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Background
The bastard son of Duke James l'Saigner and a Courtesan, Corvin Fremont was trained since nearly before he could walk in the arts of stealth, subterfuge, and murder. Honed by the brutal training regime of the assassins of House t'Corbeau, Corvin now commands House l'Saigner's infamous Wraiths, though this is a fact that is largely kept secret from any outside the Wraiths and the immediate l'Saigner family. He is deeply loyal to his family, and close with his half-sister Alina, often being found in her company when not busy with other tasks from his father.
Corvin Fremont was sired by the Duke of Lonnaire, James l'Saigner, with a courtesan by the name of Jacqueline Fremont (whom he would favor long beyond this one dalliance). Upon his birth in 1841, his father took responsibility for him (an arrangement that was perfectly agreeable to his mother). In his earliest years, he was raised as part of the Duke's household, but only until he was four years old. At that point, the Duke sent Corvin to "foster" with Count Andre t'Corbeau, who had commanded l'Saigner's "wraiths" so ably during the latter part of the Thirty Years' War. This would, however, prove to be more than a simple fosterage, as Andre was also the Capofamiglia of the t'Corbeau Syndicate.
The Syndicate that Andre headed was infamous for the quality of its' assassins, and the Duke of House l'Saigner wanted one of the best. Thus, his own son was sent to undertake the brutal, ruthless training regime that the t'Corbeau had used for centuries. If the boy lived, he would be a most useful and valuable weapon in the Duke's arsenal. If he perished he was only out a bastard son. Thankfully for Corvin, he proved equal to the tasks set before him. While he endured tremendous beatings and abuse over the course of the years, his skills increased apace of other successful trainees of his age, often exceeding them. Weapons, stealth, infiltration…all of these things were taught and eagerly learned.
Perhaps more importantly than the skills of the assassin, Corvin was taught from a young age how to live a double-life. How to separate the assassin from the bastard son of the Duke. How to smile and socialize with people he would be called upon to kill without giving away the game. Likewise, all throughout this training, Count Andre reinforced the notion of just who it was that Corvin was training for, as well as exactly what the Count wanted from him. The training was harsh, but Andre was a fair if demanding taskmaster. He broke Corvin down, and then built him up. In the end, he became precisely what the l'Saigner Duke wanted.
Not all his life was trial and tribulation, though…as he grew to be a young man, Corvin was taught some considerably more pleasant (and intimate) lessons by Andre t'Corbeau's daughter Talia. When Andre disappeared in early 1860, it fell to Talia to fully finish Corvin's training, and so she did (even if he was only a few months away from completion). At the age of 18 (nearly 19) years old, Corvin was sent on his "final" mission to prove his skills. He successfully stole into the bedchamber of his father, and laid a red string across the Duke's throat, leaving without being spotted. The next day, Corvin was presented to the Duke, and accepted into his household as a Wraith, swearing his loyalty to his father and House l'Saigner. Oddly enough, James did not immediately present Corvin to the family, instead sending him off to their annual Masque, whereupon he met his half-sister Alina under some rather awkward circumstances. Still, it did mark the beginning of a strong familial bond with Alina, and Corvin took it upon himself to become her unofficial protector as she moved on to the Court at Rovilon, a position which James permitted and even encouraged. Shortly before their departure, Corvin also met his younger half-brother Lucas l'Saigner, and another half-sister in the form of Arianna Fremont (from his mother's side), but Lucas was already embroiled in his own training, and Arianna was learning the Courtesan's arts, and thus they would not have much time to bond until later.
Corvin traveled with Alina to the royal court at Rovilon late in 1860 IA. While the usual l'Valdan hangups about bastards remained in force, he was permitted to accompany Alina as part of her entourage, which gave him the opportunity to interact with the rest of the court. He soon gained a reputation as a popular "dirty little secret" for many of the ladies of court (both high and low-born), including a few of Queen Cynthia's "Songbirds." Considerably less known was his part in arranging "accidents" for three squires that didn't seem to understand that Alina genuinely meant she was not interested when she told them as much. As a result, Marco t'Juliano, Bernard t'Bartone, and Cladio t'Hone found that their careers as prospective Knights were cut well short due to crippling injuries, though no proof could be brought that identified Corvin as the culprit, or indeed that the events were anything other than tragic accidents. Of course, that still didn't stop some people from speculating….
