#fearless flower

So Valen had been actively practicing necromancy even prior to the Oblivion Crisis - but during that time he obtained a lot more knowledge and one particular artifact, namely the Mysterium Xarxes. Before bringing it back to Cloudruler Temple he studied it extensively and also made notes and copies of its pages. (I believe the book itself isn’t “dangerous” in a sense, as Martin claims it, only that it contains dangerous teachings.) After all the fiasco with the failed experiment he abandoned these studies alltogether - though he didn’t get rid off the pages for years.

[Skip to Skyrim timeline - Valen is already acquainted with Rowan’s family and him]

The Mythic Dawn was long gone by this time, however a couple of fanatics (similar to Silus just more dangerous) with hired goons razed a few towns after getting wind of a rumor of existing pages of the MX in Skyrim. And Rowan’s parents got in their way. Rowan himself wandered off somewhere and only got to witness the aftermath, but still managed to stumble into a pair of assholes. (That’s when he got his scaaars. His two scars across his cheeks. Y'know, he just lost both of his parents and gets two scars right after that. Ha ha, me and that symbolism.) In the nick of time, here comes Valen to rescue the more that upset bby Dovahkiin from certain death.Aaand basically that’s how he ends up in Valen’s care. After a few days of silence Rowan tells the elf what happened and who those guys claimed to be - and, well, he is shocked to say the least. And feeling extreme guilt eventhough he doesn’t understand how any pages could be still around after he [supposedly] got rid of them, but he knows they’re his work and not the real writings.