⚒️ Valen Braxigar, the Exile of Kor’Durahl
Summary
Valen was born among iron and scorn in Kor’Durahl, a dwarven stronghold carved into the frozen flanks of the Iron Mountains. He was raised among forges and sentry posts, where life was measured by the weight of duty, not individual desires. From an early age, he learned that a good hammer weighs more than gold, and that screams in the tunnels only matter if they’re your own.
Beneath the black halls of the citadel, lit by smoky braziers, Valen served as a guard, miner, and eventually, watch captain, responsible for the safety of mines where tiefling slaves extracted resources under the aegis of the Crimson Empire. Order was imposed with iron and flame — and those who questioned it were silenced.
For centuries, Kor’Durahl maintained a relationship of pragmatic vassalage with the Empire: partial autonomy in exchange for silence, iron in exchange for blood. But with the rise of Isir the Crimson, a draconic tyrant who emerged from the shadows to ban magic and establish a regime of fiscal and military terror, even that fragile stability crumbled. Taxes on magic, on flesh, on silence. The complicit clans grew rich. The defiant were punished.
It was during a night patrol that Valen discovered what many already knew but few dared to admit: Kor’Durahl had sold itself out. Guards beat tieflings with impunity. Survival magic was treated as insurrection. When Valen tried to alert his superiors and report the corruption of House Norvak, he was silenced. Branded a traitor. Publicly dishonored, exiled, stripped of his family crest.
He left Kor’Durahl with his ancestral club in hand and his pride in shambles. Since then, he has wandered as a mercenary and protector, taking jobs in forgotten villages until he found a spark of redemption in the village of Korala. There, he met Quizar, and later Caelen — a young leader whose budding courage reminded Valen of better days… and a hope he thought long lost.
Today, Valen is an exile, a renegade — and still standing. He carries the memory of Elenya, his former companion and the only one who dared love him when even love was dangerous. He holds close his final heirloom: the Earthshield — a living weapon, forged more to protect than to harm.
🎯 Current Motivations
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Against the Crimson Empire: Valen has seen what happens when tyranny wears armor and calls itself law. He doesn’t fight for revolution — he fights to stop the cycle of oppression from repeating.
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Protector of Caelen: He sees in the young man a chance to rewrite his own story — this time as a mentor, not a martyr.
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Contained Rage: His barbaric nature emerges in the face of injustice. Each burst of fury is both physical and spiritual: a cry from the earth for justice.
🧭 The Barbarian Connection
After his exile, Valen wandered through forests and mountains, far from stone halls. There, he rediscovered the world beyond civilization: the living land, wild spirits, the silence that heals and wounds alike.
His barbarian side isn’t savagery — it’s a primal bond with the earth and his own anger. When he rages, it’s as if the mountain roars through him.
Personal Rituals: He chants in ancient Dwarvish, buries fragments of fallen weapons under rune stones, and offers blood to the earth as judgment and communion.
🧳 Objects and Reflections from the Past
🔥 Former Flame
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Miniature Dwarven Golem – carved by Valen upon his promotion to elite guard.
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Represents his original desire to build and protect.
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Sometimes he gazes at it before sleep, remembering the idealistic youth he once was.
- Scene: It rests in his bag, wrapped in cloth. He sometimes stares at it — recalling his first purpose: to protect, to create, to belong.
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⛓️ Broken Shackle
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Rusty insignia of Kor’Durahl’s 3rd Company.
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Thrown into a fire, partially recovered.
- Final touch: He dropped it in a fire months ago, but couldn’t watch it burn. He rescued it half-melted — a reminder that not all betrayal is complete.
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A symbol of tarnished honor he still struggles to abandon.
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🍺 Ghostly Comfort
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Pitcher with the family crest, once used for beer.
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He tried to recreate the old recipe using local ingredients — failed.
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A bitter taste that mirrors his longing for what’s gone.
- Last attempt: He tried to recreate his family’s beer with local herbs — it turned out bitter, undrinkable. He tossed it silently.
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📚 Valen’s Five Lessons
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Avoid whispering leaders: Silence is a tyrant’s weapon.
