Marcus Cassius Cato

Marcus Cassius Cato is a High Magistrate within the Prefects Belicus of the Avum Empire, and a member of the Shardbearers adventuring Guild.

Early Life
Born in Asdinium to the Cato family of strong military pedigree, Marcus was taught honour and discipline from a young age. The eldest of three siblings, Marcus was the first to join the Legion at the age of 16.

His sister Flavia (the middle child), arguably the smartest of the three now works in civil intelligence.

His brother Lucius (the youngest of the three) enlisted with the Avum navy and worked to become an officer.

Military Career
Marcus distinguished himself over the course of his military career, climbing the ranks of his beloved Legion, the 18th Legion of Avum.

The Cycle of 237 AT
The Vally of a Thousand Times is a fact of life to the people of Avum, Relentless, predictable, inevitable. After a build-up of many decades it finally came time for Marcus to defend his home, his legion and his empire against the myriad echoed armies of the cycle.

The legions of echoed warriors are endless, restless and merciless. Worse, they’re silent, you can see them rank upon rank seeming to stretch on into infinity and none of them speak when their mouths move or when they communicate their silent battleplans and there is no screaming or yelling when they fight. They seemed less like a foe and more like the tide.

The 18th held the line against them, in shadow the whole time, night after night, day after day. With a near one in five casualty rate this was a good year. The dead don’t sleep, and as such they were forced to fight in shifts, trusting their countrymen; brothers and sisters all, to hold the line while they got what little rest they could.

During one particularly intense spate of fighting, a well placed Deaconduit portal allowed the wraiths attack to fell the legions standard bearer. with no thought to his own safety Marcus charged forth and retook the Aquila, preventing the colours from being sullied by the ground. For his actions he was awarded the Fortum Victoria, the Eagle of strength and victory that now hangs from the handle of his handcannon like a rosary.

A Tour at the Bloodcliffs
After the Cycle, Marcus thought that some uppity hobgoblins would be easily dispatched, he soon had his misconceptions righted.

People hear the word “Hobgoblin” and immediately think of their small, stupid, green kin who, while vicious, are easily dealt with. Hobgoblins are bigger, red and clever. They think, they reason, and they plan.

Where the wraiths of the cycle are relentless, the Scarlets are brutal bastards. They’ll kill you, cut you up and wear your parts as trophies, and if you’re lucky, they’ll do it in that order.

One particularly memorable Optio wore his own fingerbones in a pouch after having reclaimed them from a "Red" who’d taken his right arm for a trophy. The tough bastard killed it with his new prosthetic etch blaster arm.

Defending the northern border is usually a simple affair, the forts and bastions are well equipped and defended enough to hold off the normal incursions. But, when the bulk of the empire’s forces are engaged in another matter, for example the return of the armies of the cycle, some hobgoblin chieftain gets it into its crimson dome that it’s the new great khan and unfortunately they often have the brains to back that up.

Then Avum doesn't just have to defend the border, it must go in and deal with the problem at its source.

The hobgoblins are masters of ambush warfare and the bloodcliffs are full of winding tunnels where the underdark pushes up close to the surface, it’s their home turf. As dangerous as the Reds are above ground, they’re about ten times that when they have their favoured terrain their home ground advantage doubles when you take into account that Humans can’t see in the dark.

But Avum is not without its own advantages, against the mechanised warfare of the Legion there can be no true victory, and like Asklepion before them, they put the denisens of the bloodcliffs to the sword, the gun and whatever else was necessary to get revenge for millennia of bloodshed.

They crawled through those for day on end, searching for the warband’s camps, this was where Marcus learned to sneak, blend into the shadows and give up the idea of ‘honourable’ warfare.

Hunting the Dark
During his last tour, Marcus was recruited for a mission of utmost secrecy. The cults of the Dark Ones were originating from outside the Avum empire and Marcus was tasked with hunting down the source of this malaise. He could not however be recognisable as a legion soldier.

Stripped of rank and uniform, officially Marcus was handed his retirement from the military, unofficially he was handed his trusty pistol, Arbiter, a prelate issue etching handcannon. He may be leaving the empire, but the empire would never leave him.

The Vampire of Bilgebend
His first port of call, and the first stage of his inquisition would take place on the island of Covoum, in the city of Covenend. Tale had been told of a coven of vampires stalking the local towns and villages, serfs had been found their necks slashed drained of blood, this would be Marcus's first great challenge. He was not however the only one hunting these foul creatures of the night.

In the town of Bilgebend he approached the local lord, a man by the name of Alax Athenstein about the local vampire menace. He was saved from his mistake, by a pair of vampire hunters; Iax Abnett and his apprentice Trisha Urban. Athenstein, the lord of Bilgebend, was a vampire.

It took almost three months of intense training before Abnett deemed Marcus ready to face a vampire in the field. During this time Marcus learned all that he could of tracking and stealth, of truth-seeking and slaying. His most important lesson was yet to come. It was almost an addition year and a half of an elaborate dance of  play and counter play before an opportunity arose to remove Athenstein from power.

During this time Marcus and Trisha had become close, Trisha was a delight; light-hearted, witty and full of joy. During a mission together though, after destroying a minor vampire in one of the small outlying hamlets. Marcus and Trisha came across the feral remains of local teenage girl. Before, in the safety of the village the girl had been so full of life. Marcus hesitated, and showed mercy to this seemingly innocent girl.

During the night, the village suffered the vicious ravaging of a fledgling vampire on her first hunt, Marcus's mercy cost 14 lives that night, including that of Trisha Urban. Marcus carries Trisha's pendant of Cailin - the goddess of mirth -  as a reminder of tragic price of mercy.

Through the combined efforts of Abnett and Marcus, (along with Marcus' newfound wariness of mercy), they were able to force Eisenstein into retreat, away from the island of Covoum, That morning the remains of Athenstein's coven burned in the light of the dawn.

Life on the Road
He spent some time moving between trading caravans, posing as, fellow traders and caravan guards. Impressing upon those he met of the folly of trade in demonic artefacts and heretical tomes.

Upon his return to the port of Covenend he encountered Lukas, a Vaalbardian of the Oak clan, who told him tales of his homeland, of valorous battles, of the hope to one day reclaim their homeland and of demon worship in the far north. His interest peaked, Marcus journeyed with Lukas to where his clan made their home, on the plains south of the Grimteeth mountains.

There he learned to spot possession, exorcise dark spirits and vanquish demons.

Over time Marcus bid farewell to Lukas and his clan and ranged to the south east through the Nordswoods into the Kingdom of Zelira.

Time with the Shardbearers
see: The Shardbearers