one version of her mostly from this but can be used in many other situations by anyone who wants to
shout out to the three people that asked for this ( @the-effect-of-chaos @mona-tiktak @p0lybl4nkk)
darker brown hair slight natural wave that she does sadly dye the greys out of, golden toned skin, oval face shape rounded darker brown eyes about 5'4" (wears heels when going out often appears more 5'6ish) thin but gains happy weight after leaving/ killing her husband
athletic, specifically a runner but as she gains weight and gets older she switches to swimming
math wiz, does not understand sciences
reads smutty romance novels for fun but only after becoming a widow
cat like in her affection, crawling into claudias lap, likes to be in the same room as her people, will often reach out to just gently touch, will often essentially groom steve (non-maliciously, its basically checking for injuries half the time)
absolutely sobs her eyes out the second shes alone after steve asks for help/ goes to her for comfort the first time its even worse if its dustin that just accepts her as an trusted adult figure in his life and asks for help because she should have been there to help steve like this
will never forgive herself for leaving steve alone for so long
was trapped in her marriage, maybe through an air tight pre-nup she was young dumb and in love that she never thought she'd need that left her with nothing or maybe immigration maybe something else
DOES NOT get along with joyce ( joyce judges her for not leaving her husband to give both her and steve a better life like she did with her kids, Valerie the mild disaster of a woman asks how intermediational monster trauma is a better life and there's just no coming back from that) they do manage to keep it civil for the kids
likes in a sort of masochistic way that robin hates her because shes glad someone has steves back
can cook a set of specific meals but if you ask her to try a new recipe its going to be a shit show the first couple times
absolute batshit driver
Has never had a pet so can occasionally be found just kind of staring at tews, she does like having a pet but sometimes she just doesn't understand why they have this tiny predator around
Super affectionate partner ( the only reason they don't get run out of Hawkins due to homophobia is the power of gal pals)
Has never thrown a punch, has slapped someone was taught to shoot a gun as a kid but hasn't since then
Tries to parent Steve like he's still a young kid occasionally because that was the last time she felt like a mom
Vinnie wasn’t a stranger to the pub, wherever they were, so it wasn’t unusual to find them sitting in one of the booths, pint on the table in front of them, phone in hand as they scrolled through Facebook videos. They’d felt drawn to Valerie quickly — she seemed like she had it together, but was super down to Earth at the same time, the type of energy Vinnie liked being around. So after getting hold of her number, they’d text her, asking if the younger of the pair fancied meeting up over drinks.
“Damn, girl”, Vinnie grinned when Valerie arrived, giving a nod of appreciation to her outfit, “You look fucking good. Someone in here is definitely going to be trying to stealing your attention from me when you look that fine.” @msvaleriedias
Valdia, the Kazan’s Mom. She likes to fight with improvised weapons (such as pens, pots, cutlery, clothes, chairs, doors, broom, etc.). She was a “magem warrior” (they use combat magites).
In Itheriont, when you abuse magic … you suffer mutations. The typical thing is a change in the color of the hair or eyes to an unnatural one, but the more abuses, the more changes… like shark teeth.
In a world where the monsters is hated and feared, these people are… uncomfortable.
If you like my art SUPPORT ME ON PATREON! (or Ko-fi)
At the time of the campaign, the continent is still reeling from the effects of the Ascension War only a few years beforehand. Nearly all of the characters in this setting lived through the war, though some were more affected by it than others. The Curse itself began during the war, and almost certainly has its roots in the dark magic wrought during that period.
This is a basic overview of the parts of the war that most affect the central setting; more posts to come will elaborate on specific campaigns, battles, and participants.
An elven noble by the name of Raspult, a powerful sorcerer, came to prominence in the competitive, scheming court of the nation of Keva. The court had always been divided among various branches of the enormous royal family jockeying for power, and Raspult took advantage of the ongoing tumult. However, he wanted more than just a mortal throne.
Raspult’s intent was to place himself on the Empty Throne, installing himself in place of the dead king of the gods, Oberok. His initial support came from both his dark cult, and from nobles who were attempting to ride his coattails into power in the Kevan court. As his scheming grew into outright war, he relied more heavily on his dark powers, fiendish creatures, and on a mad cult of supporters who embroiled themselves in evil and violent magics.
As one might expect, Keva saw the worst of the fighting. However, the tyrant’s megalomaniacal ambitions meant that battlegrounds stretched from the far east of Keva, through Valdia, and all the way to Demionde in the west.
Valdia
Originally, other nations were not inclined to involve themselves in what seemed like a Kevan civil war, but as Raspult’s influence grew and his true plans began to reveal themselves, armies began to mobilize. The nation of Valdia looked to their Duke for official orders to arm up, to organize, and to move out.
And they waited.
No word came from the Duke’s palace, even as the urgency of a military response became impossible to ignore. Many of the more powerful nobles had also fallen silent, leaving the country without its commanders-in-chief. As a result, Valdian efforts to join the fight were late, unofficial, scattered, disorganized, and poorly supplied.
The people of the Greatwood soon realized that the capital, Valdsheart, and the surrounding area had become corrupted and impassable - the beginnings of the Curse, almost certainly centered on the Duke’s palace. No one knows what transpired there that could have wiped out the country’s leaders and made the capital the epicenter of the terrible corruption. The Curse has only grown more vicious over time, even after the war ended, and no expedition has ever reached the capital and successfully returned to tell the tale of what they found there.
