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Biographical history
- Spring 1185: Cotrone, a town on the southern coast of the Italian
peninsular, part of the Kingdom of Sicily. Marcos is born into a wealthy
family of silk merchants.
- Winter 1194: Marcos’ parents both die from a plague. Orphaned, he is
taken in as a ward by his uncle.
His uncle is a bad businessman and he and his wife like to enjoy life a
bit too much - the couple spends too much money on luxuries, taking
loans on the business to fuel their sybaritic lifestyle. Over the next
few years they run the business into the ground.
Despite his uncles protestations, Marcos receives a good
education at the municipal school, originally founded
by Pythagoras as a continuation of his semicircle.
- Summer 1201: Marcos reaches adulthood. He takes ownership of his
family business and sells what it left to a competitor. Leaving his
uncle and aunt destitute, he travels to Salerno to join the
University.
- Spring 1203: Marcos meets Justine, a princess who is studying music
with a private tutor in Salerno. They fall in love and are married just
over a month later.
- Spring 1204: Tragedy strikes. Marcos’ wife, Justine, dies from a
snakebite. She was pregnant.
- Winter 1204: Heartbroken, Marcos’ studies turn dark. Patching
together lore from occult tomes, he attempts a ritual to bring Justine
back from death.
It fails… badly. But the ritual was not without power and it marked him,
drawing the attention of nearby ghosts and spirits.
- Spring 1205: Marcos becomes obsessed, driven with
the need to bring his wife back from death. Undeterred by his previous
failure, Marcos delves deeply into dark and forgotten lore. His sinister
studies draw the attention of a cabal of Mathematicii, lurking in the
shadows of the university. They approached Marcos and ask him to join
their cabal.
However, the Mathematicii were themselves being watched. Carles
Severel, a Guernicus magus of Schola Medica
Salernitana (an independent covenant also ensconced within the
halls of the university), became aware of the gifted young man through
watching the Mathematicii. He also approached Marcos and offered him
apprenticeship in ‘real magic’. Marcos challenged the Guernicus Magus to
prove that his magic was stronger. The Guernicus duelled each of the
Mathematicii in turn and easily defeated them.
Marcos agreed to join the Guernicus as apprentice once his studies with
the university were complete.
- Summer 1205: Marcos completes his Baccalaureate and
is apprenticed into House Guernicus of the Order of Hermes, and joins
the Schola Medica Salernitana.
- Summer 1214: Rhine Tribunal of 1353 AA. Crintera continue their
political attacks against their neighbour. While there is no evidence
that Oculus Septentrionalis is deliberately
interfering with the mundanes, they argue that the mere proximity of the
covenant to the townsfolk endangers the order. Surprisingly, this
position is supported by Waddenzee and the tribunal vote narrowly
supports the motion. The tribunal rules that there is no evidence to
require an investigation but because of the potential risk, a request
will be made to House Guernicus to monitor the interaction of
Oculus Septentrionalis.
- Winter 1214: Marcos skill with mentem magics grows and his facility
with spirit magic develops. Through self study, piecing together lore
from many tomes, learns the rudiments of Spell
Binding.
- Spring 1216 onwards: As part of his apprenticeship, Marcos travels
extensively with his Parens and spends almost two tears at
Magvillus.
During these travels that Marcos meets magi who, unknown to him, are
Disciples of the Worm. The begin corresponding with Marcos, encouraging
his studies into spirit magic, providing advice and help.
- Spring 1219: Marcos passes his Gauntlet at Magvillus. He takes the
name Serapis after the Graeco-Egyptian deity of death
and rebirth.
The newly gauntleted magus is appointed to Oculus Septentrionalis in the
Rhine tribunal, to monitor the covenants involvement in mundane affairs
and report to the Rhine Tribunal gathering of 1221.
- Spring 1219: Travel to Lubeck. Serapis travels to Harco, from where
he uses the Mercere portal to travel to Crintera. He arrives in Lubeck
by sea.
His journey to Harco is not without incident. To avoid bandits, Serapis
is forced to stray from the road and becomes trapped in a regio. Serapis
is unable to muster enough Vim magic to escape the regio and resigns
himself to death - soon he will be with his wife again, although not the
way he wanted.
But he is not alone. An oversized raven calls to him from a tree. At
first, the raven speaks in the gutteral barbarian speech of the northmen
but switches to a more civilised tongue as soon as it realises the man
does not understand.
The raven offers to show Serapis the way out of the regio, for a price…
Anything, agrees Serapis. The raven flies at his face, pecking at his
eyes. To Serapis, it felt like his eyes were being plucked from his head
- the pain is excruciating as the raven stiches its magic into Serapis’
eyes. Now you can see! Cackles the raven. And your price? Serapis asked.
That will come later boy, said the raven as it flies off.
(The raven has taught the ability Second Sight and
Serapis’ pupils turn black granting him a Piercing
Gaze).
- Summer 1219: Disguised in Lubeck, Exp: 0
- Autumn 1219: Disguised in Lubeck, Exp: 0
- Winter 1219: Disguised in Lubeck, Exp: 0
- Spring 1220: Now…
Other background details
Orpheus
- Serapis is a descendant of the Orpheus of legend. Orpheus was one of
the Argonauts. After retrieving the Golden Fleece, the Argo’s voyage
home was not as easy as the voyage out. They braved many dangers but
also enjoyed the local cuisine (if you know what I mean, nudge-nudge,
wink-wink) at many ports. One of the ports at which the Argo stopped on
the long voyage home was Cotrone.
Pythagoras
- Cotrone is also connected to Pythagoras.
While Pythagoras is most famous for his arithmetic, he was also a mystic
philosopher. Some magi, notably members of house Criamon and the
Fraternity of Samos (named for the place of Pythagoras birth) believe he
may have been Gifted.
Serapis
- Serapis is a
Graeco-Egyptian deity of the late Ptolemaic era. Combining aspects of
Osiris, Apis and Dionysis - he is a god of the underworld but also a god
of resurrection. Statues of Serapis bear a strong resemblance to
Hades.