House Valiss - The Green Keepers
“Let this introduction serve as formal apology. I am an Archivist, not an art critic. And if you allowed me sufficient time, I would gladly produce a veritable library of documentation in evidence of exactly why and in precisely which ways the Mayorie of Lore does not deal in anything so nebulous as… ancient poetry. Nevertheless, as Our Ascendant Balance has requested insight into House Valiss, I have below transcribed the first recorded use of the name, along with my level best attempt at deciphering its meaning, with apologies.”
AiXVii Lionhart- Delarkius, Master Archivist
Chronicle Installment CI#03:
Excerpt from the Epic of Valiss; Author Unknown
[…]
Ahead the coming ere these shores did rend
Unnatural folk burned circles built of stone
This seed of evil planted in the bone
Yet fools; the beast walked freely to defend
Bright beast so named was Valiss, clear as drink
Did hide from their constructions crouch’d to spy
Pretending to diminish under eye
‘Til moonlight met her hunters on the brink
[…]
A forest’s heart regained, her vengeance bore
Evil sprouting feathered shafts in the dark
Leyline guided, cleansing blight, hit their mark
Beasts biting back the stranger to the shore
[…]
s-3
Ahead the coming ere these shores did rend
Unnatural folk burned circles built of stone
This seed of evil planted in the bone
Yet fools; the beast walked freely to defend 
House Valiss traces their bloodline back to the ancient inhabitants of Ascendancy, before even the First. They are said to have been native to the place for an age before any other contenders arrived. The Epic of Valiss—being a work of apparent historical relevance—establishes this from its first line, accusing “unnatural” newcomers of rending their shores, and planting “evil seeds” in their… erm, “bones.
The last line of this third stanza foreshadows the defeat of the newcomers—“fools”—implying that a “beast” roams freely about the land of Ascendancy in its defense.
s-4
Bright beast so named was Valiss, clear as drink
Did hide from their constructions crouch’d to spy
Pretending to diminish under eye
‘Til moonlight met her hunters on the brink Whether this “beast” is the name of an individual, a clan, or one of the many actual fell beasts that call Ascendancy home, we cannot know. Note that whomever wrote The Epic of Valiss was forgotten an age before the establishment of their House as we know them today. Thus, the titular Valiss was no fabled Princess Taryn, or Prince Bo. They present to us in archetype alone. Though I note also that Villia Valiss—well documented in her time for her skill with bow and hunt—satisfies the role in the imagination of this humble Archivist, for the purpose of coloring the poem.
The rest of the fourth stanza requires more context. We know from less flowery records that there existed some semblance of empire before The First Ascendancy. We have little but rubble by which to remember them today; however, and so we must take House Valiss and their oral histories at their word when they claim to have defeated them. We can imagine these first ever exiles to Ascendancy: building edifices, circles of stone, their “constructions”, for who knows how long? Until one day they cut down one too many trees, and the natives fought back. Until “moonlight met her hunters on the brink.
s-9
A forest’s heart regained, her vengeance bore
Evil sprouting feathered shafts in the dark
Leyline guided, cleansing blight, hit their mark
Beasts biting back the stranger to the shore If I’m not mistaken, this ninth stanza is referencing the Heart of The Forest, a castle-sized gaia tree around which much of Ascendancy’s early civilization was built. Valiss legend indeed suggests that their gaia tree was corrupted by “unnatural folk” long ago, and needed to be “cleansed”. It seems here we have the thrilling tale of their regaining it, with “vengeance.”
Evil “sprouting feathered shafts in the dark” can only be their adversaries being shot through with arrows. “Leyline guided” is likely a reference to the use of druidic magic or geomancy. And at last, I trust that “beasts biting back the stranger to the shore” speaks well enough for itself, and for House Valiss’ legacy. Feel free to re-read the excerpt, and direct any official requests for revision to the Mayorie of Lore.
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