Valya was born in 369 on a large raft sailing in the northern Akiva sea, a part of a nomadic tribe of fisherpeople and traders that travelled the southern coasts of the continents. At age 20, while off the coast of The Spear, Valya recovered a sunken trunk while investigating a wreck. Expecting lost treasures, she was disappointed to find only a sudden music box, the clasp seemingly rusted shut.

While the others of her tribe told her to throw the jetsam away, Valya was curious to hear the tune, and, while out gathering food for her family, pried open the latch and opened the lid triumphantly, releasing a flash of light and acrid red smoke. Though she dropped the box in an instant, it had already left its mark, and the next day she awoke with an angry and unsightly rash spreading from her fingertips.

Tainted by strange magics, Valya was abandoned with her music box to fend for herself, and she eventually found herself at the southern fortress town of Cerak At'Thul, where for several weeks she survived on meagre scraps before she was taken and forced to row for a crew of corsairs bound for the Allirian Sea, spending weeks in backbreaking labour with her sickness spreading rapidly across her hand and arm all the while.

Fate would bring Valya back to The Spear. As the corsair ship rounded the cape, it was caught in a fierce storm and dashed against the rocks. Valya, a strong swimmer since she was a child, barely escaped the sinking wreck and struggled to shore as the wretched boat was pulled into the dark waters.

In the weeks since the wreck, she has wandered the wind-blown cape, surviving on what she can find, lost and alone, as the crimson rash continues to spread.