Marcus Background

From Ars Magica

History of Marcus Severus

Born as Fintan mac Find, the future Marcus Severus was left to the monks of Glendalough by his mother. He was three years old at the time. His father had just died, a victim of an accident while farming in the valley. His mother, wildly distraught, left the child and then vanished, presumably killing herself in the depths of her grief.

The monks took the child in and soon he was a favorite with them for his cheefuly disposition and beautiful singing voice. He sang in the choir and began to learn musical composition and all the signs pointed toward a religious life.

That changed when a Jerbiton named Julius Parvo Elemento visited the abbey and heard the lad sing. Impressed with the child's musical gift, Julius soon became convinced that the child also had The Gift. He began negotiating with the abbot to take the boy as his apprentice and finally the abbot agreed both out of a conviction that the boy did not have a calling and out of fear for the future of the monastery in the face of raiders and invaders from Scandinavia and England. (In fact, the monastery was destroyed in 1214. )

So it was that at the age of 11, Fintan mac Find began his Hermetic training. Those were happy years. Julius was an internant sort and often he and his apprentice would load a mule with supplies and a few books and spend a season or two travelling, usually disguised as monks. The apprentice learned magic and continued his study of music. The pair spent much time at all the monasteries, great and small, of Ireland, England and Wales. They listened to music. Fintan, already known as Marcus or Brother Mark, would sing and share his musical compositions.

When they weren't in the monasteries, they were at the courts and castles where Julius was often on business for his Covenant (one in Ireland, nearish to Dublin). Marcus listened to the harpers and singers and was soon accepted among them as a friend and peer.

Eventually, though, all good things come to an end. Marcus completed his studies, passed his gauntlet without difficulty and was ready to go out into the world. Julius suggested to him that the new covenant forming in Wales might suit the young magus and so Marcus set off.

Physical Appearance

Marcus is a stout man, not fat, but well-fleshed. He has the freckled complexion often found in Ireland but lacks the famous red hair, being instead possessed of dirty blond tresses which he usually wears tonsured. He is cheerful and friendly, witty and charming. He is still possessed of a fine singing voice and does not hesitate to use it. He wears the robes of a mendicant friar and in fact has a fairly well established persona as Brother Marcus or Brother Mark, a mendicant Dominican. He is welcome guest at most of the monasteries of England, Ireland and Wales and no one seems to question his credentials, although his Aura of Rightful Authority may have something to do with that.

As such a cheerful and garrulous man, he quickly makes friends whereever he goes and always seems to know what's going on with everybody all the time.