Valeriu

The culture of the dark elves runs upon the backs of slaves and upon the whims of magic, wielded by the powerful upper class of the Unseelie Court, and its capital, Amorium, situated deep within the earth, is no different. As an oligarchy and magocracy, only a select few with magical ability selected by the Archon of the Unseelie Court rise to the heights of Magister, Arch-mage and eventually replace the Archon. Vali was born into slavery, where he and his family worked silk and crops upon the cavern walls of Dark Fields to help maintain the vast slave colonies within the ancient ruin of Nidavillr, where slaves and skilled masons alike are worked to the bone to uncover artifacts and knowledge belonging to the ancient dark elves. One day when Valeriu was sent to the marketplace, he caught the eye of a member of the powerful upper class of the Unseelie Court, a Magister and the Arch-Mage, an unparalleled magic user with political power to match who oversaw the collection of magical artifacts within the Dark Fields, their study, and their protection, as well as keeping other members of the magical aristocracy in line.


This Magister was named Lucius, and offered to buy Valeriu from his master, who happily took the large sum of money offered to him. Vali was taken from his family and forced to live with the Magister Lucius in his estate in Amorium, where he lived a much different, but no less brutal life. Immediately, Lucius began to train him in his magical ability, and soon took to keeping Valeriu as his favored slave. As Valeriu grew more competent and powerful in his magic, he became more erratic, driven by hate for Lucius from stripping him from the only family he had and using him. Vali burned down a portion of his estate and nearly killed fellow slaves, rendering them afraid of Vali.

He was bonded and put in a cell, where Lucius applied much more invasive measures to control his slave. When beatings would fail, he would resort to magical mind manipulation. He could make Vali do his bidding, and after some time of perfecting and abusing this, Lucius began to train Valeriu in how to kill. He would control Valeriu to kill his political enemies, spies that knew too much, people who had outgrown their use, and revolutionaries who said too much. Valeriu became the instrument of Lucius’ destruction within Amorium, enabling him to stay at the top.

One night, Lucius extracted Valeriu from his cell, bonding him in runes that rendered him immobile, and placed him within the magically sealed box they typically used to transport the dangerous mage-slave. Their target was a fellow member of the Unseelie Court, as often was the case, but this one was different – a demonologist. Lucius had great interest in his works and the numerous artifacts the elf had accumulated over the years. Lucius sent Valeriu to kill the demonologist, so that Lucius may take what he pleased. In the struggle to subdue his target, Vali set the study ablaze. Once the flames died down, the only thing that remained was Vali, and a single book. Angered by Vali’s apparent failure, Lucius simply locked him away again, and went to studying the strange book. Little did he know that a demon had saved, and attached itself to his slave, a demon that saw the perfect chance.

This demon was named the Chainbreaker, Aeshma, the Forgotten Goddess of wrath, rebellion, fire, power and unbridled freedom, with all the consquences. Aeshma has long been forgotten as a goddess, only streaking across the edges of history and minds as a demon, stripped of her true power, but she found respite in Valeriu’s plight as a slave. She defended him from the flame, and in turn, gave him a near complete immunity to heat and flame.

The Chainbreaker appeared to Vali in dreams, and showed him the ways of somnimancy, to knowingly walk through ones dream and the dreams of others, and manipulate the threads of the subconsicious with ease. With this new found ability, Aeshma inspired Vali to cut the ties of his master’s control by entering his mind in his dreams. He did so, tormenting Lucius with nightmares, learning his fears, learning what he knew of the Unseelie Court and the world beyond the underground kingdom of The Sidhe, and most of all, how to break the magical ties between slave and master. Soon, Valeriu was in control, he desperately wanted to kill him, but Aeshma stopped him. She told him that if he killed Lucius, he would be rid of the man, but another man will come to collect him as a slave, but keep Lucius under Vali’s control, and they could secure Valeriu’s freedom and even his power within Amorium.

Valeriu lived within Lucius’ estate for a time, where he thoroughly wrecked the place, any slave that had not already fled the scene when they learned of Lucius being locked away by one of his own slaves, either joined Valeriu’s cause or remained only because there was no where else safe for them. Lucius was a man without heirs or descendants, so no one would notice until Lucius began missing his arrangements.

Vali continued to apply his control over Lucius with the same spells and runes that the magister cast upon the slave, and used this power over him to have Valeriu freed within the eye of the Court. He managed to get away with such an act, however that did not mean certain people hadn’t noticed what was going on. The Archon resided over all cases within the Unseelie Court, acting as a judisical head, only equal to the Hierophant and the Vizer, not that the Archon, Hierophant and Vizer couldn’t be swayed by their Magisters. Uonaidh saw the skill and unlikeliness of a slave puppeteering a powerful magister in order to secure his freedom completely. She admired him, for he could have just as easily simply fled Amorium and eeked out an existence above ground, in self imposed exile. After Valeriu’s freedom was secured, Uonaidh summoned both Vali and Lucius to her palace.

