Valcore Oracle

The Valcore Oracle was always dressed in the finest fabrics and jewelry the Confederation had to offer. Sparnelli High Society eagerly awaited each new public appearance, which would reverberate throughout Confederation fashion for years to come. Aspiring designers vied with their peers for the opportunity, often mercilessly.

Marriage to Valcore Xiomar

Alina was married off at a young age to Valcore Xiomar, a well-established General within the Confederation military. There was no love between them, with Xiomar solely interested in the status symbol and potential fertility of his young and beautiful new wife, and Alina repelled by his narcissistic arrogance. It was a political arrangement, made well before the discovery of her natural talents in Divination, much to the later consternation of her own Family, now forgotten and lost to history.  

Birth of Valcore Sil

Despite her newfound misery at the Valcore Estate, Alina quickly became pregnant, giving birth to her daughter, Valcore Sil. Alina doted on Sil, spending every waking moment devoted to her daughter, finding meaning once more in her own life through the care of the young innocent dependent upon her. She grew quite adept at anticipating Sil's wants and needs, leaning into this skill to fulfill her own desperate craving for a meaningful connection with someone else.  

Divination and Separation

In addition to awakening her maternal instincts, Alina's pregnancy appeared to have awakened something else within the young katanoj. She grew increasingly distrustful of those around her, insisting on preparing her own foods for both herself and Sil, and refusing to allow any other members of the household or staff touch her or her daughter. Xiomar tolerated her behaviors, reasoning that if she was caring for their child she would remain out of his way... Until the true reason for her anxiety became clear.   Shortly before Sil's fifth birthday, Alina collapsed in Sil's nursery, suffering what appeared to be a severe anxiety attack - until she began to speak. In a voice not her own, she recited a prophesy of Sil rising to become the military leader of the entire Confederation, leading the Faction in a period of unparalleled military might across the universe.   Recognizing the prophesy for what it was - both an example of his wife's innate talents and an opportunity for the Valcore Family to rise in power and prestige - Xiomar quickly separated mother and child to begin their training to further than expected roles. Alina was subjected to intense Divination lessons, a magic in which she excelled despite her best efforts to thwart her husband and reunite with her daughter. Sil was taken far away to be raised at the military academy where Xiomar had received his own education, honing her into the perfect leader for a new age of Sparnelli power.  

A Devastating Prophesy

Alina's life continued in abject misery - punctuated by uncontrollable prophesies - for countless decades. As her Divination grew in power, so too did the Valcore Family, and Xiomar's influence over Confederation politics. This may have continued indefinitely, with Xiomar decreeing her resurrection after every death, were it not for one fateful prophesy in the early months of 1997 EVT predicting the end of the Confederation.   News of this latest prophesy was devastating, with factions breaking out across the government as each formed their own opinions about what the latest Divination from the now-esteemed Valcore Oracle could mean. Political allies severed ties, forging new alliances with former rivals as each attempted to interpret how to prevent the foretold destruction.   It was in this chaos that Xiomar saw his chance, offering to reunite his wife with their daughter on the condition she help the now-militant Sil with her own rise to power. Alina quickly agreed.  

Confederation Civil War

With opinions and emotions running high at the prospect of Factional collapse, it quickly became clear that winning the oncoming war would be much easier than preventing it. The Oracle helped her daughter assemble her own alliance, including notable figures such as General Starraze Tabix, Fleet Captain Starraze Lourey, and the entirety of the Margold Family. They were also assisted by Sil's personal TAG, the talented and crafty Selkirk Tallinah.   Despite their best efforts, the Confederation Civil War lasted just short of five years, ripping apart Families and leaving devastated planets in its wake. Considered the weakest of the three Factions at the start of the war, Alina and Tallinah worked together, using their strengths to help turn the tide in Sil's favor. Alina's influence even obtained the support of Empress Rakethorne, who publicly spoke in support of Sil's claims for leadership of the Confederation's military arm.   By the time they were done, none dared stand against the battle-hardened Sil, savior of the Confederation. Under her leadership, Sil was to usher in a new era of Sparnelli glory.  

Reunion with Sil

After the War, Sil and Alina grew even closer, with the Oracle often assisting her daughter in setting new policies to rebuild the Sparnell Confederation. She was always careful to remain in the shadows, allowing her daughter to claim much of the credit for their joint endeavors. As a favor to her mother, Sil even sequestered Valcore Xiomar to the Valcore Family Estate, forbidding him to leave or interact with the Oracle and granting Alina her first opportunity of freedom since her unwelcome marriage.  

Disappearance

Over the next five decades, Sil's grip over the Confederation grew ever tighter, while Alina herself faded into her Divination and memories after her exile to the Valcore Estate for her ill-thought condemnation of Sil's actions to strengthen the Confederation. The Oracle's bodyguards continued to report her health and her prophesies to Sil, leading the Fleet Admiral to lean on her estranged father to improve the Oracle's mental state or suffer the consequences.   To his credit, he did his best, although most believe his motives were focused on appeasing Sil and regaining her favor, rather than pleasing his own wife. Remembering Alina's joys of early motherhood, particularly in the kitchen, he ordered a parade of young children through the Estate to dote upon Alina and attempt to pull her haunted gaze back to the present, to no avail.   And then in, in 2242 EVT, she vanished.   Furious at the loss of the Oracle, Fleet Admiral Valcore Sil flew into a rare and terrifying rage, ordering the execution of Alina's remaining bodyguards and the Shattering of her own father for his failures. Her official statement to the Faction blamed him for the Oracle's disappearance, not only disowning him but declaring him Dishonored and a traitor, as well.   Though many rumors abound as to the real reason for the Oracle's sudden absence, to this day none have discovered the truth of her disappearance.

Alina made many friends during the Confederation Civil War, ironically leading to one of the brightest points in her life even as the war pulled the Confederation apart. Confederation scholars often name her guilt as one of the main factors in her subsequent decline, coupled with a jealousy of her limited time with her daughter due to the Fleet Admiral's ever-increasing responsibilities.

Alina never approved of her husband, Valcore Xiomar, and he never cared enough to attempt to change her views. Sil's declaration of his role in her disappearance confirmed many rumors about the former-hero's own hunger to usurp his daughter's growing power and popularity.   In contrast, the Oracle adored her daughter, Valcore Sil. Sil was the center of her universe, and the reason for her existence. Alina's public objection to her daughter's works on behalf of strengthening the Confederation therefore came as a great shock to everyone, and a sign of her failing mental health from the strain of her Divination.