I. The Price of Order
The silence that followed the anchoring of the Void Stone within Obsidios Lithos was the silence of a clock ticking toward total war. Corvin Nyx, his power stabilized and his intellect amplified by the Obsidian Ordo, stood within his dimensional fortress. His Raven Legion was small—fifty dedicated recruits—but the Trazarch Union held the financial might to hire twenty thousand mercenaries.
Corvin's mind, operating with terrifying, instantaneous clarity, saw the critical, immediate void: he lacked the high-level command required to transform a militia into a strategic army. He needed a Commander a tactical mind capable of truly training men in advance tactics to commanding more than handful men.
Corvin channeled his intent through Umbra, one of the pair of ravens always with Corvin, who perched on his shoulder, an extension of his will and superior to the usual Unkindness, one of his Heralds. Corvin's focus was cold, surgical, and utterly detached. He sought the psychic imprint of "Disciplined Command Unjustly Chained"—the signature of a mind that constantly calculated defense and logistics, even while stripped of rank.
The intelligence returned swiftly. The target—a man of immense stature and military bearing—was located working in a field just outside a local market town, within the 30-mile circumference of the Obsidian Ordo. He was enduring forced field labor, exposed to the elements, his strong, disciplined body subjected to the capricious whip of the farm's handlers. The man was stripped of his dignity, but his mind remained sharp.
Corvin did not waste his newly acquired physical stability on a simple extraction. While he could easily do this himself why not send his Raven and Unkindness to extract the person he needs. This would further cement his might to the people, and show omniscience. Corvin chose to enact his will remotely, using the absolute competence of the Black Flock and the chilling inevitability of his nascent authority. This operation had to be perfect, silent, and entirely untraceable.
II. The Marshal's Agony
Garrus Vane—the man Corvin sought—was on the verge of breaking. The injustice was a constant, corrosive poison. He was a framed foreign general of the highest caliber accused with the assault of officials daughter and ruining her virtue. A claim that had no proof only the words of an opposing official who was his direct rival. They found him guilty on baseless claims, selling him to the Union into slavery. This further cementing the fact that Order must be enforced and corruption rooted out.
The Trazarch handlers, local overseers paid by the Union to maintain production, were simple brutes, motivated only by coin and casual cruelty. They represented the petty, pervasive chaos that Corvin had vowed to annihilate.
Garrus's gaze was fixed on the distant mountains, where he occasionally saw the faint, low-lying shadow cast by the Obsidian Ordo. He recognized the cold stability of that dark aura, a structure that promised order—the very order that his own chaotic world had denied him. He fought the temptation to yield to despair, his only survival mechanism being the constant, meticulous calculation of escape routes and resource flaws—a discipline that had become his subconscious defense. Yet the chains and handlers kept him from achieving what he sought.
III. The Night of the Shadow Command
Corvin selected Obsius, the primary Herald, for the physical execution of the mission. He channeled his detailed, minute-by-minute instructions through the raven's mind: Locate the Commander. Shatter the iron. Guide him to the Keep.
Obsius took flight, moving with the precision of a shadow missile. The raven flew low, guided by the flawless magnetic pull of Corvin's psychic direction. The Black Flock provided silent, perfect air cover, moving ahead to map the sleeping pattern of the market town and the farm handlers' positions.
The execution began at the deepest point of the sleep cycle. Obsius, following Corvin's controlled psychic commands, descended upon the labor farm. The first stage was neutralization: Obsius, channeling Corvin's power, focused on the iron bar and latch-mechanisms of the handlers' barracks door. With an audible hiss of metal failing, the mechanisms fused and welded shut, trapping the brute guards securely inside their own quarters. They would wake up unharmed, terrified, and utterly unable to give chase or signal for help. The escape path was cleared without a single drop of blood.
