Faen Val'Sullisin'rune
From The Orthorbbae Library
Faen Val'Sullisin'rune is the youngest daughter of Ilharess Ash'waren Val'Sullisin'rune. She is a few years older than Ariel Val'Sarghress and attended Orthorbbae previous to her exile to the surface. As a member of the Val house and descendant of Ash'waren, Faen shows a proficiency in empathy, and also sports the family's mis-matched "devil eyes" trait. She seems to be of average "early-teen" (or for Drow, mid-twenties) height and has long hair which is a bluish silver, possibly a natural hair color given her relation to Ash'waren, with bangs. Her left eye is blue while her right eye is violet, which contributes the nickname "Mad Eyes" among the girls she studies with. As a Drowolath, she is dark-skinned. With Ash'waren as her mother, she is technically either Second or Third Generation, depending on who you talk to as to Ash'waren's own race.
Faen is a complete opposite of what is seen most of the time in Drow society. While Drow emotions and feelings have a great range and they can be kind and generous, Faen seems to be much more "softer" than others, as Chrys'tel Vel'Sharen would put it. She acts out of desire to help, even at the risk of herself. She is also very shy and introverted, which often leads her to be picked on by others. While Chrys'tel, her roommate, often protects her from the jeering of the other girls, she does not see Chrys'tel as a friend, and feels the Sharen girl is merely acting out of a desire for the Sharen clan to gain more alliances with the Sullisin'rune. According to Faen in her first conversation with Ariel, she has no friends, though she cuts herself off before stating the fact. Whether or not Chrys'tel or any of the other girls she spent time with saw her in a friendly light is unknown, and can only be inferred from their comments.
Faen's first encounter with Ariel occurred at the bottom of the Davya tower shaft, where Faen healed Ariel, patching together the broken bones enough for Ariel to move about. The two strike up a friendship after this. The time they spend together is not recorded in the comic, though it is about four years that the girls visit, on and off, since Ariel is stuck in the Legs for that time period before she is allowed breaks. During that time Ariel sees Faen as a comfort, but it appears she knows little of what Faen is truly experiencing…
While there is not a lot of sign that this is happening at the time of her meeting with Ariel , by the fourth year Faen has grown more troubled. Her empathic ability is manifesting faster than her ability to train to control it, and she seems to be keeping most of her troubles to herself. It hits a threshold around the time when the girls of a generation of Beldrobbaen Vals are all devoured by a demon that took over a lecturing teacher. Only one girl survived – Chrys'tel's friend Naal'suul, who was so heavily tainted her personality changed and she began to appear emotionless as well as incapable of feeling pain. While others treated Naal normally, Faen's empathy connected to the turmoil of the demon within Naal. This caused the young empath much stress, and soon she could feel even the small seeds in every tainted girl around her. She also senses something "sinister" in the depths of Orthorbbae, which did little to help with her deteriorating state.
As Faen's nightmares increased along with the number of Velnari she met, as she came to the conclusion that every tainted person would end up like Naal'suul, they just didn't realize it yet. Paranoia began to take over every waking moment for her. People around her started to refer to her as "Mad Eyes" at this point, due to her family’s classic mis-matched eyes and the famed empathic "insanity" of her mother that they teased she was inheriting.
After Ariel is forced to leave Orthorbbae and challenged to prove her worth, Faen arrives to assist her in finding a fighting slave. She attempts to convince Ariel to return to Orthorbbae with her. Ariel is torn about this, but eventually declines, stating she cannot let her brother or clan down. Faen accepts this with obvious, yet quiet, regret. They leave to find a slave, and Ariel witnesses a display of Faen's empathy when an attacker is mauled by the wolf mount they bring with them after Faen directs it to from loss of control over her emotions. This episode is only the beginning of Faen's final breakdown.
While Ariel was dealing with Mir'kiin, Faen returned to school to find Chrys'tel had set up a tainting ceremony in an attempt to help the empath get over her fears of demons. Faen agreed to it at first, but went into a panic on the way to the ceremony chamber. Her empathic fit left a Sullisin'rune teacher brain dead and destroyed Nihi'liir Vel'Sharen's arm. She escaped to Davya, where Tralyn the Clanless helped her to escape the Orthorbbae cavern and head for a far away town on the Surface. She was able to leave a note behind to explain what happened to Ariel, and the account is confirmed and elaborated upon by Chrys'tel when Ariel interrogated her later.
Faen's current whereabouts are unknown beyond that she was making her way to the Surface and away from Chel'el'Sussoloth. Both the Sullisin'rune and the Sharen clans would hunt her down for punishment for those she had injured/killed, so she could no longer remain among her people. While her departure seemed bittersweet, it seems her only regret is that she would not see Ariel again.
Faen's condition is also unknown. Going to the surface may have her encounter fewer beings, and hopefully no demons. She could live a very difficult life, but outside of major Drow centers she could hope for her empathy to be dulled from lack of a large mana pool. However, her abilities may be going further out of control as she encounters creatures with emotions she cannot process, and her mental state may end up shattered, making her extremely dangerous.
The next major arc in the story after Ariel's preparations for travel will be Ariel's search for Faen. The question is when Ariel finds her, will she want to be found, or will she even want to go back to the place that caused her so much pain? Or will she already be so far gone into madness that she becomes a greater threat to Ariel's safety?
Daydream:
All daydream appearances of Faen are of course non-cannon. She appears in all archives in some capacity, and may be a character that can be "captured" in Slavemaster.
Ariel's First Love:
Faen also appears in a contest story written by Kern and drawn by Darkvolt. The story takes place 15yrs after her exile, and she is seen in Ariel's room with strange scars around her eyes that are from "past trauma" according to the written version. The canonical nature of this appearance is not stated.
Note: Faen's eyes going blank during her empathic fits is to demonstrate the loss of control over herself, as done in many comics and manga. It isn't a stretch that in cases like her trance in Orthorbbae that her eyes are rolling back, however this may or may not be the case, nor would it be seen with the stylized expression of her mental state.
Quote:
"I was going crazy I think, little by little. I saw things, horrible things in Orthorbbae. Even when I slept I couldn’t escape them." – a section of Faen's letter to Ariel, left with Tralyn the Clanless, explaining what had transpired in the Crescent the day of her exile.
Relations:
Ash'waren Val'Sullisin'rune – Mother and Ilharess
Salan'dara Val'Sullisin'rune - Sister
Yafein Val'Sullisin'rune – Cousin
Yuleaer Val'Sullisin'rune – Cousin, former confidant
Ariel Val'Sarghress – Friend
Liriel – slave (co-owned with Ariel)
Maya - Purchased, given to Yafein
Chrys'tel Vel'Sharen – Roommate, friend
Naal'suul Val'Beldrobbaen – Acquaintance
Kiel'ndia Vel'Vloz'ress – Acquaintance
Shinae Vel'Sharen – Acquaintance
Kyo'nne Val'Illhar'dro – Acquaintance
First appearance: Chapter 2, page 86
Appears in chapter(s): 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 (in a flash-back)
Other appearances: Daydream (all Archives), Ariel's First Love (contest), Chibi Age, Evil in the Depths (discontinued side story)