Valen McSpiegel

Valen McSpiegel is a Viodoxan General, Diplomat, and Statesman credited for his leading roles in the Rebirth of Viodoxa and his leadership as Archon of the Imperial Archonate of Viodoxa. He typically wore a ceremonial Officer's Uniform for the Viodoxan Army

Origins
Valen was born in Viodoxa shortly after the return of the founders. Spending his early days venturing across the Cymrian and Svalden Seas, visiting abandoned ruins and empty cities from the days of the Valdreach Imperial Republic, Valen realized that the region he lived in was largely abandoned and that the few towns that remained were dying. It was during this time that Valen was said to have devoted himself to bringing Viodoxa out of obscurity and to become a relevant nation on the world stage.

Early Career
Valen began his public service during the population boom, assisting in the construction of the New City portion of Viodoxa, providing housing and farms for the city's growing population. He was hired as a defensive engineer to design a new wall around the newest portion of Viodoxa, but the rapid growth led to construction being halted indefinitely. Valen was willing to wait for the growth to slow down before building the wall but he eventually decided to venture out from the small Adytum Archipelago to find allies for the City-State.

His most notable journey was to the City of Asahiri, where he met Loic Spheniscidae, the de jure King of Paloro at the time. Loic and Valen quickly became friends, with Valen writing back to his Archon about a rising kingdom in the west that could become a great ally. Spike Glapsvid arrived and met with Loic, with the two agreeing to an alliance before instructing Valen to remain behind and offer assistance to the deepening conflict of the Coup of Paloro. As tensions rose, Valen eventually called for soldiers from Viodoxa to stand guard at his embassy and alert him if war broke out. When it became apparent that the Kingdom of Aurora and the Empire of Uldarash would be invading at the end of the holiday Week of Peace to reinstate Keechoo, Loic came to Valen distraught at the destruction of his kingdom. Sensing an opportunity to help his friend and his nation, Valen invited Loic to abandon Asahiri and move to Viodoxa, saving his nation from needless bloodshed. Loic accepted the offer and ordered the razing of Asahiri as Valen returned home to begin laying the groundwork for the influx of people.

The First Viodoxan Constitutional Convention
When the Paloran people arrived on the island of Ethreon, the leadership of both sides met to organize a new government. Valen took part in this, offering the concept of the Council of Five, which would serve as advisors and a tie-breaking house of lords to the Archons. His plan was quickly adopted, and Valen was established as the Grand Martial of the Armed Forces. Before the ink had dried, however, a small town rebelled, claiming it was being overrun with immigrants. Valen was tasked with raising an army of volunteers and marching on the town of Sheepyville, but no battle was waged as the mayor surrendered upon seeing the large army.

National Viodoxa
With the Diarchonate of Viodoxa formed, the fledgling nation needed leadership to hold itself together. Unfortunately, Archon Spike grew ill during this time, leaving Loic as the lone active Archon. Valen stepped up to fill the position until Spike recovered, offering advice and assistance to Loic as their people settled the continent and expanded their influence despite their difficulties.

Notably, the cities of Viodoxa suffered rampant bandit attacks from the Soleannen Spirits, with Loic wishing to quickly strike back, but Valen believed the army was too new and needed to be organized and trained before an offensive could be mounted. The two leaders began a rushed training of the army, hoping to overwhelm their opponents with numbers and discipline, even if their soldiers were new and lacking in skill. The bandit attacks ended abruptly, however, when it became apparent that the Spirits were trying to influence Viodoxa away from a war in Akratia. The plan had nearly backfired as Viodoxa leadership had come to the conclusion that involvement in a tertiary conflict so soon would be more destructive than beneficial, but the raids were driving the nation to get involved out of spite. When the issue was resolved, the Spirits paid reparations, and were welcomed into the community, if skeptically.

As the bandit raids were taking place, Valen met with the Free City of Kumaur. The new nation was unique in that it accidentally settled on Aezenfjord's land. Valen met with the King of Kumaur, Breton Aerouant and convinced him to join Viodoxa as a province, but the Kumuur Crisis occurred, though Valen helped to resolve the issue, successfully annexing Kumuur and establishing Aezenfjord as an ally. Valen also met with Owen, the Duke of the Isren Draca, and successfully initiated an alliance between the two countries.

