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Background:
Valeriya Savaryna was born in Kyiv, Ukraine on August 13th, 2055. Valeriya moved with her family to the Japantown district of Night City as a child, and she fluently speaks English, Ukrainian and Japanese. She has near-fluent proficiency in Russian and moderate proficiency in Spanish. After the death of her parents, Valeriya was taken in by Hideyoshi Kenshin, a swordsmaster from Harima Province, Japan, who had recognized her potential with the sword. Valeriya was subsequently trained in traditional Japanese swordsmanship and martial arts; real training, not a digital skill shard inserted into her brain.

Highly ambitious and craving respect, she joined the Tyger Claws in her early teens, already impressing them with her skill with the sword. A year later, she met Jackie, who convinced her to leave the gang. Jackie became like an older brother to her.

A number of years later, Valeriya still wanted respect and power, and did not fully understand the value of family. She managed to land a job at Arasaka, until the day her superior sent her on an unsanctioned mission in an attempt to grab more power. Before she could even get started, she was fired, every aspect of her corporate employment burned.

The collective trauma of the catastrophic Heist, of losing Jackie and having the Relic try to take over her brain...all of it changed Valeriya and her priorities. She's now trying to save her own life, but she's also starting to understand what truly matters in life, and is using her impeccable swordsmanship to help and protect the good and innocent of Night City. Now, at only 21 years old, she's already one of the greatest swordfighters in Night City, perhaps in the world. The presence of Silverhand in her mind is also changing her, making her far more anti-corporate than she ever was before.

When everything is said and done, Valeriya plans to leave Night City and join the Aldecaldos, having in them found a family where she belongs.

Nicknames:
Valeriya's got a few different nicknames around Night City, since people talk. These are names that the regular inhabitants of Night City made up for her without knowing she goes by V.

In Watson and Japantown, she's primarily known as the Ghost of Kabuki. Amongst the Tyger Claws and in Japantown in general, she's known as Burakkubādo ( ブラックバード ), meaning The Blackbird.

In Heywood and Santo Domingo, she's known as La Discípula, meaning The Disciple. She used to be known as La Discípula de la Santa de la Sangre, but they shortened it.

In City Centre and Charter Hill, she's generally known as "a criminal" due to the heavy corporate presence.

In the Badlands, she's known simply as Blackbird.

Amongst the Slavic population of Night City, she's known as Voron ( Ворон ), which means Raven.