Lucian Augusti of House Corvo had once been among the most powerful men in the Anthvean Empire. He called the Emperor a personal friend, and controlled absolutely the production of salignis, a powerful magical explosive upon which the Imperial Legion had come to rely. However, his downfall was swift and brutal. When civil war broke out following the Emperor's demise, Lucian backed his son for the throne. A cruel, ambitious man, the new Emperor was quick to turn upon Lucian when it was revealed that several of his assistants had defected to the opposing side, taking with them the secret of producing salignis and allowing the rebels to fight loyalist forces on equal footing. An explosion reduced Lucian's estate to rubble, but it was no accident. Betrayed by the Emperor he served, and with nothing in the world left to lose, revenge was Lucian's only recourse. Through magic and his friends at court, Lucian was able to infiltrate the palace. There he melted the gilded throne which the Emperor had betrayed him to keep, trapping the man himself in the resulting heap of slag. Unfortunately his luck failed him after that, and despite his best efforts he was arrested by the Imperial Guard. For months he languished in a dark cell beneath the palace, wasting away to nothing even as the war turned against the loyalist. It was as the rebels laid siege to the capital that Lucian was dragged out of his cell and strapped to an electrical chair. The executioner flipped the switch, and Lucian's life was snuffed out. Or at least it was supposed to be. Instead he woke up atop a hill in a strange land with unfamiliar stars, where the locals had no knowledge of his homeland.