Validar Buio Negrini was born on September 6th 2569 (arch.) in Sera Town, Plegia and also happened to be the cousin of Henry Callas's father, Sirius Negro Callas. Anyways, the Negrini family was quite modest and new to the Grimleal, and Validar was rather thrusted into it. At the time though, he wasn't quite that interested in it.
While he was learning Dark magic, he was also learning the regular trinity, and he seemed to have an affinity for wind magic. While learning Wind magic in Sera, he met Junko Senjutsu, the rather shy, but spoiled daughter of the Town Chief, Junichi Senjutsu. You see, many towns and villages across Plegia and Ylisse have a sort of Leader, dependent on how important someone's family was to the village or town in the past. Some call it leader, others call it Saint. Some call it Elder, some call it Seer. Sera on the other hand, call it Chief. That aside, Junko and Validar soon became close friends, though it was tough at first, as Junichi does not trust the Grimleal, though JJunko did eventually convince him that Validar was trustworthy.
Flash-forward to Zander Estiva Senjutsu's birth in 2591 (arch.). Due to Zander being born with the Mark of Grima (unlike Junichiro Senjutsu; his older brother, who was born with the Senjutsu Sigil rather than the Mark of Grima, and as such was deemed unworthy of being the new host for Grima), Validar was pushed to be the Leader of the Grimleal. You see, the main goal of the Grimleal was not only to keep Grima's spirit alive by offering prayers and also sacrifices), it was also to find someone with the blood of Grima so that they could bring Grima back. Grima during his time had many children, all illegitimate, save for one; Validar's ancestor, Rauman Negrini.
With the 'Heir of Grima' found, phase 2 of the Grimleal's plan began; to awaken Grima and bring him back. While at first Validar wasn't too keen on sacrificing his son, the power of being the leader eventually went to his head, making him mad and insane. Furthermore, since both of his parents died in Chrom Lowell's father, Aaron Lowell's crusade to destroy the Grimleal, Validar became more involved in the Grimleal, to honor his parents in a way, which ended up with him losing his mind, and his family.
When Junko began noticing that he was losing his mind, it was pretty much too late. And so, in an act to protect Zander, she divorced from Validar and banished him from Sera, since she was the Chief at the time, due to Junichi retiring, and giving to Junko. Due to this happening when Zander was 4 and Junichiro was 7, they don't, if not barely, remember Validar being a good man, much to Junko's chagrin. After being banished from Sera, Validar went on a little crusade of his own, in order to spread the Grimleal's influence, this eventually lead him to Veritas, the Town of Truth. In it, he found a little girl named Aversa Ebano Frassino who was about 13, and had an affinity for dark magic and was a prodigy at it. Since it somehow reminded him of himself, he took the girl as her own after messing with her memory and killing her family. He also eventually made her his right hand (wo)man.
Let's focus on Sera now; we don't get much more Validar stuff 'til right before the events of Awakening. Zander met Henry Callas roughly the same way Junko met Validar; while learning fire magic. Luckily for everyone,'The Callas family (Sirius Callas in particular) had no interest in the Grimleal, especially after Validar's descent into madness and his banishment from Sera. They went for regular hexes and curses, since those expel darkness from the user's soul a lot quicker, while the regular dark tomes uses the darkness as power and generates more than it expels. Once again, they became close friends, much like Junko and Validar did. And then Kuro Sakusen came into the picture.
Despite its legacy with Soren Sakusen over in Tellius, The Sakusen clan were very poor, at least in the Plegian branches; while in Tellius they're doing quite well. Kuro Sakusen, due to being from a poor family, was quite the infamous kleptomaniac and has actually stolen plenty of things from Zander before they became friends. Though she was caught in the act of stealing something from Zander once by Junko. When she was interrogated, she came right out with the reason and, out of sheer pity, gave her family enough gold to at least get Kuro into school, as well as provide food, so long as Kuro gave back everything she had stolen from the people of Sera, Zander included. Not long afterwards, she was close friends with both Zander and Henry, though she did still steal things every now and again, as a habit (though she sometimes called it a 'hobby').
Anyways, being the town Chief of Sera, it also meant being the Teacher for The School of the Yohei Fighting Style. As such, both Junichiro and Zander were enrolled in it and learned the fighting style with ease, mastering the Ignis technique was before any of their classmates did, thanks to their bloodline. Neither Kuro nor Henry were really interested in it though; Kuro was doing fine with just the Sol technique and Henry was too busy practicing hexes and curses to really care about it; though neither of this deterred Zander any.