Obsius landed near The Commander, who was sleeping with the disciplined stillness of a soldier, even in chains. The raven did not need to speak. It channeled a precise, modulated burst of Obsidian magic directly into the iron rings of the slave chains. The metal shattered into dust with a sharp, silent hiss, leaving the Commander untouched but free.
Garrus Vane rose instantly, his eyes—filled with the bitterness of unjust imprisonment—locking onto the massive, obsidian-black raven. He saw the unbelievable: the supernatural agency of the bird, the shattered iron at his feet, and the pervasive stillness that enveloped the area. The injustice of his framing was being answered by an impossible, higher order. The Raven looked back at him, eyes filled with intelligence as if the raven would speak aloud.
IV. The Oath of the Marshall
Garrus did not flee. He gathered the fractured pieces of the iron chains as indelible evidence, turning his face toward the looming mountain range where the Keep was located.
The Black Flock immediately descended from the surrounding shadows, flying low, their calls serving as a silent, unerring navigation system through the pre-dawn wilds. He began his march toward Obsidios Lithos, relying solely on the constant, guiding presence of the Unkindness.
Corvin was waiting in the courtyard of his dimensional fortress. He watched the entire, multi-hour journey through the Raven's Eye View, his omniscience complete.
Garrus Vane—The Commander—arrived, exhausted but radiating a terrifying discipline. He walked past the small Raven Legion garrison, his gaze immediately finding the young man standing at the Keep's entrance. He knelt, depositing the fractured pieces of the iron chain at Corvin's feet—proof of the miracle.
"You are a commander of men," Corvin stated, his voice resonating with cold, perfect clarity. "You were stripped of rank, and humiliated by the petty chaos of a corrupt system. Your mind cries out for justice."
Garrus looked up. "You see the chaos. Can you enforce the order required to annihilate it?"
"I provide absolute order," Corvin affirmed. "You will be the Obsidian Marshall, Garrus Vane. Command the force that will annihilate the chaos that destroyed your life."
Garrus knelt. Corvin performed the Raven Brand—a mark of cold submission and the ultimate oath of loyalty—linking Garrus's tactical genius directly to the Cohesion Collective. Another mobile conduit of his Will, every person added multiplies the synergistic affect of a Dread Aura in face of enemies. While also extending Corvin's will and his very influence in their immediate area.
V. Strategic Mobilization and The Next Target
The Obsidian Marshall was acquired. Corvin immediately tasked Garrus Vane with two assignments: rest and analysis. Garrus was to conduct a full inventory of the dimensional capacity of Obsidios Lithos and begin formulating a plan to expand the Raven Legion to the required 500-man siege garrison and beyond. Why stop at just garrisoning the keep when he can begin forging the Raven Legion.
Construction of houses built out of obsidian stone begins to accommodate the soon growing population of the nascent Imperium and to house it's growing Legion. Obsidios Lithos isn't just going to be a keep but an expanding city pushing Corvin's will even further.
Corvin's focus immediately shifted to his next critical target: the Forgemaster.
The acquisition of a Forgemaster—the technical genius—was a far more complex challenge. He was located inside a Trazarch-controlled market town, protected by a dedicated City Guard unit. The mission could not rely on the simple, remote extraction used for Garrus Vane.
The Forgemaster will be of utmost important to arm his growing Legion with weapons and armor made of Obsidian fused metal. The liberation of slaves and recruitment of abused villages will begin in earnest under Veridian's purview and the village chief Warren Fulkom acting as a envoy to other villages.
Corvin returned to the Void Stone, channeling his mind through Umbra to map the town's security system. He devised a plan to use the Union's own fear and coin against them. The Union's greatest obsession was coin, and their greatest fear was audit. Corvin would use his perfect control to infiltrate the municipal treasury, depositing an impossibly large amount of gold (acquired from previous road ambushes). The massive, inexplicable surplus would paralyze the local administration with fear of audit and corruption, guaranteeing silence and confusion.
The stage was set for the final, ultimate test of Corvin's strategic cunning and the acquisition of the final command structure.