Physical

Valentin Caine is very tall which tends to make him stand out. He stands six feet, six and one-half inches tall in his bare feet. He is also large-built and powerfully muscled and lean from his past work on the river boats and ferries. His size and general gruff-seeming demeanor tend to intimidate people. Despite his height and large frame, Val moves with an unstudied grace, long panther-like strides and is deceptively fast.

When young, Val's hair was a golden-brown in color, almost not quite blonde. These days it is mostly gray, but enough streaks of the golden brown remains to give it a gold shimmer in the light. He has always worn it very long, but pulls it back into a ponytail most of the time. He usually sports a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee that is also a mix of gray and golden-brown. In winter, Val sometimes allows his facial hair to grow into a beard.

Val's eyes are a steel blue with flecks of silver. Most often, they look more blue-gray. They do not truly change color, but they do pick up the colors in the environment, appearing more blue on some days than others. A sure sign that he's all business is when his eyes darken to a smoky gray like a thunder cloud.

Style

Ordinarily, Valentin dresses for the occasion, most often work. He favors denims, well-worn boots, and work shirts, sometimes with a vest. He dislikes being dirty so tries to bathe regularly. Having grown up on the coast of Louisiana and worked the river and lakes, he's a good swimmer. This is his preferred mode of getting clean in the summer...a good swim.

Val also attends Mass as often as he can. For church and other occasions, while he avoids ties of any kind, he will don a well-tailored suit.

It is rare to see Val without his trademark black hat although he does change it out for a light colored one for church.

Val may look gruff and grizzled, but he's a very intelligent and accomplished man.

• Slow to anger.
• Seems gruff which can be off-putting along with his height and musculature.
• Good sense of humor albeit very dry and often a bit sarcastic.
• Once angry or feels he's been wronged, he is relentless in correcting the situation.
• Tends to be quiet and speaks in a low baritone.
• Generous to those he feels is deserving.
• Adamant about justice, the law, and seeing that criminals are put where they belong (in prison or in the ground).
• Strong sense of right and wrong.
• Known by even some men he's put away as fair, just, and honorable.

Full Birth Name: Valentin Arcenaux Duquesne

Currently Goes By: Val Caine

Also Known As: The Cajun

June 6, 1877 - Present

• Kalispell Town Marshal's Office
• Position: Deputy Marshal

Despite his inherited wealth, Valentin has worked most of his life. He even spent time as a field hand on the family's sugar cane plantation, Rose Haven. He has also worked as a river man piloting boats up and down the Sabine River, Sabine Lake and around the bayous. He's learned to track, hunt, and live off the land. He also did some intelligence work during the war. However, his true calling is law enforcement. With his legal training, he is a strong advocate for victims and relentless in putting criminals away.

Bladed Weapons and Tools

Valentin carries knives as his main self-defense weapon. He always has one in his boot, one at his belt, and another one in a sheath under his jacket.

He also collects bladed weapons and one of his pleasures is working in the forge making and repairing his blades.

Guns

Valentin wears a six-shooter as a matter of course. However, while he can shoot well enough to stay alive, guns are not his forte. He also carries a Winchester 1873 carbine or a Colt 1877 side by side, whichever is most suited to the occasion.

Education

Valentin has studied law and attained his degree, but has never sat for the bar exam.

Languages: English, Cajun, French, some Spanish

Music

Valentin learned to play piano as a matter of course. He also is self-taught on the Spanish guitar. He plays great and has a very, very good baritone singing voice.

Alafair Honoré Caine (Duquesne): Daughter

• Honoré is often used as a Cajun first name. It is pronounced oh-nor-ray. The H at the beginning of the name is silent.

Late Wife (DOD: May 1, 1872): Hestia Lyoness d'Alafaire (d’Orléans)

Father (Deceased, 1862): Xavier Landon Duquesne

Mother (Deceased, 1863): Chantel Leonie Duquesne

1837-1846 (a. 0 - 9)

• Valentin Arcenaux Duquesne is born.
• Birthplace: Rose Haven Plantation, Port Cameron, Cameron Parish, Louisiana
• Pampered early years as the only surviving son of Chantel and Xavier Duquesne. Did the usual boy things - learned to track, hunt, ride, fish, boating and swimming.
• Home-schooled by tutors.

