Character

Background

Valya Jonas is a protagonist in The City Maw. Valya works in one of The City's many nightclubs. She is a mixed species human-monster and this is often a point of contention between Valya and other individuals.

While the nightclubs are monster and human inclusive, granted neither of the groups commit any acts of prejudice or crime, they attract individuals who aren't so open-minded. Lurking outside often are groups of humans who want to hurt the peaceful monsters who will not fight back against them, but will often indiscriminately attack humans and monsters, as they often can not differentiate between the two once the monsters don their human disguises. They also are not fond of humans who get along with monsters. Valya, being mixed and unable to disguise herself is often targeted.

One fateful night, she is saved by Kodeko. She's easily swept up in Kodeko's tempo and finds herself becoming comfortbale enough to talk to him. She jokes that he's a special human playing hero, and he admits he has a goal to eliminate the guy who ruled the City. Valya contacts Kodeko again and says she want to be a part of his plans to killing the Tsar, her father.

Personality

Valya is introverted and doesn't like surprises. Although she worked jobs in bustling nightclubs, and various bars, she navigated through interactions like she was on script, adjusting it as time went on. Valya grew up in a suffocating environment and even when she left it behind she still felt shackled by her past. As such, it is hard for her to open up and when she does get closer with others she is awkward and bashful. Her day to day is operated as if she is on script, and meeting new people and making friends was never part of any of her scripts. She actually has a cute personality, and it is easy to tease her because she will only feebly fight back.

Valya is empathetic, but is held back by her internalized hatred and doubt in herself. Even when she does think of helping others, it's usually at the cost of her own well being. She carries a lot of guilt and unknowningly wears it on her sleeve, and it is obvious she hates being her father's child.

Abilities

Valya is physically very strong, many times more than the average human. While this would kee her safe from being hurt by humans, it didn't really add up in a monster vs monster fight. She recieved classes on how to fight when she was stil living in her childhood home, but they were never very fruitful for her situation now since her mother forbade she recieve any of the dangerous training one might expect the child of the Tsar to go through. It isn't until she starts to train with Kodeko and others that she gets some practical fighting experience.

Trivia

• Valya's powers and subconscious have affected her physiology in various ways. Valya was AMAB, however her gender identity aligned with what mortals knew as "female," so her body developed as such when she started puberty. This is the same reason she looks extremely similar to her mother ("I am my mother's child, therefore I resemble my mother"), why she grew horns (horns where the only defining feature she knew her father to have), and why her skin is pink ("Monsters have unnatural, non-human skin tones."). However, Valya is listed as nonbinary rather than as a transwoman because of her identity of being a (demi)god whose race is biologically hermaphroditic but choose to present themselves independently of mortal binary. Additionally she isn't even aware of her ability to alter her biology as she pleases until later on in the story.
• The club Valya works at is called Kandelika.
• Valya's horns weren't always there; they started to grow when she hit puberty.
• If there were real world ethnicities in canon, Valya would have Arab, Scandinavian and African ancestry.
• Valya is liked by animals.
• Valya resembles her mother's features much, much more than her father's.
• Valya hates roaches enough to call it a phobia.
• Valya's favorite shows are romantic dramas.
• Valya's favorite genre of music is folk and ballads.
• Valya's original design was named Jona and was a cisgender man, and her current last name is a reference to that. She also uses the name Jona as an alias in the story. Jona looks identical to current Valya other than secondary sex characteristics.
• Valya was quite short as a child but basically shot up a few inches every year during puberty until she was her current height at fifteen.
• Valya doesn't scar.
• Valya cries easily at sad scenes in shows and movies.
• Valya's eyebrow twitches slightly when she's taken off guard but is trying to keep it hidden.