We now flash to right before the beginning of the Awakening Sagas of Ylisse (2611). Zander was kidnapped by Grimleal spies and Assassins, under Validar's orders. Validar decided that it was high time to awaken Grima now that Zander was 18. But it turned out that his mind and body were to weak to handle Grima, leaving Zander with amnesia. Since he was now basically done with Zander, Validar told the Grimleal spies and assassins to take Zander and leave him for dead somewhere in Ylisse, where he was eventually found by Chrom, Lissa and Fredrick.
Junko was devastated to see that Zander was gone without a trace. She had a sneaking suspicion it might have had something to do with the Grimleal, but she had no way of knowing. Junichiro wasn't even there at the time; he was only just getting to Ashborne [a port town off the western coast of Plegia] from Elibe. Though they always tried to hide it, it was always clear as day that both Junichiro and Junko missed Zander dearly, as did Henry and Kuro.
Flash-forward to the end of Chapter 6, where Validar is close to death, and meets Grima. Turns out his failed attempt to bring Grima back did at least awaken his spirit. After being awoken, Grima started to work together with the Future Grima (from this point on, I'll refer to future Grima as Neo Grima) who happened to follow Lucina and the gang though the dragon's gate. After Validar is revived by Neo Grima, Neo Grima starts working with Validar as his 'hierophant' and as a guide to help him bring Grima back and destroy this world much like the one Neo Grima was from.
Now let's jump to the end of chapter 11. When news of Gangrel's death reached Sera, as well as that Zander assisted in it, Junko was not only happy that her son was alive, but also confused how he ended up in all of this, as well as why Zander didn't come back to Sera afterwards. She knew something must be up. And so, she sent a few robins after his scent, after pinpointing and figuring out his location; Ylissetol, the Capitol of the Halidom of Ylisse. All three Robins returned with less than satisfactory news though. Not only is Zander Working for Chrom as his Tactician (which would of been on its own), but Zander doesn't seem to remember how to talk to Robins, let alone anything else about Sera or even his own mother. Junko concluded that, for whatever reason, Zander must have amnesia. She never did act upon these findings, due to the fact that doing so could cause more harm than good, so she had the robins keep a close eye on him.
Meanwhile, Henry was thinking on going on an adventure of his own, after hearing about Sen. He eventually decided that he should go to Tellius, since he had heard that there were people who could turn into Ravens, and he wanted to see for himself. Kuro was also interested in going to Tellius, though due to her being a descendant of Soren, rather than the raven people.
As such, Kuro went with Henry. They saw many sights; monuments and statues honouring the Hero of Blue Flames, Ike Paris (which were much like the statues in Sera which honoured Mamoru Yohei, the Royal Guard of the Hero-King.), plenty of Raven Laguz, proving the rumour that Henry had heard of; they even met other descendants of Soren, who were doing much better than she was, as Kuro suspected.
At the end of all of this, they met Priam Paris, the descendant of the Hero of Blue Flames himself. After challenging Kuro to a duel (and wining), he asks her if she could help him on his world journey. Seeing as this paralleled with Ike's own world journey with Soren, she accepted the offer. Henry was both surprised and mad in response, but said naught but a wish of good luck to her, before heading home alone.
Eventually, Kuro was getting kind of tired of the world journey thing, and left it, much to Priam's chagrin. Once arriving in Ashborne though, she was immediately ambushed by Grimleal Assassins, and took her to their base, wherein she was hypnotized to follow the Grimleal with no memory of her past, by three black mages, Aversa included. Kuro continued to serve the Grimleal from this point on.
Flash-forward to 2611 arch. After hearing about how The Valmese was going to advance on to the continent of Ylisse, Junko figured that the Shepherds (Zander included) would ask Plegia for help, eventually taking them to Carrion Isle. Knowing this, she told Henry to camp there for a while so that he could keep Junko posted on Sen's condition, via carrier Crows.
Also, soon after chapter 20 and Zander marring Nowi Tatsuno, Kuro's hypnosis wore off and she snuck out of the Grimleal base, thanks to being a full-fledged Assassin and knowing the base like the back of her hand. Due to still having amnesia though, she wandered around Plegia before running into the Shepherds after chapter 21. Her amnesia also eventually wore off, after being Zander and Henry for a while. Near this time as well, Markus Senjutsu, twin brother of Morgana Senjutsu and Younger brother of Nah Tatsuno, had spawned near the Midmire, straight from Lucina's future. After getting ambushed by Risen, he ran to a nearby fortress and hid. Luckily, the Shepherds were in the nearby area and while Zander was being attacked by a risen Pegasus rider at the Midmire, Mark ran in and intercepted one of the strikes, letting Zander launch a fireball at it.
