Marcus Lupus Ferox [Deus Lupus]
![[Marcus Lupus Ferox (morph)]](img_char/marcus-ferox-morph.gif)
![[Marcus Lupus Ferox]](img_char/marcus-ferox.gif)
History
Marcus Lupus Ferox was born in the Roman Empire circa 200 CE,
a wolf pureblood-morph in a family of practitioners.
Considering that practitioner-shapeshifters were the
first primitive morphs, this is not terribly uncommon.
Also, since pureblood-morphs have a stronger connection to magick than mere alpha-morphs,
a practitioner bloodline is more likely to produce a morph.
This particular family of practitioners were followers of Isis.
As it developed, Marcus Lupus Ferox had a talent for war,
both as a combatant and as a planner.
Marcus was a Roman legionary in Emperor Constantine’s Legions
when Constantine had his vision
of the Cross at Milvian Bridge in 312 CE.
He never forgot the victory under the sign of Christ.
Just as he never forgot the later deaths of members of his family,
when they were
murdered
for being practitioners and morphs.
Marcus was a witness to the power of Constantine’s vision,
and was deeply affected both by the power that the vision gave the Emperor
and the violent dismantling of pagan Europe that it began.
In later centuries, he acquired powerful status as a morph Champion,
He was general of a small army of morph fighters,
all of whom owed their alligience to him rather to the Council of Three.
This turned out to be good planning on his part,
since he ended up butting heads with the Council a number of times.
Each time he accused them of not doing enough;
the Council’s position was that they did exactly enough,
but Marcus wanted them to interfere where they did not have jurisdiction.
At some point (between 1231 and 1838 CE), he was interrogated by the
Inquisition of the Damned.
He obviously survived the experience,
but his treatment at the hands of the humans would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
![[Marcus in action]](img_support/mlf-action.gif)
Around 1461 CE, Marcus argued again with the Council of Three,
trying to convince them
that the atrocities of the Uasal Witch were too great to allow her to continue
and her plans were too dangerous to allow them to come to fruition.
In this he again seemed most adversarial to the Wolf-Councillor, Mabon Conall.
In that argument, he again failed to convince the Council as a whole.
Frode Dobrogost Timon (the Seventh) claimed that she has committed no
Netherwold crime, therefore the Council was not involved.
However, when Marcus chose to attack Eleanor Uasal in secret anyway,
Lillith chose to back him up with her inherent power.
In the end, the combined efforts of Marcus’s fighters, Lillith’s power,
and Sebastian’s final lightning bolt succeeded in stunning the Witch.
Marcus and Lillith locked the still-dangerous Eleanor away in an iron coffin,
where she would
sleep,
everyone earnestly hoped, for eternity.
After World War One began, Marcus Lupus Ferox was again trying
to convince the Council of Three to intervene in the situation.
However, this time he had a different reason:
humanity’s technology and ability to make war were getting too dangerous.
As it stood, they would soon be able to win battles against the Netherworld,
if they were not capable of doing so already.
Marcus wanted the Council to sanction clipping their wings.
They again refused and zapped him back to his homeland.
Marcus was outraged by his treatment by the Council
and especially by the Wolf-Councillor.
During the course of the War, he was able to track
Lord Senan Conner, the Wolf-Councillor, as he fought for the Americans.
On oppurtune moment presented itself in 1917, and Marcus murdered Senan Conner,
making him appear to be a normal battlefield casualty.
He probably had plans for dealing with the Wolf-Councillor heir.
However, someone outsmarted him and spirited the Conner family away.
Nonetheless, in 1918 CE, Marcus’s plans were ready.
He had secceeded in getting past the Council before;
this time he would go right through it.
With the support of many morph tribes, families, and factions behind him,
Marcus Lupus Ferox faced down the Council of Three and dissolved it.
Lillith acquiesced rather than face killing thousands of morphs.
She had been fond of Lord Senan and his death and the disappearance
of the heir had demoralised her.
And she felt humanity deserved their coming fate.
Without the support of Lillith, Timon was unable to do anything.
![[Deus Lupus]](img_support/mlf-deus-lupus.gif)
Marcus Lupus Ferox had originally planned
to reign as king of the Netherworld over his supernatural kin.
