Oryk Corinsson Greybranch

“The Crow in Chains” Second Son of Corin, Keeper of Secrets, Master Interrogator of Leadenport   Born: 593 PR   Role: Spy-master under Merthin Rongeur; later governor of the Leadenport Dungeons.   Faith: Drevrena and Tymira (the dual path — pain and mercy intertwined).    

History

  Oryk was said to have been the most intellectual of Corin’s brood — calm, deliberate, terrifyingly precise. He spoke with the tone of a scholar while devising torments elegant enough to make victims confess without scars.   He oversaw the Leadenport Black Cells, where traitors were interrogated in mirror-lined chambers. He believed reflection itself was confession.   He coined the phrase:   “Truth is not a weapon — it’s a mirror polished with blood.”   Though reviled, Oryk was loyal; he ensured no Rongeur secret ever reached the Crown. He died peacefully, an honor few Greybranch achieved, buried under Leadenport Keep with a mirror shard over his heart.   The Forbidden Union (615)   Oryk’s work as Warden of the Black Cells often brought him prisoners of rare blood and strange faiths. Among them was Seraphine, a Tiefling slave from the Leira Island to the north, captured and sold to Leadenport’s dungeons.   She was unlike any prisoner Oryk had met — unbroken, eerily calm, a follower of Dykenta. Instead of torturing her, Oryk spoke with her for months. He later wrote in his hidden journal:   “I found in her eyes a silence more perfect than fear. She did not weep, nor beg, nor hate. She listened — and made me believe the gods might too.”   By 617 PR, Seraphine was freed in secret and hidden in Greybranch Keep’s undercrypts. Their union was quiet, almost ritualistic. From it came three children, born between 618 and 620 PR — two twin sons and one daughter, all bearing faint infernal marks: silver eyes, ashen skin, and veins that shimmered faintly blue under torchlight.   Oryk never acknowledged them publicly, but within the Greybranch records they are called “The Greyborn.”