Corax
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| Artist: @ShenzaiBird on Twitter | |
| Corax | |
| Player: @TakelGryph | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Corrupter |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Server: | Everlasting |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Jason Keene |
| Known Aliases: | Nevermore |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 26 |
| Height: | 1.93m (6'4") |
| Weight: | 102.97kg (227 lbs) |
| Eye Color: | Gray |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Freelance cybersecurity researcher |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City, Rhode Island |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, Rhode Island |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Nancy Keene (mother); Francis Keene (father); Casimir Keene (brother) |
| Known Powers | |
| Electrokinesis, weather control, can assume alternate form (humanoid raven) that allows flight | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Talented hacker, limited magical training | |
| Equipment | |
| Small sorcerer's library | |
| No additional information available. | |
Origin Story
After coming across a tome of sorcery previously owned by a Circle of Thorns acolyte who picked a fight with the wrong hero, Jason Keene thought he could use it to call up a few spirits to assist him with trivial tasks.
The bad news is that smartphone translation apps really aren't capable of handling the Oranbegan script very well just yet.
The good news is that the spirits he called up weren't exceptionally malicious: an aspect of Storm, and an aspect of Raven.
While the aspect of Storm disliked Jason for his apparent lack of respect, the aspect of Raven found the circumstances of the summoning both hilarious and pleasing. The specific Circle of Thorns acolyte who had previously owned the tome, as it happened, was one that the aspect of Raven was very unhappy with. And in the end, both aspects agreed to help Jason out...in their own way, of course.
If Jason wanted to wield the power of ancient spirits, then that's exactly what was going to happen. But he was going to use that power for something worthy of those who bestowed it: fighting the forces of evil as Corax.
Personality
In the folklore of several cultures, ravens are seen as tricksters; while Corax lacks the maliciousness of some of those depictions, he nevertheless has a penchant for sarcasm and wit, eagerly tossing out one-liners given the chance. His usage of his powers reflects this, toying with his opponents and weakening them rather than outright blasting away. He's somewhat pessimistic about people in general, but not to the point where it stops him from trying to do the right thing.
The influence of the aspect of Raven means that Corax has a particular enmity for the Circle of Thorns and the 5th Column: the former due to the aspect's own antipathy for the one acolyte having turned into a hatred for the Circle as a whole, and the latter because, in the spirit's own words, "Huginn and Muninn deserve better". (Although Corax would enjoy beating the pulp out of the Fifth Column without the spirit's influence.)
Nevermore and Project Goliath
Corax has a "supervillain" identity of sorts that he created in an attempt to go undercover with Arachnos. As Jake "Nevermore" Swartz, Corax worked as a double agent to dismantle Project Goliath: an Arachnos cybercrime plot that utilized multiple zero-day vulnerabilities to steal valuable data from multiple governments and major corporations. While Corax committed a number of seemingly evil deeds in order to establish his identity as Nevermore and gain the trust of Arachnos, some well-concealed tips sent to Manticore and Ms. Liberty ensured that the actual damage done was minimal at most.
Although Project Goliath was successfully shut down, Corax was exposed near the end...however, with the help of some heroes from Paragon City, he was able to keep the rest of Arachnos from finding out that Corax and Nevermore were the same person. (Arc ID #38366.)
Unsorted Trivia
Jason graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in networked & social systems engineering (and a minor in computer science). During his time at UPenn, he worked in a customer service position for Apple, and has mixed memories (at best) of both the customers and his coworkers.
When in human form, Jason has a tattoo of a raven riding a lightning bolt on his left shoulder, which he describes as a "ritual marking" to honor the spirits who gave him his powers and are now helping him learn magic.
Jason is one of the moderators for a Telegram chat dedicated to anthropomorphic superheroes.
Corax's Praetorian counterpart doesn't have superpowers. He was one of the refugees who escaped Praetoria; after becoming a Primal Earth US citizen in 2018, the Praetorian version of Jason Keene changed his name to Jeremiah Kurtz, moved to Austin, and is currently a software engineer with Duo Security. It wasn't until Corax's publication of the Project Goliath research that Jeremiah figured who his Primal Earth duplicate was, and it wasn't until he learned they would both be attending CanSecWest 2021 when he attempted to reach out.
Corax's Twitter account, @Paragon_Corax, has become somewhat popular in superhero (and superhero fan) circles due to his often irreverent takes. He takes particular pride in being blocked by Crey Industries for asking if they planned to "tweet about the Revenant Hero Project for #ThrowbackThursday".