"The man who troubles you, will not trouble you again."
- —Corvino to Princess Juliana.[1a]
Corvino was the buffoon of the merchant prince Umberto Gambini, once one of the main rulers of the Republic of Remas. His true identity is that of Umberto Gambini true heir of the Gambini family of Remas.[1a]
Appearance[]
He was a tall individual with rather slender legs and arms that seemed too long for his body. His face was sharp, with a slightly upturned nose, like the curved beak of a finch; high cheekbones and pale skin despite his Tilean features.[1a]
His gaze was usually cheerful and friendly, and it was rare to see him without a wide, mocking smile on his long face. As a buffoon, his main function in the prince's court was to entertain the members of the house and his guests, with his wide repertoire of pranks, antics, and irreverent jokes. But in a nation like Tilea, and particularly Remas, where powerful merchant families tried to assert themselves, influence was bought or blackmailed, and politics was a game as dangerous as it was essential, Corvino could be more than just a buffoon.[1a]
He was a sharp-witted man with a sharp tongue, and despite his position, he tended to always show a frivolous and condescending attitude towards his interlocutor no matter how important this may be, with a wide mocking smile on his face. There were many who did not tolerate his conceited demeanor while being submissive, nor did they enjoy his acid sense of humor, but he was a very useful person, so he usually got his way.[1a]
Corvino was usually dressed in the costume of those who were dedicated to their profession as artists and harlequins. He wore a plaid blouse and plaid breeches, pale blue on a bright gray background. A matching round hat, adorned by a huge red feather, touched the head of long black hair. His slender hands often sported a series of striking rings. He carried a long staff of dark wood, the upper part of which ended in a bronze head in the shape of a smiling goblin, with a pair of silver bells on each side. Corvino would use the staff to defend himself if he felt threatened, although he also had a few tricks and tricks up his sleeve that were even more dangerous.[1a]
History[]
Corvino turns out to be a skilled spy at the service of the former general of Remas, Mandalari the Magnificent, but also a powerful sorcerer determined to summon the Greater Daemon of Khorne known as Mardagg in the city of Remas. As if that weren't enough, he is the legitimate heir of the Gambini family, sold as a child to Strigany entertainers due to a mutation of his left leg by his uncle Remaro Gambini to allow his son, the false Umberto Gambini, to take his identity.[1a]
What the Mardaag did with him after its evocation is unknown, neither if he realized that he was only a pawn of the same mysterious sorcerer who had taught him the dark arts only to avoid having to handle the ritual in the first person.[1a]
It is always wise to get someone else to cast the most dangerous spells. One did not last long in the service of the wily Changer of Ways without learning never to put one’s own neck on the chopping block. The spell to free the Mardagg was almost certainly lethal to the one who invoked it; removing its spirit from its human host was an even more certain form of death. Fortunately, Corvino had thought he would be able to control the daemon. If he had only paid attention, perhaps the little fool might have seen how he was being used, that his ambitions were nothing to the Dark Gods. All his master schemes had been used solely to return one of Khorne’s prized servants to the Realm of Chaos, nothing more. Poor Corvino had never understood that no man uses Chaos; it uses him.[1b]
Notes[]
Despite having no actual name, the man who taught to Corvino how to summon the Mardagg was the very same old beggar that foretold the coming of the Mardagg to Brunner the Bounty Hunter at the city-gates of Pavona.[1a][1b]