The Vio-Auroran War
Shortly after the Alliance with Isren Draca was signed, a raid began in Valentum. Believing it to be mere bandits and hearing reports that it was over, Valen initially ordered people to stay in their homes and fight defensively. This information was quickly proven false as messengers from Archon Loic reached Valen explaining that the attackers were Auroran and that the attack was ongoing. Valen quickly mustered troops from across the nation and marched to the Valentum nether portal where he waited for the arrival of the Spirits, who had been called for assistance. When the Spirits arrived, Valen began the counter attack, with dozens of soldiers pouring out of the portal and into the unsuspecting raiders. The attackers suffered massive casualties and were driven off, but the coalition wasn't content to be defensive. After receiving orders from Loic to take the fight to the enemy, Valen and the Spirits pursued the Aurorans to their capitol of Fornost. While later battles were fought, the victory of Valentum was a massive morale boost to the Viodoxans and all but ended the war as it began.

Imperial Viodoxa
After the victory over Aurora, the nation of Viodoxa turned its attentions to settling the lands of abandoned Sorvien and internal reformations. Beginning this period as the newly appointed Regent Archon in Spike's place, Valen began a constitutional convention for the nation, concerned that the verbal deal made between Archons Spike and Loic would be forgotten in future generations or that important aspects of the agreement would be lost or ignored. He also focused on maintaining and improving the Imperial Nether Highway, though Crown Prince Zelious would later take over the initiative. A final project Valen began was the introduction of law enforcement and a codified law system with judges. These projects would be slow-going, however, due to the high workload on Imperial Leadership and the management of smaller crises that took precedent.

Loic's War
On March 2nd, 2021, the announcement of hostilities between the newly declared Sewer Mafia and the Empire of Uldarash led to interest of Archon Loic. Regent Archon Valen advised against involvement, pointing to the Non-Agression Pact that had been signed after the Auroran War. A compromise was reached where a foreign legion of Soleannen faithful from Viodoxa would go fight if a crusade was called, but none of its members would be allowed to claim Viodoxa if they were captured since the action was not endorsed by the state.

While the Legion was being briefed, it became apparent to Archons Valen and Loic that the Kingdom of Aurora possessed spies in their nation, violating the Treaty of Hapatmitas. With this development, the two men announced that the Foreign Legion plan was scrapped and that the Army of Viodoxa would march on Sanctuary, since the Empire of Uldarash and Kingdom of Aurora were so diplomatically tied that Viodoxa considered them one political entity. The army quickly reached the floating city and watched as Spirits battled Aurorans and Uldarashi. During the first stages of the battle the Viodoxan Army was trapped outside the gates to the city locked in ranged combat, but when an Auroran opened the doors believing they were reinforcements, Valen led the charge into the city, stressing that unarmed players were not to be killed except in self-defense. The city was quickly taken and Valen ordered that the Army then march on Hapatmitas.

On the trip to Hapatmitas, Loic ordered that soldiers cut down trees and bamboo for siege equipment. This equipment quickly proved unnecessary as the city had large holes in its outer wall and was only occupied by a token force that was quickly cut down. It was during this battle that the Empire of Uldarash dissolved.

The Hapatmitas Crisis and Aftermath
In the aftermath of Loic's War, the Imperial Archonate was ceded the province of Aruna with the capitol of Hapatmitas for safekeeping by the Uldarashi Government. This quickly led to a potential conflict when the Second Empire of Uldarash formed and began demanding the return of Aruna. During this conflict, Valen served as the de facto commander of Atlesian forces while attempting negotiations. It was also during this time that Archon Spike recovered from his illness, prompting Valen to step down from his position as Regent and regain his original title of Grand Marshall of Viodoxa. The crisis deepened, with Valen being present for many talks and offering advice to the Archons. When the Kushian Ultimatum was announced and relations with Uldarash began to cool, Valen helped to lead the charge in defusing tensions, leading joint military operations with Regent Auralian of Uldarash against bandits.

During one of these operations, Viodoxa found itself in the awkward position of facing off against Bardonia and the Spirits while supporting the Second Empire. This prompted a pause between the nations involved as Aurailan invited Valen to help in the investigation. Valen concluded that the conflict drew its origins from a misunderstanding that led to the murders of Uldarashi and Bardonian citizens, with both parties believing the other's actions were without cause. This diffused the situation and allowed Uldarash and Bardonia to proceed in criminal court rather than war.

