Lucien du Marriett / Lucius Annaeus Cornutus

PAST | PRESENT | FUTURE

As a child growing up in pre-Catholic Rome, Lucien (then known as Lucius) led a relatively quiet life. Born in Leptis Magna in Libya, he spent most of his life in Rome. Highly educated and a talented writer, Lucien was well-sought after for his eloquence and unique perspective on life. Even as a young man, he was incredibly sarcastic and cynical, and it showed in his writing. He made hidden, biting remarks toward government officials in his poems and satire that went unnoticed to all except his closest friends. In his later years (approximately his late twenties) such friend was fellow writer, Persius, a young man of Etruscan origin. The two spent many years developing a deep mentor/pupil relationship as well as a more personal friendship. Unlike Lucius, Persius was a sensitive young man, quiet and unobtrusive with a great love for his family. After Lucius' family died, Persius became like a brother to him. They were rarely apart and even read their poetry aloud before and after Lucius' speeches. The two became increasingly close, and after some time their associates began to question the relationship, both men being unmarried.

It was the death of Persius, at age twenty-six, that broke Lucius' spirit. Several of his published writings blatantly attacked Nero, the reigning prince at the time. After helping to get Persius' works published as his last request, Nero was alerted to Lucius' treasonous libel and the once respected philosopher was subsequently banished from the city of Rome. He was thirty-seven years old the last time anyone saw him alive.

A month would pass and Lucius would eventually make it to Florence. There, he intended to make a fresh start, perhaps start a family. He was tired of being alone. The loss of Persius still plagued him, haunting him in his sleep and distorting his already darkened view of life and humanity. His writing suffered, people began ignoring his musings and speeches as they became more and more fatalistic, and depression rooted itself deeply into his psyche. He obsessed over Persius' death, convinced it was not illness that took him but murder. His outlook on life became increasingly dark, blaming the government for killing Persius to punish him for his critical words. Destitute, broken, and almost willing himself to his grave, Lucius lived in a small, decrepit apartment above the home of a smithy, working off his rent by helping the older man out every so often. The work was hard and always late at night, but the relentless hammering of hot steel and copper was a good outlet for his anger and frustrations. He avoided human contact otherwise, content to merely work for the mastersmith.

Even that did not satisfy him long.

A few months passed in silent anger when suddenly the mastersmith cornered him in the workshop. He claimed he understood Lucius' rage, his feeling betrayed by the very government he had sought to work for, and how he felt betrayed by the gods themselves for the deaths of those that he had loved. He offered the philosopher and poet a chance to avenge the souls of his loved ones, a strength beyond the scope of the ordinary warrior, a life and power eternal...a chance to live as he had never lived before. A chance to be immortal, young everlasting. Tired of living his mundane, lonely life and tired of those who claimed to be the protectors of the people. It was that night he became a vampire.

It was mid 68 A.D. when Lucius set his plans into motion, secretly convincing the praetorian prefect, Nymphidius Sabinus, to bribe the Praetorian Guard to side with Galba, governer of Gallia Lugdubensis in Gaul, to vie for the postion of Emperor of Rome. First was a rebellion against Nero's tax policies. Vindex, a supporter of Galba, was driven to suicide, halting Galba's mission and making him into a public enemy. Nero subsequently regained control of the military and his rule. His plans delayed by incompetence, Lucius tried a more direct route. By June of 68 A.D., Nero had been voted out of office, with Galba in his place. Nero was exiled, forced to flee Rome. Lucius confronted the deposed monarch, learning that Persius had indeed been assassinated by his men for his treasonous words. Having heard the truth from the mouth of the man responsible, Lucius took his proper revenge. With Nero's death, the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end.

The next fifty years were spent with Lucius and his Master traveling all of Italy and the whole of the Roman empire. It was 118 A.D. when Lucius and his master had their first...disagreement. After his master shamelessly tortured and killed a ten-year-old little boy, Lucius called him out on it, claiming that all his lectures on cherishing life, protecting the innocent, and only taking what they needed to survive were meaningless after his senseless killing. They fought until sunrise, when finally Lucius managed to get the upper hand, hurling his master out into the unforgiving sunlight.

