Valeriu Caragiale was born in the year of 745 BC during a bright and prosperous spring to two dedicated parents; Andrei and Elena. As was tradition for the last three generations of the Caragiale family, their son was intended to inherit their business of mercantile interests; nothing so prosperous as the well known bloodlines of Barovia, but more than successful enough to afford an education abroad for their child. From his sixteenth birthday, Valeriu was frequently sent abroad to learn from tutors on various subjects; language in both it's written and spoken forms being an important point for his upbringing as well as some small education in financial dealings and the mathematics behind them.
Valeriu's time abroad was chiefly spent in two regions of the Core; Dementlieu and Darkon. His yearly forays into education varied from private tutors to more common sources of learning such as Ezrite monasteries and churches during the leaner years. From his time in these locales he learned a great deal of the local language, though almost nothing of their customs; as intended by his father whom feared time spent abroad might introduce strange ideas into young Valeriu's head as he learned of the world around him.
Even with what most would considered a privileged upbringing, Valeriu was given harsh stipulations to his time spent abroad; his budgetary expenditures were closely monitored by his parents and he was kept to a strict amount of coin with every trip abroad which ensured he did not engage in unseemly pursuits of the brash youth. In addition, he was only permitted to spend up to one year abroad at a time, followed by his return to Barovia to assist his parents in their vocations. So tightly bound to his people's culture while still studying abroad created a reclusive student; one whom was oft remarked to be gruff and stoic by his peers in kinder company, while others scorned him as being the result of a backwater country doomed to obscurity.
While these measures served to ensure Valeriu's obedience to decorum and custom, his own intent did not lie within the business of trade. While he was more than capable of conducting profitable ventures, his heart longed for something that hearkened back to his family's earlier lineage and the deeds associated with it. Following the twenty-fourth anniversary of his birth, Valeriu began to pursue private tutelage in other subjects unrelated to business; anatomical studies, medical knowledge, military tactics, the rule of law and even some minor effort was spent to learn how to forage in the wilderness and fortify campsites. Funded by brief personal pursuits of trade, his learning continued with his father little the wiser; his assumptions that his son was finally preparing to take control and rise to the challenge of the family business and that he continued to study in accordance with this left him blind to the truth of his son's devotion.
Three years passed by as Valeriu continued his pursuits, while his parents were forced to abandon their holdings in Zeidenburg following a calamitous crash in their trades; not enough to ruin the family but enough to require a quieter life in nearby Berez. With his wife's health on the decline in the years after his second son died in childbirth, Andrei was able to spend less time devoted to pursuing coin and more living a simple, quiet life. His temperament mellowed as time went on, such that when his son's twenty-seventh birthday arrived and passed, his outrage at his son's announced intent to pursue a life in service to the Barovian people and a career within the provincial military was less than it might have been half a decade earlier. Though still furious at his the perceived waste of effort in seeing his only son educated and the betrayal of the family holdings, he could not find it in his heart to disown his child.
Valeriu's relationship with his father remains a cold, bitter affair with very little word shared between them on the rare occasions they meet; Valeriu sending letters like clockwork to correspond with his parents and occasionally travelling to see them in person being the chief opportunities for reconciliation. His mother, Elena, still holds her son as the dearest love of her life, though it pains her to see her son and husband so distanced. Knowing that his father would not accept his declaration, Valeriu wisely leveraged his last dealings and saw to it that there was enough coin available for him to establish himself in Vallaki and make preparations for the future.
