Valoire
Moonvein was born in the in-between of this world and the other as her mother
was dead before Valoire was even released from her womb. While her physical
body matured in the far off desert land of Zakharra, she spent her childhood
distantly floating between the scorching desert sun and the soft light of the
other-world. Her connection to the other-world was much stronger than with
other elves because of her precarious birth.
When
she was about 90 years old (still young for an elf), a fierce curiosity of
magic entrapped her. She spent hours of her day alone in the desert a few miles
from her wooded oasis to meditate in hopes of harnessing the energy to produce
magic. She spent her days peaceful atop the highest peak of the sand dunes
attempting to connect with the energy of the sun.
Being a novice and not
knowing much about harnessing energy, when she finally latched on she took it a
step too far.
Her body was engulfed in the flames of the other-world. Every
inch of her was screaming in pain. She didn’t know how to release from the spell. Everything was
burning. The world was too bright. She was on fire, disappearing in an agonizing magical flame. She was finally able to let go of the
energy, but her body was powerless. Left weak and dying in the middle of the
desert she laid down to pass body and soul into the otherworld.
She was found by a wondering elf. Her dehydrated and almost
translucent body had already begun to transfer itself into the other-world. She was quickly transported to the local
cleric who was able to bring her back to her physical entirety.
When she awoke
from her daze she was blind. The cleric wasn’t able to cure it.
Elves are seen as ephemeral and perfect. They have boundless
beauty and agile bodies and minds. To be a disabled elf is not something the
population can understand. Valoire was left under the care of the reluctant
cleric-having been abandoned by her family and friends. After years of living
at the clergy, Val became intimately acquainted with the smell of halls and the
feel of the each room. She was even able to distinguish the sounds of each
clergyman’s footfalls. Even within the walls of the Clergy, she was ostracized and left alone.
Her blindness in her physical body and the abandonment of her people connected her even more to the other-world. She was still blind on both planes, but in the
other-world instead of seeing darkness she saw a soft light which made her hopeful that one day she may regain her sight.
One quiet evening, during meditation, Val was confronted with
a beautiful voice whispering to her as if she were sitting next to Val. This
was the voice of Sune the light goddess of love and beauty.
Sune had been watching Val. The goddess pitied the
beautiful elf for she could not basque in the beauty of the world around
her.
The elf herself was also striking, her hair, eyes, and skin
were effected by the failed spell, making her once golden hair into a deep ruby
red, much like Sune’s hair. Val’s skin was burnt by the light which gave it a
darkened silver tone, but her eyes were the most striking of all—once they were
clear blue but now her irises were a mystifying ice blue and what was once the
whiteness of her eye is now a crisp obsidian.
For years the goddess would occasionally drop in to converse
with the meditating elf confused about what to do with this strange being.
Finally, Sune confronted Val in the other-world and appeared in Val’s vision.
Val was shocked to be seeing again and whatsmore what she was seeing was one of
the most gloriousy beautiful beings she’s ever encountered. Sune looks exactly
like what you’d expect from a Light goddess of love and beauty.
Valoire was brought to tears and felt blessed that she could
gaze upon something so beautiful even for the briefest of moments. Sune was
moved by Val’s emotions so much so that she regifted Valoire with sight
declaring it unfair for such a ephemeral creature to not be able to glorify in
her own beauty and the beauty around her.
With her sight back, Val’s appearance, while still beautiful
was so bizarre that she didn’t feel welcomed in her own community. She remained
at the clergy spending her days reading the endless books on magic and the godess in
the clergy library. With the help of Sune, she became comfortable enough with
the basic understandings of magic and decided that she would travel to distant
lands to discover the beauty of the world that Sune had so often described to
her. At the age of 507, Valoire set off alone to discover the land of Faerun.
Since Val had spent most of her days either alone or in the
company of Sune, she wasn’t very accustomed to social interactions. The
abandonment of her family and friends has left her weary to trust those she
meets. She has a bit of an awkward but kind demeanor which contradicts her intimidating
features leaving those she meets befuddled and awed. People find her to be
curious and often approach her with fascination, she sometimes obliges their
conversations but maintains distance and a air of mystery until stranger’s
become acquaintances who become friends… a hard thing to achieve with Valoire
Moonvein. But more often than not, Val pretends she doesn’t understand the
language, brushes the person off, and walks away.
Val spends her days doing what she pleases. Sune inspires Val
everyday to basque in all the pleasures of life. Val takes little consideration
of what others think of her and does as she wishes, but her kind heart makes
her compassionate and careful to those who are weak or unable to protect
themselves. Because of this connection to love and beauty, Val has a strong code
of honor that most don’t understand… She is open and good seeing opportunity in
everything. She is especially fascinated by beauty often going out of her
way to follow a butterfly or sit a little longer at a beautiful view. Her
fascination with beauty, however, often leads her to judge those who are
unkempt or or don't seem to put any effort into their appearance. It is of great displeasure and discomfort for her to look
upon disheveled people or things which often leads her to be incredibly rude
towards those who do not take care about their looks.
Some may see this as vein, but to Valoire, it as an insult to Sune who loves the beauty within and without. Why deny your outer beauty for the sake of your inner beauty when you can have both?
