Biographical Summary: Alistar Corvus

Presiding Concordant and First Keeper of the Hollow Compass
Residence: Two Rivers, Wisconsin

Alistar Corvus, 53, has served as Presiding Concordant and First Keeper of the Hollow Compass of the Order of the Great Fifth Sea since 2018, overseeing its programs in shoreline heritage, field documentation, and the preservation of maritime traditions.

Mr. Corvus earned his undergraduate degree in Historical Methodology from Lake Superior College of Applied Studies and went on to complete dual master’s degrees in Regional Archival Practice and Documentary Epistemology at St. Alban’s College of Applied Records. He later accepted a Research Fellowship with the Mariner’s Collegium for Applied Documentation, where his field work on “The Importance of Proper Documentation in Maintaining Historical Integrity” involved the exhaustive cataloging of over 4,000 fishing license stubs spanning three decades.

His path to the Order followed the Silent Recruitment Method — a process wherein promising individuals are observed, without their knowledge, by senior members over an extended period to ensure their temperament, discretion, and level of enthusiasm meet the Order’s standards. In the case of Mr. Corvus, it is noted in the internal ledger that “his restraint in pursuing contact, combined with his fastidious note-taking during entirely solitary shoreline walks, marks him as a candidate of suitable bearing.” He was formally approached only after a three-year observation period, during which his apparent indifference was deemed “a strength, not a shortcoming.”

An advocate for rigorous information management, Mr. Corvus currently serves on the Board of the Dewey Decimal Heritage Foundation, where he chairs the Subcommittee for the Preservation of Obscure Classifications (including, most recently, “Chimney Sweeps—Social Conditions—19th Century”).

Residing in Two Rivers with his wife of 28 years, Margaret, Mr. Corvus is the father of two grown children who have declined all offers to join the Order but occasionally attend public lectures “out of politeness.” In his leisure time, he is known to walk the shores near Rawley Point Lighthouse, often sketching in his field journal or taking compass readings “for the record,” even when no record is required.