Valentine Morgenstern

Player Name: Arden
Player Journal: dancinpenguins @ lj
Player Age: 26.

Character Name: Valentine Morgenstern AKA Michael Wayland
Canon: The Mortal Instruments
Medium: Novels

Character Age: 42 years old.
Canon Point:  City of Bones, after fleeing Renwick's Ruin through the portal following his confrontation with Jace & Clary.

Why did you choose this character?: Because he's an evil, manipulative bastard and I wanted to play a villain. He encompasses many of my favorite villain archetypal features, and I really think the game premise will be interesting with someone like him around. Also, he's an arrogant jerkface and I can't ever resist those.
Give a brief idea of how your character will react to the setting: He's a trained Shadowhunter, so there's no worries about him not being able to keep up. Magic, etc. are all a part of his regular routine, and the fact that he's not on his own world won't stop him from wanting to wipe out non-human species, so... he'll focus on doing that. Yay! :D

History: here
Personality:

Valentine is the kind of guy who trapped and chained up an actual angel, and kept it imprisoned in his basement for years and years so that he could a) use its blood in his fucked up experiments on babies and b) have long one-sided interrogation talks with it about why God made Shadowhunters, and didn't give them all the cool accessory powers demonspawn get.  This says a lot about what he's capable of.  Perhaps what makes him so terrifying, however, is not that he has particularly complex motivations for his bizarre and often sociopathic actions - but that they are actually brutally simplistic.  

In terms of D&D character alignment, Valentine's almost textbook lawful evil.  He uses his dogmatic approach to the world as divided into black and white jurisdictions of good and evil to create a code of morality that writes off hideous actions taken to eradicate evil as right and just.  It's important that Valentine doesn't see anything wrong with the path he's chosen or crimes he's committed: to him, they are sacrifices that must be made for the 'greater good'.  

Valentine is largely defined by his desire for control, which is the key psychological factor motivating his quest to rid the world of all Downworlders.  His own father was killed by a werewolf, and Valentine invested himself fully in a world view that would allow him to exact revenge for that trauma on a grand scale.  He invested an enormous amount of his personal identity into the relationship Shadowhunters have with angels, and allowed it to feed his narcissism and sense of superiority, so that he has convinced himself that not only is he capable of re-ordering the entire world to the image he desires, but that it is his sacred right.  

What's troublesome is that he has the keys to do so.  Valentine's obsession with control extends to his demeanor, and although he has an incredible temper, he is almost always cool and calculated, crafting an exterior image of a man who is cultured, highly intelligent, well-spoken, and even remarkably civilized.  It's these facets that allow him to manipulate others so easily, as his personality allows him to exude a remarkable amount of charisma when he wants to, and his confidence is unshakable and unarguably attractive to those with weaker wills seeking someone who seems to have all the answers.   Even when espousing hate speech, he manages to sound placid and "almost cheerful", as if these are just facts of life, instead of fueled by hatred.  He possesses a dry, sarcastic wit and cruel sense of humor, and seems to be lacking in any real empathy whatsoever.  

He does, however, attach himself to others in his own way, investing in those that he sees as his 'loved ones', but his idea of love is firmly bound up in that driving desire for control, and his relationships are defined by his possessiveness.  This is most notable in his treatment of his wife, Jocelyn, his manipulation of his children, his strong handed approach to raising Jace, and the portrait he paints to Jace and Clary of 'becoming a family' again, even in the face of the horrors he is attempting to unleash.    He managed to even brainwash Jace into believing that he was a good father while bringing him up, despite the years of physical and emotional abuse he subjected the child to. 

Valentine is incredibly tactically minded, using people as pawns in his plans with zero regard for their feelings on the subject.  However, when it comes to his intense hatred for Downworlders, he is often blinded enough to act in ways that seem at odds with his calculated approach.  Amatis remarked that he often took stupid risks with his followers when it came to opportunities to kill werewolves, which only speaks to both his own sense of invincibility, and his lack of real concern for those who swear allegiance to him.

First Person Sample:

Dear mun, I hate you, ♥ Valentine

Third Person Sample:


Valentine's steps echoed down the long marble hallway, as he turned towards the stand to remove his jacket, and shake a few stray drops off the black umbrella before folding it and hooking it within the stand.  His hands brushed once down the front of his suit jacket, before turning to meet the eyes of the gaunt man who had stepped out of heavy doors halfway down the hall, and was staring, his mouth slightly open.

"You didn't expect I would come myself?" Valentine mused, sounding slightly amused by the idea as he walked at a casual but determined pace towards the man, who seemed rooted to the spot.  "I have many servants, yes, but when it comes to old friends, what sort of man would I be to not be willing to deal with them personally?"  His emphasis was chilling, the slight smile on his features serene and yet cold.  He could see the other man shudder, and was reminded of the way the drops had shook off his umbrella, with merely one vigorous jostle.  

He didn't expect this old friend to require much jostling.  

"We have a great deal of catching up to do, it would seem."  

The other man's eyes, however, had slid down to the sword that Valentine wore at his side.  He spared it a glance, and then his own gaze came back to meet the others', flatly.  "Ah.  Yes.  I believe you're familiar with the Angel Sword and its function."

"In--- interrogation," the other stammered, the first word he'd managed to get out.  "Of Shadowhunters.  They say it..."  He seemed unable to finish, and ended on a swallow.  

"Strips away all lies," Valentine finished for him politely.  "My point precisely."

Another gulp, as the man backed into the room beneath Valentine's approach.  The doors swung closed heavily behind them, as if of their own accord, throwing another louder, more ominous echo down the hall.