Val

 Pre Stream Backstory To know Val one must learn of Celeste. Celeste was a powerful elven druid, last guardian of her ancestral home, Llwyn Coedenoer, known in Common as the Shiverpine Grove. A little more than two decades ago she fell in love with the human Isaac and they were married. Not long after, their union was blessed with a child. Celeste had lived quite a long life and for many years she had been dreaming of her successor, a daughter to carry her mantle, a daughter to carry her mother's name. Due to complications during the birth Celeste died never knowing that her daughter was a son. Isaac gave his son the name Celeste had chosen, Valanthe. All things considered Val lived an unremarkable life aboard the Flotilla. His father was a humble herbalist with some knowledge of healing and Val was a small, shy boy. Because of his introverted nature Val had few deep friendships, though he was friendly with everyone he met. He certainly had a friend in Balthier, a boy of his age from a prominent Flotilla family. Celeste's reputation had kept Val and his father in a respected place even after her passing and allowed them to rub elbows with families above their station such as Balthier's. It also placed a great burden on Val himself. He grew up in the shadow of a woman he never knew, expected to take on a role he had no idea how to play.

 The Shiverpine 

An ancient lineage stretching back to the First Age of Ios. Not much is known or remembered currently. Val, as far as he knows, is the only remaining descendant and he himself knows only what his mother had told his father.

Val asked once why his mother had been so sure he was going to be a daughter and Isaac told him what Celeste had said years before. In the long history of the Shiverpine this had only ever happened once before, so long ago now it was only, in truth, a legend. Two brothers, twins, who fought a war against each other so terrible that it nearly tore Ios apart. Two brothers, who loved each other so deeply that each would've torn Ios apart to bring the other to his side. Val never really liked that story but he didn't have a brother and there wasn't anything left of Ios to tear apart so, in the end, it did somehow make him feel better.