The Orcs
Many of the classically evil and feared creatures of the world naturally flocked to Raspult’s service. However, the aspiring god made the fatal mistake of assuming the orcs would be among that number. Among the humanoid races, orcs were feared and assumed to be naturally evil and brutish. Raspult, an arrogant high elf, took this racist caricature as fact. He imperiously commanded all of Orc civilization to serve him, never even entertaining the thought that they might object. The Orcs, meanwhile, were busy minding their own business and having a complex and rich culture focused on devotion to their clans, their ancestors, and their homeland. They met Raspult’s demands with disbelief and absolute refusal.
Turns out dark sorcerers don’t like that.
In revenge for denying him, Raspult brought down terrible curses upon the Orc homeland, poisoning the central mountain of their territory and the five sacred rivers that flowed from it. With the ecologically vital rivers so corrupted, the Orc homeland was unable to sustain its people’s lives. The Orc clans became refugees, with both their physical sustenance and their deep spiritual connection to their land fatally disrupted.
The Orcs became a vital and dedicated ally in the fight against Raspult, utterly bent on defeating the one who had committed such a genocidal act against them. Despite the unease with which most humanoids still view orcs, most veterans of the Ascension War fought alongside orcs at least once, and are aware of their valor in battle and their deep losses. Most scholars agree that without the Orcs’ contributions, the war would have been lost.
The Deal
After the brutal war drew to a close, the ruling powers of the continent were faced with two issues: what to do with an entire country’s worth of orcish refugees, and what to do with a nation-sized forest that was becoming more cursed by the day. Unwilling to leave their valiant orcish allies in the dust, but equally unwilling to offer them sanctuary in their own nations, the various rulers of the continent decided to solve one problem with the other. The now-vacant title of Duke of Valdia was offered to the brave and charismatic orc leader named Shieldeater, and the Orcs were given free reign to settle in Valdia.
It wasn’t a great deal for the Orcs - the deal was clearly motivated in part by the other nation’s preference to send orcs instead of their own troops into the meat-grinder of the Cursewood - but it was something, and the newly-titled Duke Shieldeater led his warriors and the civilian orcs they protected into the Valdian territories.
Native Valdians have HIGHLY mixed feelings about this; fear and distrust of orcs has always been prevalent, and many locals see the orcs as foreign invaders taking over the country. Meanwhile, Duke Shieldeater sent expeditions of warriors into the heart of the wood to try to defeat the Curse, and when those ventures failed, he began a project to clear-cut areas of forest in the hope of preventing the spread of the curse and creating safe areas to live.
The Cursewood does not exist in a vacuum. Let’s talk about the geography of our setting!
Valdia
Our central setting. The territory of Valdia is mostly forested; it is almost interchangeably known as the Greatwood. It is Germanic in culture. Originally mostly inhabited by humans, it was conquered by the Elvish nation of Keva roughly 150 years ago. After an uprising by the locals, the region became too troublesome and expensive for the distant Kevan regime to control, and it became a Dukedom under the family of the woman who had led the rebellion.
The Duke’s castle lies at what is now the epicenter of the Curse. After the Duke and his family disappeared during the Ascension War, sovereignty over the now-cursed lands was given to an Orcish leader named Shieldeater - a solution to the problem of vast numbers of Orcish refugees, as well as the problem of a highly cursed forest no one wanted to deal with.
Due to the several generations with a heavy Kevan presence, elven and half-elven citizens are common. To the far north lies Sturmhearst University, where bird-masked scholars study ways to reverse the terrible corruption.
The Aquilian Empire
A long time ago, vast islands floated aloft above the continent, home to a powerful empire of Aarakocra. While most of the floating islands have fallen and their birdfolk residents are scattered or gone, Aquilian culture (similar to Roman culture in our world) remains a basis for culture and language throughout the continent.
The Aquilian Empire’s fall is closely associated with, and perhaps caused by, the death of their patron god Oberok.
The Draco-Aquilian Empire
An island nation full of Dragonborns; it sees itself as a successor to the classical Aquilian empire. The islands were, in fact, once the floating islands of the Aquilian Empire that have come back down to Earth. The culture is Greek by way of Byzantium. Its capital is Aurentium, the Golden City.
Keva
To the east lies the vast empire of Keva, mainly populated by elves. It is culturally based on Russia. Drow are a minority population. The ruling family is enormous, highly intermarried, and highly competitive over the throne.
Demionde
To the west lies Demionde, a proud and passionate (some might even say pompous) nation of predominantly halflings. It is culturally French, which is indeed a not-so-subtle Napoleon joke. Demionde is known for its brave, chivalrous knights who never back down from a challenge, never take an insult lying down, and ride giant war dogs into battle.
Galway
Further west is the island of Galway, this setting’s England. Gallish is not widely spoken on the continent - most Gallish traders who sail to the mainland learn the mainland’s languages. It is ruled by three queens.
Ventallus
Ventallus, to the south, is not a unified nation but a loosely allied group of territories belonging to various merchant princes. Generally Italian in culture, its exact borders are constantly in flux due to trading, conquering, strategic alliances, and general Borgia/Medici scheming among the merchant families. There’s gotta be at least, like, six popes.
The Crownlands
Small warring feudal human kingdoms to the south of the Greatwood. These city-states are too far from the wood to be affected by the Curse.
Jotunheim
Far to the north, in the Scandinavian-type lands, lies the realm of the Frost Giants. Residents of this land also include the hulking, grey-skinned folk covered in runic tattoos; called “Dwarves” in the language of the enormous Jotunn, they are known to the main continent as the powerful Goliaths.
