[u]Lore of the Day: Gwen Valentine[/u]

In fantasy stories, people treat long-lived characters as being just like ordinary people, except with their timescales scaled up to match their lifespans.

In truth, they [i]are[/i] just like ordinary people, but the consequences are radically different. Ed's mother, Gwen Valentine, is one of seven such immortals. She is not some lone wolf lording her immortality over everyone, nor is she like a thousand-year-old teenager still gaping in awe at the lives of mortals. She's been around the block and seen a thing or two. Gwen has been married 7 or 8 times in a row, with most of them ending in the old-age death of her husband. Fenix Valentine is her 8th marriage (I'm guessing). With 8 husbands, you'd think she'd have hundreds of children, and you'd be absolutely right. In fact, the number of people bearing the Valentine family name number in the hundreds, nearly a thousand now, with dozens of them born directly of Gwen herself. Counting the extended family, the whole clan is numerous enough to fill a city. With Gwen at the head, the Valentine family is one of the most powerful in the Crescent Empire.

Most of the clan lives on Aion, and this is a deliberate strategic choice on her part. Normally, as an Immortal, she'd be given the task of terraforming new worlds and developing their civilizations, and handling dangerous mercenary jobs on the side. Birthing Aion's population herself is certainly an unconventional choice, but necessary in order to command their absolute loyalty in the long run. The Seven Immortals may be powerful, but deep down, they are still the lonely orphans they were when the Alchemist first picked them off the streets. She wants to create a world where the Seven can settle down and live in peace, an ideal they can only achieve with family. If the whole world is made up of family, they will never be lonely again or have to watch their backs.

Gwen and Fenix themselves reside on Crescent Prime for the time being, since Gwen has resumed taking missions for the first time in nearly a century, and Fenix wanted to join her.