Valanthe

🔈 (vah-LAHN-theh)

Died in the Circular Island, the Sea of Storms

Valanthe was an elven bard and playwright of the 32nd ka, born in Rostaurë. She came to Drankor in DR 948, during her first leya, during the reign of Helea, before the Drankorian Civil War and the rise of Omnis Pura. By the time Apollyon came to power in DR 1011, she was a bard of significant renown. Her magic drew on the power of her oratory and the cunning of her words.

Under Apollyon’s rule, her art became resistance. Her satirical plays, often performed in secret, mocked the emperor, the Ashen Cloaks, and the Omnis Pura. Pamphlets carrying her words circulated widely. Her work later became a rallying cry for the Radiant Path and Fides Lucaris, although she formally joined neither movement.

Apollyon ordered her capture early in his reign. Valanthe evaded his agents through the 1020s using magic and wit, but was betrayed and captured during the Hearth Riots in DR 1031. Taken in chains to the Circular Island, she remained imprisoned until she was sacrificed in DR 1053, becoming the first of seven souls bound into Apollyon’s Phylactery.

Her story is recorded in the Book of Martyrs of the Radiant Path, a hidden record and memorial kept by the priests of the Radiant Path of those disappeared and taken during Apollyon’s reign, though her fate was unknown for many centuries, until the Dunmar Fellowship ventured to Drankor to defeat Apollyon.

On May 24, 1749 DR, Seeker freed her soul in the Land of the Dead by mocking Apollyon with Vicious Mockery, rekindling her laughter and memories of her satirical works so she could pass on.