After a little over two years at Court, Alina and Corvin returned home, and Corvin took up more regular duties as a Wraith, primarily concerned with the security of the Ducal Household and the training of future Wraiths. This gave him time to foster stronger relationships with Lucas and Arianna, as both completed (or near enough so) the training in their respective professions. His relationship with Lucas was significantly altered in Marse of 1862, however, when the Commander of the Wraiths, Sebastian Carne, attempted to kidnap Alina. Corvin (and Alina herself) thwarted the effort, and Carne was killed by Corvin in the struggle, only revealing a tantalizing hint that someone was working against the family, though despite their efforts they did not immediately discover who it might have been (In hindsight, this was one of Cardinal Lucien Ramius' early attempts to "set the board" for his power play against the Edge by distracting James l'Saigner). For his actions and for his proven skills, Corvin was promoted to the position of Commander of the Wraiths (a position James had intended him to take all along, but was now provided with a suitable opportunity to do so). While Corvin was humbled by the trust his father placed in him, he also found himself saddled with a great many new duties, which, for a time at least, meant that he was less often able to "hover" around Alina.
Indeed, for much of 1862 thru 1864, Corvin and the Wraiths were in the process of investigating several small inconsistencies that his father had picked up on in the course of the past few years. They followed a trail of breadcrumbs that proved elusive in determining where its' destination was. Some men died, others were "warned" away from continued poor behavior, and several small "problems" were solved before they matured into much larger ones. Yet for all the work they did, it seemed that more such "problems" continued to appear. In particular, during this time Corvin discovered that Great Lord Marco t'Myrin, one of his father's vassals, was holding a pair of Rivanan Noblewomen hostage, and had been for several years. That alone would have been enough, but they also discovered that Marco was altering his records to hide resources from the Duke, and those resources were being sent to Pacitta, where they travelled on to various destinations, though the trails always ended up going cold before they could be traced back to an ultimate origin. Between the two events, Corvin was tasked with retrieving the Rivanan noblewomen, and making House t'Myrin pay the ultimate price for their treachery.
So on the 16th birthday of Lord Marco t'Myrin's "bastard daughter" Clara, Corvin attended the party as a representative of the Ducal family. To his mild surprise, he found Clara was quite flirtatious, even brazen in attempts to lure him to her chambers, though when he appeared, he quickly surmised the reason was not truly teenage lust, but rather a desperate desire to escape her circumstances and the attentions of her "father" which seemed to be growing rapidly more unwholesome. Fortunately, this fit in perfectly with Corvin's mission and even as he revealed her true identity (and that of her mother) to her, his Wraiths stole in to the t'Myrin manor, retrieved Clara's mother Angelina, and began the process of putting an end to the t'Myrin line. By the time the night was over, no t'Myrin's remained alive (they had been a small house to begin with), and Clara and Angelina were away to Pacitta to meet Angelina's son and Clara's brother: Lord Sir (soon thereafter Prince) Martyn Tracano of Rivana.
Martyn was understandably bewildered to be presented with his long-thought-dead relations and a chest full of gold for his trouble by the l'Saigner heir and the Duke's bastard son, but there wasn't much time to dwell on it, as the Great Raid of 1865 began just a couple of days later, before Alina and Corvin departed the city. Alina and Corvin were separated in the early stages of the assault, and he would spend the next few days searching the city for her, in the process rather inadvertently rescuing several courtesans and noblewomen from Brodlund captivity, earning him a bit of a hero's reputation for the proceedings (even if his family name kept it from becoming TOO overblown). He was quite incensed when Alina was nearly killed in the final battles of the Invasion, blaming not only the Brodlunders but the Pacitta Council, which had blundered into revealing that she had training in tactics and leadership that her vapid fashionista persona gave no signs of.
In retaliation for this "outing" of Alina, James sent Corvin to abduct the two eldest children of Pacitta's Chancellor Bartolo Mancini. He and his Wraiths were successful in their mission, and also in their secondary goal of intimidating the Chancellor into better behavior (at least where the l'Saigner were concerned). Corvin hid Mancini's heirs in a comfortable place no one besides he and his father knew of (and later Alina): Within the Household of the honorable t'Maren family. Corvin then continued his Wraith duties, helping his sister investigate the threat of "The Chessmaster," following her to Venderos for the Tourney there, as well as travelling with her to the wedding of Lord Michael l'Corren and Princess Bella Callidus in Murnord. During the Journey they crossed paths with the Prince of Venderos' party, and they joined forces in (rather easily) fending off a barbarian attack. Corvin also displayed a bit of his prowess publicly for the first time, winning two archery contests at two separate tourneys in the course of the year, though he kept his other skills fairly well-hidden.
