Corax Corvinus

Corax was born on the highly advanced and industrialized world of Kiavahr. Corax’ father was a  soldier aboard a ship called Deliverance, a pirate ship that prowled the Forsarr Sector and made frequent stops on Kiavahr, a place known as a haven for illicit trade and criminality. In particular, the moon, named Lycaeus, was a haven for pirates. Lycaeus was technically autonomous and was ruled by a lose confederation of merchants, mercenaries, smugglers, and pirates which had immense power in this area of space before the Emperor came with his Great Crusade. It was into this world that Corax was born, a world he later come to dominate.

He learned from his father and the other pirates how to fight, becoming a peerless warrior when he was only a boy. He was also highly intelligent and charismatic, learning about technical aspects of space flight and ship maintenance that were far beyond his father. By his early teens, Corax had become almost a legend among the pirates of Lycaeus. He was 15 and could be any man and could bed any woman. At the age of 20, the captain of the Deliverance made Corax a part of his inner circle, a place where he could keep an eye on Corax and utilize his talents. Unfortunately, Corax knew that regardless of how skilled he was as a warrior and pirate, how much the men liked him, or what successes he had, he would never be captain of the ship as such vessels were typically passed from father to son.

Being ruthless as well as cunning, Corax was able to manipulate the captain into getting into a conflict with several other pirates groups on Lycaeus, leading to the death of the captain and his family, and giving Corax the opportunity to avenge their deaths and become a hero to the surviving crew. After the captain’s death and Corax successfully leading the crew of the Deliverance against their enemies, there was no doubt about who would be the next captain. With no next of kin, the crew of the Deliverance unanimously chose Corax to be their leader.

Corax took the moniker Corax Corvinus, the raven, and took to wearing all black as a part of his style. Corax was a pirate leader without peer. He was a brilliant leader and tactician, knew how to make friends and contacts, and could see trouble coming from a mile away. In fact, Corax had psychic abilities, he received glimpses into the future and could sense where merchant vessels would be traveling, how heavily armed the were, and could sense military vessels so as to avoid them. Under Corax’s rule, the pirates of the Deliverance grew more wealthy and powerful than ever before, become feared by all in the sector and respected by the populations of Lycaeus and Kiavahr. Over the next several years, Corax was able to tempt or intimidate many other pirate captains into swearing loyalty to him, becoming a part of his fleet. He also outfitted and reequipped a number of seized vessels so as to add them to his ever growing fleet of ships.

Within time, Corax became virtually the king of the Lycaeus and Kiavahr and was by far the most dreaded pirate in all of the Forsarr Sector and widely known across the entire Segmentum Tempestus. Though numerous systems organized their naval vessels to put an end to Corax’s piracy, they failed miserably at every attempt. Where they massed their strength, Corax was nowhere to be found, where they were the most vulnerable, that is where Corax would strike. In the few cases where his fleet engaged real combat ships, he had every advantage on his side and won easily, adding new ships to his growing fleet. Many planets lost hope and simply began paying Corax protection money so that he would avoid raiding their territory or seizing their ships.

Corax loved the life his was living. One of the richest men in the Segmentum, he enjoyed the thrill of piracy and the finer things that immense wealth afforded him. He collected fine art treasures, rare technological artifacts, and beautiful women from all over the galaxy. For those who served Corax, he was a fiercely respected and admired, a man who fought beside his men, always made the wisest choices, and payed handsomely for loyal service. Corax felt like a god among men and had everything he thought he could ever want.

One auspicious day, Corax was leading a large contingent of his fleet against what he knew was a merchant fleet laden with valuable electronic supplies and industrial chemicals. As his ships exited the Warp, they found no merchant fleet, but instead a naval fleet composed of the largest and most advanced ships that Corax had ever before seen. For the first time in years, Corax had been surprised, though he couldn’t understand how, as his research and informants both lead him to believe that merchant vessels would be here and his precognition seemed to confirm this. Not wanting to be destroyed, he ordered his ships back into the Warp before the enemy could attack, though the captains didn’t obey or respond, nor did the engineers aboard his own ship. Something was stopping them.