Operation Netherack/The United Nations Against Kartoffel
With the Netherite Murders solved, Valen returned his attention to a spree of banditry that plagued Viodoxa and Rathnir as a whole. One of these bandits was known as Admiral Kartoffel, who had attacked Theos-Essukdal and the Osterium Plagos Trading Company, both allies of Viodoxa. This prompted Valen to begin planning Operation Netherack, where a force would locate and destroy Kartoffel's compound, kill Kartoffel, and reclaim anything of value the bandit leader had. This operation quickly grew from just Viodoxa to a Coalition including Theos-Essukdal, Uldarash, Ryzan, the Knights of Jirn, Uldarash, the Soleannen Spirits, and the Chancelor's Hands. The operation was not intended to be small scale but was instead meant to send a message to Rathnir that Bandits would not be tolerated. Luckily, through a misjudgment of the server's war mechanic, Admiral Kartoffel declared war on Theos-Essukdal, giving the coalition 24 hours to locate his compound and prepare a mission to protect the nation and raid his home.

The initial scouting party was led by Loic and the idomition guard which tracked Kartoffel's outpost outside of a fishing village in Sterling Crownlands. Scowry, Minty, and Tyler were among the soldiers who with permission from SC's leader had discovered the bandits using a provincial governor village as a hideout. Once this was discovered, Loic had interrogated and beaten the bandits before receding back to Viodoxa with the proper evidence to prepare an offensive attack.

While ViewedMarquis led the offensive force, Valen commanded the team tasked with defending Urnu-Arrak and the surrounding countryside. As the force mustered at the town of Amos, mercenaries and bandits allied with Kartoffel were located just ouside the city's nether portal. A short but fierce battle followed, with Coalition forces quickly overrunning and killing the bandits. The duration of the war was noted with waiting for more bandits to return, but none did. Kartoffel was captured at his home, put on trial, and executed at Urnu-Arrak.

During Kartoffel's trial it was discovered he had the backing of an unknown nation, and thus Valen's operation had inadvertently prevented what could have been a major war. Shortly after this, Archon Spike recovered from his illness, so Valen stepped down from his active regency.

The Pheonix War of Plagos
Shortly after the operation to capture Kartoffel, word reached Valen that Bardonia had taken over the nations of Ryzan and Avalon. Fearing that it could be a series of events that could lead to a second attempt at Bardonian World Conquest, Valen spoke to the Archons about this concern and they agreed that limited intervention would be required to preserve Viodoxan security. Before Valen could leave to go help the region, Edd Karlpfen of the Osterium Plagos Trading Company came to the Archonate asking to have his nation annexed by Viodoxa to prevent Bardonia from taking over by force. The Archons approved the action, adding to objective of protecting their newest province from the encroaching empire.

Before his departure, Valen contacted various nations, telling them of the threat in allowing Bardonia to continue its conquest. This lead to a Second Great Coalition to oppose Bardonia. This included the Second Empire of Uldarash, who pledged to assist in case of conflict, as well as Ryzani nationals who wished to reclaim their homeland. Plans were developed for what would have been a world war should Bardonia continue to attack and annex nations in Plagos. Eventually, the Governor of Bardonian Plagos declared war on the nation of Arlinova. Engineers from various Plagosi states were quickly trying to set defenses for the city of Arlin in time for the war when scouts from Bardonia arrived and a skirmish began.

Word spread of the Battle of Arlin taking place and Valen quickly called his troops and contacted King Auralian of Uldarash. Unfortunately the Viodoxan forces were caught flat footed, leaving only Valen and Minty McSpiegel and soldiers from Uldarash arriving at Arlin. The battle was brief and chaotic, with Entropy getting involved and casting massive swathes of fire. The result was the Bardonians retreating to Solitudinem to regroup, thinking they were facing a larger force while the Coalition repositioned, finding Arlin indefensible at the moment.

Afterwards, the Governor of Bardonian Plagos contacted Valen for peace negotiations. With the Achons absent and the other nations of the Coalition deferring to him, Valen negotiated a blank peace. This led to the eventual creation of Nova Plagatea as both a buffer state and the logical unification of the continent.