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Mistake with strength: Once wounded a trainee during practice. Since then, he only uses blunt weapons for training.
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Loss for justice: Confronted his commander — lost everything.
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Family lies: Discovered his bloodline supported the Empire — the truth shattered him more than exile ever could.
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Courage rewarded: Saved an ally in a suicidal leap — was gifted the ancestral club.
⚔️ The Betrayal List
Hidden within his armor is a list of names. A reminder that some debts can only be paid in truth or blood.
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House Norvak – His former commander. Profited from illegally reselling weapons to the Empire.
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House Rurikahn – Elders who voted in favor of enslaving rival clans.
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House Dorthmir – Licensed hunters of illegal mages under the new imperial law.
“One day, I’ll bury these names as I buried my brothers… but not today.”
💔 Elenya, the One Left Behind
Childhood companion, loyal warrior, and the last to embrace him before exile. Elenya was a daughter of House Tarûl, a minor clan that shared supplies with Kor’Durahl during long winters. They grew up together, side by side in cold caverns and stone halls, and even in the darkest days, she was the only one who dared show him love — a dangerous act in times when even affection could be punished.
Now, rumors whisper that Elenya works with the Empire, forced to act as mediator between the dwarves of Ionian and imperial inspectors. The reason? Blackmail. Her nephews were captured for studying fey magic near the edge of the Murkwood — a crime under the new regime.
Valen believes she was coerced, but fears that if they meet again, pain will speak louder than reason. For nothing burns deeper than the memory of what might have been.
🔥 Character in Conflict
Valen is what remains of a whole man. Neither just a soldier nor fully a barbarian — but a living wall between tyranny and the forgotten. The fury he carries is not for show. It is silent, dense, like magma building beneath stone, ready to erupt at each injustice, at every child silenced by fear or decree.
In the village of Korala, he found new purpose beside Caelen, whose bold ideals he protects with both strength and care. Not out of duty, but because he sees in the young man a spark of something greater — something Valen lost, but may yet protect this time.
He no longer believes in kingdoms. But he believes in people. And for now, that’s enough to keep fighting.
🪓 Braxigar’s Club – “Earthshield”
Valen’s weapon is an ancient war club of black iron veined with silver, inherited from a nameless warrior he once saved deep within the mountains. Though he calls it simply “Earthshield”, the weapon is more than a tool of war — it is a symbol of quiet resistance, whose magic awakens gradually, like Valen’s own smoldering rage.
✨ Properties (Defender Weapon – Requires Attunement)
Passive:
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While wielded, Valen has advantage on initiative rolls.
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Cannot be surprised unless incapacitated.
[Lvl. 5+] Superior
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+1 bonus to attack and damage rolls.
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Once per long rest: may cast Armor of Agathys as if using a 3rd-level spell slot.
[Lvl. 10+] Masterwork
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Bonus increases to +2.
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May transfer part or all of the bonus to AC on the first attack each turn.
[Lvl. 15+] Epic
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Bonus increases to +3.
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Armor of Agathys is cast as a 5th-level spell.
The weapon responds to Valen’s intent: to protect, to endure, to strike back.
🪓 Memory Scene – “What Cannot Be Buried”
Narrator: You smell cold stone and stale sweat. The air is heavy, suffocating, as if the very ceiling of the mountain presses on your shoulders. When your eyes open… you’re back. Kor’Durahl. Before the fall. Before the disgrace. A torch crackles nearby, and in the distance, voices murmur like wind between rocks.
(Instruction to the player: You are portraying a younger Valen, still in service. You feel something about this night will change everything. You just don’t know what yet.)
The room is a dark stone cell, with a single opening to the tunnel below. You wear the watchman’s uniform — reinforced leather, sweat-soaked and tight. At your side, Elenya Tarûl, red-haired like freshly-mined copper, wipes her hands with a cloth stained with blood that isn’t hers.
“We shouldn’t be here, Valen. Not tonight.”
She looks at you — not with fear, but with the quiet frustration and tenderness of someone who’s loved you far too long to remain silent.
(Let the player respond or interact freely with Elenya at this point.)