Colin Corvo was the apprentice to a royal protector/assassin. He and his master had gone to the mainland in order to seek help. The island nation that he is from, The Sazen Isles is suffering from a horrible plague. A large portion of the population has been infected but the rich manage to keep themselves isolated. The religious leaders are helping keep a very tight quarantine on the general population with religious purges. The Emperor, Durzho Kaldwell succumbed to the plague a year before Colin and his master were sent abroad to seek help.

Colin started off as a street urchin. He would steal and and get by as best he could. His little sister Sandra relied on him to feed her when she was sick and she was often sick. One day a city guard was beating up a street urchin for stealing. Colin’s sister went to try to stop the guard and was accidentally killed, the man had lost control of his temper. The guard faced charges for murdering two children but they were dropped as the only witness that would come forward was Colin. The Lord Protector Nizka Corvo took notice of Colin during the trial. A week after the trial was over the guard was found dead of mysterious causes. Nizka took it upon him to find the boy that stoop up for justice, then did what had to be done and took him in.

The Lord Protector taught Colin everything he knows and he was expected to be accepted into the Royal Guard when they returned from their trip. Unfortunately, when they arrived the Royal Executor Ronald Blint had Empress Emily assassinated and kidnapped her daughter, Lilly. Lord Corvo managed to barely escape but Colin was taken. Both were labeled as traitors. After a time Master Corvo saved the princess and Colin, but not before Colin was tortured and branded. Once the princess was with the loyalists, General Havelock who had been in charge of the counter coup betrayed Master Corvo and Colin. Shooting both of them and dumping them into the ocean in order to portray himself as the “Hero of Sazen” for “exposing” the plot to overthrow the royal family and getting rid of the assassin, once loyal Lord Protector Nizka Corvo.

Master Corvo’s friend, picked both of their bodies up a little way from shore. He managed to patch up Colin but Master Corvo’s injuries were too extensive. Nizka held on long enough to give Colin his last name, having officially adopted him before the voyage as well as the legal documents. He also gave Colin his equipment and his assassin’s mask. He charged Colin with finding help for their home and to bring justice to those that deserve it.