Viodoxa-Bardonian Cold War
Following the Pheonix war, Bardonia and Viodoxa settled into a tense peace. Believing that war with Bardonia was inevitable, Valen began working on foreign diplomacy focused on preparing for the prospect of World War. This led to alliances and treaties with nations like Ryzan and Floramia, but Valen's shining achievement was his creation of the Southern Rathnir Defense Accords, a multinational Mutual Defense Pact that included nations like Uldarash and Soumere. This alliance would form the keystone of Viodoxan Foreign Policy, protecting the nation that Valen had helped to create. But his success didn't mean that Viodoxa was safe

As the cold war dragged on, tensions rose. During the Summit of Tlahatl, Valen delivered a scathing speech against Bardonia for the actions of Jacw. This resulted in Jacw being relieved from his positions of leadership in Bardonia, but also led to increased hostility between the two nations. This tension continued until the sudden intervention of an unexpected third party: The Ferrymen.

The Ferrymen War
On the 18th of April, a group of bandits who called themselves the Ferrymen joined the server and quickly made a name for themselves in their raiding of several cities as well as their toxicity while doing so. While raiding cities like Fornost and New Dorasterrock, the Ferrymen decided to settle in the ruins of the Viodoxan city of Istanboulder. This brought Viodoxa into conflict with the Ferrymen as squatters. Valen attempted negotiating but was quickly brushed aside by the more hawkish Ferrymen.

Public opinion of the Ferrymen and their actions quickly plummetted, and Valen helped in the reactivation of the Anti-Bandit League to wage war against them. The League, however, was rusty and bloated after its inactivity since Operation Netherrack, and after ViewedMarquis declared war against the bandits prematurely, a rushed attempt to form a coalition. The battle was set during a time when Valen was unable to attend as he was recovering from an illness. The next day, news reached Viodoxa City that the Coalition had been repelled, killing notable leaders and cementing their claims to central Viodoxa.

The Archonate was in a precarious situation and many thought that it would collapse. Valen led a rally to try and preserve the Archonate. The efforts worked, bringing Viodoxa back from the brink, but the threat of the Ferrymen remained. A few days later, Valen was able to solve that issue, buying land from the dissolving Posavaria and giving it into the newly cristened Charon Empire in return for them surrendering their claims in Cymru as well as becoming allies with Viodoxa. This saved the Archonate from a potential war with the Ferrymen and actually reinforced their national security.

A few days later, the Ferrymen were banned from the server, saving the world from their reign of terror. Valen quickly reclaimed both the Posavarian lands and their holdings in Cymru, giving the lands away to other nations and keeping the Province of New Interland in Viodoxa as requested.

Internal Troubles and Distant Issues
While the Ferrymen were survived, issues at home brewed. Valen again began his attempt at making Viodoxa's Code of Laws and was successful. A growing issue in the Archonate was Archon Spike's deteriorating health and Archon Zelious' general absence from ruling the Archonate. This left Valen legally as the Regent Archon, but was considered by much of Viodoxa and the world as the unspoken ruler of Viodoxa. This friction led to Zelious repeatedly trying to make shows of his authority over Valen, despite legally being his equal. Clashes of this nature included denying the coronation of the new Tagavors of the Kingdom of Plagatea and intentional miscommunication over the sale of Viodoxan lands.

Relations between Valen and Zelious came to a head when Valen was attempting to sell the former lands of Charon for a small profit. Zelious refused this initiative, and Valen called for a Synkletos tiebreak to occur. Zelious refused to acknowledge the Synkletos voting power, claiming that he and Spike had agreed to nullify their powers. This led to a constitutional crisis, with much of the nation threatening open revolt against Zelious for his violation of the Constitution as well as the implicit social contract that had founded the nation. When all out war was practically guaranteed, Archon Spike recovered from his illness long enough to comment on the issue.

A forced truce was struck, nullifying the Synkletos ability to vote on matters regarding the nation, relegating it to Spike, Zelious, and Valen only. Valen was furious about this agreement, but felt that his hand had been forced with both Archons in agreement about the decision even if their reasoning differed. Valen vowed to return the nation to it's original constitution and design when he eventually became Archon.

On an international level, problems were returning once again. A resurgent Bardonia had the world on edge, even going so far as to declare war on Ryzan based on rumors. Valen quickly dealt with this crisis, honoring his treaty with the Ryzanis and threatening to guarantee world war with the Bardonians if they continued. Bardonia backed down, unwilling to face both the force and the disapproval of the world for breaking the New Guard Pact and initiating all out war with the SRDA.

