Sepulchure, Lynaria and Gravelyn

Valen and Lynaria

You uncover Valen and Lynaria's history in the writings of Loremaster Archillius Webcrick. He describes Valen, young Alteon, and the healer Lynaria fighting together to overthrow a tyrant, with both men in love with Lynaria.

In Webcrick's account, Lynaria, a Champion of Light as her daughter Gravelyn would later be, married Alteon after a private duel between him and Valen over who would ask for her hand.

Webcrick recounts how the reigning Champion of Darkness abducted Lynaria on her wedding day, leading Valen into the Necropolis to rescue her. There he loses his duel with the champion and is left dying.

Valen accepts the Mysterious Stranger's offer of cursed DoomKnight armor, gaining the strength to defeat the champion and save Lynaria at the cost of becoming undead as his love turns toward hatred. The Stranger names him Sepulchure, while a Shadow's will remains within the armor he now wears.

Sepulchure gains command of the dark armies. A damaged page preserves fragments about Lynaria's return, adoption and betrayal before the formation of the Shadowscythe. Elsewhere, Drakath credits Noxus with raising the great dragon skeleton that became Sepulchure's flying fortress.

Webcrick's earlier history says Lynaria tried to reach the man inside Sepulchure with a spell of Light, but the armor struck her of its own accord and killed her. You eventually find her tomb in his forbidden vault, though Gravelyn remembers a father who loved her. Later-revealed memories show Lynaria surviving the restoration attempt and a subsequent expedition to Castle Bocklin. She died later, but accounts of her death differ.

The Attempt to Restore Valen

In a letter to Alteon, Lynaria describes the humanity she can still recognize in Sepulchure. Her presence seems to strengthen it, but the shadow repeatedly returns until she struggles to separate Valen from his corruption. She blames the armor rather than Darkness itself and hopes to bring both herself and Valen home. Luma, a servant of Celeritas, helps prepare a remedy, although he cannot promise that purifying an undead man will restore his life. After an initial failure on a captive skeleton, a feather taken despite Lightwing's refusal supplies the missing reagent, and a second trial gives them hope.

Before the ritual, Lynaria warns that Sepulchure must resist the shadow in his mind. He presses her about their former love, and she acknowledges a moment of weakness while insisting that it cannot happen again. She still cares for Valen, but says she loves Alteon and chose to marry him. The spell brings warmth, then burning. As Sepulchure loses control, the energy bursting from him corrupts Luma, forcing Lynaria to defeat the elemental who helped her.

Lynaria remembers light, falling and a blank before a Lightguard Paladin finds her alive. She recalls searching for Valen, but cannot tell whether finding him and having a child were real or dreams. She asks what the Light is protecting her from remembering. Elsewhere, Sepulchure tells Noxus the attempt is finished and that darkness has burned away the life she brought out in him. Neither her broken recollection nor his rejection explains everything that happened.

Castle Bocklin

A later expedition takes place while Tara is a baby and Brittany is still alive. Victoria confronts Lynaria about the nobles' rumors and asks whether she loves Alteon. Her mother's answer, that she learned to, does little to reassure her. A blackmailer threatens the daughters unless Lynaria comes to Castle Bocklin to answer for what she and Valen concealed. Victoria insists on joining her to protect her sisters, while Brittany arranges a carriage and distracts the guards. Outside the court, Victoria discovers that Greenguard's noble houses spy on their subjects and one another, despite the freedom her parents fought to establish.

On the way, an unfinished letter to Lord Vaughn alleges that his sister, Queen Eleanor, did not die naturally and that Drakath is unlikely to be her child. Its unnamed investigator implicates several noble houses but never completes the promised conclusion. At the castle, the undead of the defeated House Vaughn recognize Lynaria and pursue her. When she calls on the Light, she begins bleeding from her nose and later coughing blood, leaving Victoria to take over the fighting.

The blackmailer is Richard Vaughn, a hostage entrusted to Brentan's family rather than Brentan's brother. His house supported Dethrix, and holding him deters its surviving members from rebellion. Richard fears relatives plotting to kill his peaceful brother Henry III and put him in power instead. They hired necromancers to raise their dead father, the Thronekeeper, whose warriors have escaped their control and threaten Swordhaven. Lynaria promises to protect the brothers, while Victoria demands that mercy mean more than keeping them apart.

In the archives, the ghost of Lorekeeper Chandra recounts researching the Vaughn and Drakath families for the Thronekeeper. Chandra claims that Valen massacred the duke, his eldest son and the people gathered for a defection meeting, including the captive lorekeeper. The records also expose noble connections Victoria never knew, including her mother's maiden name, Dayne. Other evidence unsettles the story: damaged necks, poisoned goblets and a warning that the conspirators' white-robed patrons are not human and knew the necromancers could not control the Thronekeeper.