As Cardinal Lucien's gambit began to fully materialize, Corvin led the party that captured the Crown Prince Jean-Paul l'Valdan and brought him to Highwater, only to be freed by Alina in the misguided belief that her father was the "Chessmaster" they sought. He helped the Duchess Mina l'Saigner prevent bloodshed between James and his daughter, and like many was incensed when they all realized who the real chessmaster was. He helped spread the belief that Alina had perished, largely by disappearing from the public eye "in deep mourning." In reality, once Cardinal Ramius fled Rovilon, Corvin, his Wraiths, and the Viscountess Talia t'Corbeau and her Syndicate threw all their efforts into finding him, and find him they did. On Mai 20th, 1866IA, Corvin and Talia and a pair of Wraiths located Cardinal Ramius in the Blackfens of House t'Cauthone, and ended his life, burning the body (and the hovel he'd been living in) and in the process rescuing a pair of drugged Songbirds that Lucien had abducted from the Royal Court for his entertainment. Corvin removed Cardinal Ramius' ring…his badge of office that in his ego he still wore, and took it to his father as proof that the deed was done (along with the testimonies of Talia and the Wraiths). As usual, Corvin personally neither sought nor received any public glory for the deed, but knew that his father was pleased…which was more than enough.
As the coronation of Jean-Paul l'Valdan approached following the Battle of Three Crowns, Corvin's family found itself reunited after months of separation (as Lucas had been sent to the North to aid the war efforts against the Barbarians). With the prospect of peace on the horizon, Corvin found himself just a bit curious as to what new challenges would await him in such an environment, for surely peace is often secured only by the judicious application of lethal force….
On the Grid
Corvin by Devin Hoyt
Standing at average height and lean of build, Corvin Fremont is not particularly noteworthy in appearance. His appearance is reasonably handsome but not exceptionally so. His brown hair is cut short, and his face is kept clean-shaven. There are lines at the corners of his mouth that seem to indicate he smiles often, but his dark brown eyes are perhaps a bit intense at times, and his easy smile can shift to a sarcastic smirk or an expression of absolute cold in but an instant. He moves with a certain degree of grace, though there's a looseness to it…a swagger that speaks of a devil-may-care attitude. He is normally clad in either the colors of his house (purple and black) or simply in blacks and greys, or occasionally light armor such as combat leathers. He is frequently armed, and seems to move as though he has some knowledge of how those weapons are used.
Personality
Corvin has two very different sides to himself, though he has no difficulty discerning which is "true" and which is "false" despite being able to shift between them at a moments' notice. To most, he is outwardly a mildly charming ne'er-do-well who seems to enjoy the benefits of his father's wealth with none of the responsibility of his noble children. A moderate lush and less-moderate lecher, many wonder why the Duke keeps him around at all, much less indulges him with a fairly lavish lifestyle. He boasts a certain sardonic wit and seems to know how to utilize his circumstances of birth to his advantage in social situations. He's a "bad boy" and makes not even the pretense of hiding it.
The real Corvin is, however, an intensely driven and highly focused individual, with a tight rein on his emotions and iron-clad loyalty to his father, his family, and his few close friends. The Corvin that leads the Wraiths is a man to be feared, but very few know this Corvin outside of his family and those selfsame Wraiths. He is a remorseless, cold-blooded killer though not a wanton one, and he holds little concept of "honor" nor of glory. His glory comes in the world knowing the results of his work, but not that he had any involvement with it. His honor comes in advancing the interests of his family and kingdom in doing his work. That sardonic wit of his does seem to be a constant with both sides of his persona, however.
Quirks
Personality Quirks
Ruthless - Corvin will do whatever it takes to get the job done, including sacrificing the lives of himself or others…even innocents, if the objective does not include safeguarding them. He will consider alternatives to collateral damage, but only out of pragmatism rather than compassion. He kills without the slightest bit of remorse or hesitation. Blood on his hands? So what? That's his job.
Agnostic - Corvin's not really a big believer in any sort of religion. Oh, like everyone he knows the One and the other gods existed, but he doesn't believe they have any real direct influence on the modern world. Humanity makes its' own destiny.
Loyal - Corvin's loyalty and even love for his father and House l'Saigner is iron-clad. There is nothing he will not sacrifice of himself for them, and nothing he will not do if it is asked of him in their name. He may put on the roguish persona for an audience, and might even feign consideration or even acceptance of offers to betray his family, he'll never actually do so, as opposed to taking advantage of any openings such offers may inspire (and really, if they're stupid enough to try to recruit him against his own family, they deserve whatever they get, to Corvin's mind). Corvin is acutely aware that his father the Duke has given him opportunities and authority far beyond what most bastards, even recognized ones, ever attain, and is always grateful for it, even if he doesn't say it often. He expresses his gratitude with deeds, not words.