After the crisis was averted, Athaz the Traveler went missing from Rathnir for several days. During this time, Archon Zelious privately told Valen of his intentions to step down. Valen couldn't understand the exact reasoning, but believed it to be that Zelious had realized the loss of confidence that the nation had suffered during the Constitutional Crisis. But Valen couldn't muse on the subject for long because Entropy affived at Viodoxa, setting much of the city ablaze and attacking his city. The Battle of Viodoxa lasted for hours, injuring Valen's friend Valerie and doing much damage to the city. Luckily, Valen managed to command the defense of the town and called allies to the scene, where the invading force was defeated.

Shortly afterwards Valen encountered Entropy while trying to deliver a report on the battle to Athazolant. The two engaged in a debate but proved to be polar opposites who could not stand each others presence even for arguments. Valen eventually managed to return to Viodoxa in time for two major developments: Zelious had stepped down, and Athaz had discovered a new portion of the world.

The Fourth Archon
Zelious' resignation was a difficult affair for the newly christened Archon. Both Archon Spike and Archon Zelious had named Valen as their regent and heir, and with Zelious gone and Spike sick, Valen was left the sole ruler of a nation meant to be a diarchy. To make matters worse, Zelious had formed a cult of personality within the Army and with his departure the best soldiers and officers the nation had left to join him in the New World. Valen had effectively been left with a nation that was a shadow of its former self yet had to be the keystone that held up the free world.

The first challenge that Valen faced was the Treaty of Eldham, a proposed deal championed by Uldarash and Bardonia limiting the ten greatest powers in the Old World to only claiming ten percent of the new world collectively. Valen opposed this vehemently, claiming that this was a ploy being used to trap Viodoxa into an honor bound contract that would allow other nations like Bardonia and Uldarash to claim as they wished, finding ways around the treaty. This led to a brief but deep falling out between Archon Valen and Emperor Aurelian of Uldarash as Valen believed that he was being lied to and Aurelian believed that his honor had been insulted. After some time the two agreed to disagree.

Due to the breakdown in relations between Uldarash and Viodoxa, Valen briefly considered forming an alliance with Theios-Essukdal and Niedea. The beginnings of this policy shift were put in place with a growing friendship between Valen and Ningal Mistic, Emperor Valerian, and Cardinal Samael of Theios-Essukdal, Niedea, and the Soleannen Church, respectively. Valen eventually signed a Mutual Defense Pact and joint colonial venture with Niedea and converted to Soleannen, stating that his belief in Guhenism was in name only due to the deaths of his forefathers and their failure to pass on the details of their faith.

The policy change was left incomplete, however, when tensions between Ryzan, Bardonia, and Aurlunor began to rise yet again. This left Valen at the crossroads of guiding his nation to abandoning Ryzan, Uldarash, and most of his current treaties and creating the new political bloc with Theios-Essukdal and Niedea, or holding fast in his current obligations. Valen chose the second option, establishing a Mutual Defense Pact with Aurlunor and helping to induct Ryzan into the Southern Rathnir Defense Accords.

After determining his greater foreign policy, Valen then turned his attention to more local issues. The Empire of Uldarash had entered a war with Vanakunir, and the Southern Rathnir Defense Accords obligated Viodoxa to come to their aid, even if they didn't need it. At the campaign, Valen was placed in charge of a unit of Uldarashi volunteers as well as his own soldiers. His unit was ambushed in the city of Creedence and suffered heavy casualties, but Valen and his Viodoxans survived the battle, being credited with keeping the opposing force occupied and allowing the main SRDA force to complete its objectives unopposed.

Death
After returning from the Vanakunir war, Valen heard reports of Loic returning to attempt to overthrow him. This led to a battle of espionage between the former Archon and the ruling one, forcing the Synkletos and the nation to pick a side. The world rallied around the Fourth Archon, pledging to assist him in holding onto the throne.

Despite the international support, Valen decided to not continue the war, seeing it as pointless since even if he won, there wouldn't be a Viodoxa left to rule. Instead, Archon Valen McSpiegel announced the Dissolution of the Archonate, liberating all of the Provinces of Viodoxa and committing suicide at the Spirit of Viodoxa in the capitol.

The world mourned the loss of the Fourth Archon, but his work hadn't been completed. Hidden letters and instructions written by Valen before his death left a roadmap to reunification for the nation, with fail safes and stopgaps designed to keep Loic from taking power. This worked and the Archonate was restored, though Valen never got to see it.