Final Haven LARP

On Painted Faces
By: Sen'Za'Rien
Date: 1057

Let me tell you a story. Long ago, in the black, the Valkyn'Vi were crafted by elves as slaves and servants to control the weather. They were banished by ritual to an ethereal realm. Placed at the mercy of cruel Ethereal masters called the Valkin. The elves were haughty, arrogant and vain. They created their servants pale, and plain. With no discernible facial features, markings or flaws. It served to make the Valkyn'vi more docile having no sense of identity. They had nothing to set them apart from each other. They had nothing to rally. They were interchangeable.

No one is sure how it started. Perhaps a Valkyn'vi warrior painted his face before battle so that his pale white skin would give him away. Perhaps their Masters in the ethereal plane forced a Valkyn'vi performer into make-up to enhance a juggling act. But it doesn't matter. Something strange and powerful swept through the Valkyn'vi world. Face paint, easily available and wondrous to mix.

Why did it matter? The Valkyn'vi were slaves. They were property. They had nothing. Their lives were owned by haughty masters. But here came something that individualized them. It gave them an identity. It gave them a subtle purpose of thought and mind. It unified them as a race of beings and not as cattle and furnishings.

It took years for this social change to take place. Their masters tried to stop it. They ordered the Valkyn'vi to leave their faces unpainted. They killed violators and destroyed the means of making the makeup. But that only served to galvanize the Valkyn'vi. It only served to make the lost people stronger. They passed recipes for the make-up around and soon, colors and shapes were everywhere. It gave them freedom of mind that they had never had.

Freedom is a dangerous beast. The Valkyn'vi had the taste of freedom. They smelled the air and felt like people. Once you lap the font of true liberty, you want, you NEED more. You can not settle for anything less that autonomy. The uprising was inevitable. Their masters tried to hold it off. And they did for a generation or two. But their creation was better than they had expected, and the Valkyn'vi eventually broke free from bondage.

Now, we paint our faces because it is only under that paint can we be free. Our uniqueness is our paint. Each of us changes the paint over time. The makings of paint is a carefully guarded secret and different clans pass it down from mother to daughter. A Valkyn'Vi's paint is intimate. Rarely will they ever let anyone see them in their natural form, devoid of paint, and individuality.

Valkyn'vi have learned to identify other's based on the style of paint and make-up. Other races may see nothing in te paint, but to Valkyn'vi, the symbology of the marks, and the laying of the paint tell each other everything they with to share with their lost. There is only one grave crime in the house of the Valkyn'vi. Impersonating another's make-up. It is like stealing their soul. Those do this are stripped of their make up, permanently blackened(often through fire) and cast out.

This is why we paint our faces. We have tasted freedom, and we will never give it up. We will never subdue our free will and become cattle ever again.