Corand

*"You fought to protect your world. Isn't that good enough? After all, justice in this world is just a bunch of principles made by those with power to suit themselves. No one really thinks of others, you will lose everything if you cannot keep up. Only two kinds of people exist in this world—those who steal and those who are stolen from."*

-Corand

## History

A former soldier, Corand came from patrician blood, yet despised his fellow noblemen. It was a reality check for him that when, serving as an appointed officer, the enlisted men never saw him as one of them. Living in the Final Empire during Monopoly's reign left little room for a free-thinking man, and so this unpleasant mental wrinkle was smoothed out by Lord Alpha's mind-slavery.

By the time of the Doom, Corand had just retired from the army and begun the practice of law and start a family. When the catastrophe came, Corand remained in Thunderdome and fought for Nim Lawfey's faction, which came to power within two years. In the aftermath, the new Lord-Emperor was determined to restore a semblance of civil society, and turned to the educated, Corand among them, to re-establish the court system. Corand became a magistrate, but as with his days in the nobility, he never got along well with the other officials of the court, and was ridiculed for his ineffectual efforts at popular reform.

Corand opposed Farcraft's Rebellion but sympathized with its members. Over the next decade he rose in status amongst the Lord-Emperor's followers, eventually ending up on the War Council in the unenviable post of Military Judge, having to discipline soldiers for various infractions. His desire for justice conflicted with his unrequited sympathy for the fighting man, prompting him to think more and more about peace. Despite his increasingly anti-war views, Corand would never betray the Lord-Emperor, not for any reason, and so even as the Final Empire tumbled down around him, he and General Fax Gallengrand were among the last to stay loyal. By that time, Corand had risen to become Chief Magistrate, the highest judicial official, by then a toothless position. They were also the two men that Nim Lawfey finally dispatched to meet with Farcraft and negotiate terms of surrender. There he made an impression on the rebels as the more astute negotiator, the more realistic thinker, and the more open-minded of the two.

After a few years in comfortable captivity during the military government of the rebel forces, the new Twin-Emperors - Silvius and Brennen - turned towards rebuilding the Final Empire and reinstituting the Lords. Brennen remembered Corand from the war, having been generally impressed with his courage, loyalty, open-mindedness, and commitment to the rule of law. For that, he was made a Lord, and reinstated in his position as Chief Magistrate.

## Personality

An aristocratic man, Corand sometimes affected a military bearing and dumbed himself down, but could never pull off the act for a sustained period of time. His commitment to humanism and justice was deeply felt but ineffectual, but his courage, loyalty, and intellect were never in doubt. He was never particularly able to get along with any institution in which he was a part, but neither could he ever bear to part with power and status. Silvius was known to say of him that he made a better diplomat than a judge, and considered on more than one occasion to have him take Nim Lawfey's position as Imperial Ambassador.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

In the run-up to the War of the Philosopher-Kings, Corand had been Chief Magistrate for over two decades, where he never particularly got along with anybody, and was determined to restrain the power of the nobility and Twin-Emperor Silvius in particular. In part because he was a distraction, Corand was sent to the Kingdom of Aurum to negotiate an alliance with Princess Cordelia, where he surprised many by succeeding. The ranks of the surprised did not include Twin-Emperor Silvius, who despite disliking Corand, knew that the well-educated, aristocratic do-gooder with martial bearing would come across better in the court of the Princess of Aurum.

Once war broke out in the Final Empire, Cordelia offered to keep Corand safe in Aurum, but the envoy refused on the grounds that he was a magistrate, not a diplomat, and that he would not leave his homeland in time of crisis. He would arrive in time to help command the effort against the Wild Hunt, but perish not long afterwards to the Great Plague along with his old colleague, General Fax Gallengrand. He would receive a hero's burial.