Flash forward to Grima's reawakening. When Junko saw Grima's true form in the sky, she was devastated; seeing what all Validar and the Grimleal had created and brought. Though she felt hopeless she knew deep within that Zander would be able to defeat it; and defeat his darkness... Whatever that really meant. She wasn't too sure herself. Meanwhile, after Zander had made the decision to sacrifice himself in order to destroy Grima for good, he told Kuro his plan in secret. Though she greatly disagreed with the idea, he was determined and quite adamant (as well as somewhat reluctant) in his decision. He also decided to give Kuro the right to the Plegian throne when the time came, since Validar was dead, and Zander was to technically be the king next, as the rules go. Though she didn't know what to say, she eventually accepted the offer.
After Grima's defeat, Kuro took the Plegian throne as Zander requested, while Henry, Nowi, Morgana, Mark and Nah stayed with Chrom to help him find Zander, wherever he might be. Meanwhile, when Junko heard that Grima was defeated by Zander's own hands... She was happy... At least before she learned the other half of the story; that he had sacrificed his life in doing so.
After learning that part, she didn't know what to feel. She felt both sad and angry over this. Junichiro wasn't there at the time; he had left for Jugdral with his wife, Redrime Senjutsu, only one day before Grima's re-awakening. She had also heard that the Shepherds were to soon begin to go looking for Zander across both Ylisse and Valm. She commended them for doing so, but she did not hold her breath. The next day, still stricken with grief, she decided she needed some sort of direction; something to either help her move on, or help the Shepherds look Zander. She went after the latter, paying a visit to Veritas, the Town of Truth.
Veritas is known for not only its powerful mages, but also its fortune tellers. While Junko could do some fortune telling of her own, she was largely out of practice, not to mention she lacked the proper materials and equipment to do so. After finding the Town Seer of Veritas, Abaris Alitheia, he told her that: Though gravely wounded, Zander is alive and is somewhere in southern Ylisse. Overjoyed at the news, she did up a letter and had a carrier robin take the letter to Henry, knowing he would probably help The Shepherds in their search. Sure enough as Abaris said, he was there in southern Ylisse, under the same tree as the first time he was found there, only three days after Grima's defeat.
When they found him, Henry got him up to speed on what had happened in the last three days. He also suggested that Zander, Nowi and the other Senjutsu Manaketes should move back to Sera Town, since it is Zander's childhood home. After some discussion with Nowi and Chrom, he agreed. He headed back home with Henry. Once they got there, Mark snuck into Junko's class, and after talking with Zander for a bit, she enrolled Mark into the school. Like his father and uncle, he learned the fighting style with much ease, partly because he had already mastered the Ignis Technique.
Soon after Zander's reappearance, Kuro began her crusade in severing all ties between the Grimleal and Plegia, as well as getting rid of whatever was left of the Grimleal after Grima's ultimate defeat. This eventually led her to Oakenwind, a town surrounded by many trees in what used to be South-east Macedon. She had heard rumours before that someone, presumably Grimleal, was impersonating her, and was maybe going to Oakenwind. When she got there, she ran into said impersonator. They tried to play it off and say that Kuro was the impostor; to which she replied by asking them where was her birth-town (Sera), which they got wrong. After that, they gave up the posing and called out her fellow Grimleal to fight Kuro. After defeating them, Kuro decided to spare the impostor, and gave them a choice. To either face jail, or be able to work for her so that Kuro could wander out of the castle to visit her friends in Sera Town, under the condition that they are not allowed betraying her or they will be executed.
If the imposter was honest, she didn't really like working for the Grimleal. So she accepted Kuro's offer and reintroduced herself; as Viola Dahl, who she was actually only 19. She also swore to her that she wouldn't betray her. When she was young, Viola was forced into the Grimleal by her very strict parents. Since she was a prodigy with black magic though, she practically fit right in, ability-wise. (Not so much personality wise though, since she was a bit clumsy and dorky; fittingly for her age)
She specialized in illusions, small or large. The kind of spell she used to impersonate Kuro is quite the complicated one. It messes with many of the senses: smell, sight, touch, and sound, making the user seem to exactly be the person that they say they are when they use it. Other hobbies of hers being able to copy other people's signatures with much ease and talking to Ravens. Viola and Kuro got along quite easily, due them having very similar mindsets and opinions on things. Whenever she wanted to visit Zander and Henry in Sera without it being too official, she could ask Viola to take her place, change into her assassin gear, and then take a dark falcon to Sera with no-one the wiser.
Flash-forward to October 2612. A Hoshidan nobleman named Shirou Ronri with his two bodyguards, A Master of Arms named Hashira Mikami and a Great Master named Ayame Tachibana, fled from Hoshido to escape the upcoming war against Nohr after the death of Mikoto Byakuya, the Queen of Hoshido. They chose to go to Plegia due to it being a safe distance away, as well as the fact that Plegia had a relatively new queen. Shirou himself wasn't really that desperate, but he had always gotten suitors who were all clearly into it for the money and power. Letting his younger brother Kiyoshi take his place, they left.
