Eisner Academy Archive #10 - The Valentine Family
George Valentine
Born to a wealthy family, George Valentine had everything he wanted, except a challenge in life. By the age of 21, he spoke over a dozen
languages fluently, was an Olympic level pentathlete, with championships in shooting, swimming, fencing, cross-country running and
equestrianism, was an acclaimed concert pianist, a cordon bleu chef, a wine connoisseur, an keen polo player, a cross-country and downhill
skiier, had written several well-regarded novels, and had traversed the globe several times over.
In short, he was bored.
Eventually, he decided that the world of international intrigue might provide a challenge (there is a rumour that he flipped a coin to decide
between good and evil, with good winning out, but he has refused to respond to this speculation).
After a brief run exposing international spy cartels, preventing assassinations and uncovering conspiracies, it was decided that having a lone
unaffiliated spy around was a concern, so he was approached by an agency who offered to employ him. He declined, on the basis that he was
far more effective free of the strictures of bureaucracy, but agreed to work for them as an exclusive consultant. In exchange, he was offered an
agent as a bodyguard and partner, Agent Redmond 'Red' Benton. While the two initially clashed, they eventually learned to work together and
became fast friends.
Valentine was very briefly married and fathered a daughter. At this point, he even considered retiring, but after the death of his wife and the
hands of an assassin who was targeting him, he threw himself back into the murky world of espionage with a renewed vigour.
He had a second, illegitimate child, with the Russian Spy Sonia Sokolov, also known as The Snow Leopard. Fearing for her daughter's life,
Sokolov arranged to have her delivered to her father and raised in the west.
The later lives of Valentine and Benton are, as yet, unrevealed.
Skills: George Valentine was an uncanny polymath with an ability to master a great many skills to an extremely high level. He was especially
known for his skills with a blade, and routinely carried a sword cane. While hardy and athletic, he was a connoisseur of the finer things in life,
and was accustomed to a certain degree of luxury, balking at anything less than the best. However, his greatest weapon was his keen intellect.
He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of a wide range of topics, and was gifted at a number of mental disciplines including deduction,
psychological assessment and evaluation and cryptography.
Appearance: In his prime, George Valentine was a slender, athletic man. He had a distinguished face with high cheekbones, an aquiline nose
and a high forehead. His hair was black as ink, and he tended to wear it slicked back. He would occasionally affect a moustache. He was
almost always dressed in impeccable style, favouring black clothing.
Redmond 'Red' Benton
'Red' Benton was a highly decorated agent for a Cold War era international spy agency based in the United States. Aside from the fact that he
was a decorated war veteran, little of his early life is known before he was assigned as a 'bodyguard' to freelance intelligence consultant,
George Valentine. Naturally, he was actually assigned to monitor and report back on Valentine whom the agency regarded as a dangerous
wild card, and the two initially clashed, however, they eventually learned to work together, and shortly became fast friends.
Valentine briefly considered retiring after marrying Diana, and fathering a daughter, Kelly. This was cut short when Diana was murdered
accidentally by an assassin trying to kill Valentine. As a result, he threw himself back into his work, neglecting his child in the process.
'Red', however, was quite fond of Kelly, and would often act as a kind of surrogate father, inasmuch as he could given the international scope
of the agency's operations.
The later lives of Valentine and Benton are, as yet, unrevealed.
Skills: 'Red' Benton is a highly decorated former marine commando. As a result, he is highly trained in marksmanship, diving, demolitions,
close combat fighting, intrusion, signals and stealth operations. These skills have been enhanced by his subsequent training as a secret agent,
and he is extremely gifted in every aspect of his job. He's a skilled combat driver, pilot and mechanic. His most notable skill is, however, his
masterly prowess in hand-to-hand and close combat, including boxing, karate, judo and knife-fighting. He is quick-witted and capable of
thinking on his feet, and is extremely physically athletic, powerful and resilient.
Appearance: 'Red' Benton is tall and athletic, with broad shoulders and long limbs. His face is strong, and craggy, with a heavy brow and
cheekbones and a wide, prominent jawline. The most striking thing about him is his rust-red hair which he keeps cut very short. He tends to
wear either nondescript grey business suits or casual athletic attire depending on the circumstances.
Kelly Greene
Background: The daughter of retired intelligence consultant, George Valentine and his first wife, Diana Valentine (nee Greene). Largely raised
by her father's handler and bodyguard, government agent, Redmond 'Red' Benton.