Lucius spent his time alone after that, working as an assassin, information monger, and weaponsmith for whomever could pay his price. He saw many leaders in the Roman Empire rise and fall, good men become corrupted by power and greed, evil men turn a new leaf and become the most compassionate of rulers. He felt privileged to have witnessed so many facets of humanity, but it did little to brighten his outlook on humanity as a whole. He met very few other vampires, the rest, he was told, had moved on to other continents or had settled within France, Romania, and China. He never stayed anywhere long, fearful that his un-aging appearance would betray his true nature and incite suspicions that could conceivably destroy the veil that worked to keep the vampires hidden from the world. He lived with few possessions, able to leave at a moment's notice, and never made any friends to abandon. It was a lonely existence, but it was an enriching one for the spirit and mind. He dabbled in the arts, painting and sculpting, trying to temper his anger. A hundred years passed with Lucius feeding his insatiable hunger for knowledge.

Life-Highlights Only from This Point On

257 - 260 A.D.
After watching a small, ironically pacifistic cadre of vampires he had grown close to be butchered by self-proclaimed Catholic "warriors of God", Lucius conspired with Emperor Valerian, bribing him with immortality, to murder Pope Stephen I. Valerian and Lucius together spent the whole of 258 A.D. taking out their rage and bloodlust on religious figureheads, killing bishops, priests,and deacons. Valerian, however, succumbed to madness. "Men of senatorial and equestrian rank were punished with degradation and confiscation of goods to be followed by death if they refused to offer heathen sacrifice, women were threatened with confiscation of their property and exile, and Christians in the imperial household were sent in chains to perform forced labor on the imperial domains. In this persecution Christian Rome and Carthage lost their leaders: Pope Sixtus was seized on 6 August, 258, in one of the Catacombs and was put to death; Cyprian of Carthage suffered martyrdom on 14 September. Another celebrated martyr was the Roman deacon St. Lawrence. In Spain Bishop Fructuosus of Tarragona and his two deacons were put to death on 21 January, 259." (Quoted from Wikipedia) Lucien took it upon himself to correct his mistake in bringing Valerian across, hiring assassins to bring him to a near-death state before finishing the job himself.

350 A.D.
Conspires with Flavius Magnus Magnentius to assassinate Emperor Flavius Julius Constans for banning pagan religions (Lucius still worshiped the ancient Roman Gods at this point) and for persecuting and executing any who took part in pagan religious practices. Magnentius would proclaim himself emperor of Rome and restore many rights to the pagans, although he was predominantly Christian. He would later commit suicide in 353 A.D.

361 A.D.
Lucius would later be the cause of the mysterious fever which killed Emperor Flavius Iulius Constantius (Constantius II). Constantius II had ordered the closing of the pagan temples, and Lucius had been determined to protect the last vestige of his humanity by preventing the destruction of the temples and subsequently the last functional reminder of his faith in the Gods. By draining blood from him bit by bit, posing as a battlefront doctor, he caused Constantius' immune system to shut down, all wounds becoming fatally infected and severe fever setting in, until he drained him completely when the army stopped to rest near Tarsus on the fifth of October that year.

455 A.D.
Was present when the Vandals sacked Rome, watching from a distance as the city burned. He had gathered a small following of masterless vampires by that point, each regarding him as a hero of their kind. Though their number was minuscule (ten) in comparison to the multitudes of warriors and civilians they were forced to fight their way through to escape the carnage, Lucius proved to be a strong and capable leader and their combined strength and varying powers were more than enough to guarantee their safety. They fled to Britannia, what would later become the British Isles (Great Britain).

The journey to Britannia was long and arduous. Very few of their number were strong or old enough to withstand the sunlight, so they were forced to travel by night, hiding in caves, stables, and abandoned homes by day. In time, their numbers dwindled to four. Lucius, upon their arrival in Britannia, chose the name of Lucas McAllestair, and he and his adopted "family" settled in post-Roman Ceredigion in Wales. They only lived there until 480 A.D. before moving on once more.

