Marcion ul-Fenduth Tagran Aldenbar

The Honorable Marcion ul-Fenduth Tagran Aldenbar
Vital Stats
Full Name:	Marcion ul-Fenduth Tagran Aldenbar
Age:	38
Date of Birth:	3. VII. 443.
Place of Birth:	Hornath ul-Marfed, Leptatarna, Arangoth
Race:	Human
Appearance
Hair Color:	Silver
Eye Color:	Blue
Height:	6'0"
Weight:	170 lbs
Additional Information
Religion:	Menxism
Occupation:	Sithire of Southern Arangoth
Marital Status:	Married
Player:	Stygian

Character Background

Marcion is descended from King Aladar II via his second wife, the peasant girl Rosebud. His grandfather was Prince Arduin, half-brother of King Dorn. Arduin never attempted to claim the throne after the assassination of King Dorn and the disappearance of Crown Prince Arlok ul-Dorn and his brothers, feeling unworthy due to his half-peasant heritage. He argued in the Northern Estates that the issue of succession could not be settled until the fates of the missing princes were known, lest the Kingdom be plunged into a second civil war. He was a force for order and reconciliation in the post-war Interregnum, and tacitly gave his approval to the Provincial Governors ruling with near autonomy.

Arduin's son Fenduth, however, had a lifelong obsession with restoring the glory of the Royal House and claiming the throne for himself. He was sensitive to the political climate and circumscribed by his father's positions, so he had to move carefully and avoid the appearance of ambition. Instead, he carefully crafted a public image as a mediator of disputes and champion of law and stability, always comporting himself in the manner of a man who could be--and should be--king. When his health began to fail in the mid 460s, he transferred his ambitions to the shoulders of his son, Marcion. When Alysia "AngelSin" and her consort BLKDRAGON restored the Monarchy, Fenduth made sure that the Northern nobility took notice of the new monarchs' focus on the southern provinces and lack of attention toward the North. After the disappearance of the monarchs in 467, Fenduth again began lining up support for to make a bid for the throne, only to be thwarted by the return of Prince Arlok from a 50 year slumber.

Marcion grew up in Leptatarna on his family's estates, and enrolled in the School of Military Studies at the Royal University in Hornath ul-Marfed. He received a commission in the Provincial Guard, and participated in numerous expeditions to suppress bandits in both Leptatarna and Ruthmarna. The Riders of the Horn ambushed his company during one such action, and one of their infamous crossbowmen shot Marcion in the back. His men managed to get their captain to safety, and while convalescing from his injuries, became embroiled in the political sphere.

Following his father's lead, Marcion was part of the opposition in the Northern Estates to offering Arlok the crown, citing the still unresolved fate of Queen Alysia and her consort. They pointed to Arlok's indiscretions during the days of Dorn: his poor handling of the abuses of the Order of the Beady Eye that lead to needless deaths of many Arangothian citizens in the province of Outer Arangoth, as well as the Slaughter in the Maze, which turned many noble families against the monarchy and gave the conspirators against Dorn a power base. They made indirect implications that Arlok's actions were a major factor in bringing on the civil war that shattered the kingdom fifty years ago. When the vote in the Estates went in favor of Arlok, Fenduth purchased the vacant estate of Lasparath in Transdariania and moved his family to the south. He hoped to feed on anti-Arlok sentiment in the South and make his power play in Drache instead of Hornath ul-Marfed as he originally hoped.

When Lady Lorla Daranek sent out missives to certain parties seeking a group to come together and address the crises in Drache, Marcion responded and took a seat on the newly formed Regency Council in Evening Star of 469. Fenduth died in the spring of 470, and Marcion threw himself headlong into the work of government. He found that he was a better administrator than he ever had been a military commander, and be became a leading member of the body. He undertook a comprehensive reform of the laws in the early months of the year 470. He also spearheaded the process of distribution of vacant farmland in Transdariania in family sized tillages to make the land productive again, and supported the expansion of the Royal Guard into the city's Wharf District. He also served the Council in a diplomatic capacity, as part of delegations sent to the Isles of Myst and the Alesian Imperium. The absence of his father's influence and definitive news of Queen Alysia's abdication led Marcion to support the negotiation of a settlement with King Arlok that finally reunited Arangoth in the fall of 470. King Arlok named him Commander of the South's military forces, a role that he quickly delegated with the creation of the position of Lord Protector. With the outbreak of plague in Hearthfire, Marcion was the one who issued the controversial order to close the Iron Gate to contain its spread, separating the poorer districts of the city from the wealthier Upper City. As members of the Council either died or retired without being replaced, Marcion played an increasingly larger role in the South's government. He married Jetteah ul-Morden Asprolta, a former fellow Council Member and daughter of Aranian mercantile magnate Morden ul-Kayl Asprolta.

When the Vlorress Affair came to a head in 473 and paralyzed the machinery of government in a stalemate between the Council and the Royal Chancellery, Marcion rode north to Tagrana to meet with the King. Though he'd initially taken the side of the Royal Guard and the Chancellery in denying citizenship to a woman who claimed to have been 'cured' of vampirism, he was outraged by their intransigence and convinced his cousin of a daring plan to resolve the impasse. While some in Drache feared that he would return at the head of an army, he instead returned to the city quietly with a fistful of Royal writs. While he was in the North, Magistrate Lytia Seward had orchestrated a coup, and her brazen power grab alienated many of her allies. Marcion met with many of the principal players in the civil unrest, and gained pledges of either support or neutrality from them. King Arlok had appointed him as the new Lord Chancellor, and had given him the authority to disband the Council as unable to function, cancel unpopular taxes that had angered the mercantile community, and oversee the installation of a new government in the form of a Sithire advised by a Privy Council. When the conspirators found that their support had evaporated, they fled the city, and the situation was resolved without any further bloodshed. After meeting with a number of candidates, Marcion recommended Nisa ul-Alathar Folvati to the King to serve as the new Sithire of Transdariania and Arania.

During the next four years, he continued to work assiduously with the Royal Chancellery and kept his distance from the politics at the Podar ul-Sinetattel. Even so, there were some critics who suspected that the Lord Chancellor was the real power behind the Sithire. When Sithire Folvati abdicated in Rain's Hand of 478, King Arlok named Marcion as her successor. His tenure as Sithire has included dispatching forces to Eastern Arangoth to quell increased Assi raids, and the subjugation of the Cabalos pirates and the subsequent colonization of the Cabalos Islands. And Drache, as always, is a hotbed of supernatural occurrences, and has had to contend with cults of Menxruk, demons, and rampaging dracoliches on his watch.

Physical Description

Marcion stands around six feet tall, and still maintains the physique of an active man as he moves closer to middle age. His hair started greying in his twenties, and is now entirely silver. His most striking feature are his intense blue eyes.

Talents, Skills, Quirks

Marcion is an accomplished swordsman and horseman.