Lynaria finally tells Victoria what she and Valen agreed while Alden, the future King Alteon, negotiated with the duke. Valen intended to lose the duel for her hand. He said he could not have children despite seeking the healers' help, and that Greenguard needed Alden as king, though Alden would accept the crown only if Lynaria became queen. She wanted to stay with Valen and proposed adoption, but accepted the sacrifice he demanded. Alden knew nothing of their arrangement. Victoria refuses to accept duty as an excuse for deceiving her father or exposing his daughters to years of gossip. She also accuses Sepulchure of killing innocents and Lynaria's dragon, Victorious; she had expected her mother to stop him, not return from a prolonged absence with missing memories.

The white-robed figures vanish under attack, leaving traces of magic. Lynaria recognizes something of her mentors' rituals. Richard explains that an earlier queen belonged to House Dayne, Lynaria's maiden house, leaving Victoria angry that overthrowing tyrants has returned their relatives to the throne. Then Lynaria collapses. Richard briefly restores her with a potion made from his own blood: his family's hereditary resistance to mana prevents them from using magic or receiving magical healing, and his father used blood tinctures to protect soldiers from spells. Lynaria feels better, but the remedy cannot last. Her headaches, internal bleeding and mental fog began when she noticed gaps in her memory; she cannot tell whether she never knew their cause or has forgotten it.

She recognizes the ritualists as Celeritas's worshippers and recalls Elves who trained prospective heroes, then killed Champions who disappointed them so that the Plane of Light would choose replacements. She rejected their ambition to control Greenguard, but does not know whether these attackers belong to the same group. Disguise gems help explain their human appearances.

When Richard's eldest brother Henry II appears among the ghosts, Lynaria confesses what happened at the supposed surrender. The Thronekeeper poisoned both the rebels and his own sympathetic men, then stabbed his son. Alden and Valen fell with the others, leaving Lynaria to kill the duke and his conspirators while the Light slowly purged the poison. Valen took the blame for her, creating the rampage Chandra and Richard believed. Richard thanks her for avenging Henry II, while she admits that her selfish and rash choices also hurt people whose suffering she cannot undo.

A ritualist's note warns that acting without Celeritas's approval could cost them their sentience and urges abandoning the scheme. The writer doubts that the Emissary will approve their attempt to eliminate the Champion, recalls Camlan's fall from favor, and fears that Celeritas has noticed Luma's removal despite her long silence toward the Emissary. To soothe his expected anger, the writer proposes another illusion of his starlight and a male construct for him to tear apart. Condemnatio Memoriae is their last resort if the scheme goes wrong.

Two constructs of Light turn that guilt against her. The Blinding Memory takes Valen's earlier form, mixing remembered arguments with words Lynaria does not remember him saying. The Distant Connection presents a perfect girl modeled on a real person but stripped of scars and blemishes. Lynaria has dreamed of the girl and recalls Valen calling her their miracle. She fears that someone is using them and thinks that, if the dreams are real, she must find the girl and accept responsibility. Thinking that there cannot be two, she feels Light bleeding from her body. The encounter worsens her illness without giving her a complete explanation for it.

Richard's blood cannot sustain the treatment: he warns that supplying enough would kill him and Henry. Against the Thronekeeper, Victoria instead attacks the enchanted armor tethering his soul to the world. The dead duke seizes Richard and uses him against them while Lynaria's strength fails. She prepares to sacrifice herself, answering the imagined choice between Valen and her present life by refusing to give up the daughters she would otherwise never have had. Victoria begs her to stay. Brittany has told Alteon where they went, and he arrives to save his family before Lynaria can carry out the sacrifice.

Lynaria survives and tells Alden that the Light is behind her condition, asking him to trust her to take responsibility. Their reunion does not demand Victoria's forgiveness. Lynaria regrets the selfish choices she made, but never her daughters, and promises love regardless of how Victoria answers. She also finds a way to release Richard and protect Henry III from the hostage threat. Richard still cannot return home, but resolves to become stronger and join the Queensguard.

The Empty Graves

Long after that expedition, Victoria tells Tara the story beside two empty graves Alteon secretly arranged for Lynaria and Valen. Tara knows their mother later died, but asks whether the illness or the ritualists caused it. Victoria was absent and says the reports differ; Brittany knew what happened but could not speak of it without breaking down. Lynaria's survival after the restoration and again at Bocklin leaves Webcrick's earlier account unable to settle where or how her life ended. The Lightguard's recent actions give Victoria reason to investigate further.

Tara cannot yet decide how to feel about the family's history. Victoria tells her she need not reach an answer now, or ever, and that the nobles' gossip does not own their lives. As Richard reminds them of Brentan's approaching funeral, Victoria asks for more time. He stands guard while Tara tells her mother about her adventures and promises to become the kind of Champion Lynaria wanted her to be.

Gravelyn and the Defense of Shadowfall

Years before the Chaos War, Nulgath fought Sepulchure and declared him an equal. Less than a week later, with Sepulchure still recovering in an unnamed woman's former bedroom, Dage attacked Shadowfall and left young Gravelyn to lead its defense.

In a later chess game, Gravelyn and Dage recall how their empires first collided, driven in part by his resentment at Nulgath recognizing Sepulchure as an equal. Legion ballistas pinned the flying fortress to the ground while Dage's soldiers searched for its injured ruler.

