Marduk
Sobriquet: Sebastien Romaine
Appearance: Marduk is a bald man of very common appearance, under medium height. He is stocky, well over his forties, but his gleaming eyes shows an ever alertness, as well as deadly intelligence. He tend to wear roman inspired clothes when home, but won't hesitate to wear anything (with enough style) to appear more in touch with the modern nights. Still, he would resent wearing those strange clothes...
Behavior: Marduk is always calm: He learned calm should lead his behavior in his years as general, and in his centuries as researcher. He talks with a deep voice which can slow down to an awing whisper, conveying all the force of his natural presence.
Contents
History
In 3000 BC, there were only two populations in Mesopotamia. The Sumerian people and the Akkadian. The Akkadians were under the domination of the greatly feared Demon Godess called Tiamat. She was in truth a Vampire of the 4th Generation. The Akkadians, despite the powers of the powerful Cainite, was ruled by the Sumerian armies. Tiamat saw genius behind the tactics used by the enemy, and believing it to be the actions of a rival Vampire, she investigated to discover his Clan and aims. The King of Sumer was but a pawn, and she discovered her true enemy was but a mortal...
This enemy was the general and hero of the sumerian armies: Marduk. Huge-sized for the time, he was also loved by his men and had a great charisma. But what fascinated most Tiamat was his military tactical genius: This man seemed to divine the moves of the opponent. The King of Sumer trusted this man, and obeyed any of his wishes.
Even as a mortal, Marduk was a thorn to Dargonskyr, the demon inhabiting Tiamat. And his fears came true when Tiamat, while she was in control, Embraced Marduk and abandonned him so fast Dragonskyr couldn't take the control and kill the Childe.
After Tiamat went away, the Sumerian Armies conquered the Akkadian lands. Thus, the two cultures became one. As it was under the influence of Marduk that Babylon was created in such a way, it is not surprising to find so much of the gods and traditions of Sumer in the ancestors and successors of Babylon.
Even if the time Marduk was with Tiamat was such a short one, he understood that she was, somehow tortured by something and that she wasn't completely responsible of all her actions. He tried to follow the destruction and cataclysms she left behind her, but after decades, he understood he would never catch up with her, and so decided instead to discover the origins of her Sire. He discovered, thus, the Sword of Nul.
His research made him discover a world he didn't believe it existed. So much civilization surprised him. While in the 46 years of his human life he had accumulated knowledge, had become a great warrior, leader and scholar. But everything he had learned couldn't prepare him when confronted to the Egyptian Civilization, in the height of the Old Kingdom. He was frightened, awed and hypnotized by such greatness. He stayed centuries there, studying the strength and weakness of such empire.
The other civilization which surprised him was Greece. After centuries, he had an idea of what he believed to be the ideal society, and Greece was similar in idea. The philosophy (and Socrate) taught him the greatest lesson of his life: He knew nothing! He couldn't help but be surprised and fascinated by the roads that could follow a civilization. And everytime he believed to have learnt almost everything, when he lost faith, he would discover that he was mistaken. Immortality only brought more questions, and no answers.
Greece started to glorify man instead of the King, or the State. And so, Greece made him discover what would become the greatest objective of his never ending unlife: To create a new, but great, civilization.
Rome
In 620BC, he arrived in the land that would become Rome, following the unholy steps of his Sire. While he only found the murders and destructions, he never found his murderous Sire. But he fell in love with the land. Rome was, then, as fertile land that promised to grow in strenght, knowledge and power. Rome would become the land of his experience. With other like-minded (and not so like-minded) Ventrue, he would found the greatest civilization which ever existed. A Republic founded in the Greek wisdom...
Carthage was, in the 3rd and 2nd century before our era, was the only opposition to the glory of his experience. But their choice to live among the mortals had somehow misfired, and now the rumours of cruelty and horrible sacrifices reached Rome. They now decided which direction would take their people, who lost their liberty of choice. They were slaves to the Cainite society.
Carthage was a danger to Rome, and the Roman Ventrue, Marduk (Known then as Marius) among them, decided it should be destroyed. Marduk was chosen for his tactical and military abilities to make sure Rome, through Scipion Emilien, would succeed.
But this only made him discover he would never free Rome from its Cainites masters: They were doing the same thing he despised in Carthage, but in a covert way, and the fact that the other Clans were openly admitted in Rome after the destruction of Carthage only worsened the fact.
While he fought with every bit of strength to stop it, Rome started to decay, thanks to every other Clan. The conquest of Egypt only worsened it, as the Childer of Set, apparently changed from the God-like scholars and warrior to foul corrupters, decided Egypt was too limited to their own taste, and so expanded their influence in every part of the Roman Empire.
He never knew his Sire and Dragonskyr were near, and too late discovered he had been so powerful for thousand years only because he had no one, no thing to protect, until now.
Remus and the Enemy from the East
His own schemes were countered by the other Cainites, even those of his own Clan. He failed to protects his mortal agents, who were murdered or disabled to the last but one. A young roman officer called Remus Sempronius Emilien. The fire in his gaze had fascinated Marduk, full with kindness, courage and will to succeed. And Remus was Marduk's twin, but for the difference Marduk was bald and remus wasn't. Marduk believed this flame could be enough to be shared with all the romans. To protect him, he made him his Childe, in the middle of civil war that would attract the attention of Julius Caesar.
As Marduk spent too much time teaching his Childe, he let Rome to his Kindred. He discovered, in the end, that Remus' objectives wasn't his. Remus wanted conquests, and his new unlife opened undreamed possibilities. While Marduk tried to reason him, he finally let him go, as he believed everyone should be free to choose his own way.