1847-1853 (a. 10 - 16)

At age 10, Val began working on the family's sugar cane plantation alongside the hired field hands. Some of the hands were former slaves that Val's father, Xavier, freed after his father died. Those that stayed, stayed from loyalty to Xavier and Chantel.

1853-1859 (a. 16 - 22)

At age 16, Val was sent to Europe accompanied by a tutor. Xavier wanted his son to be well-rounded and educated before he settled down to run the plantation.

Fortunately, seeing how the times were becoming more and more tumultuous, Xavier began moving his finances out of local banks and into trusts and other assets that could not easily be seized. It proved a provident move on his part.

1855 (a. 18)

Val and Jack Thomas land in France. At one of the balls in Versailles, Valentin met the stunningly beautiful Hestia Lyoness d’Orléans and fell immediately and irrevocably in love with her. Three months later, Val asked her father for her hand in marriage. François d’Orléans refused to allow his daughter to marry this "scum from the Colonies". 

After being beaten for allowing Valentin to court her, Hestia fled her home to the rental that Val was sharing with his tutor, Jack. The end result was they headed for Nice and took the first ship back to the United States. Val and Hestia were married by the ship's captain.

February 12, 1858

Hestia gives birth to a daughter. They name her Alafair in honor of Hestia's family (d'Alafaire); full given name is Alafair Honoré Duquesne.

1860-1861 (a. 23-24)

Val's main field of study was Law and he did attain his law degree although he never sat for the Louisiana Bar. Still, he had a deep interest in law enforcement.

The Civil War Years

April 12, 1861–May 26, 1865

March 21, 1861 (a. 24)

Louisiana is accepted into the Confederacy. At the outset of the war, Valentin tried to remain at Rose Haven and neutral. He was against slavery, but torn due to his loyalty to his home state and the nation. More than anything he wanted to protect his family.

Valentin wound up working on the river moving supplies and contraband, supplying the Confederate Army. It was during these forays where he was moving supplies and intelligence, Valentin met the Morgan brothers - Travis and Hunter. Over time, the three men became fast friends, a relationship that would continue long after the war finally ended.

End of the War and Restoration

Following the end of the Civil War, Louisiana was part of the Fifth Military District.

After meeting the requirements of Reconstruction, including ratifying amendments to the US Constitution to abolish slavery and grant citizenship to former slaves, Louisiana's representatives were readmitted to Congress. The state was fully restored to the United States on July 9, 1868.

As part of the Compromise of 1877, under which Southern Democrats acknowledged Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as president, there was the understanding that the Republicans would meet certain demands. One affecting Louisiana was the removal of all U.S. military forces from the former Confederate states. At the time, U.S. troops remained in only Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, but the Compromise saw their complete withdrawal from the region.

1865-1868 (a. 28-30)

After the war, much of Louisiana was in shambles. Both of Valentin's parents passed away during the war leaving Rose Haven to Val. The sugar cane plantation had survived the war fairly intact. Between the sugar and the cypress tree harvesting, Rose Haven provided vital materials during the war.

Port Cameron had become a lawless hellhole and after several innocent families lost lives and property to river pirates, Valentin stepped in and became the town's sheriff.

1868

Alafair had grown into a headstrong, intelligent, and fairly cunning child. Every chance she got, she slipped off into the bayou to study with a local Creole healer/witch. More than once, Val had to track her down and drag her back to Rose Haven.

1868-1875 (a. 30-38)

During these years, Valentin was often away from home tending to legal and law enforcement matters. He had made a reputation for himself as a no-nonsense, straight spoken, honest and fair lawman. It was also rumored that no one messed with The Cajun or his family.

1872

The peace at Rose Haven is shattered on the night of May 1, 1872. Valentin was involved in a prisoner extradition back to Texas and was away from home. A large gang of river pirates hit the plantation burning, pillaging, and killing. Hestia was raped and killed while trying to defend the household and, especially, her fourteen year old daughter. Alafair was also raped and left for dead. Badly injured and traumatized, Alafair flees into the bayou to the old Creole woman, Lettie.