When Shakaz advises retreat, Gravelyn refuses and demands recognition as Empress while her father is indisposed. Shakaz says she resembles someone close to Valen who ruined his life, and that servants see her as a weakening influence on her father; some even hope Dage kills her. He leaves the person he blames unnamed. He agrees to follow her orders out of respect for Sepulchure rather than trust in her, allowing her to take command of the resistance to the Legion.

During the fighting, Gravelyn investigates small claw marks in the walls and spy holes near her father's quarters. Their maker is not yet known. She also captures Shadowscythe soldiers who have joined Dage, exposing resentment of both Sepulchure and the authority his daughter expects to inherit.

Shakaz shows Gravelyn the sentient skeletons displayed in the walls as warnings to traitors and threatens the new captives with the same fate. Then Rand, the Legion's First General, kneels to address her as Empress.

Rand warns Gravelyn that both armies are in danger: Dage wants to prove himself superior to Nulgath and Sepulchure, but exhaustion and erratic behavior have made him harder to reach. Fearing that something sinister came in with the captured Light Elementals, Rand offers to stall his own warriors while she investigates.

Gravelyn defeats the powerful Light creature called Enslaved Astero, but Shakaz is badly injured while she remains unharmed. The victory feels suspiciously easy, and with Dage approaching and her father still in danger, she presses on.

As Dage confronts Sepulchure, Rand warns that the captured Elementals are changing and cannot be controlled, but Dage dismisses him and calls him Wilhelm, confusing Rand with the friend he lost long ago. A burst of Light tears through the confrontation, and the floor gives way beneath Gravelyn and Dage while Sepulchure calls after his daughter.

The Catacombs and the Four Strangers

Gravelyn survives the fall unharmed, but Dage has lost a large portion of his soul, which the creature above has used to seize control of his Legionnaires. With neither able to overcome this enemy alone, they agree to work together until it is defeated.

The hidden rooms contain Doom Worms and evidence of visitors whose aura differs from Sepulchure's, leading Dage to suspect that the worms are fragments of an intelligent being spying on the family. Decoding a skeleton's book through a six-letter Caesar shift, they uncover a captive mortal's warning about the Shadows.

The captive describes four Strangers. The Shadowscythe's Mysterious Stranger remembers its Master and has trapped Valen in its fifth attempt at a larger design. Daji destroys civilizations and sealed away a deceased Champion of Light's weapons. The Worm that Walks invades bodies and minds, envying the scion of Light's influence over Sepulchure. The Colossus was torn in half during the Planar Conflicts and seeks its missing half.

To pass a seal that repels Light and anything that once had a pulse, Dage disguises their origins with blood from the beasts. The ward still hurts him, but beyond it they find the weapons described in the captive's book.

Although the rusty blades still contain Light that burns Dage, Gravelyn can wield them, using them to destroy the worms and break a Shadow-clad wall. He declines to explain why the weapons accept her, leaving her to discover that answer.

In Noxus's workshop, Dage reinforces the surviving Light-forged metal with Legion steel. Too little remains for a sword, so he makes two arrows. Gravelyn doubts her magical ability, but Dage offers Light Necromancy learned from the Sandsea: a brighter Light may defeat their enemy, and she can practice its spells on the undead beside her.

On the ascent, Gravelyn and Dage pass Elementals driven beyond their limits and Shadowscythe soldiers saturated with Light before rejoining the wounded Shakaz and Rand, who have made their own truce. Sepulchure is holding the enemy alone, and Rand explains that the stolen piece of Dage's soul has allowed it to take over the Legion.

They strengthen the arrows with Light taken from the enthralled soldiers and Elementals while Gravelyn prepares her Light Necromancy. Beyond the door, Astero has emerged in a much larger form and accuses Gravelyn of draining the strength of the Light's former hope and causing her death. He condemns both father and daughter, but Sepulchure rejects the accusation against Gravelyn.

Sepulchure identifies the creature's core, but when Gravelyn warns that her shot would pierce him, he reassures her that nothing she could do could truly hurt him. She draws the bow.

Gravelyn's arrow passes through her father's silhouette toward Astero in a burst of Light, and Astero recognizes her as the Light's hope reborn, a starlight brighter than those before her. Dage explains why he and Sepulchure can still resist: by practicing Light Necromancy on the nearest two undead, she granted them its protection. His illuminated attack cleaves the golden form, though the enemy promises to return.

Dage acknowledges Gravelyn's authority and the future Empire she may lead. Their settlement calls for gold and current books rather than more fighting, and they toast a possible partnership. In a separate investigation afterward, Dage demands secrecy about their manipulation and suspects their enemy was more than an ordinary Elemental.

Back at the later chess game, Gravelyn recalls both her father's pride and the decline that followed, still keeping the second arrow. Dage now wants to investigate the forge behind Swordhaven's spectral arrows and asks her to tend the Underworld Throne in secret while he is away.