Gained a reputation from a very young age as a would-be adventurer and detective.Occasionally joined by her younger half-sister, Veronica.
As she grew older, and pursued a career as a world-travelling investigative journalist, foreign correspondent, travel-writer, documentary
film-maker and adventurer, she would occasionally run into her half-sister (who had gone into diplomatic work and intelligence).
During her career, she was involved in a great many adventures and ran into a number of members of the world's superhuman community,
gaining a reputation as a 'professional sidekick'. Many of her exploits involved exotic crime cartels, strange phenomena, travel to unusual
places, and any number of other outre factors.
Recently, both she and her half-sister have begun work at the Eisner Academy as instructors.
Skills: Ms.Greene is an experienced world-traveller as well as having extensive experience in investigative journalism and the various sciences
of detection. She speaks many languages and has studied several martial arts, though none to any great extent. She has a near-photographic
memory.
Teaching: Ms.Greene's chief areas of teaching are the social sciences and languages. However, her chief focus is the science and art of
investigation, whether it be in terms of journalism deduction or criminology. In addition, she has a keen interest in students' welfare, and is
involved in several extra-curricular activities.
Personality: Ms.Greene is extremely cheerful and vivacious. Part of this is her own, genuinely affable personality, and part is a plot which she
has been using successfully for decades to lull people into underestimating her and to conceal the fact that she is an extremely competent,
driven and disciplined investigator. As someone who grew up around adventurers and their world, and has been part of it for her entire life, she
has a keen personal interest in the wellbeing of her young charges. One of the side effects of growing up around 'weird stuff' she's almost
unflappable, and has a vast array of odd general knowledge and contacts across a wide number of fields.
Appearance: Ms.Greene is older than she looks - she's in her early-to-mid 60's but could pass for someone 20 years younger - but as that
could be down to genetic experimentation, exposure to radiation or weird chemicals, the side-effects of interdimensional or temporal travel,
alien viruses, or any one of dozens of other causes, she's fine with just accepting it and moving on. Her usually smiling face is haloed by a
bushy cloud of curly ginger hair. She habitually wears a pair of thick spectacles. She tends to favour old fashioned clothes, and has a peculiar
fondness for tweed, usually wearing a jacket or coat and either trousers or a long, pleated skirt, with sensible shoes. She's fairly, but not
exceedingly short, and slightly thick-set and wears little in the way of jewelry or other adornments. Her one exception is an antique gold pocket
watch which she compulsively polishes when she's thinking, but which she never seems to open.
Veronica Valentine
Background: The daughter of retired intelligence consultant, George Valentine and his one-time enemy, Sonia Sokolov, a.k.a. The Snow
Leopard. For years, Valentine and Sokolov had a kind of strange detente, opposing one another while having an undeniable mutual attraction.
Eventually, Sokolov fell pregnant and, fearing for the safety of her daughter, arranged to have her smuggled to the West.
As a very young child, Veronica would sometimes tag along with her older sister Kelly's investigations as a plucky girl detective. The two
half-sisters made a good team, with Kelly's determined investigative prowess helped by Veronica's ability to charm adults, projecting an air of
innocent naivete.
As she grew older, Veronica decided she wanted to follow the lead of her parents' into the intelligence community and as a result, trained
extensively as a political aide and diplomat. Her ability to manipulate and deceive people made her a natural. In this function, she would
frequently encounter her half-sister (who had become a globe-trotting investigative journalist).
During an extensive career, she developed a great many contacts within the intelligence communities and was involved in a great many events
which changed the course of the twentieth century.
Recently, both she and her half-sister have begun work at the Eisner Academy as instructors.
Skills: Miss Valentine is a highly trained former intelligence operative, with am extensive experience in a wide range of covert operations. She
speaks a great many languages and is a gifted athlete. Her primary skill, though, is in psychology. She has an uncanny ability to 'read' people,
and to manipulate them to do what she wants, often without them even being aware she's doing it.
Teaching: Miss Valentine's chief areas of teaching are the social sciences and languages, with a particular focus on covert operations and
intelligence techniques.
Personality: Miss Valentine is charming and engaging, but maintains a level of frosty detachment as part of that. As a dedicated professional
operative, she understands that personal attachments can be used against you by an enemy, and as a result, she sees most people in terms
of their usefulness. The chief exception to that is her half-sister, but even then, she's not given to overt displays of affection or strong emotion.
