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Julian De Valera

![[Julian De Valera.png]]

"Another insult, another dawn appointment. I never seem to run out of either."

Concept: A peerless young duelist who has no idea he is the true-born heir to a crown — treated as a commoner, challenged like one, and quietly hunted by assassins dressed as offended gentlemen.

Background

Julian is the son of a common girl and a crown prince who married her in secret — proof of the union lost in a papal archive to the ineptitude of a drunken monk. The King forced the prince to remarry a rival kingdom's princess to secure a border. Only the king, the prince, and the princess know Julian's true lineage; his mother kept her silence in exchange for a small stipend to raise, train, and educate her son.

The princess, fearing for her own children's position, has sent a long parade of assassins. Murder in the street draws attention — but a duel? People die every day for slights of honor. Fortunately, Julian was trained well, and killed his first man at ten. Each death haunts him; he drinks to blur the faces that follow him. A young man who, for some reason, seems to offend so very many people. The true first-born son of the prince — and he knows nothing of it.

Drives

Wants: to be left alone long enough to figure out who he is.
Bond: his mother, and the few who treat him as a person rather than a problem.
Flaw: drink, and a sword arm that answers every insult before his judgment can.

Connections

  • Longshadow — a sharp social foil. The same offended nobles who challenge the apparent-commoner Julian to a dawn duel won't dare challenge the openly-noble Longshadow, however much he deserves it. ("Does your mother know you are so unrestrained?") They will absolutely keep bumping into each other.
  • Half Moon — a Seraph detective is exactly the sort who could tell a real duel of honor from a contract killing dressed as one — and perhaps glimpse Julian's hidden blood.

Hooks

The lost certificate

Somewhere in a papal/ecclesiastical archive, the misfiled proof of his parents' marriage still exists. Whoever finds it controls a succession — and Cadwallon, neutral and full of archives and forgers, is exactly where such a document would surface.

The duelist who wasn't insulted

The next "offended gentleman" to call Julian out fights too well and apologizes too little. He's the princess's newest blade. Winning the duel is the easy part; proving it was an assassination is what cracks the secret open.

Build notes (player)

Full name confirmed: Julian De Valera (note renamed; Julian kept as an alias so existing links resolve). Class, subclass, domains, and community are undecided — left blank, no assumptions. ancestry is set to Humans as the plain read of his human royal lineage; clear it too if you'd rather leave nothing implied.

See Also