Skill Quirks
Talented Brawler - Corvin may be the deadliest hand-to-hand Combatant in the Edge. He's been trained nearly since he was a toddler and always took to fighting unarmed quite well. He's even been known to occasionally kill armed and armored opponents with little more than his natural agility and his bare hands (though it's not a situation he considers ideal by any stretch of the imagination).
Well Honed - Corvin, as noted, has been trained from a very young age by some of the deadliest men and women in the Edge. By the time he was a teenager he had already endured some of the most brutal training the t'Corbeau assassins could muster, and not only passed it, but thrived. His resolve and his senses are a bit beyond what most folks attain as a result.
Social Quirks
Full Recognition - Corvin is the recognized bastard of Duke James l'Saigner and is treated not only as a member of his family and household, but has been granted considerable authority within the l'Saigner lands and military (specifically his command of the Wraiths). Within Lonnaire, people know that he often speaks for the Duke and react accordingly. Outside Lonnaire people are less inclined to care…except in Couviere Syndicate circles, who have a close working relationship with the l'Saigner.
Friends In Dark Places - One of Corvin's oldest and dearest friends (well let's be honest, more than strictly friends, really), is the head of the t'Corbeau Syndicate. The Capofamiglia of the t'Rannis Syndicate is his father's vassal, and the third of Couviere's Syndicate families is also a close ally of his house (the t'Andalucci). Suffice to say, Corvin has more insight into the Syndicate than most who are not officially members. Indeed, with nearly all his training having been conducted by the t'Corbeau assassins, he's all but considered an honorary member of that Syndicate…though they DO keep some secrets from him…which is not something he begrudges them at all.
Bad Reputation - One, he's a l'Saigner bastard. Two, he's regarded as a bit of a lecher. Three, he often comes across as a cocky git thanks to his sardonic sense of humor. Add to this the relatively common knowledge that he is, in fact a Wraith (even if his position of Commander is a fairly closely-held secret), and suffice to say Corvin's reputation at the Royal Court of Rovilon is not exactly stellar, though it's not so bad as to see him kicked out on sight, either. He's known as a "bad boy" and while that may have a certain appeal to several ladies of the Court, it does mean that refined company often snubs or ignores him…which is often just how he wants it.
As the Commander of the Wraiths, and the son of Duke James l'Saigner, realistically there is very little Corvin cannot have if he needs it. That being said, he does tend to have a few different "kits" that he uses for different occasions.
Weapons: For casual, everyday use, Corvin often carries a finely-crafted rapier, a dirk, and no less than four throwing knives hidden on his person. When "in the field" he often adds a longbow or shortbow, and extra throwing knives. Of course, Corvin is exceedingly deadly even with his bare hands, so he is more willing than most to go unarmed when the situation calls for it.
Armor: When expecting a fight, Corvin nearly always wears combat leathers. Outside of combat he can often be found in riding leathers, unless of course spending time in more refined settings.
Alchemicals: When on missions, Corvin often carries a small assortment of alchemicals, to include at least one spirits of vigor, three flash-vials, two doses of Neversleep, and one (emergency only) dose of Fleshknit. If he's planned ahead he can have virtually any type of easily-portable alchemical out there (often including poisons of various types), thanks to his family's ties to the t'Andalucci and within Pacitta (to say nothing of their in-house alchemists).
Other: Corvin possesses an Alhazred Looking Glass (Spyglass), a rare and unusual device from the Alhazred Empire that he won in the Archery Contest at the Tourney of Venderos in 1865 IA. He often carries at least a few different lock-picks with him, and if "on mission" certainly carries whatever incidental gear he may need to accomplish the task he is set to (rope, grapples, etc…).
Animals: Corvin has no personal horses of his own though he of course has access to basic riding horses as-needed, even if his family often eschews them. He also has a Rottweiler dog named Rascal that mostly spends its' time "protecting" Highwater Castle and specifically his Half-Sister Arianna. One would think the dog is hers, but it actually minds Corvin better than Arianna. Amusingly and perhaps appropriately, Rascal is completely cowed by the two Catlords that have adopted Corvin's half-siblings Alina and Lucas.
Logs and Sundry
(adrienne aidric alaric alexandra alina amara antonia ariane artos clara clarke conrad corvin devlin dora elaida emilia esyld evelyn event gabriel james jonathan leander log lorelei lucas philippe quentyn raimond symon thaddeus the-last tiadora tristan vorian)
(alina clarke corvin esyld gabriel joshua log lucas noel odilia paege social talia vorian)
(alexandra artos clarke conrad corvin esyld event gabriel jonathan log lucas odilia talia vorian wilson)