Valerian

Valerian Mengsk is a proposed hero from the Blizzard Entertainment StarCraft franchise.

Background
Valerian Mengsk was the bastard son of Arcturus Mengsk, a lieutenant of the, and , the daughter of a diplomat. As Mengsk was in the mist of the and did not contact Juliana, she kept her pregnancy a secret from him. Juliana raised her son alone with her father, teaching him peaceful Umojan ways, raising him on books and encouraging his interest in alien civilizations (which has yet to be discovered), and telling him of his heroic father. Years later, Ailin summoned Arcturus to to meet his son. Arcturus was shocked, but spent time with his son. A hard, militant man, Arcturus was appalled with how weak and bookish he was, and try as he may, Valerian could not impress his father.

Not long after his visit, Arcturus got word that his parents and sister had been assassinated. Knowing the Confederacy would come for them next, Arcturus sent Juliana and Valerian to secret hideaways, moving them from place to place to avoid their deaths while Arturus rallied his father's revolution against the Confederacy. Valerian did not hear from his father for years, and all the while his mother was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer, and slowly began to weaken. When Arcturus did visit again, Valerian was less than cordial, but his father admitted he was proud of the man he was becoming. Not long after Arcturus was successful in overthrowing the Confederacy, and installed himself as emperor of the new. Now crown prince of this new empire, Valerian could come out of the shadows, and the two were to meet on Umoja. However, they were set upon by ex-Confederate assassins, which the two were able to fight off. Not long after, Valerian's mother died, with the wish that he not allow his father to use him like he used her.

Now able to chase his interests in alien civilizations with the recently war with the and  races, Valerian founded the, working with a Doctor Emil Narud to research the protoss, zerg and their  creators. They began to research xel'naga temples, when one of their hired xenoarcheologists,, had a protoss consciousness he uncovered named implanted in his mind. Fearing he'd be dissected and used by the Dominion, Ramsey fled. Valerian personally chased Ramsey across the sector, hoping to gain the protoss knowledge he had locked in his head, and in the end helped him stand against a named. However, in the aftermath of the battle it was revealed Ramsey had removed the consciousness from his mind and returned it to the protoss. Ramsey and Valerian discusses their adventures, with Valerian not wanting to harm the scientist, allowing him to go on his way.

Later, during the, Valerian used to Moebius Foundation to hire Jim Raynor to retrieve pieces of an artifact named the , knowing it could purge the infamous Sarah Kerrigan of infestation, which would help solidify the people's faith in Valerian once he took over the Dominion. When Raynor found all but the last artifact, Valerian revealed himself to the outlaw, telling him his plan to save Kerrigan. Valerian recruited half of the and allied with  to assault Kerrigan's stronghold on, and he combined forces were able to activate the Keystone, purifying Kerrigan. However, in the aftermath Arcturus revealed himself with his forces, and demanded that Valerian turn over Raynor and Kerrigan. Valerian refused, and the two Mengsks fought over Char, with Valerian forced to retreat with the Raiders. His father chased his fleet across the sector, until he brought Kerrigan and the Keystone to his expect Emil Narud. Narud however revealed himself to have been working for Arcturus to create, and turned on them. Valerian and his allies escaped, and he fled to his home nation of the Umojan Protectorate.

There the Umojans ran experiments on Kerrigan to see how much infestation was left in her, with Valerian wanting to run more tests but Raynor insisting the two leave together. But soon the base they were in was attacked by Arcturus's forces under Nova Terra. Valerian was able to escape with Matt Horner, but Raynor was left behind and captured. Kerrigan left to find Raynor, and Valerian's forces retreated. Months later, Kerrigan resurfaced, once again infested and commanding the Swarm, and contacted Valerian to ask him to find Jim Raynor, who was still alive. Valerian and Horner fought mercenary leader Mira Han to retrieve a decryption expert, Colonel, capable of finding him. They were successful at liberating him, and raided the ship containing Raynor. Kerrigan told Valerian that she was going to kill Arcturus, and that in the aftermath the Dominion would need a new leader: him. At the final assault on the Dominion capital of, Valerian made one request, that she allow him to evacuate the civilian population from the battlefield. Kerrigan reluctantly agreed, and was successful at killing Valerian's father. With the tyrant dead, Valerian was now emperor.

Valerian enacted a fairer rule, and began to reform the brutal regime of his father, which was met with mixed reactions from the population. However, soon they came under attack by a fanatical faction of terrans named, enthralled by the protoss/zerg hybrids they created, who sought the destruction of all life in the sector. With the aid of Artanis and the, Valerian was able to push them back from Korhal, but at a great loss of life. He slowly began to rebuild from the ashes, and though it was a struggle, managed to bring the Dominion back to strength. After the death of the hybrid's master, Valerian began to make motions for peace between the factions of the sector.

Valerian's regime was tested when feral zerg attacks hit across his empire, with a new paramilitary group the sweeping in to rescue populations and claiming Valerian was unfit to protect them. Thanks to the efforts of Agent Nova Terra, the Defenders were revealed to be behind the attacks, and their leader General was exposed as trying to depose Valerian for his part in the death of his father. Nova killed Davis in spite of Valerian's orders to take her alive, and fled the Dominion. Valerian let her go for the time being. Later, Valerian met with Zagara and Artanis on the planet to discuss ways a breed of creatures based off of xel'naga essence could be used to help rebuild the sector, but this was tested when zerg began to attack the protoss and terrans. However, Valerian's survey team uncovered that Abathur was behind the attacks, and the peace talks were able to continue.

While Valerian's regime has proven to be peaceful, tensions have begun to arose, both from those within displeased with peace with the aliens they fought a decade of brutal war with, and from outside forces eyeing the Dominion with continued distrust.