(Picture by player Regina Carey)
 

Valtris Llywellyn

Valtris came to the academy in the year 98 ADT with high, if somewhat misplaced, hopes. His parents were somewhat prosperous merchants based in Chihalla, but who did a good deal of business with the Acadamy in Palahade. He has two siblings. A brother, a year older then he, and a sister, 11 years younger.

He was still fairly young, but the prosperous lifestyle his parents had afforded him, had turned him into a bit of a snob, even at this age. Five years at the academy to become Uen Roug, and who knew what opportunities such a station would open up to him. The sky was the limit, he figured. The unicorns really played no part in his decision. At the time, he thought of them as little more then fancy horses.

An extremely bright and charming sort, Val was quite good at getting what he wanted. If a person could not get him something, he quickly tossed them aside as unimportant and found someone who could. It was not always the most endearing of traits, and in the process he managed to stomp on a number of feelings. But despite all of that, he did well at classes. Quite well, in fact, and was all set to graduate in 103 ADT on schedule... but then the 'accident' occurred.

Chance was born wild in 101 ADT. At the age of two, still having not reached his magical maturity, he and a few others from his herd decided to give the Academy a try. The elder members of the herd of course, had long espoused the dangers of dealing with humankind, but like most youngsters, Chance and his friends were not entirely convinced, and figured they'd best find out for themselves.

Chance had not yet developed his Talent yet, though most figured it would be something dealing with the spirit world, which was hereditary in his bloodline. He did not even have a human name (Chance is merely what he became known as in later years). And so they came to the Academy in 103ADT, just in time for the mishap to occur.

Chance's talent happened to be the ability to channel the unused Talents of ghosts from the netherrealm. The Talent could reach into that place, pick a ghost at random who had once had a Talent in life, and would channel that Talent through Chance, as if it were his own, whereupon the channel would close. But Chance knew nothing of this, nor did anyone else, for it had at that time never manifested itself, and since that time, has only ever done so once: the night of his first encounter with Val.

The day of his first meeting with Chance, Val did indeed manage to breach the barrier to the netherrealm, while asleep. And as had happened before, unknown to him, a ghost had been contacted. The only difference this time, however, was that before the ghost could lose its connection, Val met Chance and the first Bond was initiated.

Now, this particular ghost had had a Talent in life. It's talent, which it no longer could use, of course, was one of Good and Bad luck. It could cause good luck to happen to itself, by causing an equal amount of bad luck to occur to someone else nearby. This is important because, at the exact moment that Val and Chance met, Chance's talent decided to manifest itself for the first time. At the same moment, first bonding started to occur between human and unicorn. Of course, the Talent, being weak, and in its early stages of development, picked the line of least resistance, and selected the Ghost weakly linked to Val, to borrow the Talent from. But the link was through Val, and the moment the Talent started to pass through the living Human, it began to react with the sensitive magical energies surrounding the young unicorn in the midst of its first magical maturity. Add to that the magic inherent in first bonding, and the faint magic holding the ghost tenuously to Val's subconscious, and it all made for a volatile, unexpected and unprecedented result! Completely unintentional by all three parties.

The most immediate affect of which, of course, was great pain. Which started in Val, and spread outwards to either end of the chain, and amplified, and spread back. Both the ghost and Chance felt it, but Val got the worst of it by far, knocking him out cold.

The secondary effect was to halt, and break the bonding that had started between Val and Chance. As well, the link that had formed between Val and the Ghost became stronger, perhaps siphoning off some of the magic that the first bonding was to use, to strengthen itself.

Frightened and upset by the event, Chance and his friends, all of which had only just arrived, fled the Academy, to return to the Herd, no longer doubting the information the older corns told them about humans. Two things quickly became evident... First, Chance could no longer communicate telepathicaly with humans. Whatever link remained between Val, the Ghost and the unicorn was tying up whatever telepathic channels the unicorn would normally use to talk, mind to mind, with humans. Seen as even more reason to mistrust humans, Chance did not regret the loss. It was quite clear that only his newfound luck had gotten him out of that mess, and not being able to talk to them was just fine indeed, given the circumstances. Secondly, it quickly became evident that Chance was showing unusual bouts of good luck, and everyone (Chance included) assumed this was his Talent in operation, since he knew when he activated it, and what resulted. It was here, after he returned, that Chance became known as 'Chance'. He merely had an unpronouncable unicorn name when he was at the Academy. But Chance's actual Talent was stuck, and was only channeling part of the Talent. For the Talent included both Good and Bad luck, and the unicorn only ever saw the good. The Channel to the Ghost (through Val) however, had never managed to close! So it had never had the opportunity to shut itself down after the first manifestation. So unbeknownst to all, it has been on continuously, though at a much reduced level for years, ever since the accident! [Note: Not sure on what the actual long term effects of continual use of Talents, but this might eventually come up in the future, especialy if those effects start making themselves known. (Future Plot hook) ]

The ghost is technically linked to both Val and Chance, but the nature of Chance's Talent prevents anything but the Ghost's Talent from moving along that link. So only Val can feel the Ghost's presence. This is *not* channeling. The ghost has no (and probably shouldn't gain) any control or influence over Val (or Chance). It is mostly just a line of communication. Unfortunately, Val can not interprate any of the thoughts coming his way, though whether this is because the ghost is speaking some netherworldly lingo, or isn't saying anything intelligeble at all, is unknown.

