Valkyrie

Valkyrie
Realm	Viking

The Valkyries (val-ky-rie) are stoic guardians of justice and protectors of the weak. Forged from great sorrow and cruelty they seek to right wrongs, enact revenge and enforce necessary justice . As a rule the Valkyrie are a serious people, socially resistant to revelry, but more vulnerable to anger, sorrow and empathy because of the past tragedies that made them .

They wrote and maintain the Valkyric Code, the basis of law amongst Vikings. They serve as protectors of the Realm for Sigurd who took their exemplar, Brynhildr, as his wife and queen.

History

The history of the Valkyries is a horrible one. They are the survivors of the worst of what one intelligent creature could do to another. This has made them resolute and firm people against such tyranny, but the emotional scars of their past trauma will last for generations. The origin story of the birth of the Valkyries is called the Fornaldarsaga, this is a dark tale told as a part of a coming of age ceremony after their oath has been taken.

Age of Becoming

Main Article: Valkyrie Becoming

The origin of the Valkyries can be traced back to small island with a small village of hardy people that survived on the fish they could catch that day. During the chaos that followed the piercing of the veil the people somehow survived and prevailed even after the storms destroyed their boats. Brynhildr, one of the village’s most enduring young females, wandered the island in an attempt to help in any way she could. She was more interested in the training for battle that the boys received, she excelled at it and adapted her fighting style when the boys became bigger and stronger than her.

She was known to protect those who were unable to defend themselves. In a war game gone to far, where older villagers were bringing younger villagers nearly to tears, she had to take down an older villager to prove her point. After that many younger villagers followed her and tried to learn from her.

One day the village was visited by ships. Thought to be rescued from their isolation, the villagers rejoiced. Fear arose when realization of the nature of the ship was revealed it was a warship and it carried warriors. Instead of salvation, the warriors besieged the village. The lucky ones were slain early. The rest subjected to every vile act imaginable done, simply to cause suffering and pain. The elders were used as pack animals and many died from exertion, the younger ones were picked for marriage.

This all changed during one of the storms called a Malevolence. Brynhildr was finally brought to tears when the leader of the invaders used her mother’s most prized possession for one of their sick competitions. She refused to fight in the pits as part of their sick games. In a rage she attacked the warriors holding them captive but she was quickly slain. While she lay, dying, she cursed them with the name of Odin. The village wept for her passing, the storm changed - it’s energies gathered into the body, resurrecting Brynhildr into a new form. Where she had rags she now wore armor, she now held a spear and now had a pair of black wings protruding from her back.

She freed the villagers, and any whom joined her in the violent expulsion of the invaders were also transformed. They brought fierce retribution to their tormentors, serving death upon on them in means befitting their crimes. Henceforth, becoming agents of justice and guardians against tyranny. They would later go on to write the Valkyric Code to embody their beliefs.

Valkryic code

• Empathy
• Protect those to weak to protect themselves

Appearance

Valkyrie concept art

Valkyries appear similar to of their Viking human cousins, save for the head region. The tops of their heads form a plumage consisting of feathers of different lengths, textures and colors. Their feathers usually come in two layers consisting of short feathers along the top of head, with longer crow-like feathers branching out into styles as fashionable to that of normal human hair. Another layer of small feathers expands out to the their forehead, around the eyes to check bones and goes to a point at the bridge of their nose in a way to symbolize their bird-like visage. These feathers also span around the back of the head down the neck, and fan out to the collar region. Their pupils are slightly more dilated than normal human eyes, in bright colors ranging from light grey to yellow.

During times of stress, Valkyries bring forth their hidden magical wings. These wings emit a variety of dancing colors to appear as a flame that does not burn. For some Valkyries, this dancing light will emit a blue color, while others will be red or white.