Meanwhile in Plegia, Kuro was having the same sort of problem. She was picky on who should marry her. The last three kings of Plegia were all bad and she needed to stop that streak ASAP. She wanted someone who was good and was not into it for the money or the power. When Shirou and co arrived in Ashborne, Hashira suggested going right to Plegia Castle to which Shirou reluctantly agreed. Shirou's meeting with Kuro went fairly well, and they were to be married a few weeks afterwards.
After marrying Shirou, Kuro introduced him to Viola (she didn't turn into Kuro at all before Shirou met Viola.) and asked if they could find a black mage like her somewhere in Plegia. She told her that her friend, Lonan Shine, is a dark Mage much like her, who ran from Oakenwind a day before Kuro came. Using a crystal ball, she found out that he had fled to Veritas. Knowing Lonan might think that she was dead; Viola wrote a message for Lonan.
Heading to Veritas and finding him wasn't an easy task though. Kuro, Shirou, Hashira and Ayame went to Veritas while Viola took Kuro's place. It was hard to find him, due to him disguising himself as a bartender at a Tavern called 'The Longing Wolf'. After looking for Lonan for a while, they decided to take a break at The Longing Wolf. After getting their orders, Lonan hexed Kuro's drink with a sleep hex that she would not be able to wake up from unless the hex is removed. He thought that she killed Viola so he decided to 'avenge' her in a way.
Once Kuro went to sleep, Shirou caught on immediately, threatening them to lift the curse or face death. In reply, Lonan said that this was revenge for 'killing Viola'. He didn't know she was still alive because she hadn't been sending letters. However, it was rather because she didn't know where to send letters to, since she didn't know where he was. Luckily, Kuro had built up a resistance to such hexes due to Henry doing it to her and Zander all the time, and woke up a second after that. Lonan, after getting over the surprise of Kuro waking up, gave her a simple question. 'Why did you kill her?' Initially, she didn't quite know what he meant, but then she realized what a second afterwards. In reply she told him she WAS alive, and gave him Viola's message.
After reading the message, he apologized and undid the illusion, turning from a 21 year old bartender to a 19 year old thief. While he dabbled a lot more in hexes than Viola did, he was very much adept in illusion magic, like Viola. He also lifted the sleep hex he put on the actual bartender, who was under the counter with no memory of what happened that day. After that day, he sometimes took Shirou's place; much like Viola did, allowing both Kuro and Shirou the ability to go where ever they want, so long as no one notices.
If there was one thing for certain; Kuro defiantly chose the right guy. He had everything she was looking for; and helped her create a much better Plegia. Their eventual son, Haitarou Ronri, born in 2614, only boosted her ideals. The only one to mess it up was Takeshi Ronri, Haitarou's eventual son who was born in 2634, but that's a story for another time.
Focusing back on the Senjutsu's for a second, in 2616, Junichiro brought Zander an old Elibean tome made by an Archsage named Pent Reglay, talking about how to do 'quintessence manipulation'. While Zander was somewhat lost on it, Nah and Nowi weren't lost on it at all. However, the method it requires is nowadays only known by very old Manaketes. Luckily, Nowi knew of one such person; an 8000+ year old fire dragon named Bantu. With the help of Bantu and the spiritual help of Naga, they were able to Ascend Zander into a Manakete like Nowi.
Despite his entire dragon blood was of Earth dragon (Grima), Zander's Dragon Form turned out being half earth, half fire. No one was really sure why, but Junichiro and Junko linked it to the Anima cycle (a 'blood curse' that chooses what element of magic certain person's descendants will prefer, based on the Anima Magic Trinity) that was placed in the Senjutsu bloodline by Zander's great-grandfather, Jun Senjutsu. Jun preferred fire magic so as such, the anima cycle dictated that Junichi would prefer Thunder magic; and he did. When Junichiro was born the cycle at that point had finished a full rotation, making his preferred element Fire, much like Jun, and the same went for Zander. This aside, no one had no real idea.
The idea was supported however by the fact that Mark, Nah and Morgana all had at least some Fire dragon blood as well as earth and Divine dragon blood. Nonetheless, in the years passing, Zander became known as The Eternal Flame, and eventually took Junko's place as the Town Chief of Sera when she retired in 2618.
After the death of Kuro and Henry in 2642, Zander would visit their graves in Sera once or twice a week to pay honour to them, as well as update them on current happenings. He knew he would never get a response, but he did it anyways; because he thought that, even though they were dead, they could still hear him. However, a miracle happened in 2652; a full decade after their deaths. But that's also a story for another time.