Konstantin Ivanovich Rozhestvensky was the second born son of a lower Vostroyan nobleman.

This meant
that Konstantin was exempt from the Vostroyan Firstborn’s penance to the Astra Militarum and thus he was
able to pursue other futures. Being raised on Vostroya, he was raised to the firm orthodoxies of the Imperial
Creed and in his youth he would continuously read the Treatis Elatii.

Konstantin joined the Mushka Imperial Naval Academy aged seventeen. Here he developed a strong liking
to both Ossbokh-vyar and Rahzvod, especially the Rahzvod. Konstantin would become reasonably
proficient in Ossbokh-vyar, reaching the 11th level by the end of his time at the academy aged twenty two.
His graduation grades were nothing stellar, but he did not end in the bottom of his class either.

Konstantin was assigned to the Vostroyan Home Defense Fleet after graduation, where he became a
gunnery officer onboard a Lunar-class Cruiser, the Varyag. The following years passed by relatively
uneventfully, with the most eventful actions being the hunting down of smugglers. After those years of
monotony however, the Varyag was transferred to the Spinward Front, here Konstantin would get his first
taste of void warfare.

The Varyag was largely involved in screening operations, making sure no enemies would be able to sneak
up on the Battlefleet. Several times the Varyag clashed with Ork raiders, one time even being boarded by
the Greenskins. This event is where Konstantin grew to appreciate the effectiveness of the Combat
Shotgun that the armsmen were using. While the boarding party was successfully repulsed, the Orks did
damage a vital component of the ship: Its Gellar Field.

However, this was not known to the crew of the Varyag at the time, and so they continued on with their
mission. The next time they jumped into the Warp everything initially seemed fine, but after a few moments
the Gellar Field started malfunctioning, and the Horrors the Warp unleashed on the Varyag would forever
leave an impact on Konstantin. Luckily, the jump was only a short distance and Imperial ships were close
by to render assistance, however, the Daemons were overrunning the ships’ defenses and it was decided
that the Varyag should be abandoned and then destroyed, lest it fell into the hands of Chaos.

Konstantin managed to lead a group of crewmen out of the Varyag, which got him noticed by the local
Admiral. The thirty one year old Konstantin got promoted to 1st Lieutenant and was made second in
command of a Dauntless-class Light Cruiser, the Aurora. It got into some tough scraps, but always
managed to get out in, mostly, one piece. One event in particular stands out. The Battlefleet to which the
Aurora was attached had orders to help relieve a world under siege by Tau. However, the Battlefleet had
only been given sparse means by the Departmento Munitorum for the perilous journey, as well as bad intel
about the Tau forces. This action would later be referred to as the “Voyage of the Damned” as almost the
entire Battlefleet was destroyed by the Tau after the long and arduous journey. Of the few ships that got
away from the disastrous battle, the Aurora was one of them.

His experiences on the Varyag and the Aurora made Konstantin more reliant on his Rahzvod, to which he
developed an addiction. This made him frequent bars quite regularly, where he got involved in numerous
fights, usually with Astra Militarum soldiers. But not exclusively, and one fight would prove to be fateful.
Here Konstantin got into an argument with what later turned out to be an Inquisitorial agent. They were
debating the Imperial Creed and when this agent questioned the Treatis Elatii, an inebriated Konstantin
displayed his Ossbokh-vyar skills and decked the man. However, this man was able to pull more strings
than Konstantin could, so as a form of petty revenge he “recruited” Konstantin for the benefit of the Imperial
Inquisition. As no sane Admiral would go against the wishes of His Holy Inquisition, Konstantin’s fate was
forfeit.

After several decades of loyal service to the Imperial Navy and an eventful career, Konstantin was now
relegated to menial tasks for the Imperial Inquisition on some backwater world where nothing of note ever
happened. And perhaps the worst thing of all, they didn’t even have Rahzvod.