Description: A slightly-built young man, Valerian's appearance is touched by a lovely bird-like fragility. His fine hair, which is just long enough at the nape of his neck to be tied back with a ribbon, is the color of moonlight. This accompanied by a generally lighter complexion makes his warm, dark eyes all the more striking. Dramatically larger than the majority of his features, his intelligent and sensitive gaze dominates the rest of his features, offering a glimpse behind the curtain of his otherwise shy exterior.

Personality: Growing up under the domineering influence of a powerful parental figure has left Valerian under-equipped where the real world is concerned. Social anxiety leaves him fussy and bashful; he experiences spikes of fear when plunging into unfamiliar situations, and for him, almost all situations are unfamiliar! Accustomed as he is to the quiet sanctuary of the seaside estate of his childhood, chaos is by far his greatest obstacle.

Those select few individuals fortuitous enough to get close to Valerian discover in him a loyal and deeply affectionate friend. Valerian's sensitive nature allows him unique insights into the inner lives of those he cares about. At the same time, anyone who has earned his trust finds out that the reticent young man, who can barely be induced to say a few words upon first meeting, sometimes won't stop asking questions. An omnivorous consumer of knowledge, he's interested in whatever his friends are interested in, and will talk late into the night about literally any subject!

Background: It's not the easiest thing in the world, being the only son of a free spirit like Christine Kennex. Valerian's father died when he was an infant, and his mother left him in his grandmother's care and took to wandering, coming back to see him so rarely that she's practically mythological to him. Even less easy was growing up under the thumb of the indomitable Lady Tanya Kennex. A seasoned social arbiter of Stormward, his grandmother purposefully intended not to repeat the "mistakes" that she made with her daughter, and thus kept Valerian on a very short leash. Save for those other aging Mourning Isle aristocrats for whom Lady Tanya "held court" in her sitting room, Valerian was practically cut off from the rest of the world for much of his life. A revolving door of tutors saw to his education, each one sent away by Lady Tanya the moment her grandson seemed to start to finally get attached. Thus, she reigned supreme as the only stable figure in his life. He remained entirely dependent on her.

Valerian didn't turn out to be a free spirit like his mother, but he did inherit her love of reading and knowledge; on the few occasions when she came to visit, she always brought him a few books, wonderful, exotic volumes from strange, faraway places. Valerian cherished these stories and often sat up well into the night turning their pages, living vicariously through the new information they held, and imagining how his mother might have come across them.

As difficult as life under the thumb of Lady Tanya was, it was the only existence he had ever known. Her death cast Valerian into a sea of uncertainty. Suddenly free from the comfortable confinement of their grand but isolated Stormward residence, he set out to join his other relations in Arx.

Relationship Summary

Parent:

Christine - I can only hope to one day know as much as my mother. I do hope her adventures soon bring her home.

Patron: