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I guess it isn't any news
This keeps coming out in two's
If history repeats itself then what can I do?
Nothing I can say is news to you
Full name: Marius de Romanus
Age/DOB: Appears 40, is in fact over 2,000 years old / born in 30 B.C.E.
Race: Vampire
Occupation: Art dealer, Gallery owner, Property Management, Artist
Birthplace: Rome, Italy, during the time of the Roman Empire
Personality: Marius is a complex individual - for most intents and purposes, he fulfills the role of an eternal teacher. The majority of his relationships have been that of a Master and Pupil type, and he enjoys these the most because he loves to impart knowledge upon others. However, this also makes it difficult for him to consider others equals, or even to tolerate them, though he will go to great lengths to make sure others do not know this. He has a great temper that he hides well, though it has caused him to commit many foolish actions in his lifetime, the main of those being abandoning his two greatest loves, Pandora and Armand, when they quite possibly needed him the most. Marius has a great strength of will, having never killed an innocent and also, after over two millenia of existence, having no wish to die. He focuses entirely on the Evil Doer when he is feeding and considers it a grave sin for others to use their Dark Gift towards terrorizing mortals. While Marius is a teacher, he himself is also an eternal student: he constantly has his fingers on the global pulse of news, always staying updated with current events, even if he can do nothing to affect such things. He is also a great art historian, having had the luck of living through a majority of the major art periods. His favorite artist by far, however, is Botticelli.
Despite his great temper and sometimes judgmental nature, Marius is capable of great love. He is an eternal optimist, always believing and expecting the best of others. Of course, this "best" is to his standards and not anyone else's, though few people ever fall short. This might be considered another of his 'lies' that he claims to live, ever making excuses for himself and for others when they disappoint him. Due to the era he was raised in, Marius does believe women to be something of the weaker sex, though both Bianca and Pandora surprised him on this account. Marius can also be considered arrogant and egotistical to some extent, often believing that others rely on him more than they need to. He takes great responsibility upon his shoulders without being asked, often carrying the weight of the world (as he did in being the Keeper of the Pair for over 2,000 years). He is possessive and given to jealousy at times, as in Lestat approaching Akasha and in Arjun controlling Pandora. Marius is described as a tall, lanky man with a penchant for red - his hair is white-blond, and he has hard, blue eyes. As of late, he is given to wearing business suits and cuts his long hair short each night, for the sake of anonymity. He is a bookish individual, and speaks in a quiet, calm voice, often belying the emotion he is feeling. His hands are large and delicate, and used often in gesticulation as he speaks.
Biography: Marius was born to a Roman Patrician and Celt slave in 30 B.C.E. After his mother's untimely death, his father adopted him as a trueborn son, giving Marius citizen status in the Roman Empire. He is something of a middle child, though his family was quite large. His relationship with them was somewhat distant, though Marius fulfilled the roles expected of him - he attend school, and then at the age of eighteen entered the army. His family was powerful enough to give him a high rank, though he was never anything of a true soldier. Never did he enter the battlefield other than on a horse, and never was it anything more for him than to sit behind a desk and pass out appropriate orders. Around the age of twenty five, however, he tired of this; he left the ranks and became a wandering historian, something which his father frowned upon. However, having so many sons, he gave little notice to Marius' wanderings and soon Marius was left to his own devices, something he relished.
He began to document and write a history of the world. Everywhere he went, he would speak with people, learn their customs and ways, eat their food and become their friend. He was especially enamored of the poet Ovid, who's writings, for the time period, were extremely taboo. Marius was never fond of censorship, believing that information was deserved by all. Eventually, however, he came to a household where he would meet a young girl named Lydia. She was twelve and he nearing thirty at the time of their first meeting, but Marius knew instantly that he loved this child. She was given run of the household, being the only girl and youngest child after a slew of brothers. She too returned his feelings, though Marius would come and go from her household. Three years later, Marius asked for Lydia's hand in marriage, but was denied by her father because he was little better than Ovid himself. Despairing, Marius lingered but was not allowed to see Lydia; his wanderings took him away from there and to Antioch, where he met a man named Mael.
Mael was a Celt, and a servant of the God of the Grove. He had been sent, by his God, to find a suitable replacement for said God, because the deity was dying. Mael believed Marius to be the perfect replacement, and kidnapped him, taking him to the Grove. There the servants of the God groomed Marius for his new role, growing his hair out long and eventually sealing him inside the Sacred Oak with the God. Marius found himself face to face with a monster, a shriveled husk of what looked to be a man. This God was no more a deity than a man, though - rather, it was a vampire. The vampire pleaded with Marius to find the source of his malady, for something was burning him from within, and he felt other vampires dying all around him. Something was happening to their kind, something terrible. The vampire himself could not leave the Oak, could not find out what was wrong. He forced the Dark Gift on Marius, and the Roman escaped from the Grove, much to the chagrin of the Servants.
The Roman eventually discovered that Those Who Must Be Kept's Keeper had been driven mad over the centuries of care-taking and had put the Pair in the sun in order to destroy them and himself. Such an act was slowly destroying all vampires in existence; Marius spirited the Pair away, becoming the new Keeper. He acted in this role for over two thousand years, up until Queen Akasha's attempted genocide. During this time, he created his fledglings - Pandora, the girl he loved when he was mortal who'd grown into a beautiful woman and who's creation was entirely an accident, Armand, a boy he'd rescued from slavery, restored and come to love in Venice (and again who's creation was ill timed, Marius having to save him from death), Bianca, an Italian courtesan (who's creation was necessary to help aid Marius after Santino's coven burned him badly). Pandora he lost due to his temper and pride, fighting over the protection of the parents; Armand was stolen from him by a satanic coven lead by the vampire Santino, and eventually brainwashed by the coven into a completely unrecognizable person; Bianca left him when she overheard him telling Pandora that he would leave Bianca if it meant Pandora would be with him again, though Marius believed she would return to him. She never did.
Eventually he succumbed solely to the role of Keeper, believing himself to be greatly favored by the queen, Akasha. Because he has drunk from her so often, he became extremely powerful. He doted on the Pair, keeping them safe in enshrinement all over the globe, dressing and feeding them as necessary. And then Lestat happened; he came and visited Marius in his sanctuary on an island in the Aegean Sea, and there Lestat woke the Mother for the first time by playing a violin. Lestat drank from Akasha, and she from him, waking and angering Enkil, Akasha's consort. Marius likewise was green with jealousy, unbelieving that this vampire who was barely twenty years in the blood to be capable of waking the Mother. He banished Lestat from his home and tried to set the pair back to the way things were supposed to be. But Lestat wasn't finished betraying Marius - he took the secrets and knowledge Marius had bestowed upon him and created songs, music he would share with the world. The music created by the French vampire woke the Mother for a second time, leaving Marius trapped beneath a landslide of ice and waiting for rescue, which came in the form of Pandora and Santino. In their company (though lax to be with Santino) they traveled to Maharet, a vampire as old as Akasha. There, Marius was reunited with his beloved Armand, and all are informed of Queen Akasha's past transgressions against the Red Haired Twins. Mekare, Maharet's twin, has been searching for Queen Akasha ever since being split from her sister, intent on fulfilling a curse she laid on Akasha so many years ago.
Akasha swept over the globe like a plague, killing her children indiscriminately. She carried with her Lestat, taking him for a lover and her new consort; her plan was to decimate the male population, creating a peaceful paradise of women. Marius found this to be abhorrent, believing that his allowance of modern day technology into the shrines to have warped her mind and given her such a dark purpose. He allied himself with the Twins, feeling forsaken by the woman and Queen he loved and worshipped, and when she grew tired of her slaughter, she too approached the coven that had been created to stand against her. He tried to reason with Akasha, but she would hear nothing of it; he reasoned with Lestat, who finally heard the wisdom of his words, and Akasha was heartbroken by each of her children's betrayal. She promised them all death, but instead her own came. Mekare had found her and Maharet, and together the Twins destroyed the Evil Queen, severing her head from her body and then consuming her in ancient ritual. Mekare took into her the Sacred Core, and became the new Queen of the Damned.
For a time, Marius lingered on Armand's Night Island, but their relationship was strained considering all that had occurred between Armand's kidnapping and the present day; he doted and cared for Pandora, who had become a bitter individual, tired of her immortality. She eventually left the island of her own volition. Marius felt both a betrayer and betrayed by his fledglings, and eventually removed himself. He returned to New Orleans in order to give witness to Lestat's tales of Heaven and Hell, and there he was reunited with Pandora once more, for a time. He also turned Armand's mortal companions, Sybelle and Benji, into vampires, confusing, angering, and further distancing himself from his beloved Amadeo, though his intentions were solely out of love. After Armand turned Daniel, Marius removed himself from the group and took up residence in San Francisco with the newly made vampire, who had gone mad. Marius found he could tolerate and appreciate Daniel's presence for his newfound simplicity. After some time, though, Daniel's faculties returned, and he left Marius' care.
