Alexei Kovalenko

Alexei Kovalenko, also known under several aliases, is a Corax spymaster.

Biography
There are only two things that Alexei Kovalenko really, truly hates. One is his job, the other is his species. Mind you, there are plenty of things Alexei dislikes — the winter cold, the summer heat, the prevalence of those arrogant Shadow Lords in Kiev — and he'll complain endlessly about any and all of them to anyone who'll listen. Indeed, Alexei's nickname among his fellow spies and Corax is "The Cave of Winds", for he never, ever stops moaning about the latest thorn in his side.

Alexei is a spy, you see (though he prefers the term "information transfer facilitator"), and a very good one. While there's no actual proof that he wasconnected to the or  spy cases, he occasionally drops details into conversation that even the special prosecutors haven't uncovered yet. For forty years and more, he has sat in his dingy little office and done his best to manipulate the destiny of nations. Motivated not by patriotism but by sheer intellectual fascination with the game, Alexei now sells his services to the highest bidder. He has friends and business associates in nearly every major intelligence agency in the world, and all of them owe him at least one or two favors.

The problem, as Alexei sees it, is that while he's very good at finding things out, and very good at fulfilling Gaia's mission for the Corax, and even very good at more mundane things like avoiding getting shot by angry CIA agents, he doesn't like doing any of them. It's just that spying (and being a Corax) was the family business, and he was expected to follow in his father's footsteps, and, well, it's now the turn of the millennium.

Now nearing 70 years of age, Alexei is still spry and in remarkably good shape. Whip-thin like all Corax, he has a shaggy white beard that would do a turn-of-the-century Cossack proud. Alexei's other nickname is "the Priest," as he usually dresses in simple black and keeps himself immaculately groomed. The one item Alexei always carries with him is a cane that, to no one's surprise, contains a sword. Alexei has a variety of blades that fit the swordcane, at least one of which is silver.