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Valencia
Ve'Kyna
(Huntress)
Daughter
of Nikolaus, Niece of
Autolycus
Valencia is the niece of Autolycus, and the younger of two children. Her father, the large and fair-haired Nikolaus, was a disciplined and conservative man by nature. The relationship between the brothers had always been tense, and shortly after they came of age, they went their separate ways. Neither made an effort to keep in touch.
Years later, Nikolaus had made a name for himself as the best woodsmith in Athens. An endless slew of commissioners passed by young Valencia's curious gaze. A walk to the nearest tavern revealed an even more colorful atmosphere. People-watching became one of her favorite hobbies.
Much to Nikolaus' consternation, the roguish streak in the family did not end with Autolycus. While his eldest, Damien, was growing up in his footsteps to be an excellent carpenter, Valencia seemed to take after his brother more in both looks and personality. A daredevil and a teller of tall tales, she was a young rogue in the making. Her glib mannerism and crooked sense of humor endeared some, while her boastfulness offended others. At the age of thirteen, she had once remarked that she could steal the winged-shoes off of Hermes himself. Despite this... flattering self-image, Valencia's schemes occasionally backfired due to carelessness or miscalculation.
Her first brush with the law came at age fifteen, when she was caught lifting a pair of golden underpants from the home of a renowned politician. It was only through her father's influential status that she managed to avoid some gruesome, premature end. Nikolaus' patience, however, ended there.
The next morning found Valencia on the streets with a bundle of clothing and some stale nutbread, quite disheveled, and quite disowned.
Several months passed without incidence. One could expect a few tussles in the seedier parts of town, of course, but Valencia held her own. What she lacked in training and expertise, she made up for, to an extent, in the ability to think on her toes. Life was not altogether terrible. She made a few dinars doing odd-end jobs around the city, borrowed some loose change from friends, and swiped the rest. It was not a long term plan, but whatever attempts she made to get back in touch with her family were ignored. For the first time in her young life, Valencia was truly worried.
On her sixteenth birthday, the Fates bestowed upon her a strange gift in the form of a stranger with a mustache. She had befriended none other than Autolycus – family which she hadn't even known she had. Family who just so happened to need an accomplice for his next big heist.
Throughout the next three years, she came to see Autolycus as a father figure of sorts. They both needed their independence, but they kept in touch and traveled together off and on. Valencia became a capable thief in her own right. The maturity that came with long periods of travel had toned down her brashness somewhat. There was, however, a devilishness within her still that would probably always remain. She was just as much of a prankster as ever, but chasing thrills had mostly lost its appeal to her, and she wondered if she could someday put her skills to good use.
She enjoyed adventuring with her uncle, but as time wore on, it became clear to her that her destiny did not lie in the road. Valencia craved something deeper: a sense of spiritual belonging.
It was in a heist with one of her uncle's protégés, Seriana, that she first heard of the Themiscyran Amazons. Part of the plan was for them to get kidnapped by a warlord, so that they could cooperate from the inside. As was the case with some of Autolycus' plans, things went a little awry, and they found themselves locked up in a cell for many hours. To ease their boredom and anxiety, they debated over everything from the latest bards to various politics, and naturally, they came to the subject of personal philosophy and lifestyle. As it turned out, Seriana was an Amazon. Valencia was entranced.
As she lay that night on her cot, she envisioned the power of the sisterhood like the roaring flame in the circle, flickering to the rhythm of their very souls as they danced in unified passion, and thought that perhaps whatever she sought lay somewhere within the depths of that forest.
Five days, one encouraging talk with Autolycus and many, many mugs of port later, Valencia was on her way to becoming an Amazon.
Not long after she joined the tribe, however, Valencia received a mysterious letter from her uncle requesting her aid and instructing her to meet him at the gates of Athens in three days. Confused and worried, she hastened to the meeting place – only to be captured by a group of waiting soldiers and thrown into an interrogation chamber. The letter had been a fake.
Under torture, Valencia confessed to the kidnapping and murder of a councilman's wife – a crime she did not commit. In three fortnights, she would be executed.
More than a year later found her standing once again before the gates of Themiscyra, looking somewhat worse for the wear. As to what had happened during those long months away... that would be a story for another day.
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Valencia is about 5' 7'' with messy, dark brown hair and lighter than average complexion. Her strong eyebrows and the glint of mischief in her pale-gray eyes gives her the air of a devilish sprite. While it may be said that she is handsome, her physical appearance is not one that would immediately draw attention in a crowd. She walks with a spring in her step, and prefers to travel on foot.
Her weapons of choice are the long bow and the tanto, a Japanese long dagger. She speaks Greek and her hut mate is Kiarna.
Her totem animal is the tarantula.
Tae'Nah athelfi arche:
6 October 2008
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