Valentinoix Thibault

Valentinoix "Val" Thibault
Driven by necessity
Gender	Male
Race	Elezen
Clan	Duskwight
Citizenship	Ul'Dah
Nameday	19th Sun of the 3rd Umbral Moon
Age	35
Height	6 fulms 7 ilms
Birthplace	northern Black Shroud
Pronunciation	Val-in-tin-wah Tee-bohl

Character

Appearance

Valentinoix is about average height for an elezen, standing at a lofty 6 fulm 7 ilms. His frame is rather wiry, and despite his strength, he doesn't appear very toned. His facial structure is very sharp and gaunt, his dark grayish-brown skin contrasting his white eyes. His skin had become more of a brownish hue after spending more time in the sun when mining. His ears are rather short and curved more towards his head instead of outward, something typical of his familial line. He has a tendency of changing his hair, though he still dyes it with pigments on occasion.

When not armored up, Val tends to lean towards woven or leather clothing. He tends to lean towards blues, blacks, and whites.

When competing in the Colosseum as Valentine, Val wears heavy armor along with a turban with a mask. He relies mostly on sound to fight, and blocking his sight keeps him from looking at all the people watching. It is difficult to discern who he is, though as elezen are rare in Ul'dah, it's not too difficult to figure out.

Personality

Val is rather typical of his kind, coming across as rather aloof and offstandish. He has trouble making friends and often doesn't socialize. He prefers to stay away from people and crowded areas, though he has taken to frequenting the Quicksand. Crowds can be suffocating for him, a terrible combination of too many people and too much noise. Even the Quicksand can prove too crowded for him at times.

Val is particularly driven by necessity. Growing up living off the land, he's rather accustomed to taking only what is needed and leaving the rest. Even when hunting, he only took what was necessary before disappearing into the shadows. His earnings amassed from taking on odd jobs, particularly as a sellsword, has thrown off his balance, and he feels compelled to give away excess to those who need it more, particularly children and homeless families. As he tends to stick to the less crowded areas in Ul'dah and across Thanalan, it is rare to see him doing so.

Val has a rather peculiar manner of speaking. As his family remained underground since times of old, the manner of common he learned at a young age is rather archaic by current standards, and he's painfully aware of this. Since he has spent some time in Ul'dah, his language has become slightly less formal, though he'll resort to highly archaic speech when frustrated or annoyed.

Family

Not much is known about Val's family, and he will never speak about them. They were all killed by the fray of the Calamity when their cave home collapsed upon them. Their identities were lost to history.

Relationships

• Aerius Destroven - Val first met Aerius when Trisselle attempted to matchmake the two, misunderstanding Val's statement about liking personable people. Once the confusion had passed, Val finds him mildly amusing and pleasant. He seems to be the strong sort.
• Arthurioux - a snide fellow duskwight who seems to have trouble listening and is constantly smoking something. He's arrogant and commanding and sometimes gets under Val's skin. However, Val still continues to speak with him for whatever reason.
• Lily Dawnsworn - a strong hyur woman, very friendly and very respectable. Val finds her presence to be quite pleasant.
• Reinette Sompt - a fellow duskwight who shares his hatred for Gridania.
• Rinhilda Stonebreaker

Trivial information

• Val changes his hair on occasion, mostly as he's paranoid the wailers would find him and throw him back into a dungeon. He streaks it with various pigments to change the color.
• He considers Ul'dah his home as his original one is now long gone.
• While in Ul'dah, Val has taken up mining to become more self-sufficient. The sun has tanned his skin to a point that some cannot tell if he's Wildwood or Duskwight.
• The scar spanning the left side of his face comes from being branded by the Wailers so they could keep track of him.
• While it is particularly difficult to sway Val with money, he is particularly easy to sway when it comes to pretzels. Aside from pretzels, Val's favorite food is Landtrap Salad
• As his name can be difficult to pronounce, some have taken to calling him Val. He truly has no preference for which name is used. His name is properly pronounced Val-in-tin-wah Tee-bohl.

