Darius Marcello III
From Valwiki
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| Player: | Dylan. | |
| Title(s): | Former High Inquisitor. | |
| Age: | 45. | |
| Race: | Human. | |
| Eye Color: | Blue. | |
| Hair: | Ash gray. | |
| Skin Tone: | Tanned. | |
| Height: | 6'2". | |
| Weight: | 185 lbs. | |
| Alignment: | Lawful Good. | |
Contents |
Biography
Darius Marcello III is best known for being the High Inquisitor of the Inquisition. However, his life began 35 years before that. He was born in a medium-sized village in western Valikorlia, before the Valikorlia Empire was split in to Alberea and Celdin. His father was a priest of Setengar, and his mother was a bread-maker. Darius received a formal education from the church, learning religion, history, and various languages. He became a priest of Setengar at the age of 19, and continued to preach in his village's church alongside his father.
When the Kanosek monarchy fell apart in Celdin, Darius decided to move to Celdin's capital city of Greendale. There, he joined with the Church of Greendale, under Archbishop Geos Astral. However, he did not continue preaching. Instead, he began to further study religion and wrote several pamphlets on Setengarite dogma and principles. After the fall of the Valikorlian Chancellery, he left the church so that he could further his studies. He began to philosophize about magic, and the abuse of the holy planes. It wasn't long until he rejoined the church and began preaching against magic use. At that time, King Cedric Alber had taken the throne and began forming a group of holy men to battle against the Ignis Fatuus threat. Darius was approached by the King's surrogate and attended several meetings. After some time, he decided to join the Inquisition, which was then led by High Inquisitor Alvin Ordin.
The Inquisition
Shortly after the Inquisition became public, then-High Inquisitor Ordin stepped down for unknown reasons. Darius, as the second-in-line, became High Inquisitor. On the day of his inauguration, he gave a sermon in Greendale that hinted at the future Inquest of the Ignis Fatuus. After that sermon, Darius was seldom seen in public. It was months until he announced the first Inquisitorial Mandate that created new laws such as barring hoods being warn on the streets, open worship of evil Gods, and instated the famed Magi Registration that required all mages to register their abilities with the government. Although Darius spearheaded the Inquest of the Ignis Fatuus, he remained out of the public eye and off of the battlefield, throughout the duration.
Darius became more public when the Templar Knights were re-created by the King. By this time, Darius had become head of the Church of Greendale and was fending off the Fervent Watch, who claimed that the church was rightfully theirs. With the addition of the Templar Knights, it would become impossible for Darius to remain head of the church and of the Inquisition. Initially, the Templars and Darius shared power of the church. However, just before the Imperial War, the King relinquished Darius' power in the church, handing it solely to the Templars. That action is the main reason why the Inquisition and the Templar Knights had become rivaling groups within the Empire. The height of their rivalry came with the start of the Imperial War. A rouge Templar Knight had set fire to the powder-keg that was Imperial Dalmar, causing various small conflicts between Imperial Dalmar and the Valikorlian Empire. When Dalmar finally declared war, the Templars had asked Darius to extend the Inquisition for battle. Darius, however, refused, stating that "it was a war the Templars started, and it was a war that the Templars would fight alone".
During the war with Imperial Dalmar, Darius had issued an isolationist policy for the Inquisition. No member of the Inquisition defended the Valikorlian Empire in open field, and Darius had denied any requests that the Inquisition offer their support. It was at this time that many of the Inquisition's lower-level soldiers were removed from the organization, leaving mostly clergy and the Inquisitors and leaving the Inquisition itself as an organization comprised almost solely of spies. It is unclear why Darius took these actions, but some historians say that he did so to change the public view of the Inquisition from a holy-warrior organization to a clergy.
After the fall of Imperial Dalmar and during the five-year period of reconstruction in Valikorlia, Darius struck a deal with the then-head of the Templar Knights Tarren Smarth. The deal would merge the Inquisition and the Templar Knights in to one group, under Darius' control. That meant that Darius would again be head of the Church of Greendale and the head of the fiercest religious group of all time. However, his luck was cut short when the Emperor-Regent declared that the government would no longer support the Inquisition. Following that, Inquisition and Empire officials drafted up an independence treaty.
However, Darius was duped by the Emperor-Regent. When he went to talk to the Emperor-Regent about the signing of the treaty, the Emperor-Regent declared that the very act of declaring independence was treason. He had Darius arrested. While the events during this meeting are sometimes disputed, it is generally agreed that Darius had attempted a coup d'etat. Lord Eian Smarth, who had just arrived to arrest Armand Lugar-Xanthica, immediately attempted to apprehend the now-deranged Marcello. Smarth had evidence to the corruption behind the emperor-regent, including falsified patents of royalty that he presented for the Xanthica bloodline, and in spite of this, Lord Smarth still tried to intercede and save the regent lord. Unfortunately, Darius murdered him before Smarth could ask, then escaped from Lord Smarth while his vassals called imperial guards to apprehend the high inquisitor.
For a while, many conspiracy theories surfaced over the whereabouts of Darius. Some even believed that he was going to return and murder Lord Smarth. However, Eian captured Darius personally, and turned him in to the lords of Esthras. While the arrest was successful, he violently escaped just prior to being hung for his treasonous actions. Over time, accounts of the ex-inquisitor surfaced, with all evidence pointing that he committed a vicious series of murders and rapes. While Lord Smarth would have liked to have pursued Darius, he had other matters to attend to. In the next few months, Smarth exposed Consul Nabbondius Rees and the Abarashe-Batisite family for their attempt to restore the Lugar-Xanthica blood unlawfully to power, and was forced to tend to Valikorlia instead of hunting down one deranged criminal.
Darius Marcello III is still out there, and he is still a threat to the empire.
Notable Items
Harkbus: Darius was the owner of one of the original three harkbuses created. After being arrested by the Emperor-Regent for treason, his harkbus was lost.
Cahfei's Raiment: The burial shroud of Cahfei himself. The raiment was left behind by Archonus Shroudsong when Darius shot an amulet he was using to spread the Plague. The raiment is an odd-looking black cloak that strengthens to a likeness of chainmail armor when magic or material weapons hit it. However, it always remains the same weight: that of an odd-looking black cloak.