Marduk took, then, another identity, and continued to share his wisdom with the mortals that came to him. Rome's greatness was maximum with the arrival of Constantin the Great. But the ambitions of Rome collided with the power of the eastern Tzimisce. Remus was sent to conquer the eastern lands, despite Marduk's objections.
At first, Remus was succesful, having inherited the genius of his Sire. But among his conquests were part of the territory of Alexei Bratovitch, of the Clan Tzimisce. Remus and his army was destroyed by the army and the monsters created by Alexei. Marduk heard the dying call of his Childe, but couldn't help him. But he avenged him, as it seems that a great cataclysm occured in Alexei's land. His ruined castle was found empty.
Marius, in deadly Frenzy, had injured Alexei, who fled for his unlife. He had then destroyed every retainer in his castle because they wouldn't tell him were was Alexei's secret haven.
Paris' Corruption, and the Birth of Georges De La Tour
For years, Marius erred, searching for the murderer of his Childe. He finally arrived to Constantinople, and learnt about the Fall of Rome. The date was now the 6th Century after the death of some obscure crucified holy man, and the grief of Marius was lessening. As he didn't want to come back to Rome to see it after the germanic invasions, he went to Lutecia, hoping to find the Childe of Remus, Labienus.
The roman Cainite was nowhere to be found, but Marius discovered this city has the potential to grow to a new utopia. So he decided to study its evolution without acting in any way. He took the name of Quentin le Nerf after having Dominated the family of the same name. Soone, the study of mortal study was shadowed by the study of Cainites actions behind it. Other Vampires were hidding in Paris, and in the 13th century, he learned that some unholy entity was draining the vital energy of the city to feed his own unlife. The sword of Nul gave him the confirmation. But something lacked to understand fully the puzzle, and he searched for this element for centuries.
Lanienus awakened at the same time, and this remembered Marduk about the past and his pain. He had been so much absorbed by the research about supernatural and Cainites that he had forgotten the natural and the mortals. He was surprised to see how much the society had changed, and went to explore the world, to come back in the 16th century, to see that the Kindred Clans were still battling each other.
He felt the city has lost its vitality. He took over his research where they had been interrupted, and Labienus, still aspiring to conquier the city, once more asked his attention. A powerful Toreador wanted the Right to Embrace a man called Georges Dumesnil De La Tour, a painter. But this man was also member of the mortal family dominated by Marduk. Labienus wanted to use a Prestation owed to him by Beatrix, the Toreador Prince, to use De La Tour in his schemes. Marduk clearly showed his displeasure, but accepted to see the mortal. To his surprise, Georges was the perfect twin of Remus (and so Marduk!). He had the same fire in the eyes, the same courage. Marduk appeared as Quentin du Nerf, and took with him Georges, to Embrace him in 1649
Vengeance! Vengeange!
But Marduk didn't discover someone looking for him all this time. Alexei, under the pseudonym of Antoine, didn't forget the shame of Marduk's attack. After having taken over the shreds of his territory, he threw himself to his pursuit. He had sworn to destroy his enemy and everything that he cherished. But aknowledging the power of the Methuselah, he waited for the right moment. And he choose the winter 1649.
At this time, France was victime of unprecedented troubles. After the was of 30 years, the nobility had revolted against the royalty. The Cardinal of Mazarin, as well as Ann of Austria, who ruled France while the youth of Louis, had to hid the young heir from the anger of the nobles. But behind this mortal facade, the Kindred were fighting among themselves. The Toreador were trying to build the first fundations of the Toreador Hegemony, and the Ventrue were fighting it with all their might. And of course, the Sabbat was using these troubles to kill Elders.
Antoine used these troubles to attack Marduk, weakened by a Sabbat Pack attack. He had incapacited the Methuselah, and was drinking his Lifeblood when Georges appeared. With the Sword of Nul, powered with his frnezied anger, the Neonate mortally wounded the Tzimisce and Diablerized him. When Georges awakened, he had forgotten almost everything in this night, and since, no one saw Quentin le Nerf of the fabled Sword of Nul. Marduk, having succumbed to Rötschrek, didn't remember what had happened when Georges had appeared, but knew by instinct that he and his enemy had somehow survived. Weakened, he found a secure haven, and entered Torpor to heal his physical and mental wounds. A Dominated family made sure his sleep was not disturbed.
The Modern Era
Marduk dreamed a lot, and in his nightmares, he saw Antoine attacking and destroying his Childer, one by one. Marduk awakened in 1904 after 3 centuries of welcome Torpor. He needed 40 years to recover back all his might, and came back to Paris after passing through Rome one last time.
He had adapted faster that he believed possible as the actual Paris has political and social structures similar to the ones imagined by Marduk. He only underestimated the speed with which the mortals would evoluate. He appeared to one of his Childer: L. A. H. Condé., and hid in the Palace of Chantilly.
Only Condé and Labienus know Marduk/Quentin le Nerf is back. After studying with great care the political structure of Paris and France, he promised to himself that he would make of Paris the new Cainite Republic. With his experience, he believes he can succeed, but one problem remains: Alexei Bratovitch.
Marduk used a Coterie of Neonates, among them the Gangrel the Gangrel Chad (who since then moved to Bregenz), to hunt Antoine, and they succeeded...
But forces of cataclysmic power are gathering in Paris, endangering his dream.
Recent Events:
Notes: Marduk masqueraded as Sebastien Rommaire
Marduk can only feed from leaders or Architects.
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Credit to the Author: https://augias.org/pbn/marduk.htm
