Poser Picture ftw!
Ralof has got to be one of the coolest characters in Skyrim; I mean how could anyone NOT join the Stormcloaks after meeting him? No, but seriously both me and my character don't harbour a lot of love for the Thalmor and the Empire so it was the easiest choice ever to become part of Ulfric's ranks.

Upon request by ~Sword93 I'll bore you with some elaboration on Vala's background, so if you're tl;dr prone you have been warned.

Yeah, first off, I am not weirdly referring to myself in the third person up there, my character simply bears the same name as me. Reason is simple: she started out as a random Morrowind character a good three years ago and back then I had no idea that she would develop such a life of her own with time and eventually become almost an OC. I always have the habit of naming random characters the same as my standard internet pseudonym (even guys sometimes). By the time her background was fleshed out more and more I didn't bother changing her name anymore since I had gotten too used to it. And hey, it's not a bad name now, is it?
Wait, what? Morrowind character??? Yeah, you read that right, she's still alive a good 200 years after the happenings of TES III. How? Well, read on.
Story Time!
She was born in Cyrodiil at around 3E 404 to an unknown father (presumably Redguard considering her skin tone) and a poor Redguard maid, who dies shortly after, leaving Vala to spend a childhood and adolescence of thievery in order to barely survive. At age 21 the Imperial justice system catches up with her and she is thrown into prison, where she spends a good two years until without any further explanation she is being shipped off to Vvardenfell, Morrowind. Cherishing freedom in a province that is ignorant to her numerous childhood crimes she ignores the orders to head for Balmora, knowing she doesn't owe anything to the Empire she grew to despise so much.
On her travels through Vvardenfell - this time putting an effort into keeping her name clean by engaging in honourable work wherever she can find it - she stumbles across an old Telvanni wizard in Gnisis (extra points for whoever can figure out who I am talking about xD), who, after a whole lot of convincing, agrees to teach her the basics of magic. (Curiosity won over the hereditary Redguard aversion to magic ^^)
Fate catches up with her though and she reluctantly becomes the Nerevarine, for the first time receiving proper combat training by the Blades. To the light disgruntlement of her mentor, who has over time grown fond of his unorthodox pupil, she develops a bigger affection for the sword than the magic forces.
In 3E 430, three years after her arrival on Vvardenfell the Nerveraine prophecy comes to pass, with Vala prevailing over Dagoth Ur in an encounter that almost cost her life.
Tired of battle and hardships yet still full of a certain restlessness she travels north to Solstheim where she falls in love with an Imperial stationed at Raven Rock. Three years later he is being reassigned to Cyrodiil to assist with the Oblivion Crisis which he shall not survive. The news of his death devastate Vala enough to seek refuge with her old mentor, furthering her knowledge in the arcane arts.
Five years of intense training bring her magical skills almost to the same level as her combat experience, until in 4E 5 the Red Year obliterates almost all of Vvardenfell. Having lost the one place she grew to call home on top of still not quite being over the pain from five years ago she spirals down into dabbling in necromancy. The dark arts become all that matters and at one point her and two of her fellow sorcerers attempt the Lich transformation to gain immortality. The experiment fails horribly and both her companions die on the spot, with her barely escaping death and finding something close to immortality, with the prize of blood marks under her eyes and mouth and recurring nightmares. Up to this day she still has no idea why she didn't die as well but speculates that Azura's blessing from her days as Nerevarine might have played a part in it.
This incident was the last time she touched anything related to magic; only under extreme circumstances does she resort to simple restoration and destruction magic.
Almost 200 years later in 4E 201, after years of travelling across Tamriel trying to find a purpose to her life, she crosses the border to Skyrim and is being taken prisoner by the Empire. Meeting Ulfric and Ralof at the incident at Helgen and hearing of the Stormcloaks seems to have been exactly what she was looking for. A way to get back at the Empire, that she loves no more than before in particular since they have become no more than puppets of the Thalmor. Enter Vala, the Stormcloak!

Holy fudge, and that's the abridged version, I even left out so many details. x'D
Cookie if you read all that. ^^
The story is always subject to change though, I've adjusted so many details over time already when I felt it was necessary.

To elaborate a little on her character traits at the time of Skyrim:
very manly; morbid sense of humour (particularly likes messing with Ralof); keeps quiet about her past; tough fighter; a little over-eager; has a thing for Dunmer

A big thanks goes out once again to *ripley4O77 for modeling with me. <3

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_{Skyrim and Ralof belong to Bethesda
Art and Redguard character belong to ^ValaSedai}