It was then that his void shields were destroyed by a bombardment from the lead ship of the enemy armada, though the enemy was just careful enough not to damage his actual ship in the process. he ordered a counterattack, but once again, there was no reply from his men, as if they could not hear. A strange figure then teleported onto his bridge, a man clad in golden armor. Corax immediately drew his power sword and sprung to his feet to slay this enemy invader. The two men fought, at first seemingly to be equally matched, before the gold clad figure slowly quickened his pace and the strength of his attacks before disarming Corax. Corax thought that this man would surely kill him, or at least capture him to make an example of the pirate king. Neither happened, the man introduced himself as the Emperor of mankind and said that he was here not to punish Corax, but to reward him, by making him once of his commanders in his Great Crusade to retake the galaxy for humanity.

It had been a long time since he had had to obey ordered, but upon hearing the offering and learning about himself and the Emperor, who couldn’t bring himself to refuse, though he suspected he may not have had the option anyway. Under the Emperor, Corax received a vastly larger fleet of ships, more advanced than he could have imagined with elite soldiers sworn to loyalty. He kept his old servants as well, trusting them more than these new Imperial soldiers that the Emperor had given him. Corax proved highly useful in his service to the Emperor. He favored small and fast ships which utilized heavy firepower. He would carefully analyze his foes before swooping in to deliver a crippling blow. He loved the thrill of war and conquest, it was a game that he was a master at playing, though some of his new enemies proved to be greater challenged than any he had faced before, Corax rose to the occasion.

As time passed, Corax began to tire of this Great Crusade. He was always doing something and had no more time for the distracted he used to love so much. He found that he hated taking orders, not only from the Emperor and Horus, but having to coordinate his efforts with other Primarchs who had radically different philosophies of combat. The Emperor didn’t allow him to loot enemy ships or planets, save for equipment that the fleet needed. Corax began to regret having ever met the Emperor or being pressed into service.

When Horus lead the treason against the Emperor, Corax saw his chance to change things, perhaps to regain his freedom. He offered his services to Horus in combatting the Emperor, under the condition that Corax be allowed to retain his autonomy and not have to obey the commands of Horus. Horus reluctantly agreed and Corax Corvinus became a traitor Primarch. Before making his treason known, Corax managed to place all of his loyal men, many of which still served him from the days aboard the Deliverance, in places of power and isolated the soldiers loyal to the Emperor. When he finally decided to strike out against the Imperium, he was able to easily destroy the loyalists among his ranks.

As a traitor, Corax was able to use his same piracy techniques against the Imperium that had worked so well for him previously. As in the days of his youth, he plundered the Imperium of its wealth, amassing a personal fortune and feeling overjoyed that once again he could see the fruits of his labors. He became particularly despised by the loyalist Primarchs for his supposedly cowardly and dishonorable methods. Unlike many previous enemies, even when heavily disadvantaged, the Imperial forces would not submit without a fight, leading Corax’s forces to take heavier casualties than ever before. As the war waged on, Corax discovered that he was beginning to lose wealth from many engagements instead of gaining it. The Imperium was a terrible foe and the brilliance or psychic abilities of his foes made them outmaneuver him on occasion. He also began to learn a bit more about Horus and the traitors, about the strange and horrible forces that they served.

Corax felt that once again he might had made an error. He tired of war and decided to abandon Horus and his forces, taking his fleet into distant regions of the galaxy where things were still wild and free, where the struggle between the Emperor and Horus was a distant rumor. This outraged Horus, but he was too busy fighting in the Sol System to do anything. Corax continued his piracy on the outskirts of Imperial space, always on the run, hated and branded traitor by the Imperium he once served. He also knew the evils of creatures form beyond the Warp and sought to avoid those dark powers unless under duress. He now only allies with others when convenient and never bows to any god or man, he is the independent Primarch.