However, when World War One ended after he dissolved the Council of Three,
Marcus received what he claimed to be a vision:
unity among humanity and the Netherworlders.
This vision was what drove Marcus Lupus Ferox,
now calling himself Deus Lupus (Latin: Divine Wolf), from that time on.
The whole idea divided morph community, including his own allies,
and after a very short, acrimonious confrontation a Cold War began.
(See also Council, Dissolution.)
After only a few years, the “Cold” War heated up substantially
as battles among morphs in their realms hidden from humanity began in earnest.
The conflict quickly became known as the Great War
(possibly in defiance or imitation of World War One’s similar name).
The fighting continued over the years,
most of it staying safely hidden from the innocent eyes of mere humans.
At some point after Corrine Melpomene Chattan manifested as a morph (which was in 1991),
she had a relationship with Deus Lupus, considering him a hero.
This viewpoint changed with time until she recognised that he was insane.
The forces of Deus Lupus were very successful in battle.
The moderates and their allies were on the verge of losing.
By this time, Melpomene had joined the fight on the side of the moderates.
In early 2000 CE, she hatched a plan to get her more powerful sister Chelsea involved,
a plan which was largely successful.
When Deus Lupus learned of this situation and the possible magickal pureblood,
he immediately acted to capture her.
When his first attempt to convert Chelsea to his cause failed,
he decided to
kill
Chelsea, Melpomene, and Jacob Livingston.
His advisor, the Old Wizard, assured Deus Lupus that the “rebels”
(actually the moderates, of course)
would surrender when they saw their supposed champion dead.
Then they would be able to bring the battles out from the
hidden coexisting dimensions (or planes) and to the earth itself.
For once the morphs were dealt with, it was humanity’s turn to be subjugated.
Fortunately, however, Melpomene and Jacob were able
to help Chelsea control some of her power.
In the process, Melpomene saw that Deus Lupus was using
the Old Wizard’s magick illusions to bolster his own fearsome demeanor.
She challenged him as leader of the Pack.
They fought a short duel, which ended when Deus Lupus
ran Melpomene through with his sword, apparently killing her,
after the Old Wizard had cast a spell of weakness on her.
Chelsea transformed into her black leopard form and attacked Deus Lupus.
When Jeremy Moon interfered with the battle
and called Deus Lupus as cheater for using the Old Wizard to kill Melpomene,
Deus was furious and would have killed Jermey, but Jacob backed Jeremy up.
When the followers of Deus Lupus saw that his own lieutenents and closest followers
were not really loyal to him, the heart went out of them.
If someone so close was not loyal, what was the point to their fighting?
They deplored the words without actions to back them up.
The Great War was over, because the soldiers refused to fight.
However, Deus Lupus could not accept this.
He turned on his former followers in rage,
but this time Chelsea’s pureblood form grabbed him,
disabled him because they were both purebloods,
and finally tore out his throat in her grief over Melpomene’s death.
The morph community took charge of the body
and declared that he would be remembered as a hero,
for so he had been for many years.
The Great War was definitely over
and the impossible dream of a united humanity and Netherworld
was once more just a dream.
Powers
Marcus had great magick, but it all bound up in his transformations.
This is how he was able to teach himself to talk while in pureblood-morph form.
Marcus remained an early morph his whole existence,
certainly wasting the likely ability to reach wizard morph stage.
Besides being a morph, Marcus had much more mundane skills.
He was a skilled fighter, seasoned campaigner, and experienced general,
understanding both tactics and strategy.
In short, he was just the person you wanted to be on your side in a war.
Personality
Marcus appears to have been a very intense personality,
who was often utterly convinced of the rightness of his position.
It does not seem that anyone would be able to convince him
to change his mind against his will.
Other Notes
See also:
References
- Jamie Robertson
- 2000-07-23:
Constantine’s vision at Milvian Bridge
- 2000-07-18:
Followers of Isis, Roman legionary
- COTC-000484:
Marcus Lupus Ferox discussion
All content copyright © 1999-2002 by Jamie Robertson unless otherwise noted.
DD;etb/20020628