Appearance: Miss Valentine is, as a result of genetic treatments performed by her agency, looks younger than she is, having the appearance
of a woman in her mid-to-late 30's. She adopts an extremely elegant style, mostly in black, with accents in white, and a tasteful amount of
jewelry, usually silver. The cut is usually fashionable, but professional, and is always immaculate. Her hair is long and straight, and an inky
black, though there are increasingly strands of silver through it. She's very tall, and tends towards being slender but athletic, however it would
be a mistake to assume she was not capable of defending herself.
Snow Leopard
'The Snow Leopard' was the commonly used codename for Cold War era Soviet Spy Sonia Sokolov.
Very little is known of her early life and career, and much of that is contradictory or unverifiable. What is known is that she is a highly trained,
naturally gifted and justifiably feared intelligence agent. For years, she existed only as a rumour until the so-called 'freelance intelligence
consultant' George Valentine proved that there was indeed a single agent responsible for a wide range of seemingly unconnected activity. And
even then, it was over a year before any details were known beyond her code-name, with Valentine and his partner 'Red' Benton finally
managing to draw her into a trap. She was able to escape almost immediately, but the fact that someone had actually managed to see her was
considered a major coup.
For well over a decade, Valentine and Sokolov engaged in a complex international game of cat-and-mouse, most often as enemies, but
occasionally as allies, when a third party arose which was capable of threatening both the Soviet Union AND the West. It was during one
such mission that Sokolov became pregnant with Valentine's child, a daughter she named Veronica. Fearing her daughter might be used
against her, she arranged for the child to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union to the West, where her father would protect her.
The later life of 'The Snow Leopard' is yet to be revealed.
Skills: Sonia Sokolov was a supremely gifted spy, with an incredible level of aptitude in every facet of spycraft, from interrogation to
assassination. She was also a gifted spymaster, capable of directing and overseeing large numbers of operatives, many of whom were
completely unaware of one another's existence. She was extremely physically athletic and agile (she claimed at several points to have
trained as a ballerina), was a phenomenally gifted sniper, and an absolute master of disguise, capable of frequently employing several
entirely separate and distinct identities on the same mission.
Appearance: Sokolov was almost the stereotypical Russian ice queen, with pale skin, white hair and ice-blue eyes. When not in one of her
disguises, she would dress almost entirely in white, and favoured fur accents from her namesake.
Born to a wealthy family, George Valentine had everything he wanted, except a challenge in life. By the age of 21, he spoke over a dozen
languages fluently, was an Olympic level pentathlete, with championships in shooting, swimming, fencing, cross-country running and
equestrianism, was an acclaimed concert pianist, a cordon bleu chef, a wine connoisseur, an keen polo player, a cross-country and downhill
skiier, had written several well-regarded novels, and had traversed the globe several times over.
In short, he was bored.
Eventually, he decided that the world of international intrigue might provide a challenge (there is a rumour that he flipped a coin to decide
between good and evil, with good winning out, but he has refused to respond to this speculation).
After a brief run exposing international spy cartels, preventing assassinations and uncovering conspiracies, it was decided that having a lone
unaffiliated spy around was a concern, so he was approached by an agency who offered to employ him. He declined, on the basis that he was
far more effective free of the strictures of bureaucracy, but agreed to work for them as an exclusive consultant. In exchange, he was offered an
agent as a bodyguard and partner, Agent Redmond 'Red' Benton. While the two initially clashed, they eventually learned to work together and
became fast friends.
Valentine was very briefly married and fathered a daughter. At this point, he even considered retiring, but after the death of his wife and the
hands of an assassin who was targeting him, he threw himself back into the murky world of espionage with a renewed vigour.
He had a second, illegitimate child, with the Russian Spy Sonia Sokolov, also known as The Snow Leopard. Fearing for her daughter's life,
Sokolov arranged to have her delivered to her father and raised in the west.
The later lives of Valentine and Benton are, as yet, unrevealed.
Skills: George Valentine was an uncanny polymath with an ability to master a great many skills to an extremely high level. He was especially
known for his skills with a blade, and routinely carried a sword cane. While hardy and athletic, he was a connoisseur of the finer things in life,
and was accustomed to a certain degree of luxury, balking at anything less than the best. However, his greatest weapon was his keen intellect.
He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of a wide range of topics, and was gifted at a number of mental disciplines including deduction,
psychological assessment and evaluation and cryptography.
