He remained in Aemilius’ company for some time, travelling ahead of the expanding Roman Empire into Gaul, which would one day become France. Here, they took on different names and lived amongst the locals, helping where they could and trading food for shelter. It was in the middle of the fourth century, living on the coast, that Marius lost track of his sire. Leaving only a note behind, Aemilius abandoned him, something which he would spend the next thousand years trying to understand. Without his friend and mentor, Marius began to lose grip on his nature, and left a trail of mourning families across the country as they found husbands, wives and children dead, the only mark on them two puncture marks on the throat, or a deep slit across the wrist. Marius, in the grips of apathy once again about his situation, did not think about the consequences of his actions, and rode the wave of Germanic invasion over to England in the early fifth century.
There, he continued his reckless way of life, until one day he passed a travelling preacher who immediately saw him for what he was. Rather than kill him immediately, as he had intended, Marius listened to him, and they talked long into the night. It was then that Marius turned to God, and it has been a faith that has remained with him for his entire life. He would later learn that the man’s name was Augustine, and though he would never set eyes on him again he would remain eternally thankful to the man who had brought him peace. With that peace, however, came a heavy guilt for the lives he had taken, and he vowed to spend the rest of his life atoning for the crimes he had committed.
Changing his name once again, Marius moved to Norway in the mid eighth century and watched the unfolding Viking invasions from the side of the aggressors. Christianity followed him to the Scandinavian country, and he found himself growing comfortable with the climate and the local people. It was here that he would begin his first true romantic relationship with a mortal, a young woman with hair like fire and eyes like emeralds. Despite knowing what he was, she remained with him until her death, and to this day Marius still mourns for her, remembering her as if it was only the previous day that he held her in his arms. He had not loved another mortal with that intensity since.
During the civil war spanning almost an hundred years, Marius kept mostly to himself and led a simple life in the more frigid lands of the north. He left the country and headed east, into Russia, some years before the Black Death would take its hold upon Norway and most of Europe. However, the situation that he found himself in upon entering Russia was not one which was much better. Though he had entered the country and found lodgings and acquaintances easily, finding the local people to be kind and welcoming to a stranger, it soon became clear that the country was in the grips of an invasion.
Though Marius did his best to move around and keep ahead or out of the war itself, it would occasionally, inevitably catch up with him. He saw Moscow and Vladimir burn, and listened in the inns and taverns as people spoke in fear of the hoard that had crushed the resistance in surrounding countries. Despite the Russians and Polovtsy – a Turkish tribe with whom they had been at war – putting aside their differences, they were no match for the Mongols, and as they spread Marius saw leaving the country as next to impossible, until the resistance began to rise. In 1378, when Moscow rose up and fought against the Mongols, winning the battle and giving the country a brief reprieve, Marius left, and travelled south into Romania.
[OC] | Marius Eldritch
He remained in Aemilius’ company for some time, travelling ahead of the expanding Roman Empire into Gaul, which would one day become France. Here, they took on different names and lived amongst the locals, helping where they could and trading food for shelter. It was in the middle of the fourth century, living on the coast, that Marius lost track of his sire. Leaving only a note behind, Aemilius abandoned him, something which he would spend the next thousand years trying to understand. Without his friend and mentor, Marius began to lose grip on his nature, and left a trail of mourning families across the country as they found husbands, wives and children dead, the only mark on them two puncture marks on the throat, or a deep slit across the wrist. Marius, in the grips of apathy once again about his situation, did not think about the consequences of his actions, and rode the wave of Germanic invasion over to England in the early fifth century.
There, he continued his reckless way of life, until one day he passed a travelling preacher who immediately saw him for what he was. Rather than kill him immediately, as he had intended, Marius listened to him, and they talked long into the night. It was then that Marius turned to God, and it has been a faith that has remained with him for his entire life. He would later learn that the man’s name was Augustine, and though he would never set eyes on him again he would remain eternally thankful to the man who had brought him peace. With that peace, however, came a heavy guilt for the lives he had taken, and he vowed to spend the rest of his life atoning for the crimes he had committed.
Changing his name once again, Marius moved to Norway in the mid eighth century and watched the unfolding Viking invasions from the side of the aggressors. Christianity followed him to the Scandinavian country, and he found himself growing comfortable with the climate and the local people. It was here that he would begin his first true romantic relationship with a mortal, a young woman with hair like fire and eyes like emeralds. Despite knowing what he was, she remained with him until her death, and to this day Marius still mourns for her, remembering her as if it was only the previous day that he held her in his arms. He had not loved another mortal with that intensity since.
During the civil war spanning almost an hundred years, Marius kept mostly to himself and led a simple life in the more frigid lands of the north. He left the country and headed east, into Russia, some years before the Black Death would take its hold upon Norway and most of Europe. However, the situation that he found himself in upon entering Russia was not one which was much better. Though he had entered the country and found lodgings and acquaintances easily, finding the local people to be kind and welcoming to a stranger, it soon became clear that the country was in the grips of an invasion.
Though Marius did his best to move around and keep ahead or out of the war itself, it would occasionally, inevitably catch up with him. He saw Moscow and Vladimir burn, and listened in the inns and taverns as people spoke in fear of the hoard that had crushed the resistance in surrounding countries. Despite the Russians and Polovtsy – a Turkish tribe with whom they had been at war – putting aside their differences, they were no match for the Mongols, and as they spread Marius saw leaving the country as next to impossible, until the resistance began to rise. In 1378, when Moscow rose up and fought against the Mongols, winning the battle and giving the country a brief reprieve, Marius left, and travelled south into Romania.