Born within the terraced courtyards and waterways in the noble quarter of the city, to a family of ancient lineage, Valiere Tempestade was a fragile child, the younger of two siblings born to the House Lord Devraile Tempestade and the Lady Eleusine. For all the elegance of the vaulted halls in which she was born, Valiere's childhood was a lonely one, spent in the company of whispering maidservants and stern governesses, between two estranged parents whose only words to each other were always of a cold courtesy that bordered upon contempt. Devraile was a distant man who differed from his forebears in that he ruled over his House with the same iron fist with which he led his Legion; Eleusine, of which little was known, but for her reputation many long years past that she had been feared on the field, had utterly changed after her capture by Elyos and subsequent escape. Once a beautiful woman, yet now aged in mien despite the immortal youthfulness of her appearance, she would remain seated at one of the many tall windows in her immaculate drawing-room, staring out over the gardens in silence. Devraile had never forgiven the Elyos - or his wife - for the changed, unhappy life which they now led, and spent his days on the battlefield, drowning his sorrows in the tides of war.

Valiere's brother cared little for his parents besides what martial knowledge they could impart, and once he had established his own fortunes as a distinguished leader of his own legion, he departed the manor for his own holdings. Lacking his charisma and strength of purpose, his sister, ten years younger, remained in Vanahal alone, sheltered from the outside world, taught extensively in the arts and sciences as the children of Vanahal were wont to be. Under the harsh - some say brutal - rigours of her training, Valiere grew from a precocious child to a girl of competence and intellect; yet, deprived of kindness, she grew bitter, and it took many years before she was able to mask it beneath the polite veneer of social restraint particular to those of noble blood.

It was on her fourteenth year that she was placed under the tutelage of the young officer who had helped instruct her brother in the arts of battle. Demian was well-known to her father as an exceptional soldier, and though he was barely older than her own brother, had a gift for teaching. They spent many hours together in the study or at the Temple of Knowledge, talking at length on what he knew of Asmodae and the war, and as time  passed she grew enamoured of him, though she kept her silence. At twenty-two, she finally Ascended, and was placed under his responsibility in his legion, Terminus Est.

It was their misfortune a year later that the Legion General, a Daeva of some renown and a glory-hound, sought the capture of an as-yet unknown Artifact on the fringes of the known Abyss. The Legion was slaughtered but for Demian's band of men, and he and Valiere, along with the surviving legionnaires, were granted a leave from Pandaemonium's forces.  It was whispered that their legion commander's family, one of high influence in the city, with close familial ties to the Shadow Court and the powerful Houses of Vanahal, had drawn a veil of secrecy about the tragedy, for through some sinister power of the Artifact the dead had been lost to the Aether forever. 

Deeply affected, troubled and purposeless, Valiere sought comfort in Demian's company, and as she remained in Pandaemonium, was drawn into the darker intrigues of the city and her family's woes. In the past few months it has been whispered that the banners of Terminus Est, the Legion of the Dead, have been raised again in the Abyss.

Persona

Courteous and mature beyond her years, well-read and inquisitive, Valiere has a quick mind and oft easily grasps the connections between seemingly unrelated subjects. She has a genuine appreciation of the artistry involved in many crafts/pursuits and a good eye; her strong sense of honour and personal ethics extends to an instinctive defense of the wronged. Possessed of a fierce intensity in crucial situations, she can prove a tenacious enemy. 

Her misanthropic tendencies, while kept controlled for the most part, run surprisingly deep; those few who know her have described it as a hatred of startling viciousness kept tightly leashed.

She has a fractured. troubled personality beneath her calm composure and can strike out if she is backed into a corner; she can lack involvement and human empathy. Perfectionism is perhaps her greatest weakness; she has very little regard for herself, and tends to value herself based on her accomplishments, which she considers few. Due to her upbringing, in darker turns of mood, she tends to regard herself merely as an efficient tool by which the powers that be accomplish their ends in war.

For a Daeva so comprehensively trained, and one Vanahal-born, she can still be surprisingly naive, and prone to poor judgement calls. She is often critical without consciously meaning to be and far too contemptuous of those who allow their ego to get the better of themselves. Once roused, though very rarely, her temper can be explosive.