Rumors

Common

• "Sometimes I wonder if he's capable of talking. I've never heard him say anything." ~ adventurer
• "You know, I hired that guy to protect my caravan but he didn't want any money. All he wanted in return was pretzels." ~ merchant at the Silver Bazaar
• "That elezen is more formal that the nobles at times, especially with that dramatic bow of his." ~ Ul'dahn merchant

Uncommon

• "That Val guy is actually pretty personable. I've talked with him a few times and he seems like a good guy with a bit of bad luck. I just wish I knew how to pronounce his name." ~ Quicksand diner

Rare

• "I hear he's an exile from his homeland of Gridania." ~ Drunk at the Quicksand bar
• "That duskwight gave us money and food. I don't know his name. He didn't speak. He simply gave us stuff and walked away." ~ homeless mother in Pearl Lane
• "I heard he tried to become a paladin but had no skill in magics." ~ swordsman

History

Valentinoix was first born into a small family living within the caves deep in the northern section of the Black Shroud. The family had been there for generations, stemming from a family of elezen who lived within Gelmorra. Like most duskwight, Val's family was incredibly reclusive, living in the safety of the caves.

Val's family had resorted to only minor pillaging, thieving supplies from wagons on a nearby trade route. At an early age, Val had taken his father's dagger to hunt cave bats and yarzon for extra food. Using his acute hearing, he felled the creatures with ease.

Val strayed away from the neighboring families, mostly keeping to himself. Soon after that, his younger brother and sister were born. Fraternal twins, the two were practically attached at the hip to Val, looking up to him. Val had grown to be a rather formidable hunter, and they wanted to be just like him too.

Sometime later, he took a mate and started a family of his own. He raised his children to be strong and respect the ideals of balance and necessity.

Years later, the ground began to rumble, the world shaking around them. In the distance, a great battle resounded. Drawn out by the noise, Val rushed outside to protect the family home only to see something come crashing into it.

Post Calamity

False accusations

Without family or a home, Val took to wandering. He lived off the land, taking only what he alone needed. He developed a particular fondness for kedtrap leaves. He took to catching other game as the lands demanded it, however he never took more than necessary. That would throw off the natural balance.

One day, the Wood Wailers set up a trap to catch poachers outside Quarrymill where poachers were a consistent problem. Hungry and in need of food, Val continued about his business, slaying a small antelope. The Wailers ambushed him, surprised to find a duskwight instead of the suspected Keeper Miqo'te. Val hadn't planned to fight, but found it necessary as the Wailers weren't intending on letting him go. The numbers were against him, and he was captured. He put up quite a fight, but still managed to be hauled off. When questioned, he offered a false name and claimed he knew nothing of poaching. He was simply trying to survive, taking only what was necessary to survive and not affect the land.

The Wildwood captain didn't seem to buy Val's story, looking upon him with scorn and keeping him imprisoned for a few weeks. They branded him so they could tell him apart from others by slashing his face from cheek to the bridge of his nose. The imprisonment wasn't as harsh as the taunting and jeering of his captors, their words cutting deeper than the wounds on his body.

The reports of poaching continued around Quarrymill. The Wailers there eventually came into contact with the true poachers, which in turn freed Val from any suspicion. He was left alone after a severe beating, still no home to return to. He wasn't entirely sure where to go, but Gridania no longer felt like home. It felt more like a prison.

A new life

So he fled Gridania, eventually finding himself in the neighboring Thanalan. He was lost and confused and still wounded from the Wailers' beatings. He had little place to go, seeking refuge in the train yard where Papashan found him, tempting him to come out with a handful of pretzels.

Seeing that Val was clueless to the world of him and desperately needed help, Papashan offered for Val to stay some time with the group working at the trainyard, to work and earn money as well as acclimate to modern society. He became more at ease and his speech became more understandable, though it remained somewhat archaic. The sun had turned his skin to a more brownish gray while he worked for Papashan as he used his skills with the blade to help quell the spriggan and coblyn population as well as other random jobs as needed.

Moons later, Papashan encouraged Val to go into the city and work with the gladiator's and miner's guilds. While Val was hesitant to leave, he decided it best to actually start a new life for himself contrast to what life he had back in the caverns. That life was now gone, lost to the Calamity.

Val trained with both guilds, earning more coin than he cared to have. He spent what was necessary then gave the excess to those who needed it when no one was around. He began participating in the Colosseum under the pseudonym Valentine. He took on a pseudonym as the idea of being surrounded by fans made him horribly uneasy. While he was rather successful in the Colosseum, he did suffer some losses, forcing him to take breaks. He also took breaks when he'd amassed too much money, fearing that the balance was off.