Corvo Attano, also called The Raven, the Captain of the Blackguards, and for a time, the 72nd President of the United States, is a notorious renegade, mercenary and political figure, as well as former President of the United States. He and his wife Kitsura led the Blackguard raiders, and they later deceived their way into the highest official place reachable in the free world, and Corvo turned the United States into his own personal nation, a dictatorship.
Corvo is an avid worshipper of the God of Wealth and Power, Hargon Daas. He did not try to hide it either, as he kept a moderately sized idol of the being on the Oval Office desk when he was President.
Following a large uprising and many protests across the United States several years into his reign, Corvo and Kitsura were pressured into stepping down, and he has since gone under the radar. Popular rumors say that Corvo returned to his home of Italy, where he lives somewhere in the countryside in an estate with his wife. He is currently wanted dead or alive by multiple nations, however all attempts to locate him have been unsuccessful, and he remains a free man to this day.
History[]
Corvo Attano was born in Naples, Italy, under the name Giovanni Attano. He was a victim of poverty, his father was a carpenter and his mother was a barmaid. Neither of them had much of an education, and neither of them got much business. Giovanni never got an education above high school, having flunked out, but still he was a very street-wise and inventive boy, able to scam a beggar out of his last euro. In addition, Giovanni had a brilliant mind, and was more than a little philosophical. At the age of 18, Giovanni fled Italy after he was caught smuggling weapons in and out of the country. He then joined up with a then-infamous pirate gang called The Smokers . When Giovanni made a name among The Smokers, their leader, The Deacon took to calling him "The Raven", in honor of Giovanni's deep black hair, his cleverness, and because in battle, he was an ill omen of death. This honor from the Deacon caused Giovanni himself to change his name to Corvo; meaning "Raven" in Italian.
Corvo rose swiftly through the ranks of the Smokers and eventually became something of a son the the Deacon. After the Deacon's death, Corvo became the leader of the Smokers. A shadow of what they once were, they continued to raid ships and ports, but they were not nearly as feared as they used to be. Corvo then began an extensive and comprehensive reformation and recruitment process, where he took the rag-tag group of scoundrels and, using a very selective recruitment and training process, transformed them into an elite organization of mercenaries, hunters, assassins, and all-around societal black-listers - though these were the best of the best. The group of mercenaries were then renamed to "The Blackguards".
On one of his recruitment drives in South Africa, Corvo met a female Sergal assassin named Kitsura, who came to join up, having heard that the Blackguards were the biggest and fastest growing game on the seas. Accepting her, Corvo and Kitsura quickly became good friends and allies, trusting each other with their lives. Eventually, they fell in love and were married in a grand ceremony, and then a party, on the high seas with the entire Blackguard fleet present.
Years later, Corvo and Kitsura together devised a plan of running for political office in the United States, specifically becoming President and First Lady. Corvo used every dirty trick in the book against his political enemies, from assassination, to simple sabotage. After the other presidential candidates were mysteriously put out of the election the night before the election ended, Corvo won by threat and by lack of alternatives, and during his inauguration, cracked down on the country's elected officials, and swiftly took over the United States with his Blackguards. Many people in the world at the time believed Corvo did this in order to fulfill some grand end of achieving ultimate power. However, it was discovered from leaked correspondence between Corvo, Kitsura, and top Blackguard leaders, that he became President of the United States simply because he could, and it was fun for him.
Corvo and his Blackguards, about a year into his presidency, began looking for Anurel's Bow, and along the way Corvo was injured by Solid Snake of Blue Team and, after the bow was acquired by them and they healed his wounds, he agreed to help them defeat the Black Diamond.
Years later, when a large violent uprising within the United States called for a new election, Corvo swiftly resigned from office and told Blue Team he would never threaten them again. Whether or not he was telling the truth is yet to be seen...