Disposition: Introspective and detail-oriented, Valiere is logical for the most part; she affects a bland countenance around most strangers and places her trust in few. She habitually suppresses her own reactions to people around her out of courtesy and restraint, values that her House believe are part of one's self-discipline. As such she does tend to have a very narrow view of others who are often prey to their emotions or make needless displays of their own arrogance, openly disdaining the former as a sign of weakness. When she does resort to humour it tends to the self-deprecating and acerbic. Those who have met her might describe her as proper and self-possessed.

Motivations: She feels a deep sense of responsibility to her House, and has undertaken great efforts to maintain its assets and traditions, as well as to reinstate its former glory in Pandaemonium. Possessed of an inquisitive mind with an almost clinically detached curiosity about the workings of society and state, as well as the history of Atreia, when after an intriguing fragment of knowledge or in unraveling a puzzle she may tend to delve too deeply into matters where a wiser individual would tread carefully. While she has no taste for what she views as pointless intrigues, she likes to attempt to unravel deeper-laid plots for to satisfy her own interest and what she believes is useful experience.

Valiere has an innate distrust of certain political and religious movements, especially those garnering popular and zealous support. She is wont to walk her own path, choosing words and deeds with care; she may tend to read further between the lines than necessary. 

Relationships: Valiere trusts only two people in the whole of Atreia - her brother Valraven, and Demian. While she and her brother have grown distant over the years, it is an unspoken pact between the two that either may have complete faith in the other and never fear that it should be broken. She has grown almost too dependent on her former mentor and superior officer, and cannot be long out of Demian's company. The regard for him that she had in her youth only deepened with time, and following the incident in the Abyss, the disquieted and troubled Demian turned to her, initiating a relationship that has so far been kept secret from those of her House.

Other Quirks: She has a bad habit of biting her own lips, sometimes to the point that they bleed, when she is anxious. She secretly loathes being touched, unless by people she's grown comfortable with, and even then will not normally initiate any form of physical contact apart from social niceties. Often, she can vacillate between intense self-loathing and antipathy for others to the point of seeming masochism. She loves high vantage points; as a child, she would invariably find her way to the highest spires and rooftops in Vanahal, savouring the quiet and the view before her. She often takes a dilettante's interest in unusual historical facts and hobbies beyond her sphere of knowledge and interest, often taking them up as curiosities for a season before passing on to others. 

Full Name: Valiere Tempestade
Class: Sorcerer
Race: Asmodian
Gender: Female
Age at Ascension: 22
Current Age: 23
Hair: Silver
Skin: White
Eyes: Purple
Height: 5'11"/1.80m
Weight: 126 lbs/57kg
Body Type: Tall and willowy.
Physical Condition: Rather fit from living an active, healthy life. Despite appearances to the contrary she loves to run and climb, a trait from her childhood she's kept to this day, and which has kept her in good stead in the hunting of Elyos.

Interests

Random Fact Sheet

Valiere did not take well to flying the first few months she attempted it. She was regularly nauseous and would often fly too hard and too far, almost snapping her wings off in the process.

She has a bad habit of biting her own lips, sometimes to the point that they bleed, when she is anxious.

Growing up, she was regularly disciplined to the point of abuse so that, as with most nobles' children, she might become the perfect candidate for Ascension. Her father often resorted to experimental methods and mind games as well as exposure to the horrors of war and torture to "strengthen" his weaker child against the Elyos. She still has much resentment and psychological trauma but keeps most of it under tight control.

She was bullied extensively as a child by her peers, for her height and gangling thinness as well as her quiet demeanour. She later tore out the earrings and nose-ring of a trader's teenage son after she discovered he and his gang had brutally tortured a tayga cub belonging to a little girl.

Prior to her Ascension, it became fashionable for some of the daughters of noble houses to take informal apprenticeships with art masters and the like. She chose to work for an a prestigious art and antiques auction house and Eiren. She was gradually forced to give them up as her training took up all her waking hours.

Valiere gets drunk very easily, and as a result will only allow herself a glass or two of a good vintage when the occasion allows.

She has a large suite of rooms that she prefers to lock herself away in.

She often falls asleep while reading in bed.

The character's original name is Valire, with Valiere a re-spelling or alternate spelling (not the French Valiere).