Captain Thalas Valoryn, known in song and shadow as Riptide, is one of the most storied and tragic figures in The Kingdom of Valarion’s long history. Once a respected Vanir noble of the eastern elven civilization of Itelion, Valoryn was among the first to align himself with the secretive cabal of vampire-adjacent aristocrats led by King Athelstan Valarion in the final days of the Third Age (Age of the Elves). A renowned shipmaster even before his transformation, Valoryn served as co-commander of the Exodus Fleet—the very vessels which ferried the cursed sons and daughters of the Valar from their banishment in Itelion across the eastern sea to what would become The Immortal Isle.
He and Athelstan were close companions in exile, and many claim it was Valoryn who named the sea strait between Temple Isle and Valheim “The Mourner’s Run,” in memory of those lost during the crossing—including Athelstan’s own wife, Seralyth Vaenyra. As the centuries unfurled, Valoryn’s fame only grew—his ship, the Midnight Rose, becoming both a symbol of fear to the enemies of the Valar and a romanticized vessel of vengeance to its citizens.
The High Seas
As a Valar, Thalas bore the curse of immortality, but unlike his more reserved kin, he embraced his predatory heritage. Though known for acts of ruthless sea justice—binding prisoners to the prow, sinking Saurus war-fleets, and harpooning abyssal leviathans—Valoryn believed his cruelty had purpose: to protect his people through dominance on the high seas.
His naval campaigns, particularly against the Saurus of Somerset Island, were both savage and strategic, winning House Valarion maritime supremacy in The Sea Realm for decades. Yet even among his allies, he was feared. He often made port only when storms gathered, and many tavern songs tell of “Riptide’s Return,” always heralded by lightning and blood.
The Kravenrock Catastrophe
Valoryn’s death—or disappearance—remains one of the most haunting mysteries in the history of the Valar. Tasked by King Cyrus Valarion himself with a deep-sea expedition into the dreaded Kravenrock Kelp Forests, Valoryn sailed with the Midnight Rose and a crew of elite sailors. They never returned.
When sea-watchers reported the Midnight Rose adrift weeks later, there was no sign of life—only barnacled sails, coral-infested hulls, and a scent of brine-choked decay. But that was only the beginning.
The Curse of Captain Riptide
In time, sightings of the Midnight Rose multiplied. A spectral vessel emerged on moonless nights, sailing without wind or oar across the mist-laced seas. Sailors whispered of the Draugr Riptide—a monstrous wraith with the skull of a hammerhead shark and glowing, abyssal eyes—leading a drowned crew of ghouls made from sea-cursed Valar.
These rumors were dismissed until even the Pale Guard reported attacks on merchant convoys, always with the telltale wake of The Midnight Rose. Some say this curse was Nyx’s punishment, others that Valoryn delved too deep into necromantic sea rites and drew down divine wrath. A few even claim that he willingly embraced death, seeking to become something more… something eternal beneath the waves.
Relationship to House Valarion
Though long assumed dead, Valoryn’s ghostly return has caused no small unease in Valheim. King Cyrus Valarion, once close to Thalas, has since refused to speak of him. Rumors persist that Valoryn appears to Cyrus in the Queen Euloria Valarion within the Vaults of Valarion, his drowned form a warning of fate yet to come.
Still, many remember him fondly—as a necessary shadow, a grim protector. His life is honored in the Temple of Valor, his empty sarcophagus draped in kelp-wrapped iron, his name spoken in reverent dread.
Legacy
The ghost ship Midnight Rose is said to drift the northern seas between the Immortal Isle and Somerset. Shrouded in fog, its sails are torn yet ever full. Harpoons lined in spectral chain decorate its prow, and when its dread captain takes aim, storms gather.
Some claim the ship is seeking its way home. Others say it is hunting something—perhaps vengeance, perhaps a soul.
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