Alone once more, Marius was heartbroken to hear of events occurring in New Orleans, and once the hurricane has completely passed, returned there to be of assistance in its reconstruction. He now owns Andrei's Gallery on Royal Street, where from time to time he will display his own artwork, though he much prefers to display the artwork of promising young artists. He also owns several buildings in the area, and lives above a bookstore called Modern Times he runs through a proxy. All of this is to help him adjust to the present day, which he has done so. One of the tenants of his buildings is the young girl Lusa Van Bern and her grandmother; the two know of one another, and Lusa is quite aware of what Marius is due to her gifts. Marius extends a sort of protection over the girl and her grandmother, though they keep a distance from one another.
Upon hearing about the myth of the objects, Marius found it difficult to believe in such things. He is a logical man, despite the fact that he himself is a living myth, and believes the artifacts in the museum are nothing more than jewelry from bygone times. He holds no illusions that there is any other exit from his condition other than death.
Abilities/Powers: Marius is one of the oldest and strongest vampires currently alive. He holds many gifts, such as the ability to fly, to create flame with his mind, and to bespell mortals. He also possesses the ability to kill instantaneously with his mind. He, however, attempts to use these gifts sparingly and conducts his life as though he were still mortal.
EXAMPLES
First person: It is much changed, this place. Before where the streets were nearly overrun with flora, now water flows; but it is draining, it is returning to what it once was. Though it will never again be quite what it was; such a place is a metaphor for our kind. We strive to be who we were, and yet never can be. I do not begrudge what has been done to me, in fact, no, I relish it and accept the eternity offered. I have no wish to die. No, there is too much to see, to know, to learn, and I will gladly step forward in pursuit of such things.
The nights are cold, now. It does not bother me, it does not change me, but I note it all the same. The buildings are no longer torn, but one can see where they have been rebuilt anew. Fresh paint, new iron bars, it is so odd to see history overlain with the new. And yet, that is how it occurs every day. I should not be so surprised, and yet I delight in my reaction. It is not often that I find things so. Perhaps there will be something of note to write here tomorrow night, and I look forward to such a thing. For now, though, I return to my painting, and there is some bookkeeping to be seen to. I fill my nights with what I can, and hopefully others will join me here soon.
Third person: Marius descended the stairs from his loft to the bookstore below. It was odd, living above ground like this, though he had come to know it in San Francisco for a short time. Dressed in slacks and a red button up dress shirt, his hand met the banister solely out of the desire to feel the grain against his palm; he had carefully applied oils, as he always did, before going to speak with Patrick.
Patrick was a rare find, or so Marius thought. A true Irishman, Patrick's love for the written word exceeded Marius' own, and his ability to work with people in order to discover their exact need in terms of a book was amazing. The man was affable, intelligent, and a pleasure to be around. He never asked questions of Marius' strange comings and goings, nor about his appearance, nor about anything. He seemed simply content to fill his place as the manager of Marius' bookstore.
The redheaded man glanced up from his place at the counter, and gave a broad smile. His fingers were curled around a fresh copy of Tale of Two Cities, but he left it immediately to pull out a new book that had just arrived.
"Knew ye'd want to see this," he said, setting it on the counter. It was neatly bound in brown leather, no words stamped on its front. On the side, in tooled silver, were the words Amores, Ovid. Marius felt his lips curl in a returned smile. He'd made mention of the poet to Patrick a few weeks ago, and the man had left a note stating a surprise for the blond when he awoke the next night. Approaching the counter, he gave the man a nod before turning his attention to the book at hand. Lifting it, it weighed so little, and yet the memories the poetry evoked were numerous.
"Wonderful, Patrick. You've done it again," he replied, turning the page and choosing a poem to speak aloud.
MISC
General plan: Marius will act as a guide for newcomers, and hopefully as something of an antagonist in terms of those who wish to use the objects. He will firmly disbelieve in them, and then once they are proven to him, he will advocate either their destruction or removal. He is interested in any and all of the vampires or mortals, though most pressingly he would love to see Armand (in order to mend fences over Benji and Sybelle) or Pandora (because he believes their time together was too short) again. If Bianca were to appear, Marius would have a lot of apologizing to do. Marius is also close to Lestat, though he is more of the opinion that Lestat needs to keep his head down more.