Valers

Valers are avout (monastic scholars) associated with the math at the Ringing Vale, long linked with Vale-Lore (Ringing Vale martial disciplines). The term is used both collectively ("the Valers") and for individuals ("a Valer").

Context and first mentions

Accounts describe a Valer within a Tredegarh contingent as being recognized from an earlier rescue in Old Mahsht. A later recollection says the scene in Old Mahsht ended with an onrush by Valers, who assessed the situation as an "emergence." Around the same period, when a beachhead camp was organized after the Orithena crisis, Valers were present among those able to intervene physically if needed. During the large Convox (rare mass convocation), Valers are visible at the Concent of Saunt Tredegarh, and one companion remarks that he spends every day sparring with Valers.

Roles and activities

• Martial practice and instruction: Valers are repeatedly associated with sparring and training. A participant notes that working out "with the Valers" would be safer than doing so with clumsier peers, implying expert control and discipline.
• Presence at Convox: At Tredegarh, Valers watch training sessions and engage in bouts; they are treated as the skilled cohort in mixed groups.
• Field assistance: A specific Valer is credited with helping save travelers in Old Mahsht, showing that Valers operate extramuros (outside the maths) when circumstances warrant.
• Emergence response: Practitioners describe an "emergence" as a moment that triggers immediate action without time for prior deliberation; witnesses attribute the Valers' coordinated onrush at Old Mahsht to such an assessment. A narrator notes he "didn't have their training," implying formal instruction among Valers in recognizing and responding to such situations. See Vale-Lore for related terminology and tactics.
• Crisis response and evacuation: When Tredegarh was evacuated, squads of Valers—swathed in black bolts—moved silently through the dark and joined designated evacuation cells alongside avout, officers, and Ita, providing disciplined, physical capability during the organized departure.
• Intelligence seizure: During the Tredegarh evacuation, an Ita analyst reports that a unit of Valers assaulted the quarters of the Matarrhites and secured documents and syndevs before they could be destroyed.
• Preparation at Elkhazg: After regrouping at the Caravansery of Elkhazg, Valers trained alongside the cell on specialized equipment and simulations for an impending operation.
• Orbital operation support: During the covert launch and on-orbit assembly that followed the evacuation, Valers within the mixed cell performed retrieval and assembly work—towing drifting teammates and payloads, lashing clusters beneath a shielding balloon, and linking multiple payloads into a single complex under tight time pressure.
• Boarding action on the World Burner: As the approach to Daban Urnud brought the team within sight of the World Burner, a Ringing Vale detachment executed a coordinated Emergence and boarded the installation. According to shipboard accounts, three shaped charges were planted to destroy the primary detonator, the inertial guidance system, and the propellant tanks; a fourth charge was slapped against a conference-room window to compel access. In the fighting outside the structure, Suur Vay engaged multiple suited workers (one with a plasma cutter) and was killed; Fraa Gratho was struck by debris and killed. After entry, Suur Esma—still in her suit—herded Geometers into the conference room and welded the door shut using Saunt Loy's Powder while Fraa Osa held position as deterrent; together Osa and Esma then sealed the vertex doors and detonated the fourth charge to vent most of the node's atmosphere, leaving approach possible only to people in suits. With suit air exhausted, they shed their suits and holed up in one of the few rooms that still held air. Two days later, responders blew a hole in the vertex; the remaining atmosphere vented, and Osa and Esma died.

Description and reputation

Valers are described—by implication through others' comments—as competent and physically capable practitioners of Ringing Vale disciplines. Their demeanor during group practice is confident enough that novices joke about the Valers merely watching while less trained participants bruise one another. In crisis settings they move quietly in coordinated squads and observe formal courtesies; in one account, Valers bowed with marked formality to the designated cell leader before departure, and later at Elkhazg they bowed deeply to Fraa Jad after he completed a fresh Teglon tiling in the Decagon. Named Valers observed in these contexts include Fraa Osa, Suur Vay, Suur Esma, and Fraa Gratho. Observers also note a habit of modest understatement among Valers when describing strenuous feats.

Relationships and affiliations

• Ringing Vale: Valers are the avout of the Ringing Vale math (monastic community), where Vale-Lore is the signature practice.
• Tredegarh Convox: Valers are present and active during the ongoing Convox hosted at the Concent of Saunt Tredegarh.
• Leadership: Fraa Osa leads the Vale detachment present with the mixed cell, offering directive counsel on committing to work even when the full plan is withheld.

Current status

Active at Tredegarh during the Convox and throughout the evacuation, where they were seen moving in squads and embarking with an organized cell. Later, present at Elkhazg, training intensively alongside the cell for a forthcoming operation; subsequently, members of the Vale detachment participated in on-orbit retrieval and assembly tasks as part of that effort. During the later boarding action against the World Burner, Suur Vay and Fraa Gratho were killed in the assault, and Fraa Osa and Suur Esma died when the sealed vertex was breached.

Memorials and recognition

• The bodies of four fallen Valers—Fraa Osa, Suur Esma, Suur Vay, and Fraa Gratho—were preserved by the Geometer authorities and formally transferred to the Arbran delegation during opening ceremonies in an Urnudan sphere.
• A mixed honor guard of Urnudan, Troän, Laterran, and Fthosian soldiers bore the coffins to a ceremonial pool. Avout companions sang a requiem as the coffins were ferried across and returned for handover.
• Local security forces had been briefed on their exploits; observers note that some of the “Valer mystique” was ascribed to those associated with them.

Notes

• Terminology: "Valer" (singular) and "Valers" (plural) appear in speech; "Ringing Vale avout" is also used interchangeably in context. The collective form "the Valers" is common.
• Scope: The Valers are an avout (monastic) cohort; they are distinct from the avout of other maths who do not practice Ringing Vale disciplines.