View source for Valerius-1497

{{Character
|title1= Valerius-1497
|image1= Valerius-1497 in Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving.png
|caption1=
|aka=
|born=
|died=
|species= [[Mark XV]] [[Clockwork Cherub]]<br>Mechanical parakeet
|gender= Male
|residence= [[Cupid Homeworld|The Cupid Homeworld]]
|occupation= Philosopher<br>Problem-Solver
|romantic_partner(s)=
|creator(s)= 
|parents= 
|first_seen_in= [[PROSE]]: ''[[Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving (short story)|Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving]]''
|also_seen_in= [[PROSE]]: ''[[Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery (short story)|Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery]]''<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[PROSE]]: ''[[Magic Trick (novel)|Magic Trick]]''<br>[[PROSE]]: ''[[The Ghosts and the Machine (short story)|The Ghosts and the Machine]]''<br>[[PROSE]]: ''[[Plagiarism of the SavageMen (short story)|Plagiarism of the SavageMen]]''<br>[[PROSE]]: ''[[The Winter Quests (novel)|The Winter Quests]]''
|copyright= [[Aristide Twain]]
|index= [[:Category:Featuring Valerius-1497|'''''See list''''']]
}}'''Valerius-1497''' was a [[Mark XV]] [[Clockwork Cherub]] of the [[Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids]] and a member of the [[Department of Problem-Solving]]. He was later turned into a parakeet.

==Description==
===Personality===
Having a taste for philosophy and thought experiments, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Magic Trick (novel)|Magic Trick]]'') Valerius was prone to outrageous hypotheses, but was more conservative in his actual expectations than the more optimistic [[Carter-1277]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving (short story)|Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving]]'')

==Biography==
=== Origins ===
Valerius-1497 belonged to the [[Department of Philosophy]] until it was disbanded by the [[Supreme Quaestor]] of the [[Cupid Intelligence Institute]] for questioning whether there could be such a thing as absolute knowledge. Subsequently, Valerius joined [[Pythagoras-858]]'s [[Department of Problem-Solving]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Magic Trick (novel)|Magic Trick]]'')

=== The Lord Thymon affair ===
In 2019, the [[Department of Impossible Things]] shuffled off the assignment of dealing with [[Lord Thymon]] to the [[Department of Problem-Solving]]. [[Pythagoras-858]] left his Problem-Solvers — including Valerius, [[Juliet-178]], [[Carter-1277]] and [[Edwin-750]] — to develop solutions. When Pythe returned to [[Lab 5]], the Problem-Solvers, following an idea developed by Valerius had filled it with clocks, with the intent to summon Thymon, only for him to be frozen due to the short supply of time energy that would result. 

Deeming the idea mad enough to have some chances of working on a conceptual entity like Thymon, Pythe allowed them to go forwards, threatening to detonate a [[Reality Bomb]] to lure Thymon to the [[Cupid Homeworld]]. After he was indeed summoned, Juliet ended up taking it upon herself to simply hit him with a [[Cupid Arrow]], [[Love Potion|romanticising]] him and solving the issue decisively. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving (short story)|Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving]]'')

=== Later developments ===
On April 19th, 2019, Valerius was one of the Cupids fruitlessly interviewed by the [[Blue Feather]] as possible suspects in the affair of the theft of a mailbag from the [[Cupid Post Office]], simply because they had been glimpsed somewhere in the broad vicinity of the Post Office on that day. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery (short story)|Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery]]'')

=== As a parakeet ===
When the [[faceless magician (Magic Trick)|faceless magician]]'s magic hat caused the [[Cupid Homeworld]] to be overwhelmed by a flood of white rabbits, the main five members of the [[Department of Problem-Solving]] and [[Lord Thymon]] took refuge in an empty warehouse while most of the Crew took refuge outside the Homeworld. After three days, having concluded that only a ''Deus Ex Machina'' could save the Homeworld, Valerius told the others that they should summon [[Aphrodite#In the Prime Universe|Aphrodite]] herself to help. The plan worked, but before she used her powers to make the rabbits and hat vanish, the goddess took out her anger at being summoned without permission on Valerius, turning him into a (mechanical) parakeet. The Problem-Solvers elected not to tempt fate by asking Aphrodite to reverse the transformation, content to add returning Valerius to his natural form to their list of problems to be solved. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Magic Trick (novel)|Magic Trick]]'')

On [[Halloween]] 2019, after [[the Great Ghost's legion]] invaded, [[Pythagoras-858]] gathered up the Problem-Solvers, including Valerius. After the [[One-Way Forced Spirit Realm Gateway]] transported a few Cupids including Pythe to the [[Spirit Realm]] by accident, the remaining Problem-Solvers inspected it, but were unable to find the reverse switch until Pythe himself managed to materialise in [[Juliet-178]]'s house like a [[ghost]] and tell her how to do it. Subsequently, the Problem-Solvers, [[Technophile-963]] and [[Igor-1612]] boarded a [[Fog Ship]] and flew it to the abandoned [[Prime Universe]] theatre where the spirits had retreated to make the kidnapped [[Frankenstein-818]] create a [[Reverse Spirit Realm Gateway]]. There, the Problem-Solvers managed to sneak Frankenstein safely off the stage while the ghosts were defeated. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Ghosts and the Machine (short story)|The Ghosts and the Machine]]'')

When the [[Skirmish at the Cupid Theatre]] broke out between [[Paintbrush-122]] and [[Sketchbook-430]], Valerius was the only member of the Department of Problem-Solving who could be reached at short notice. Observing the fight and the argument on which it rested, Valerius merely commented that “one of them was probably lying about the other being the plagiarist — unless he wasn’t, in which case it was out of his hands and the [[Department of Paradoxes]] should be notified”, and did not actually achieve anything in terms of breaking up the fight itself. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Plagiarism of the SavageMen (short story)|Plagiarism of the SavageMen]]'')

Various elements within the [[Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids]] subsequently worked on ways to turn him back, including [[Pestilence-301]] and the [[Department of Wizardry]], but none had been successful by 2021, especially as Valerius the Parakeet did not trust Pestilence and refused to try any of his potions. 

The whole [[Department of Problem-Solving]] reminisced about some of their past cases together at the [[Christmas|Christmas party]] organised in 2021 in the [[Cupid Homeworld]] by [[CS-NA]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Winter Quests (novel)|The Winter Quests]]'')

[[Category:Individuals]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Males]]
[[Category:Clockwork Cherubs]]
[[Category:Cupid Homeworlders]]
[[Category:Members of the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids]]