Marcus Scipio filius Iusti e domo Guernici quaesitor ex ordo

Page created 2^nd december, Winter 1226

Despite being a senior magus, Marcus looks barely into his twenties, though his serious nature belies his age. He has short silver blond hair, grey eyes and a pale complexion, and though of average height is quite slight and in poor physical shape. He dresses conservatively: when on Order business he will wear a dark robe with a silver Guernicus symbol above his heart; otherwise, dark travelling clothes and work gear are the norm. Marcus is not a native of Russia and speaks no Russian: indeed he is only ever heard speaking Latin, which uses none of the idioms of the Church or of academia usual in medieval Latin.

Marcus has known no other life than the Order. He knows no mundane family, as he was left as an infant at the doors to Magvillus, who took him in and raised him. Although his gift was not then apparent, he was a bright child who seemed to prefer to be alone or to hang around the magi than play with the other covenant children. At first the magi would shoo him away, afraid he would spoil their work, but as he grew older, they let him be, and when he was seven, and his nascent gift apparent, it seemed only natural for one of them to take him as an apprentice.

Marcus' new master was a Guernicus magus called Iustus, a stern ? and some say fanatic ? traditionalist, resident in Magvillus for some years. Marcus was worked hard and expected to excel, but was never treated harshly or unfairly: indeed, Iustus treated his apprentice more like the son he could never have. They would talk long into the night about hermetic law, affairs in the Order and about magic, and Marcus was encouraged to be both independent and impartial.

Marcus' childhood, apprenticeship and training have made a deep impression on him. Though he rarely speaks of his pater, he is deeply loyal to Iustus, and trusts him above all others. Wherever he lives, Magvillus is still home: it alone is where he feels truly comfortable and at peace, and compared to it, all other covenants are disorganised, code-troubling disaster areas. It is hard to convey the extent of his initial horror at Animus Silvae and its inhabitants. He often hears other magi maligning Magvillus, and at first he was bewildered, and then angered. Although he will rarely say it out loud, he knows that should Magvillus be threatened he would do anything to protect it.

Marcus is a traditionalist, like his parent, and believes in the strict enforcement of hermetic law. He firmly believes in the need for House Guernicus for the Order's protection and is the house's faithful servant in all things. He asked specifically for the assignment to Animus Silvae. Although he could not have imagined what he would find, he was keen to undertake a long term mission and to see life outside the cloistered world he had known. Since arriving in the remote covenant, however, he has had to question some of the certainties of his life. He knew that some magi did not like the quaesitors but was not prepared for the open antagonism and hostility he has seen towards himself, his house and his home. Nor did he expect to see the Code taken so laxly even in these outposts of the Order. He is an idealist and has been badly shaken: he is feeling increasingly isolated and unable to trust even his sodales at Animus Silvae.