As well, the other side of the Ghost's Talent, when it is used by Chance, always manifests itself in and around Val. So whenever Chance uses the Good Luck, something Bad happens where Val is. Usually these are of a relative nature... so if the good luck is small, the bad luck is small (a stubbed toe, a dropped pot). But if the good luck is big.... [Note: As of yet, Chance has not needed to use his Luck for anything major (ie: to save his life or get past some impossible situation), so mostly just minor bad luck  follows Val around. But if he did... (Future Plot hook)]

Val has no idea why his luck suddenly turned so sour after the accident, but after this many years of it, he knows bad luck is definitely following him. He assumes it is some sort of curse or punishment for harming the unicorn. And since his level of guilt over that is quite large, he takes the bad luck with stoic grace. In his mind, he figures he deserves it.

Chance's good fortune was often his Herd's good fortune, and his status amongst them rose quickly. He became one of the more vocal components in avoiding humans, and is one of those responsible for getting Spirit banished from the herd for that one's human sympathies (The two are of the same blood-line and herd. Spirit has since come to join the Academy)

The effects of a constantly operating Talent have yet to be seen. Very few remember, or even knew about events at the Academy, years prior. Some of the unicorns know that Chance had some unpleasant run-in with humans, years before, but that's about it.

The Ghost still hasn't remembered enough, or has not had the inclination, to make any purpose it might have known. It merely sits in the back of Val's mind 'feeding' off the feelings and thoughts that come to it over the link the two of them share, and waits.

Val's life has gone to seed. Those few brief moments of bonding with Chance had oppened up something in him he did not know he had. A longing and need for the companionship of a unicorn. Something that was not eased, and in fact was made even stronger by the lack of that bond. Even just looking at a unicorn after the accident sends pains of sorrow and regret shooting through him and set up an ache in his heart that never quite goes away. Add to this the fact that he was the one that had brought the Ghost that had been the catalyst in all of this and that no one ever told him what happened to the unicorn, and he also packed around a great deal of guilt. The entire event has left him broken and alone. [Note: No one at the academy knows who Chance was, other then a wild unicorn who had only been there a very short  time, or where he went after the accident. A few of the older Academy unicorns who were around then might  remember his unicorn name, but little beyond that. ]

The first few months after the accident had been hell. Especially after they figured out that Val was telepathicaly linked to the Ghost. The Uen Roug immediately started throwing blame at the Wyn, for failing to detect such an obvious magical talent, and not keeping Val away from the younger unicorns. The Wyn steadfastly refused to be blamed, instead pointing fingers at the Uen Roug for not diciplining their cadets well enough to even report strange phenemona.

And this was just the senior members of the academy who knew the basics of what had occurred. Lower down the echelon, and amongst the student, they had no idea.  Quickly the rumours circulated, about how a student had attacked/harmed/killed a unicorn in the fields, and the degree and outlandishness of the claims spread with each telling.

But, no matter the fingers being pointed, everyone had one thing in common. They all blamed Val. The whole event was something of a scandal, even though no one really knew what happened. It was not helped by the fact that Val missed graduation, and was expelled from the Uen Roug program soon thereafter. That was not a common occurance at all, and only something most dire could have warrented it, right?  In fact, Val was expelled due to his inability to communicate with the unicorns. The few who actually made the final decisions more or less knew Val could not be held entirely to blame for what had occurred and no serious harm had occured.

But without the ability to communicate, there was no chance of him becoming Uen Roug. As well, they realized that rumour and inuendo had gotten way out of hand, and they did not have the means to stop it, nor enough knowledge to counter it. A great deal of animosity existed towards the one person still available to be angry at, Val. So they removed him from view.

But Val would not leave. He could no longer bare the thought of not being near the unicorns, and the Academy was the only place he knew to find them. They pulled and tugged at his heart to such a degree that he could not leave, no matter his own circumstances.

Someone, somewhere, took some pity on him, and he was assigned to work in the stables, though he was from that day forbidden to go to a number of locations, just as were the Wyn. No one really knew what had happened, but they feared it happening again, so this was a precautionary thing. And Val, though it pained him, was the first to agree. He did not ever want to be responsible for hurting another unicorn. So he quietly laboured in the stables, occasionally sitting atop a hill and watching the unicorns from afar, but never approaching them.

And soon he was forgotten. Those who were there when it happened, soon moved on to other places. Few realized that the unsociable fellow who slopped out the stables was the same one all the scandal had been about years before.  Even those who had known him would barely have recognized him. The accident had taken a physical, as well as an emotional toll. He rarely got any sleep, constant migraines and the voice of the ghost in the back of his head made for extremely poor sleeping, and extremely long days.