When Valentin returned and heard and saw what happened, he went temporarily insane. Fortunately, the Morgans had returned with him to finalize some details (i.e. get intelligence from him on some war criminals operating as river pirates in the area). With the help of Travis and Hunter, the guilty raiders were tracked down and eliminated.
 
Valentin sells Rose Haven, pockets the proceeds, and takes Alafair to Switzerland where Hestia's mother's family (d'Alafaire) resided. He left his daughter in their care with the understanding that she would be attending a prestigious all girls boarding school.
 
With a more than comfortable nest-egg left over from the sale of the plantation plus all the family's remaining wealth he had inherited, Valentin headed for Texas where he joined up with the Morgans when he wasn't hunting and dispatching river rats (pirates) along the Sabine.

During these years, he officially dropped the Duquesne surname in favor of Caine, a different yet similar last name.
 
1874 (a. 37)

Valentin gets word that Alafair has run off from the elite school in Switzerland. The family was able to track her to a port, but lost her there. From what one of her school friends told them, Alafair was going home to Louisiana. They give him a list of ships that were taking passengers to the United States. He pins his hopes on the one due to dock in New Orleans.

As he hoped, Alafair was on the ship. She had managed to get a position as a nanny to a wealthy couple's children for the duration of the cruise in exchange for her passage. Valentin barely recognized the elegant and poised young woman that came down the ship's gangway.
 
Father and daughter's reunion was bittersweet. Alafair adored her father and had no doubt that he loved her dearly. She knew that he felt he was making the best decision on her behalf, getting her far away from the horrors that happened to her at Rose Haven. Intertwined with that, however, were Alafair's feelings of being abandoned and anger that her father was away from home when the river rats raided Rose Haven.

Valentin's first inclination was to send her right back to Switzerland. However, Alafair's insistence that she'd just run away again persuaded him to let her ride with him on his journeys.

When they rode out of New Orleans, it was with the last name of Caine. It was the name Val had been using and it was easy enough to get Alafair's documentation altered to match. She felt it heralded a new start for both of them.

1876-1877 (a. 39-40)

Travis Morgan heads north to find Shade Thornton. At the same time, Hunter Morgan was taking a break from being on the trail to see to the vineyard before following Travis north.

At Hunter's insistence, Val and Alafair take a break as well, and spend some quiet time at Rancho de los Morganos.

A few days after they arrived, Hunter had to go into San Antonio on business. Alafair elected to stay at the ranch and go riding with the wine master to inspect the grapes. Valentin rode into town with Hunter to purchase a few things for the trail.

While in the general store, Val hears a commotion outside and heads out to see what happened only to find his friend down in the street bleeding from several wounds…mostly in the back. Before he dies, Hunter bequeaths his big red gelding to Alafair and his Winchester 1873 carbine to Val. His will takes care of the rest.

The doctor does all he can for Hunter, a man that was well-loved and respected in the area. Sadly, the wounds were too many and Hunter passes away, but not before being taken home to the ranch so he could die at home.

Valentin decides not to send a telegram to Travis. Instead, he decides to track Hunter's killer himself and he feels certain he knows where the man will go next…to Kalispell, Montana - the last known destination of Travis Morgan.

A Bit of Family History

The Duquesne family can trace their lineage back to the Spanish explorer Domingo Ramón. Ramón was responsible for naming the Sabine River that runs along the border of Texas and Louisiana and appeared on a 1721 map as Río de Sabinas. By the 1800s, the family bloodline is predominantly French Acadian (Cajun) although the dark looks denoting the family's Spanish, Choctaw, and Bayougoula  still crop up from time to time.

Port Cameron (Louisiana, Cameron Parish)

Port Cameron is a fictional town located at the mouth of the Sabine River where it empties into the gulf. It started out as a river pirate landing and is still quite notorious for a large degree of lawlessness. Not that the Duquesne family had anything to do with that reputation, no sirree Bob!

Valentin will be riding into Kalispell looking for Travis Morgan. After that, he's gonna look for work, preferably with the local law enforcement office.