Appearance: In his prime, George Valentine was a slender, athletic man. He had a distinguished face with high cheekbones, an aquiline nose
and a high forehead. His hair was black as ink, and he tended to wear it slicked back. He would occasionally affect a moustache. He was
almost always dressed in impeccable style, favouring black clothing.
Redmond 'Red' Benton
'Red' Benton was a highly decorated agent for a Cold War era international spy agency based in the United States. Aside from the fact that he
was a decorated war veteran, little of his early life is known before he was assigned as a 'bodyguard' to freelance intelligence consultant,
George Valentine. Naturally, he was actually assigned to monitor and report back on Valentine whom the agency regarded as a dangerous
wild card, and the two initially clashed, however, they eventually learned to work together, and shortly became fast friends.
Valentine briefly considered retiring after marrying Diana, and fathering a daughter, Kelly. This was cut short when Diana was murdered
accidentally by an assassin trying to kill Valentine. As a result, he threw himself back into his work, neglecting his child in the process.
'Red', however, was quite fond of Kelly, and would often act as a kind of surrogate father, inasmuch as he could given the international scope
of the agency's operations.
The later lives of Valentine and Benton are, as yet, unrevealed.
Skills: 'Red' Benton is a highly decorated former marine commando. As a result, he is highly trained in marksmanship, diving, demolitions,
close combat fighting, intrusion, signals and stealth operations. These skills have been enhanced by his subsequent training as a secret agent,
and he is extremely gifted in every aspect of his job. He's a skilled combat driver, pilot and mechanic. His most notable skill is, however, his
masterly prowess in hand-to-hand and close combat, including boxing, karate, judo and knife-fighting. He is quick-witted and capable of
thinking on his feet, and is extremely physically athletic, powerful and resilient.
Appearance: 'Red' Benton is tall and athletic, with broad shoulders and long limbs. His face is strong, and craggy, with a heavy brow and
cheekbones and a wide, prominent jawline. The most striking thing about him is his rust-red hair which he keeps cut very short. He tends to
wear either nondescript grey business suits or casual athletic attire depending on the circumstances.
Kelly Greene
Background: The daughter of retired intelligence consultant, George Valentine and his first wife, Diana Valentine (nee Greene). Largely raised
by her father's handler and bodyguard, government agent, Redmond 'Red' Benton.
Gained a reputation from a very young age as a would-be adventurer and detective.Occasionally joined by her younger half-sister, Veronica.
As she grew older, and pursued a career as a world-travelling investigative journalist, foreign correspondent, travel-writer, documentary
film-maker and adventurer, she would occasionally run into her half-sister (who had gone into diplomatic work and intelligence).
During her career, she was involved in a great many adventures and ran into a number of members of the world's superhuman community,
gaining a reputation as a 'professional sidekick'. Many of her exploits involved exotic crime cartels, strange phenomena, travel to unusual
places, and any number of other outre factors.
Recently, both she and her half-sister have begun work at the Eisner Academy as instructors.
Skills: Ms.Greene is an experienced world-traveller as well as having extensive experience in investigative journalism and the various sciences
of detection. She speaks many languages and has studied several martial arts, though none to any great extent. She has a near-photographic
memory.
Teaching: Ms.Greene's chief areas of teaching are the social sciences and languages. However, her chief focus is the science and art of
investigation, whether it be in terms of journalism deduction or criminology. In addition, she has a keen interest in students' welfare, and is
involved in several extra-curricular activities.
Personality: Ms.Greene is extremely cheerful and vivacious. Part of this is her own, genuinely affable personality, and part is a plot which she
has been using successfully for decades to lull people into underestimating her and to conceal the fact that she is an extremely competent,
driven and disciplined investigator. As someone who grew up around adventurers and their world, and has been part of it for her entire life, she
has a keen personal interest in the wellbeing of her young charges. One of the side effects of growing up around 'weird stuff' she's almost
unflappable, and has a vast array of odd general knowledge and contacts across a wide number of fields.
Appearance: Ms.Greene is older than she looks - she's in her early-to-mid 60's but could pass for someone 20 years younger - but as that
could be down to genetic experimentation, exposure to radiation or weird chemicals, the side-effects of interdimensional or temporal travel,
alien viruses, or any one of dozens of other causes, she's fine with just accepting it and moving on. Her usually smiling face is haloed by a
bushy cloud of curly ginger hair. She habitually wears a pair of thick spectacles. She tends to favour old fashioned clothes, and has a peculiar
fondness for tweed, usually wearing a jacket or coat and either trousers or a long, pleated skirt, with sensible shoes. She's fairly, but not
exceedingly short, and slightly thick-set and wears little in the way of jewelry or other adornments. Her one exception is an antique gold pocket
watch which she compulsively polishes when she's thinking, but which she never seems to open.
