Valor Helos IV

Valor Helos IV, also known as "The Second Son", is the thirteenth emperor of the Celeste Empire. His reign marked a decline for the kingdom of Sol, that would continue with his youngest son, Valyr.

Appearance
Valor IV was a handsome young man, though he was often compared to his graceful older brother. He had the signature Helos red hair, which he kept in short waves, as well as deep purple eyes. He was taller than his brother, with a squarer jaw, and broader shoulders.

Personality
Valor IV was a charming enough man, though he was often jealous and insecure of his older brother. He had a lot of ambition for the throne, but struggled to be a good leader like his brother.

Early Life
Valor IV was born in 557 AE to Empress Valorey Helos and Lord Othid Nevan. He had an older brother, Varian II. The two brothers were supposedly close when they were younger, though Valor IV quickly became jealous of the attention that Varian received. The two grew apart sometime in their adolescence.

With little talent in magic or the arcane, Valor spent most of his young life training to be a knight. He joined the Scarlet Guard shortly after his 16th birthday, and rose to become General after several decades.

He married Lady Doroth Alaras in 597 AE, and the two had two children Valor V and Verin in 598 and 601 AE. He was said to have loved her dearly, and she was the first person who truly believed in him, supporting him in everything she did.

His brother Varian died to an airship crash along with his family in 607 AE. Valor mourned him considerably, and it took him many years to accept that his brother was truly gone.

Reign
Valor IV ascended the throne in 607 AE, at the age of 50. While he had good intentions as a ruler, he struggled with many of the intricacies of political life, and was not good at handling criticisms. He was often compared to his brother in every way, further adding to his insecurities and his tumultuous reign.

His wife would die giving birth to a third son, Valyr in 610 AE. He was incredibly affected by her death, and scholars believed he often blamed Valyr for her loss, finding it hard to even look at his youngest son. His reign would further decline throughout the next years.

In 625 AE, his oldest son and successor, Valor V, abandoned his position as heir to join the Temple of the Faith. He quickly moved on to training his second son, Verin, instead.

Death
Valor died under mysterious circumstances in 629 AE. He supposedly died from a sudden illness, though he was previously reported by doctors to be as healthy as ever just weeks prior. According to popular rumors, Valor was murdered by his youngest son, Valyr.

Legacy
Valor V was not a good ruler, and his reign marked the beginning of a decline for the Celeste Empire.

Valyr had three children, Valor V, Verin and Valyr, the last of which would succeed him.

Valorey Helos
Valor IV had a good enough relationship with his mother, but he often felt that she favored Varian over him. This continued to haunt him even after his brother's death, since Valorey did not wish to involve herself in politics to help in his struggling rule.

Othid Nevan
Valor V had a good relationship with his father, though they had very little in common. He often felt like he couldn't live up to the educational standards that his father wished for him.

Varian Helos II
Valor IV had a complicated relationship with his older brother. While the two were very close as children, Valor often resented the attention that Varian received over him as heir. He chose to distance himself from his brother after Varian took up the throne.

Valor grieved heavily for Varian after the airship crash, to the point that it took him years to accept that he was fully gone. Despite this, he was still often haunted by his memory, and grew deeply insecure whenever he was compared to his brother.

Dorothy Alaras
Valor IV loved his wife Dorothy deeply, believing that she was the only person who truly supported him and saw him as his own person outside of the throne, and outside of his brother. He had a hard time coping with her death from childbirth, and supposedly took a lot of his grief out on his own son.

Valor Helos V
Valor IV initially had a good relationship to Valor V, who he raised as his heir. He felt deeply betrayed when his son chose to abdicate the throne in favor of joining the Temple of the Faith. While the two had begun mending their relationship slowly, Valor IV died before the pair could properly make up.

Verin Helos
Valor IV showed Verin a lot of favoritism, as they shared the most things in common among all his sons. Like him, Verin had joined the Scarlet Guard, and was training to become commander before he was suddenly made heir. He was supposedly very tolerant of many of Verin's bad habbits, such as his womanizing and bullying (like that of Valyr).

Valyr Helos
Valor IV had a tainted relationship with his youngest son, who he partly blamed for Dorothy's death. He was quite neglectful of Valyr, and chose to distance himself from him whenever he could. He also scarcely tolerated Valyr's frequent outbursts, and sometimes used physical means to discipline him. While he did this with all his children, it was most prominent with Valyr.

Abilities
Valor IV had little talent in magic, and was much more of a warrior than a mage. He was a powerful general of the Scarlet Guard.

Influence
As Emperor of Celeste, and monarch of Sol, Valor IV was one of the most powerful people in Auros. He has supreme command over the Scarlet Guard, and all official affiliations of the Empire.

Quotes

 * "Varian? It's time to come out of hiding now. This isn't funny anymore." ''(while grieving his brother, Varian)

Trivia

 * Valor IV was colorblind.