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Essentially, these guys come from various legends, fables, fairy tales, and stories, and in another, separate universe/realm they lived their own lives. Average villains and heroes and inbetween lived among each other, whether in strife, in turmoil, or in harmony among various kingdoms that dotted Mystvale Valley. The large inlet of land was once surrounded by a ring of mountains with passages out to grasslands and finally a coast. Though the layout of the realm isn’t much use anymore, it’s still a good reminder of what once was. And a nice idea of how large and how many of these individuals lived there.

Within Mystvale, Vales took on various sizes and shapes; things that could hardly pass for a human (e.g. the little pigs were essentially actually pigs) though remaining simple enough to understand. The Passage radiated such powerful magic, however, that upon passing through to the human world, these beings changed with their environment. Most can feasibly pass for a human without any modification from magical sources. No one knows exactly why or how, though not many people like to question it.

Magic essence is considered a drug (street name Essix), something often dealt with rather secret circles and produced in a manner considered highly dangerous. Thus it has nasty side effects for one-time use to continuous use and is highly addictive. Side effects for one-time use: jittery, paranoia, sense enhancement, minor telekinetic field, change in diet, moody. Side effects for continuous use: change in personality, stoic and withdrawn, intense paranoia, further sense enhancement, heavier telelkinetic field, combustible field of magic, light, constant fever, dehydration. Side effects for overdose: extreme fever, dehydration, sense overload and potential loss of any or all, if not expelled can cause death via liquification. Withdrawal side effects: malnutrition, dangerously low body temperature, fatigue, potentially organ failure, potential acceleration of senescence, and possibly death if not treated.

As has been noticed, Vales come in various shapes and sizes, though in the human world they retain a vaguely similar shape. The main trait of most Vales are their adaptability and hardiness. It's very, very, very difficult to kill a Vale by regular, human means, though these human means (guns, knives, any kind of weapon) still hurt incredibly and they're a great way to incapacitate 'em. If anyone has ever learned anything, it's that a Vale will likely get back up, serious injury or not. However, many of these beings are rather susceptible to magic and many have their own specific weaknesses that can kill or even cripple them. As well, Vales have an extremely longer lifespan than regular humans and, as such, they have various countermeasures in place to keep themselves in hiding, hopefully indefinitely.

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Now in New England, many Vales live within the confines of Cedar Grove, Connecticut, about twenty miles from New York, New York, just on the coast of the Atlantic. The town itself is rather small, consisting of about 2,000 people in total. Many Vales congregate among small communities, intermingling with humans to further blend in; in essence, most Vale's find themselves a part of Cedar's middle class and in small homes in nicer neighborhoods or apartments. Cedar Grove mostly thrives on locally owned businesses, as well as the higher class citizens in their small, restricted neighbor consisting of the more coastal area of town, making up large homes on the hillsides. Not far from this area are where the local businesses are stationed, making up a strip near the docks of Cedar Grove. It's a very suburbanized area with a few hotspots where drugs and crime have occasionally peaked. Overall, it maintains a relative peace, despite the fact that many of its denizens have polarizing and opposing views on politics, local and otherwise.

[Hider=Grimbly's Hall][center][img]http://ccsummerresearch.blogs.wm.edu/files/2015/07/Charles-Town-Courthouse.jpg[/img][/center]

This area serves as both a regular courtyard plus town hall, as well as the main seat of 'government' for Vales themselves. Sitting along the street just behind the strip, it places itself right on the western end. Adjacent and attached is also the city's police station with a small jail cell right under. Anything from town meetings to PTA meetings are held within these halls. (Why not the school? Well, apparently any time they try to set a PTA meeting in the high school assembly hall, something awful always tends to happen) Beneath Grimbly's Hall is where Vale meetings usually take place, in a secret and well renovated basement. This is also where Vales Head Magician and his witch/wizard advisors take shop.[/hider]

[Hider=The Strip][center][img]http://data.whicdn.com/images/8535841/large.gif[/img][/center]

Just as the name implies, it's simply a strip of road called Ishmael Drive. Many local businesses owned by a mix of Vales and humans dot this strip. Notable businesses include Lemont's Cafe, Merry Men's Bar and Grill actually on the dock itself, near the end of the strip. It's often the busiest part of town and full to the brim with beach goers, old folk, and families, as well as scene kids brooding in alleyways and hipster teens wearing scarves in the middle of summer.[/hider]

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The strictly pub kinda bar at the tail end of the Strip owned by an older human named Jameson Moriarty with his two young daughters Claire and Louise. He's the only human in Cedar Grove who has any idea or recollection of Vales and considers his pub a safe haven for their kind. Many humans still frequent it, but once last call for drinks is called and the last human is ushered out, he leaves it open for Vale employees to tend and look over for the rest of the night before opening it once more the next day. He's a friendly, gruff kinda guy with a large lumberjack beard and kinda fluffy around the center. He'll banter and talk with anyone, just don't mention his wife if you don't either wanna get a earful of complaints or a mouthful of fist.[/hider]

[hider=Clinic][center][img]http://s3-media4.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/Obuh1a16FFK3J1HekZ4gsQ/348s.jpg[/img][/center]

Set up in the middle of town, this lovely, little, family clinic is run by a Vale doctor and specializes in treating a Vale patients specifically. It's a very hard to miss building with it's tall, glass wall lobby and the fact that it's the only clinic that can also do emergency vet checks without scheduling an appointment. It's well staffed with two physicians (one vale, the owner, and a human) and a total of 4 nurses. It has one ambulance which is used to take serious injuries that require surgery to the nearest hospital.[/hider]