DD188 - Sword of the Faith

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by Katamount

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Valriel Tyrnes'undlin is unique amongst the elite for a very special reason.  She is the one member of the Elite Guard who was born into the Borsite faith.  Her mother and father were drawn to the faith in their early 100s, their young love fueling the revelries of their local temple.  It is rare for those reveling so to become pregnant, but Valriel's mother wanted a child, one that could learn the tenets of the faith early in her life, and would know the joy that they had experienced.

But that joy would not survive long.  A plague would sweep through their town, killing Valriel's father before her mother could give birth.  When her mother showed signs of the illness, fear of the health of the child crept into Borsite community.  They served as midwives, birthing Valriel, a difficult delivery that claimed her mother's life.  None of the Borsites felt themselves capable of raising the elven child, but a high priestess, a young human, stepped forward to claim that responsibility.  The woman raised Valriel as any other child until she came of age, at which point she introduced Valriel to the faith.  Valriel accepted the faith with all her heart, hoping one day to serve as her foster mother did.

Valriel found her skill lay in arms, rather than in the clergy.  To that end, she chose the path of a paladin, a holy warrior for Bors Fortinbras.  She trained hard, becoming proficient with a two-handed blade, and when she could strike true, her foster mother knew it was time for her to venture out into the world.  Valriel did so with immense pride, carrying forth the symbol of the Stringlord upon her armour.

Her adventures took her to many corners of the world, and to many bedchambers.  She counseled young lovers when she could, and sought to bring justice and right wrongs against the poor and needy of Jura.  In one such travel, she came upon another Borsite group, who came to her in crisis.  The plague had returned, but it had mutated to be transmitted through sexual contact only.  The plague was more than she could handle herself; she needed a well-trained cleric.  She sent for a priestess, and one arrived, a young Drow elf, about the same age as Valriel.  Valriel knew little about the Drow, but previous experience with them told her not to trust one, even one of the faith.  But they searched for a cure together, and in doing so, Valriel's defenses softened, and the two became friends.  Friendship turned to love, and it gave them strength in their quest.  Their search brought them to the temple of the goddess of poison herself, a jealous deity that had wanted Bors for herself.  When he left the plane, she saw the action as a rejection, and developed illnesses specifically to strike through sexual contact as a sick revenge.

The plague cure in hand, they distributed it to the inhabitants of a grateful populace, but they did not want glory in Jura.  They wanted only each other, and their god.  When Bors heard of their deed, he was deeply grateful, and accepted them into his home, and into his heart, along with that of his wife.  Valriel now serves as his valet, and Chief of the Elite Guards.  When Bors is on Ossinia, Valriel is never far away, and often serves Bors' personal guests with a pleasure found only in loving duty.

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