Almost nothing can be learned of Otavia Corvo’s life from Imperial sources. Prior to her naturalization as an Imperial subject in ISD 16236, no record of her has ever been found. In her naturalization papers, Corvo named the Norman Freehold of Kanthi as her homeworld, and claimed to have been born in ISD 16106, but neither claim can be verified, Kanthi having fallen to the Cielcin in ISD 17517, as part of Syriani Dorayaica’s campaign against the Norman stars.

According to Hadrian Marlowe’s account, Corvo was very probably a homunculus—that is, an artificial person, the product of genetic engineering. Prior to its destruction, Kanthi had been an important part in the life of the Norman blood trade, and a stronghold of the Sen Biologics corporation, whom it was said controlled a plurality of the voting shares in the corporate government of Kanthi itself—more than any other company or private citizen. There is no reason to doubt Lord Marlowe’s claim. Corvo’s service records were sealed by Imperial order along with all those who served under Lord Marlowe. Still, archival footage shows a woman more than five cubits tall, taller than the tallest palatine, and powerfully made.

If nothing is known of her early life, only little can be said of her years prior to her naturalization. She appears to have served as a mercenary for several years, working for multiple free companies over the years before finally enlisting with Admiral Marius Whent, the erstwhile Despot of Pharos. The details of Whent’s conquest are elsewhere recorded, but Corvo acquitted herself competently during the Admiral’s brief war, serving as second-in-command to Captain Emil Bordelon, who was later destroyed by Hadrian Marlowe in the Liberation of Pharos. It was during the liberation effort that Corvo changed sides, though her motivations for doing so remain unclear. Lord Marlowe attributes her change to a crisis of conscience over the treatment of prisoners by Whent’s regime—and by Captain Bordelon in particular—and it is believed to be her willingness to throw in with Lord Marlowe and Captain Bassander Lin that allowed for the Red Company victory at Pharos, in what would become their biggest stumbling block on the road to Vorgossos.