Markus II

Markus II, (born 87a.Au, crowned 149a.Au, died 160a.Au,) was the only child of Kaidu Secondborn and Sarella Two-Queen, grandson of King Marcellus I, and the fostered son and heir to Queen Khulan the Great. Born during the height of the Woman's War, Markus was deligitimised as heir by his grandmother the horse regent Hoelun Gonji following his maternal uncle killing Markus' father. Following the end of the war, Queen Khulan fostered Markus and named him the heir apparent in 91a.Au. Markus would be raised by his mother and the queen, growing to see both as a parental figure.

Markus had no siblings, and both of his parents never had further children, meaning he had a quieter childhood than most in the Aurum Dynasty. In the year 100a.Au, when Markus was 13, the Third Terranian Incursion began. Markus was deemed too essential to risk in the war however and remained in Argentum whilst his regal mother carved out the western reaches from Terrus.

Markus was married in 113a.Au at the age of 26 to Beatrice Valosar. They had two children, Julius (b. 114a.Au) and Argus (b. 117a.Au). The couple would divorce in 121a.Au, and Markus would marry again in 129a.Au to Harmony Pikeshudder, a halfling. His uncle Quitai would oversee the ceremony. This was considered an unusual match, given that humans and halflings are unable to have offspring. However, his already having children meant it was ultimately overlooked. Markus and Harmony would also divorce in 144a.Au.

Markus became king in 149a.Au after the death of his mother, who at 74 had been the longest reigning monarch in the history of the Aurum Empire. Markus was 52 when he ascended the throne, and generally speaking considered a weak and ineffectual monarch. When the Lord Paramount of the Western Reaches, Arthus Aurum, died, Markus allowed the title to be passed onto Arthus' heir. The passing of the title to Arthus from his father Sogan had been uncontroversial given his clear dedication to defending the western reaches from Terranian incursions, but Arthus' daughter Magnolia was a foppish and uncertain individual, and completely untrained in the art of warfare.

In the year 157a.Au, following several bruising defeats at the hands of the Terranian Empire, the lords of the western reach overthrew Magnolia Aurum, killing her heirs so that they may not be declared Lord Paramount and sending her to Argentum to beseech the king implement a new Lord Paramount of the Western Reaches. King Markus sent his son Prince Julius, Lord of Kenkoa, to the western reaches to settle the matter. Prince Julius would lead a highly successful campaign against the Terranian Empire, pushing the enemy forces all the way back to the White City of Dolinium, before negotiating a peace treaty which granted a sizeable portion of land to the Orben settlers - land that they wouldn't have been able to hold in a prolonged conflict but could fortify well in peace time.

The lords of the western reaches had declared their support for Prince Julius to be the Lord Paramount of the Western Reaches during this time, and by 160a.Au the war was done and Julius officially declared the land West Orbis, an official vassal of the crown. Meanwhile back in Argentum, King Markus had set his sights on a new woman - Magnolia Aurum, his distant cousin. However, not only did she not return his affections, she also harboured a deep hatred of him as her children's deaths were never avenged, her lands never returned to her, and her treacherous lords never punished. In fact, many had come out of the war more prosperous than before. Going along with his advances, the two were married in the fall of 160a.Au.

When they went to the marital bed, Magnolia lifted up her gown, removed a dagger, and stabbed her husband thirty seven times in the chest. Then she flung herself from a high tower in the Palace of the Golden Emperors.

Markus II is oft not remembered, but those historians who do know his rule know him to be mostly ineffectual; a man who struggled with love and emotion and paid the ultimate price for his inability to read a woman.