Valen McSpiegel

Valen McSpiegel is a Viodoxan General, Diplomat, and Statesman credited for his leading roles in the Rebirth of Viodoxa He typically wears a grey and red soldier's uniform.

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 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, 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 East that could become a great ally. SpikeSpaceCowboy 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 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.

The Second Viper 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 the Second Viper 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.

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.