#→ anna valerious // valley of the shadow of death (v.)

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Alec. ( @courtofmuses, moved from here. )

Now that Alec was here, he was second guessing his choice. The Institute around him didn’t seem to be the most structurally sound, and he wondered why it felt so...abandoned. His thoughts were brought to the present when Anna took his hand, gripping it firmly. He offered her a small smile. “Thank you,” he said politely. “It actually came to my attention that there isn’t much communication between your Institute and my own. I figured now is as good a time as any since I’ve recently become Head of the New York Institute. The better relations are between Institutes, the better.” At least he thought so. Honestly, Alec was going off the cuff here. 

Alec couldn’t help but look around the Institute he was currently in. He wasn’t sure if the aesthetic was purposeful or not. A cold draft swept through and Alec had to suppress a shiver. It was going to be a long week. 

Small talk was not Alec’s forte, and suddenly he wished he’d have brought Magnus with him. The warlock was charming all around and could probably smooth out the awkward moments without much effort. But this was Alec’s job now and he couldn’t rely on his boyfriend to do it for him. “What’s the demon activity like in Cluj?” he asked. That was common enough ground for conversation. He hoped.

the Institut was definitely far older than the likes of its London or New York counterparts, but the wardings were strong, & the masonry had help up centuries longer than the others' oldest foundations. she'll hold steady long after her inhabitants have gone. she has to admire his bold strike to reach out, & it's true - she's grown insular in her old age; communications have suffered accordingly. ' felicitări on your recent promotion, ' she offers, finally dropping his hand in favor of gesturing for him to follow.

' and apologies for the state of things, we're a large institute in structure only. many centuries ago, we would have filled these halls. now, it's a struggle to fill the duty roster. ' something he would no doubt be familiar with. New York might be busiest than most, but without the cup for so long, their numbers had dwindled. she had already written to the Clave to ask that some of the newest Academy graduates be assigned to her for training but also to help these halls shine like they had used to. there were many other Institutes with the same need, so only time would tell if her request would be answered.

she's grateful that he seems less inclined towards tedious pleasantries, getting right to heart of things. perhaps a part of why he had be given leadership, she has to think. ' now? no higher than most others - however we still see elevated vampire activity. no busier, no more dangerous. the Muzeul de Vampiri here in the Institute would probably give you a more picturesque explanation later, if you're curious. ' she takes him down a corridor & the air starts to get warmer. here, the hallways are lit up with witchlight but the winds from the outside can't sneak in. it might be darker than expected, but it was no longer as drafty. her intent is to show him quarters fit for him to stay for the week, as well as the library for any resources he might not have in his own Institute, the kitchens, and their training rooms and weapons vault.

' tell me about New York - I cannot leave my post, so I live vicariously through my visitors and reports. '

#courtofmuses #→ anna valerious // threads #→ anna valerious // valley of the shadow of death (v.) #→ interactions #six million years later #also that got long I am so sorry #q.

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FANDOM VERSE / THE SHADOWHUNTER CHRONICLES

based on the shadowhunter chronicles. as head of the cluj institute in romania, anna oversees the most treacherous nephilim posting in the world. following a pact made with raziel by her ancestors, anna cannot die until the last of the demons spawned from hecate's union with vlad iii have been exterminated from this realm.

VERSE: → anna valerious // valley of the shadow of death (v.) VERSE STATUS: fandom verse, the shadowhunter chronicles.

while part of their world was still finding its footing with downworld relations following the historic european downworlder treaty in 1815 of then consul shimizu-tokugawa katsugoro, cluj was still trapped in a hell that had been brewing since 1444.

the officially transcribed story in he clave's history is that he first vampires were said to have been created in 1444 a.d. in a public ceremony. the greater demon hecate was summoned in a massive blood-based sacrifice held at the court of wallachia (modern day romania). its then ruler, vlad iii, had a great circle of prisoners of war impaled on tall wooden spikes. in exchange for this sacrifice & act of savagery, hecate transformed vlad & a large majority of his court into the first vampires.

while some of this story may hold grains of truth, it's not the complete picture. the true horror is not the creation of vampires, but the demons sired by vlad's union with the greater demon hecate. much like benedict lightwood centuries later, vlad contracted demon pox & ulimately was turned into a demon, himself, before being dragged through a portal to the demon realms. their offspring spread throughout the surrounding land, becoming a worse infestation than the orginal vampires ever had.

1438, a nephilim by the name of valerious the elder promised raziel that his family would NEVER REST nor enter heaven until they vanquished the spawn of hecate from their line. he swore this oath to the angel on the shore of lake lyn, invoking the sword & the cup in this sacred oath. while it felt like duty at the time, this was a promise that would come back to haunt the bloodline in centuries to come.

born in 1857 in the stronghold high above cluj in the eastern carpathian mountains, & descended from the same bloodline as the original vampire VLAD III, anna valerious is the last in her line after the tragic death of her father at the hands of vampires following the vampires' war against nephilim of the cluj institute, & her brother being turned into a werewolf. despite some of the clave's belief that women should not be trained to fight, anna was raised to fight in a war that had been going on for nine generations.

realizing that the family was failing in their charge, & that the death of the last family member might permanently condemn the souls of the valerious bloodline, grigore valerious traveled to idris with his son, seeking out the MORTAL INSTRUMENTS with the intent to use the three of them to summon raziel.

using the magic of the WISH, grigore valerious wove what would become the valerious curse into existance - reaffirming that so long as the demon that had once been his ancestor drew breathe, there would always be a valerious alive to fight him, that the family would NEVER REST until this came to pass. boris stayed unaware of what his father had done until his father's death. he confided in velkan before he, himself, fell victim to the wrath of lilith's incursion.

it wasn't until after velkan was struck down that anna learned the true horror of the wish her grandfather had made: so long as vlad & his offspring still exist in this realm, she cannot die. even hurt beyond the point of agony, she will eventually heal. learning the scope of this wish, the clave was furious & it was this action that provoked them to strike the location of the mortal mirror from official clave records, so that no such act could ever be repeated.

knowing what path had been set for her, anna became one of the last centurion trained in the scholomance before it closed its doors in 1872 with the signing of THE ACCORDS. now she oversees the cluj institute, stalking her ancestor's shadow & waiting until the day she might find her own way into that unholy realm to strike him down so that she, & the souls of her family, might finally rest.

notes on the verse

anna is 166 years old, but looks no older than her late 20s to early 30s. she's frozen in time, so to speak, in the moment that she became the last living valerious.

because of both her significant age & status as a centurion, anna is considered an expert across the board in the eleven primary subjects of nephilim study.

#shadowhunters rp #tsc rp #tmi rp #the shadowhunter chronicles rp #→ anna valerious (verse introduction) #→ anna valerious // valley of the shadow of death (v.) #long post