In the world of VALOR, the woman known as Valeria, Daughter of the Sun, does battle in a world of myth and monsters, kingdoms and empires. While today the Aelia Empire dominates the world, it was not always so. These are short accounts from the worl...
In the first era of the Quin Empire, Sloan Quin, filled with lust for further battle, departed to the south and the continent of Calidolum. There, he sought the ruined lands around the Desolation of Meridon. He also sought the rumored inhuman tribes there.
The nearly immortal Sloan Quin, backed by the Starbeorne, began a generations long campaign against two forces in the south. The first, the Ferrum, the men of steel around the abandoned Devastation of Meridon. The second, the insectoid tribe of Xuruqu.
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After generations, a splinter group of the Starbeorne fled Sloan Quin's forces and established a colony far in the southeast. For a time, they were at peace, with Quin occupying the attention of both the Ferrum and Xuruqu. This would become the town of Visage.
One day, the people of Visage became plagued by a voice that each of them heard, whispering to them to become one with the voice. Some were driven mad by the whispering. Others grew physically ill. None knew this was the voice of Xur, the One Mind.
As Visage fell into chaos, a wise man appeared at the town. He brought with him a cure, and asked that they each make a mask for themselves. He blessed each of these masks by praying to the Sacred Ancestors, and commanded everyone to wear the masks.
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Blessed by the Sacred Ancestors, these masks drew out madness and sickness from the people, including the madness of Xur. A chosen few masks were left by the wise man himself. These were the God Masks, which could be used to speak to powerful deific beings.
Visage prospered into the masked nation of Countenance. Every year, the God Masks were consulted to foresee how the crops would flourish or how aggressive the Xuruqu would be. On one occasion, during the Vizard, an afflicted man appeared in Visage.
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The doctors of Visage took him to the Temple of Faces to draw out his affliction with one of the Guardian Masks. But on this occasion, the city was attacked by the Xuruqu. In the chaos, the masking was halted, but the desperate man stole a mask for himself.
The ancient evil, a possessing spirit, infused itself with the God Mask, forever corrupting it. With the city in flames, the man escaped and the mask with him. Yet in future years, it would appear time and again, fought over by warlords and conquerors.
The soul of each who wore it was infused in the dark mask, further feeding the possessing spirit, until it arrived in the hands of the ancient conqueror Damerun. Upon his face, it grew to its greatest strength, and Damerun launched his war upon Countenance.
Through the combined might of the God Masks and all the forces of Countenance, Damerun was killed at the steps of the Temple of Faces. But the God Masks, too, were drained of their power, while the Mask of Damerun continued to burn with evil.
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Today, none know the whereabouts of the Mask of Damerun. Yet many still seek its power, and many evil people have searched out the ancient temples and collapsed ruins in the dark continent of Calidolum, seeking to become the new mask bearer.
