well as courses like physics and math). In one of her recorded talks with Moore during this time, she stated that physics was her favorite thing to study. Once she reaches her second year, she was moved to the

but moves to the magic track her second year. Here, Nande explains the dangers of magic and how each one of the students there showed an aptitude for controlling it, and states that magic itself is the control of chaos.

Some of the records that Valentine finds in Estreka later document her formative years as a student at Dol Muiren:

*Adepts name: Valentine*
*Former name: Resonantia*
*After initial testing confirmed her magical talent, the adept was admitted to Dol Muiren's first class. The girl comes from pathological origins – her mother failed to survive through her formative years, and she was a criminal before she was school-aged. Her doctors abused her psychically and physically, and she has yet to receive parental guidance; this rejection and abuse was likely precipitated by the girl's assumed connection to the demon Lilith; or possibly by her mixed human-elven bloodline (she is quarter elvish, her mother a half blood).*
*It was undoubtedly the lingering effects of these traumatic childhood experiences that drove her to attempt suicide soon after admission to our academy. The girl tried to cut open her forearm veins and ended up inflicting serious tendon damage (healer documentation attached for reference).*
*Despite the above, the adept was personally recommended and very highly graded by the Chancellor of our Academy, Archmistress Nande Ebersole. Her visible traumas and injuries were corrected with use of higher magic during her first year, and her further eduction has fully vindicated the Chancellor's high opinion.*
*Adept Valentine is highly talented and determined student. Her results on subsequent exams have remained excellent.*

In *Deserter*, the progression of her descent into insanity at Dol Muiren is shown, as are hints of her psychic abilities. She references the "bugged", which would later be a plot point in the first book, and mentions Dol Muiren's first subject “dying on the table”, something she apparently could not have learned through conventional means. *Deserter*'s portrayal of her initial interview with a member of the Concordat indicates she had previously had strong “intuitive” abilities in addition to her high intellect and ready grasp of complex subjects. How and when this translated into her apparently full-fledged mind-reading abilities is unknown, but *Deserter* implies that she may have already had her latent psychic abilities prior to being trained at Dol Muiren.

#### Ascension to Mage

On initiation day at Dol Muiren, Valentine and Asher share their mutual fears of being separated (with Asher leading soldiers and Valentine working as a mage to Queen Aurora). Valentine recalls to Asher the frightened girl she once was, completely unaware of her power. She says to him that she wants to go to Andiron and never be that girl again.

When Valentine meets with the Artist, Nande enters and instructs Valentine to close her eyes and imagine the most powerful woman in the world. Nande then takes that image from her mind and transposes it onto the mirror for Valentine to see.

Later, Valentine becomes enraged when she discovers that she is being sent to Eldoret rather than Andiron as promised. Nande reveals that it was her blood that finalized the Concordat's decision. She states that sending someone with a connection to Lilith to Andiron would only further ostracize the outside world. Valentine realizes that the only way they could've known is if Asher told them.

Valentine refuses to attend the initiation. Asher finds her in the ruins forging a father's name on a deed to declare her as a natural-born citizen. Asher apologizes for telling her secret, and Valentine tells him she wants him to go to the Concordat and tell them that he lied. Asher says that it's too late, but offers to right his wrong. He reveals that the Concordat offered him a seat on the research chapter, and that he wishes to bring Valentine along. Valentine claims that a life like that "isn't destiny, it's slow suicide." She storms off, but not before Asher exclaims that she's just angry because she lost her chance to be beautiful. Valentine replies that she wants to be powerful, and it's what she is owed. She leaves the unfinished deed behind.

She finds the Artist and demands that he performs her enchantments. Despite not having the necessary herbs to sedate her during the procedure, Valentine forces him to go through with it. Following a successful enchantment, Valentine arrives at the Dol Muiren ball, catching everyone's eye. She's completely reborn and appears almost entirely like a new person. She greets Aurora, the queen of Estreka and Makia, who discards Marguerite in favor of her. The two then dance center floor, and she wins Andiron as she originally wanted.

### White Diamond's Court

She becomes Aurora's mage, advisor, friend, and eventual lover.

#### The Battle of Sparrow

At the Battle of Sparrow, Valentine was manipulated and controlled into brutally massacring thousands of soldiers who were coming up onto Estrekan territory.

She was furious in the aftermath of the battle despite the congratulations she was receiving from her superiors and fellow soldiers. She knew then that Aurora had been using her as a weapon that whole time, and that her only purpose was to be controlled into exactly what Aurora wanted to do.

Valentine's reaction to the victory alarmed Aurora and made her realize that Valentine was not as blind of a follower as she initially thought. Valentine stayed at the palace for another few days before realizing that Aurora was planning on accepting the CRNC's offer and forcing Valentine along with her. In a fit of rage, Valentine ran from Andiron.

#### Going Rogue

Valentine spent 3 months on her own, killing and stealing when necessary. Along the way, she used her persuasive powers to recruit men that can fight and do her dirty work for her.

### The Bauer Syndicate

When she's sneaking around a Bauer headquarters, she's found and forcefully taken captive by Bauer men. They brought her to Joseph Bauer, who was running an illegal Formic testing lab with the secret funding of ACDIV. Her months of hell begin; She endures physical and mental torture alongside other victims, rarely getting to interact with them. Her descent from strength to insanity and psychosis is shown at the end of Deserter.

### **Joining the Family**

#### Being Rescued

About two months into her captivity, Valentine was accidentally found by a small group of rebels.

The group had been attacking syndicate operations along the west coast for months, destroying infrastructure and stealing supplies. A few days prior, they heard news of escaped buggers in the area and took note of how ACDIV Rioters want to destroy the center. The family makes plans to show up and ransack what’s left,; hit it while it's down, basically.

Things go downhill quickly; the initial attack does little but free the locked up bugs AND cranks. It’s a massacre, and to prevent bugs from escaping the compound a kill switch is pressed by some official down there that realizes the problem. Nuclear warnings start blaring/counting down. A mass exodus of subjects and employees begins.

Leje, Kian, and Ren took the stance of leaving Valentine in the building to avoid taking on unnecessary dead weight. Bea and Eli disagreed, saying that Valentine needed their help and they could at least take her somewhere safe before leaving her behind. Eventually, Bea convinced the others to bring Valentine as long as she and Eli took responsibility of caring for her until they found a place for her to go.

At this point, Valentine was still extremely dissociative and on-edge.

## Physical Appearance

Valentine has pale skin and dark eyes. She has medium-length curly brown hair. Her hair was often styled neatly and professionally during her time as a mage, but after leaving Makia she usually left it down or wore it in a simple ponytail.

## Quotes

> "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds, given adequate systems."
>
> "See, morbid and creepy shit, I got no problem with. Long as she does it quiet."
>
> —Valentine and Leje, Emissarium