Features

TBA

Racial Stats

TBA

Banes and Boons

Main Article: Banes and Boons

Valkyrie Banes

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Name	Description	Cost	Times
Fear is Despair	Reduces maximum panic rating by 1
Memories Are Painful	Increases damage from Humans and Tuatha abilities by 5
We Are Unique	You may only be healed by yourself and by other Valkyries
Capture Kills Me	Reduce wound threshold by 1 when suffering a movement-impairing effect
Not as Strong as We Look	Attacks which deal damage to your torso also strike your wings, increasing panic by 5, causing damage to them, and potentially inflicting wounds
Overwhelming Grief	Reduces armor penetration by 1 for 30 seconds each time a nearby ally is killed

Valkyrie Boons

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Name	Description	Cost	Times
Our Hatred Makes Us Strong	Increases the damage of your abilities on Humans and Tuatha by 5
When the Tears Start Flowing	Increases the power of damaging abilities by 1 for 30 seconds each time a nearby ally is killed
Brynhildr's Shield	[Ability] Your wings wrap around yourself increasing resistance to all form of damage by 50 and preventing you from using abilities for 10 seconds
Save Us!	Reduces falling speed by 75%
Your Time is Up	[Ability] Burns the corpse of a nearby enemy, causing damage over time in an area and destroying the corpse
Blood Eagle	Your maximum blood is increased by 10 and your wings become red

Vikings Banes

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Name	Description	Cost	Times
Frailty in Fire	Your Fire resistance is reduced by 10
Invasive Visions	Your Mind magic resistance is reduced by 5
Nightchild	Your vision range is reduced by 2 during the day and increased by 1 at night
Sign of the Hammer	You may not enter combat with any weapon other than a hammer
Unrestrained	Your blood and stamina costs for abilities are increased by 1
Abandoned by Allies	Your resistance to crushing, piercing, and slashing damage is reduced by 1 when no allies are nearby
Fear of the Dark	Panic-causing events which affect you at night are increased by 5
Memorable Cruelty	Damaging an enemy grants them 1 additional armor penetration against you on their next attack
Paranoid	Panic-causing events which affect you increase subsequent panic-causing events by 1 for 5 minutes
Perverse Prophecy	Negative Mind magic effects against you have their duration increased by 50%
Wasted Years	Your proficiency requirements for ability training are increased by 5
Victory or Death	You are unable to enter travel mode with enemies nearby

Vikings Boons

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Name	Description	Cost	Times
Axe Master	Axe attacks gain 2 armor penetration
Bolt Bound	Lowers the minimum stat requirements of Lightning runes by 1
Eager Spirit	Recovery times on Spirit effects are reduced by .5
From the High Peaks	You gain .1 ability activation speed per enemy nearby greater than the number of allies, up to 10
Supernal Spirit	The duration of your Spirit effects is increased by 1
Thunderstriker	Critical result rolls for Lightning spells are increased by 1
Battle-Hardened	Your proficiency for all weapons is increased by 2
Constant Courage	Your maximum panic rating is increased by 1
Axe Affinity	Increases the rate of proficiency gained with Axe attacks by 5%
Blood Bond	Increases all damage resistance by 1 per nearby ally, up to a maximum of 10
Channeled Chopping	Lowers the minimum stat requirements of Axe weapons by 1
Doughty Defender	Increases all damage resistance by 5 while guarding an ally
Fearless	Panic-causing events which affect you are reduced by 1
Hit Back Harder	Your reactive attacks gain 1 additional armor penetration
Ride the Lightning	Increases the rate of proficiency gained with Lightning spells by 5%
Rising Force	Your attacks increase by 1 to wound an enemy for each existing wound they have sustained
Spiritual Sync	Increases the rate of proficiency gained with Spirit spells by 5%
Unbreakable	[Ability] For 30 seconds, you suppress a current Terror effect or the next one on you
Warlord	Your weapon proficiency and the weapon proficiency for all nearby allies is increased by 2 (does not stack)
Mountain Spirit	You gain .1 movement speed per enemy nearby greater than the number of allies, up to 20

Notable members

• Brynhildr
• Eir
• Hildr
• Gondul

Trivia

• An unnamed Valkyrie wielding two burning spears assisted Nuada in his return trip to The Depths to confront Bres. Her skill in battle was equal to that of the then young Lugh.
• The original Becoming draft for the Valkyries written by Mark Jacobs was considered too dark based on feedback from the studio and was revised several times.
• The first released version of the Becoming was rewritten in the Unveiled Newsletters, the old version can be found here.

Revision history

• October 17th, 2013 - Becoming story, visual concepts and sample boons and banes were released via a Kickstarter update.
• October 1st, 2015 - Part 1 of the Valkyries Becoming rewrite in Unveiled Newsletter #14.
• October 30th, 2015 - Part 2 of the Valkyries Becoming rewrite in Unveiled Newsletter $15.

Gallery

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  Wings concept art in Blue

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  Valkyrian spear

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  Valkyrie concept art

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  Valkyrie banner

References

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