Archon Uonaidh freed Lucius from the bondage Valeriu imposed on him, but instead of punishing Vali at Lucius’ demands, Uonaidh punished Lucius instead, condemning him for allowing one of his own slaves to gain control, and using a mage-slave to murder his fellow countrymen. She had Lucius imprisoned under the palace for one century, and then his fate would be decided. Uonaidh gave Valeriu Lucius’ position as Arch-Mage of Amorium, bidding him preform the same duties as his debased former master.

Unlike his master, Valeriu refused to own slaves, and instead used the vast wealth that his former master accumulated to hire servants, informants, guards, and courtesans, and actively fought against the slave trade within Amorium both politically and physically, by hunting down slave caravens and slave catchers, and killing them, using his old skills that had been taught to him, and learning much more along the way with his new found access to knowledge as a Arch-Mage and Magister.

name. Valeriu Rostam Khorshid
nicknames & aliases. Vali, Val, Firebug, Dragonfly, Firebrand, Arch-Mage, Lord Magister Valeriu, Beardy Elf, Scales.
species. Dokkalfar. Fae being. Dark elf.
age & date of birth. 250-300 years old, 28-30 in human years. Martius (March) 25th.
place of birth. The Dark Fields of Nidavillr, The Sidhe,
current location. Amorium (capital), The Undercity, The Sidhe.
gender and pronouns. Nonbinary. Intersex. All pronouns but prefers he/him/his the most.
sexuality. Panromanic, Pansexual, Polyamorous.
occupation & education. Magister and Arch-Mage of Amorium. Mentor. Chemist/Botanist, Researcher, Diplomat.
health. Autism. Chronic pain. Addictive personality traits. Opioid induced hyper-analgesia (heightened pain sensitivity). PSTD. Otherwise in fairly good health.
hair & eye color. Dark chestnut hair and amber eyes with black sclera, cat-like iris.
height & weight. 5’6” (169 cms) and 190 to 210 pounds (86 kgs to 91 kgs)
skin color. dark russet brown, patches of ruby-red scales.
body type. Endomorphic. Chubby, muscular, robust and strong. Like all members of his species, he possess a hard chitin endoarmor that encases much of his body, radiating out from his spine and covering much of the back, shoulders, ribcage, upper limbs and outer thighs, the skin that is not covered by this endoarmor is soft and pliable, while the armor is rigid and smooth. He has a wing case/elytron similar to a beetle which hide and protect his actual wings until they are in use.
prominent features. Vali is very interested in body modification as a form of self expression, he has several piercings, including his ears, nose, tongue, nipples, belly button and genitals. He also has a few tattoos such as a phoenix upon his hip and thigh, a fire salamander upon his left arm, a tiger across his right shoulder and back, and various glyphs and symbols etched into his body. Vali has two gold teeth, one incisor and one molar, that are replacements for the one tooth he lost in a fight, and the other he lost to a cavity and had to be pulled. He has a scar that stretches from his eyelid through his eyebrow to the top of his forehead, gained from enduring a whip to the face. He has a variety of scars all over his body.
strengths. Master pyromancer. Adept geomancer. Telekenetic abilities. Master somnmancer (dream magi). Adept illusionist. Novice polymorph/shapeshifter. Biological immortality. Enhanced abilities (strength, senses, , intelligence, endurance). Dark vision. Echolocation. Martial experience. Adept swordsman. Adept spearsman. Novice firearms (crossbow). Flight.
weaknesses. Weakness to cold/frost, reduced speed, demonic possession,, weakness to iron/certain types of metals, sunlight intolerance, full name can be used against him to control him/susceptible to binding magic.
likes. Learning new things. Traveling and exploring. Sweets. Animals (namely birds, horses, snakes and many different types of insects). Books. Collecting shiny and rare objects. Fire. Silver hair. Body mods and tattoos. Enclosed/cozy spaces. Cheesy, horrible, smutty romance novels. Gardening.
dislikes. The ocean/open bodies of water. Slavery/slavers. Ignorance. Corruption within Amorium. The cold. Extremely bright lights. Expansive spaces with no ceiling or end, chains, whips, any sort of magic that deals with binding others or taking control of them.
trope. The Magnificent Bastard.
zodiac sign. Aries Sun. Taurus Moon. Capricorn Rising.
class. Mage/warrior; battlemage.
faceclaim. Mahesh Jadu.