Cornelius of House Thordash

*Prince Errant Cornelius Vandilus Frohock-Ebbesen, First Scion of House Thordash, Marquis of Hive Octavus Spire Assembly Perihelion, Most Esteemed Seneschal by appointment of the House Highdown Dynasty Warrant of Trade*

AKA Lord-Captain Highdown, Living Martyr; Interrogator Prometheus

## Description

   When one is in a room with Cornelius, it can be hard to pay attention to anyone else. He's the life and soul of any party and can lead a negotiation with a level of poise and eloquence that leave all parties too spellbound to notice that they've just been swindled. He appears at ease and confident in any social situation, his body language and mannerisms shifting effortlessly as demanded by the current conversation. It has been noted that his sartorial prowess is second to none, tending towards the understated but always sparing no expense.

With salt and pepper hair and ruggedly handsome features, Cornelius appears to be in his 40s or 50s, though subtle signs of surgical and pharmacological alterations alongside the trim, athletic build of a younger man, suggest careful application of fantastically expensive artificial rejuvenation treatments. A keen observer will also detect an elegantly engineered bionic eye darting around in his right socket, the iris shining a more brilliant blue than its organic counterpart.

If you were to spend time with Cornelius, and are a skilled observer of humanity, you would likely make observations of this sort. In actuality, all of your beliefs about him would be based on artifices intended to deceive and mislead. His behaviour and appearance are phantoms engineered to nigh-perfectly replicate the Cornelius known to the outside world - the embarrassed scion of a planetary noble house; the quick-witted and charming lush of a Seneschal, making good coin and living in luxury while wheeling and dealing his way across the stars. This is not to say that all your impressions would be false - they are true to a point - but they are far from the whole story.

The very keenest observers - those with senses so acute as to transcend human norms - may see cracks in Cornelius' persona appear. The symptoms of rejuvenation treatment are only skin deep and his left eye is just as artificial as his right. His easy mannerisms are improbably consistent in their variation and subliminal suggestions are woven intricately into his phraseology and gestures. The tone of his voice and speech patterns appear too perfect at times, suggesting an almost mechanical approach to interaction. His reactions border on superhuman but are carefully reined in, giving him a subtle nervous energy. With access to the correct technologies, one might also notice that his skin appears impenetrable to a wide variety of scanning techniques designed to view inside the human body.

Truthfully; despite appearing to brim with the enthusiasm and curiosity that exemplify the best of humanity, and the avarice and apathy that is characteristic of the worst; Cornelius is barely human any more. The man behind the carefully constructed facade is a hardened Agent of The Throne, and the heart that beats within his chest is entirely synthetic.

## Early Life

Any genealogical history of the Regalia sub will tell you that Cornelius was born to King Tyberius and Queen Constanca of House Thordash in 989.M41 on the Day of the Singing Martyr - an auspicious date according to the House Thordash historicians. King Tyberius led a storied (or scurrilous, depending on one's source) career, raising his house from one of modest import within Cynn's Hive Spire Octavus, to possessing the position of First King of the Council of Twelve and occupying a dominating position among the Hive's hereditary trade cartels. King Tyberius' marriage to Queen Constanca, whose family controls one of Mosscoh's richest penal mines, was a canny move by both parties, with Constanca's newfound control over the Cynn hive spire mercantile groups affording her more leverage within her family.

Though the histories do not go into great detail of his childhood - House Thordash tends to be private about these matters - it is clear that Cornelius wanted for nothing. As a scion of the upper echelons of Cynn, he was afforded the finest in education and was carefully groomed to wield power in the cunning and often brutal manner of the planet's deeply corrupt mercantile elites. Publicly accessible records indicate that a significant portion of his childhood was spent travelling, shadowing his parents as they travelled the prominent worlds of Regalia in the endless hunt for profit and prestige. When asked about this time, Cornelius will happily relate tales of idyllic hunting outings on Albion, of strict but wise tutors, of the duelling injury that took his right eye, and of larking around with his many younger siblings; though he talks little of his brother, Arbenis.

## Career

His first positions of responsibility were within the labyrinthine trade network of House Thordash where, at the urging of his parents, Cornelius learned the practical elements of commerce that even his costly schooling was unable to fully convey. Through diligent and appropriately underhanded service, and through stoking of his parents' ambitions, Cornelius was able to embark on a career trajectory in the Administratum that is typical of those being groomed for planetary governorship. A careful examination of the historical record reveals several incidents of spirited youthful hijinks that continued somewhat longer than is entirely proper for an aspiring merchant-despot (and which are strongly suggestive of a penchant for pharmaceutical over-indulgence), but on Cynn much is forgiven of scions possessing sufficient throne gelt to make problems disappear.

Much to the dismay of his parents, however, he took greatest interest in matters concerning the colonisation and compliance of frontier worlds, rather than the more prosaic management of developed worlds. Cornelius acquired a role in the Departmento Coloniam - an act that almost saw him disowned - and set to work organising the exploration and Imperial development of worlds recently brought into The Emperor's light. During his decades in this position his natural talents put him in high demand, and he developed a deep network of contacts throughout the Lithesh Sector - an asset that considerably improved his standing in the eyes of his parents, despite his enduring reputation within the family as a black sheep.

Those with knowledge of Cornelius' Inquisitorial ties can reasonably assume that it was during this period that he first began to work more directly for The Throne.

## Usurpation

In 058.M42, Cornelius' father died unexpectedly in a hunting accident, leaving open his seat on the Hive Octavus Council of Twelve. According to what passes for law on Cynn, the council seat belonged to Cornelius by rights as the eldest of Tyberius' legitimate sons, but Cornelius was many lightyears away when he learned of the news. He journeyed back to Cynn with, by his account, the somewhat reluctant intent of claiming his place as de facto ruler of the largest hive city in the subsector. Yet the sprint trader on which he was travelling found itself becalmed in the warp for eight long months and, upon arriving at Cynn, he discovered that his brother Arbenis had engineered a takeover of the family's wealth and political power based on the pretence that Cornelius had been lost in the warp. Queen Constanca, fearing the political ruthlessness of the newly-crowned King Arbenis, had left to reestablish her power base in her ancestral holdings on Mosscoh.

Cornelius' arrival put his brother in a difficult position. Though Arbenis had diligently worked to gather a secure political base and ensure the loyalty of the House Thordash guard, the internecine squabbling of their siblings in the wake of their father's death had demanded much of his efforts and, with Cornelius home, left him vulnerable to the siblings uniting under the "rightful" king. Nothing is publicly known of what transpired between the two brothers behind closed doors, but they eventually reached an agreement - Cornelius would renounce all claim to the throne and, in exchange, he would be provided with a prestigious position as family trade ambassador.

## Joining House Highdown

Though the ambassadorship was lucrative and comfortable, it lacked the adventure that Cornelius craved. Fortunately the Emperor smiled upon him and a "chance encounter" with Lord-Captain Highdown as part of his duties resulted in mutual respect. Cornelius was offered a challenge by the venerable Rogue Trader - organise the compliance of a promising system without losing any of the valuable infrastructure or slaughtering the population, and he would have a place on Highdown's senior staff.