He became extremly on edge and nervous, and years later, pretty much everyone agrees and thinks he is somewhat mad.  This went on for a few years, but over the past year, the voice of the ghost, though always more or less unintelligable, sometimes, during the wee dark hours of the morning, when Val was asleep. Sometimes, it would start to make sense.

This scares Val witless. He has no idea why the ghost has attached itself to him, or what reasons it might have had to continue to hold on, but it had to be bad. Everything that had happened to him since that day had been bad.

He has recently taken to drinking, heavily, at night, just before bed. It did not help him sleep better, but he'd spend most of the time unconscious and it seemed to help keep the voice of the ghost at bay or at least so he could not hear it for a short time.

The unicorns, as a whole, find Val makes them very uncomfortable. They are not used to being unable to talk to a human's mind, and the emptiness they get when they try to contact Val's unnerves them. This uneasiness often passes along to the human members of the Academy, and it did not take long until Val made everyone uneasy.

Not to mention he was quickly labeled as extreme bad luck, with ample proof to back it up. Pretty much everyone did their best to avoid him, lest that bad luck wash off on them, and he made no overtures.  For his part, Val ceased to care about anyone in the Academy a long time ago. He does not hate them, per se. But his life has become so miserable, that what they do or do not care about has ceased to matter to him.

His life has come down to only a few main concerns. Getting what small exposure to the unicorns he can. Caring for the horses so he can keep his job, and continue to get that exposure. And trying to forget about the voice of the Ghost in his head.

As well, the unicorn named Wishful, scares the hell out of him. [With GM permission!] He has begun to guess what her Talent is ... and he is also aware of the uneasiness he generates amongst the unicorns at the Academy. He does not know, nor wish to find out what might happen if Wishful started thinking unpleasant thoughts about him. So he does his best to avoid her at all costs, and avoid the situation.

Val has only seen his folks once since the accident. He occassionally corresponds with them, but the relationship has strained greatly. From both ends. A good part of his parents' business in the area was with the Academy, and when tempers were at their peak, soon after the accident, someone at the Academy had suggested to his folks that they might lose some of that business. And in the end they chose money over their son.

Though they have not done anything untoward to hurt him, neither have they encouraged nor asked for him to come home. They were quite content for him to stay exactly where he was. They didn't know why he was in trouble, they just didn't want it rubbing off on their business profits. A view that once Val would have shared... so he couldn't really blame them for it. But the loss of a family to fall back on made him even more alone then he already was.

He had never really gotten along well with his brother. As the older sibling, his brother stood to inheret the business, and was more then happy to let Val wallow away in Palahade, just in case.  His sister was only three years old when he went to the academy, and he only saw her on the occassional visit home during his five years as a Cadet. After the accident, he has only seen her once when she was nine. He is not aware of it, but his sister worshipped him as a child. Her older handsom brother, off learning with the Uen Roug and all the unicorns! It was the kind of thing that a young girl's fantasies were made of. She wrote a few letters to him, after the accident, but they never arrived, headed off by his folks. She is now sixteen.

Valtris is currently 25 years old. He has been working in the stables (and with the Ghost) for 6 years, with the 5 years prior to that in the Academy. All told, he's been hanging around the place for 11 years. =)

Before the accident, he excelled in his classes in Diplomacy and Leadership. He had a natural charm and wit and knew well how to influence others with it. He is also well versed in Uen history, even beyond the typical history taught at the Academy. His father was big on learning from the past, and Val knew more then many, even before he arrived at the Academy.

As well, he was great at cards, and knew a fair bit about the merchant business and the handling of money from his folks.  He has also, for the most part, completed all of the five years of courses required to become Uen Roug, so knows all that an Uen Roug graduate would know, except what it is to be Uen Roug.

Since the accident, he has kept almost entirely to himself. He seems to have quite a knack with the horses.
[Note: perhaps some small link with the unicorn and the latent telepathy makes him more aware of their needs? Perhaps the constant, though unwanted and unintentional use, has strengthened his telepathy a small amount?]

He knows more then most anyone about the care and needs of the Academy's steeds, except perhaps for the Master of the stables herself. His bad luck rarely seems to affect the horses. More often then not it seems to affect those wanting to ride them, or the equipment they mean to use. (Though he strongly suspects his bad luck being instrumental in starting the fire that burned down the stables and killed Athena and Fathom)

He also spends a good deal of time 'watching'. He rarely, if ever, gets a decent nights sleep, and often wanders the grounds at night. He has seen many things. Most folks tend to ignore him, or think him stupid. So often things are said in his presence. He knows every single unicorn that has passed through the Academy for the past six years. Not personally, mind you, but he knows about them, what their Talent was, what their personality was like, who they bonded with, what things of note happened to them while they were here, where they went afterwards.

Rainbow's End is the creation of Amber McNett
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