Valence

Valence
Basic Information
Pronouns	they/them
Aliases	DJ (callsign) BigWolfAwoo87
Place of Origin	Scutum-Centaurus Arm
People	Nobel
Connections
Af­fil­i­a­tion(s)	Nobel The Society of Banners and Bright Returns
Re­la­tion­ships	Kal'mera Broun (friend) Gur Sevraq (friend)
Meta Info
Season	PARTIZAN
Playbook	The Empath
Player	Andrew Lee Swan
Debut	PARTIZAN 00: The Divine Principality

Valence is a player character in PARTIZAN. Their playbook is the Empath. They serve as the face for SBBR.

Appearance

Valence wears an intricate, black wolf mask that covers their entire face. It is able to move and make expressions. They also wear a simple black robe with a cornflower blue hood that hides their head and high lapels that fits loose around their body; their outfit is inspired by Destiny concept art. A piece of teal-purple Clarified Memoria they received from the Sable Court decorates one of their ears.

At the beach, they wear a pink, blue, and purple light robe with a flowy train. It has a pattern of stained glass or stone shapes with hard lines between them. They also wear a sun hat.

This section contains spoilers for PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture.
Click here to reveal.

As one of the Nobel, Valence's natural form is of a mist ranging in color though teal, blue, purple and magenta. This mist is housed inside of a robotic body, and can form into illusory skin which hides the metal. A touchstone for their robotic arm was suggested by Austin to be Robotic Arm by Alexey Vasilyev.

This section contains spoilers for PARTIZAN 26: Millennium Break: Breaking Vigil.
Click here to reveal.

After the conflict with Courage, Broun makes them a new body. Their new chassis is made of scrap metal and has an interior layer of mesh that clearly shows the mist inside. Instead of a mask, their face is fully in the shape of a wolf's head; Dre and Austin reference a statue by Greg Congleton to illustrate this. They start wearing something like Anakin's black tunic in Revenge of the Sith, but with an ankle-length train in the back, and a long, billowing coat.

They smell like Coca-Cola Starlight, repair oil, something 'ionic' and/or dentist gas.

Personality

Valence is generally patient and careful with a strong core of faith. They are haunted by the ghosts of Past they encountered during "Obelle, On Fire". They are not accustomed to violence, but the decisions they've made on Partizan, such as the false flag they perform in Obelle, have forced them to adjust their moral code.

Their train vibe is "very chill and relaxed", "not […] opposed to having conversation, but if nobody's talking to them, they will probably be like reading books."

Drive

• Convince a Stel to become tireless defenders of the Nobel.

Scars

• Haunted
• Righteous

History and Involvement

Origins

Valence is an alien who comes from beyond the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, from a culture called The Nobel. They were a religious scholar back home, and perceive their talents as a gift from God.

They were sent to Partizan via a super fast one-way "pneumatic tube"-like transport, and have no way to return. They came to the Divine Principality because, five years before the start of PARTIZAN, a hostile fleet came out of their side of the Partizan gate. They are meant to learn as much as they can and meet as many people as possible to figure out what happened; that's allowed them to make useful contacts as a mercenary. However, because they are from an alien culture, they are considered Adrift and have very few rights in the Principality.

At some point Valence ended up becoming a member of The Society of Banners and Bright Returns (SBBR) along with Broun, working under the Scrivener's Guild with K.O. Rooke. SBBR purchased Thisbe together prior to the realization that she was sapient.

PARTIZAN

Spoiler warning! This section contains major spoilers for PARTIZAN. Tread carefully!

Valence participated in SBBR's support of Oxblood during the crash landing of Past in Obelle. They connected with Past during its crash and would be haunted by the psychic aftermath. Valence's decision to play House Whitestar's anthem during the mission led to an intensification of the war between the Stels. Valence then traveled to the Church of the Resin Heart on the Isles of Logos and met the enigmatic Gur Sevraq, who told them about his religion. They were convinced to give the Church the mechs that SBBR had acquired from the Obelle mission.

In their next mission, SBBR helped drive away the 301st from the Sable Court, and Valence made something of an ally of their opponent Kenzington Be. They received clarified memoria from the Court in exchange for their efforts, along with the knowledge that whoever attacked their people used the ancient Hyphan Strand technology to travel undetected.

Valence was invited to the Isles of Logos by Avar, who asked them for news of Gur after his disappearance. Valence connected with them psychically and confirmed that he was fine. Gucci Garantine met with SBBR on the Isles and asked the squad to escort her on an upcoming mission to Orzen. Valence admitted to her that they'd used Whitestar's anthem as a false flag during a later briefing, to her disgust. Valence helped defend Gucci during her infiltration in Orzen, where they received a vision from God and realized that Past had been forced to crash by someone powerful. Afterwards, they broadcast a psychic message declaring the True Divine's warning to everyone on Partizan.

Valence, who was injured in Orzen, revealed their true form to Broun and received repairs. They visited the baths together, where Broun reached out with telepathy on their own, to Valence's surprise. Valence also contacted Gur Sevraq psychically, who told them about the Pact of Necessary Venture, who had organized the attack against the Nobel. Valence agreed to draw together like-minded allies, which they began doing. Broun and Valence had an argument about these radical plans; it culminated in Valence agreeing to help them leave Partizan.