Veronica Valentine
Background: The daughter of retired intelligence consultant, George Valentine and his one-time enemy, Sonia Sokolov, a.k.a. The Snow
Leopard. For years, Valentine and Sokolov had a kind of strange detente, opposing one another while having an undeniable mutual attraction.
Eventually, Sokolov fell pregnant and, fearing for the safety of her daughter, arranged to have her smuggled to the West.
As a very young child, Veronica would sometimes tag along with her older sister Kelly's investigations as a plucky girl detective. The two
half-sisters made a good team, with Kelly's determined investigative prowess helped by Veronica's ability to charm adults, projecting an air of
innocent naivete.
As she grew older, Veronica decided she wanted to follow the lead of her parents' into the intelligence community and as a result, trained
extensively as a political aide and diplomat. Her ability to manipulate and deceive people made her a natural. In this function, she would
frequently encounter her half-sister (who had become a globe-trotting investigative journalist).
During an extensive career, she developed a great many contacts within the intelligence communities and was involved in a great many events
which changed the course of the twentieth century.
Recently, both she and her half-sister have begun work at the Eisner Academy as instructors.
Skills: Miss Valentine is a highly trained former intelligence operative, with am extensive experience in a wide range of covert operations. She
speaks a great many languages and is a gifted athlete. Her primary skill, though, is in psychology. She has an uncanny ability to 'read' people,
and to manipulate them to do what she wants, often without them even being aware she's doing it.
Teaching: Miss Valentine's chief areas of teaching are the social sciences and languages, with a particular focus on covert operations and
intelligence techniques.
Personality: Miss Valentine is charming and engaging, but maintains a level of frosty detachment as part of that. As a dedicated professional
operative, she understands that personal attachments can be used against you by an enemy, and as a result, she sees most people in terms
of their usefulness. The chief exception to that is her half-sister, but even then, she's not given to overt displays of affection or strong emotion.
Appearance: Miss Valentine is, as a result of genetic treatments performed by her agency, looks younger than she is, having the appearance
of a woman in her mid-to-late 30's. She adopts an extremely elegant style, mostly in black, with accents in white, and a tasteful amount of
jewelry, usually silver. The cut is usually fashionable, but professional, and is always immaculate. Her hair is long and straight, and an inky
black, though there are increasingly strands of silver through it. She's very tall, and tends towards being slender but athletic, however it would
be a mistake to assume she was not capable of defending herself.
Snow Leopard
'The Snow Leopard' was the commonly used codename for Cold War era Soviet Spy Sonia Sokolov.
Very little is known of her early life and career, and much of that is contradictory or unverifiable. What is known is that she is a highly trained,
naturally gifted and justifiably feared intelligence agent. For years, she existed only as a rumour until the so-called 'freelance intelligence
consultant' George Valentine proved that there was indeed a single agent responsible for a wide range of seemingly unconnected activity. And
even then, it was over a year before any details were known beyond her code-name, with Valentine and his partner 'Red' Benton finally
managing to draw her into a trap. She was able to escape almost immediately, but the fact that someone had actually managed to see her was
considered a major coup.
For well over a decade, Valentine and Sokolov engaged in a complex international game of cat-and-mouse, most often as enemies, but
occasionally as allies, when a third party arose which was capable of threatening both the Soviet Union AND the West. It was during one
such mission that Sokolov became pregnant with Valentine's child, a daughter she named Veronica. Fearing her daughter might be used
against her, she arranged for the child to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union to the West, where her father would protect her.
The later life of 'The Snow Leopard' is yet to be revealed.
Skills: Sonia Sokolov was a supremely gifted spy, with an incredible level of aptitude in every facet of spycraft, from interrogation to
assassination. She was also a gifted spymaster, capable of directing and overseeing large numbers of operatives, many of whom were
completely unaware of one another's existence. She was extremely physically athletic and agile (she claimed at several points to have
trained as a ballerina), was a phenomenally gifted sniper, and an absolute master of disguise, capable of frequently employing several
entirely separate and distinct identities on the same mission.
Appearance: Sokolov was almost the stereotypical Russian ice queen, with pale skin, white hair and ice-blue eyes. When not in one of her
disguises, she would dress almost entirely in white, and favoured fur accents from her namesake.