542 A.D.
Forced to flee their home in Constantinople due to onset of the bubonic plague. The blood of the infected was horrendous and they felt the pangs of starvation hitting them for the first time in their long lives. Their numbers dropped to Lucien and a young female, possibly only 150 years. She would only last another ten years before falling to the blade of Byzantine soldier. After her death in 552 A.D. "Lucas" moved on, unhindered by the responsibility of taking care of younger vampires.

He was present when the Jews of Claremont-Ferrand were forced to convert to Christianity, and he was appalled to see than humanity had not grown past the ignorant belief in only one religion. For over five-hundred years, he traveled alone. He studied with brilliant artists, sculptors, and musicians gathering a plethora of skills, dabbling in many things. He studied the numerous religions of the world, even though he was not a believer, and came to see Christianity as the ultimate evil, intolerant of other religious beliefs and violent toward those who refused to convert. Throughout the 900s, he would take part in many revolts against conversion, standing his ground with Celts, Pagan West Slavs, Jews, and even those still worshiping the ancient gods of Greece, Rome, and Egypt even though he he did not follow any religion at all. He saw it as a way to preserve the old world, even if it was just a temporary fix. He fought to preserve freedom of choice. However, the wars took a toll on his old soul. Long-since bitter and cynical, his faith in the Gods of old had waned. He had grown tired of fighting to preserve the old ways, convinced that humanity would forever progress and that he would remain as he was: stagnant, unchanging, and dark. In the blackness of his eternity, there was to be no salvation, no forgiveness from a higher power, no hope...All that there was for him was survival. Kill or be killed, hunt or become the hunted. He killed indiscriminately, not caring of the religion or history or family.

As time went on, his powers grew. He developed telekinesis and a resistance to the harmful effects of water and sunlight. Injuries began to heal faster, some within seconds. He began to realize that he had potential for so much more, to grow far above and beyond what he had become, and yet he felt content, at least for the time being, to remain as he was. There was no need to rush evolution. There never had been. As he was, no mere human could stop him. His attacks became increasingly brutal and cruel. There were no religious or racial borders to him, no difference in age save for the children. He still held a place of compassion and pity for the children. He only killed those who would die of their illnesses within days and only fed off of children (not killing them) in emergencies. He vowed to never turn a child...

It was the beginnings of the Holy Crusades in 1095 A.D. that finally broke him.

Hunted down as some demonic animal, he was forced into hiding and secrecy, something that in spite of his long life he was wholly unprepared for. He had never felt the need to hide himself from humans. After all, he had thought, what could they do to harm him? He had outlived his former traveling companions and his master, he had proven he was no longer a simple poet and philosopher but a warrior capable of taking down armies under his own power, he had evolved into something that was far more than human, and yet he hid. As he had evolved, so had the weapons of the Church. While the cross was not deadly to him, their unshakable Faith could be focused through the talisman and used to repel him or to hold him at bay. They discovered his kind could be killed (if young) or paralyzed (if elders) with a simple wooden spike to the heart, the "final nail in the coffin" as he had begun to morbidly address it. Water blessed and consecrated by priests behaved like acid to their skin, burning them faster and the wounds healing slower than with regular water. As their attacks grew more persistent and their weapons more sophisticated, the vampire community numbers began to shrink exponentially until only a small handful of elders remained.

It was then the elders decided to go their separate ways, each making their home in a different country, some scarcely inhabited at the time, building their numbers and creating a set of laws to abide by in order to preserve their kind. Taking the name of Lucien du Marriet, a secluded landowner in medieval Paris who had no slaves and valued his privacy as an eccentric. His home was expansive for the day and age, yet he never entertained. He accumulated a small fortune through assassinations of religious leaders and government officials as well as stealing and selling various artifacts and ancient texts to museums and libraries. He even went so far as to translate and publish some of his own work, as well as those he had saved of Persius' poetry. He continued writing for some time under the pseudonym of Phillipe Lefevre as well as being the proprietor of a large inn as a way to establish some normality to contrast his antisocial behavior. He hunted the streets at night, feeding off of the homeless and the ill primarily, but his favorites quickly became the many prostitutes that roamed the seedier quarters of the city. Rather than hunting them, he allowed them to pursue him, think that they had seduced him, and then kill them once they were alone. Ever the gentleman, he always left their pay on the pillow next to their heads.

[WIP]

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