Valence joined the nascent Millennium Break alongside Broun and Thisbe. They had a connection to the moods and opinions of the people aboard. Valence campaigned for presidency with Broun’s support, whose Strand Semaphore work with Millie was crucial to Valence’s victory. Riots broke out in the aftermath, but Valence projected psychic visions of their encounter with God in Orzen, shocking everyone into silence. The work piled on, despite SI serving as their advisor. When Clementine and then Broun were arrested, Valence decided to free them both — but they soon saw exactly how bad Clementine was and stepped down in favor of a council of leaders.

When the Pact offered to work with Millennium Break, Valence considered taking the offer, but was troubled knowing that the Pact attempted to destroy the Nobel. Courage attacked Icebreaker Prime, and Valence completely melted their body as they channeled lightning at the Divine. Broun built them a new body, but it was much more alien looking, leaving Valence increasingly isolated and unable to continue being a face of Millennium Break.

As the assault on Cruciat neared, Valence asked Millie to teach them how to use a gun, and worried that they had gotten caught up in the Stel’s wars and politicking instead of building the Exemplar. They worked with Millie during the attack, but had so much difficulty with direct violence that they had to be helped by a Kesh child. Afterward, Valence pooled their resources and influence to get Broun the spaceship they promised.

This section contains spoilers for the Millennium Break arc and PARTIZAN 30: A Cemetery for Heroes.
Click here to reveal.

Gur soon vanished from Icebreaker Prime and was presumed dead. Valence, griefstricken, petitioned Millennium Break leadership for support in recovering parts of the Exemplar of the True Divine, but even Jesset couldn’t afford them any resources. During an operation with Sovereign Immunity and Thisbe to attack a transfer of Memoria from Columnar to Kesh, a griefstricken Valence is deeply upset by a recording of the fake Gur Sevraq. The team's cover is blown by Crysanth Kesh, and Valence attempts to shoot her but is severely damaged by her return fire. Valence tells Thisbe to escape with the Memoria and Sovereign Immunity, leaving Valence behind; they also ask her to tell Broun they're sorry. Valence then sacrifices themself in order to kill Crysanth.

Relationships

Broun

Valence and Broun are close, despite Broun's prickliness.

This section contains spoilers for PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture.
Click here to reveal.

After the mission in Orzen, Valence is repaired by Broun and reveals their gaseous form and telepathic abilities. Soon after, Broun takes them to the baths and works out how to initiate telepathic contact, despite not being a Nobel.

This section contains spoilers for PARTIZAN 38: The Red Light.
Click here to reveal.

Valence promises to help Broun leave Partizan and eventually pools all their resources to get Broun a spaceship, to Broun's shock. Unfortunately, Broun only learns that they've also been entrusted with the coordinates to the Nobel homeworld after Valence's death.

Gur Sevraq

Fellow religious scholars, Gur and Valence meet during Valence's research of the Church of the Resin Heart. Valence checks on Gur after their kidnapping using their farsight, and they see each other again during a vision sent by the True Divine. They think through the nature of faith together, and are both burdened by God's command to seek out the parts of the Exemplar.

This section contains spoilers for PARTIZAN 30: A Cemetery for Heroes.
Click here to reveal.

After Gur's fall from Icebreaker Prime, Valence grieves deeply and resolves to recover the Exemplar no matter the cost. However, they die before their task can be finished.

Midnite Matinee

Midnite Matinee is a starting connection for Valence. They find her exhausting.

Rosé Rita

Valence is intrigued by Rosé Rita (who never actually appears in PARTIZAN).

Beliefs

• Broun is quite dependable and competent. I hope to see them as trustworthy.
• I'm not sure why Thisbe resists her potential, but I want to open her eyes.
• Thisbe is simple and straightforward.

Bond (Kingdom)

• I feel the uncomfortable draw of the unknown from Apparatus, but must keep focus on the revolution and the way of God. An overindulgence of curiosity would sidetrack me.

Abilities

Valence is able to communicate with AI and sense the echoes of past technology. As time goes on, their powers have increased, giving them access to new abilities.

• Telepathy: Valence can freely communicate directly to a person’s mind as though speaking normally if they have previously had a revealing interaction with them. If acting as a group, this allows everyone to work together more effectively.
• Far Sight: Valence can gather information from a place and time they were not present.
• Emoji: They know the secret method to interact with an app or AI as if it was a physical being, regardless of how corrupted or rampant it appears, and are more easily able to communicate with digital entities.
• Tesla: When Valence pushes themself they can unleash a stroke of lightning as a weapon from the power grid or summon an AR storm in their immediate vicinity (swirling ads, flashing neon, heavy smog, shouting crowds, etc.) that will cause AR confusion.
• In the Machine: Valence may interface to possess a digital machine.

Possessions

• Prognostication tools (in the form of a Nobel religious text)
• Fine stun gun

Mech

Valence pilots the Hippocampus.

Trivia

• In the postmortem, Dre said that in a live action adaptation Valence would be voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo.
• They can eat food and sleep. They are not affected by alcohol.
• While working on "The Storm Over Cruciat" Austin made an edit of a scene between Broun and Valence with the song "MakeDamnSure" by Taking Back Sunday underneath. It can be found here.

Gallery

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  Fanart by Pewterbee

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  Fanart by aglennco

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  Fanart by rosehipsister