Laris Valerius Corvis

Vitals

Name: Laris Valerius Corvis Race: Shadar kai Nationality: Thantopolitan Gender: Male Age: 37 Hair: Black Skin: Medium grey Height: 5'11" Weight: 170 lbs

Biography

Laris Valerius Corvis is the son of Lucius Ferox Corvis, a shadar kai nobleman of a prominent family in Thantopolis, and his wife Avidia Metella. The Corvis family is an ancient and powerful one, and claims to be descended from the Raven Queen. Laris is their middle child, having a much older sister, Meria Licina, and a younger brother, Aulus Taurinus. His mother Avidia took her own life when he was five, not long after his brother was born. This act was looked on as a sign of weakness and cowardice by the senior members of the family, and she was therefore not selected to be brought back as undead. For a time Laris and Aulus were raised by their sister Meria, as well as various servants, in a villa outside the city, allowing their father Lucius sufficient time to conduct his political affairs in Thantopolis. His father's sporadic visits home were always occasions for excitement and, although he was strict, Lucius was also affectionate with his sons, and Laris had great respect for him.

When Laris was eight, his father was selected to be made into a vampire, as a step towards his eventual appointment to the Senate (which happened the following year). This was a great honour and it was explained to Laris accordingly: it would be an important achievement for their family, and a goal that his father had long worked to reach. Nevertheless, it was a greatly traumatic experience for him, one that he learned to cope with by embracing it as a goal of his own one day. At around the same time, his sister Meria was to be married into a prominent family, the Nauta family. Laris understood at some level that these things were connected, but did not have enough knowledge at the time to fully grasp the political nuances of the situation.

The upshot of all of this was that someone would be needed to care for the boys, as Meria would no longer be available, and Lucius would not be able to do so himself, for obvious reasons. In order to ensure their education and care, he purchased a personal slave for each of the boys, who would thereafter be responsible for them. Laris' slave was a gnome named Calkas, who had been captured into slavery at a young age and trained to be a tutor for children of the nobility.

At first, Laris was resentful of the changes to his family and life, and was disobedient and unruly as a result. Calkas eventually found ways to rein in the boy, however, using ropes to restrain him and instructing him in methods of meditation to help him control his emotions. In time Laris grew to accept and welcome this treatment, even depending on it. Meanwhile he was also receiving training in military leadership and intellectual pursuits. His brother Aulus, in contrast, was designated to enter the priesthood of the Raven Queen, and their paths largely diverged from that point onwards.

Laris' dragonmark manifested when he was thirteen, and appears as a silvery spiderweb-like network of lines spreading from his heart to his left shoulder. This of course made him more useful to his family, and more valuable as a potential ally, and they soon negotiated a union for him with Dianthea Lucilla Pertinax, the young daughter of another powerful family. Dianthea was at the time very young, ten years his junior, so the marriage was not to take place immediately, but only once both were grown. Laris met her a few times when they were young but was largely indifferent to her, as a teenager might be of any small child. He has not actually seen her in person since she was perhaps nine years old (she would now be 27).

When Laris was in his late teens he was made a centurion in his family's legion. He spent the next several years engaged in military action in [wherever would make sense], serving competently and effectively, generally achieving his family's strategic goals and, over time, distinguishing himself as a reliable and disciplined leader. He was considered to have a promising career ahead of him, and there was even talk that he could one day be a Senator like his father. Throughout his military service, he wrote dutifully to his family, and to Dianthea. Of course he also took Calkas with him on his travels, and relied on him for advice and support. The gnomish slave is his most trusted companion.

After the destruction of Bael Turath, Laris was dispatched to Nēšu Abamātu in order to help secure it and look after his family's interests there. He expected at the time that the appointment would only be for a short while, perhaps a year at most. Instead he has become the de facto governor of the place, working to defend and rebuilt the city, all the while waiting to be recalled to Thantopolis. Having now been there the better part of ten years, he wonders whether this is all part of some elaborate test, or whether perhaps certain factions have some ulterior reasons for keeping him in this backwater trading port, far from home.