Lord Valanthru is a lord of the city of Caldero, a member of its council, a declared philanthropist and the adoptive father of Terren, one of the abducted children; he is accused of corruption but held to be untouchable.
| Type | Character (noble) |
| Seat | Caldero (also called Calderón) |
| Residence | Obsidian Tower |
| Era | Present cycle (1824 AE) |
| Trade | Leather and sulfur |
| Spanish entry | Lord Valanthru |
Description
Valanthru is a single individual, not a class. He is seen “advancing with a piper ahead”; in the field, when troops form up, he is recognized as “a single figure” who stays behind the line while coordinating it.
Positions
- Holds “a stable seat on the city’s council” of Caldero.
- Citizen of Sigil, with an established social position there.
- His seat is the Obsidian Tower, from which he issues formal invitations; he summoned La Jabalina (“the Javelin”) to a meeting before its walls.
- His business is “leather and sulfur”: tanning and alchemical material.
- He funds the Caldero orphanage, which he visits regularly, and adopted Terren.
Influence
His word binds without being an order. The noble houses of Caldero consult him before deciding whom to receive; “Lord Balantru strongly recommended that I not receive you” is enough to close a door.
He granted an adventuring company carte blanche: “I specially approved your party’s departure with carte blanche so you could equip yourselves, prepare”, conferring “all the confidence of those who believe they are the authorities”. The letter makes its bearers agents who act abroad under his signature.
Suspicions
He is accused in these words: “he was corrupt, connected with all this, but untouchable”. Companions who dealt with him distrusted his visits “with the kids from the orphanage”. The suspicion has not been verified.
Conflicting accounts
No portrait of him is confirmed: age, face, clothing, arms and voice are not recorded. Three figures circulate:
- The lone figure behind the troops, the only one attested without dispute.
- A hooded lord: “a lord of Creepers. A Darkling Lord or something. A hooded lord, sick besides.” This description is tied to another name, Yatrebu or Yentoku; whether Yatrebu, Yentoku and Jatrulla are one, two or three men, and whether any of them is Valanthru, is open.
- Lord Bear Village Mantle, “the fisher king”, obese and a brutal businessman; the spelling of the name is doubtful and his identity with Valanthru is unconfirmed.
Open questions
- What the Obsidian Tower is: residence, seat of government or trading house.
- The scale of the leather and sulfur trade, and who buys the sulfur and for what.
- What his corruption consists of, and who makes him untouchable.
- How many orphans he has adopted besides Terren, and by what criteria.
- Whether the troops he coordinates are his, the city’s or the council’s.
- What obligations the carte blanche imposes.