Corin “Grey Rat” Rongeur

Corin “Grey Rat” Rongeur

“The Bastard Lord of Knives”
Founder of the Greybranch Line · Master of the Silent Company · The Blade Beneath the Throne

Born 571 PR
Titles (unofficial): Lord of the Greybranch, The Rat Without a Name, Keeper of the Knives
Faith: None publicly; whispered devotee of Drevrena, Goddess of Night and Shadows
Motto: “Fear is the only oath that never breaks.”

Bastard of the Ash Lord (571–586 PR)

Corin was born in Grindton, the illegitimate son of Lord Efram Rongeur and a maidservant named Kelys Bairn, during the height of the Fire Years — the same era his father sealed the city’s gates and burned it to contain plague.

When Efram declared the act a “necessary purification,” the boy’s mother was one of the thousands who perished in the inferno.
Corin survived, dragged from the ashes by a pair of dockworkers who sold him to a smuggler for coin.

He grew up feral — thief, knife-fighter, and street ghost. By twelve, he had carved his name (just “C”) into the bodies of men who insulted his unknown parentage.

At fifteen, he was brought before Efram after slaying three of the lord’s guards in a brawl.
When asked why he killed them, Corin replied,

“They said I didn’t belong to you. I proved them wrong.”

Efram did not deny the blood.
He simply said: “You live because you are useful.”
From that day, Corin became his father’s hidden enforcer.

The Shadow in Grindton (586–595 PR)

While his legitimate siblings Ysmera and Kael studied politics and trade, Corin mastered death.
He organized the surviving veterans of the Fire Years into a mercenary band — The Silent Company — a group that accepted payment only in silver and blood.

They wore grey cloaks soaked in ash so thick they appeared spectral in battle.
Their creed: “Silence is mercy. We speak only to the dying.”

Corin’s efficiency kept the family’s enemies in fear. Rebellious dockmasters, thieves, and priests vanished overnight.
He once flayed an entire smuggler crew and left their skins pinned to Grindton’s gates under a sign reading, “Tax paid in full.”

By 590 PR, every noble in the lower coast knew his name — but not his face.

The Founding of the Greybranch (595–602 PR)

Despite his bastard birth, Efram granted Corin a portion of land in the western cliffs of Him Feppir, claiming it “a kennel for our grey hounds.”
There Corin built Greybranch Keep, a fortress more barracks than manor — iron towers, no windows, and a pit where oathbreakers were drowned in molten wax.

He founded the Greybranch Bloodline, composed of his followers and their children, each sworn to the Rongeur name but forbidden noble titles.
Their only inheritance: the Knife Mark — a scar beneath the left ear, self-inflicted upon reaching adulthood, signifying loyalty unto death.

He told them,

“We are not sons of honour. We are sons of necessity. The family’s shame, and its shield.”

The Greybranch became the hidden hand of the Rongeurs — assassins, bodyguards, and collectors.
They enforced contracts, silenced scandals, and executed rivals before scandals reached the court.

The Rat Without a Name (602–610 PR)

During the War of Tithes, when Kael Rongeur defied imperial taxation, Corin’s Silent Company fought under false banners as mercenaries.
They raided imperial caravans by night, disguising themselves as Fenraith corsairs.

Corin himself led the assault on Paratel’s supply routes, killing over two hundred soldiers with poisoned blades.
He left behind only his calling card — a broken dagger made of tin, always placed in the victim’s mouth.

By 606 PR, the empire declared him an outlaw and issued the Grey Writ, an execution decree for his entire line. None dared to attempt it.

When questioned about loyalty, Corin answered:

“I do not serve the crown, nor the creed, nor even the family name.
I serve the silence between heartbeats — the only moment when power is honest.”

Legacy of the Greybranch

His followers spread across the coasts, taking new names and disguises. Some became mercenaries, others assassins-for-hire, all united by the unspoken motto:

“We are the rat that bites its own tail, so the ship stays afloat.”

Today, the Greybranch Bastards remain one of Tudor’s most feared covert networks.
They serve House Rongeur unofficially — protecting its heirs, removing its enemies, and ensuring that even betrayal serves the family’s survival.

In Leadenport, they are ghosts. In Emberport, they are merchants. In Grindton, they are the blacksmiths who never remove their gloves.

Every Rongeur heir receives a silver dagger in secret upon maturity — said to be forged from Corin’s own broken blade.