Mark Brooke

Male Human, 15th level Sorcerer

Hit Dice: 15d4 (4 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 3 + 3).

Special: summon familiar; proficient with simple weapons.

Skills: Concentration +15, Craft (woodcarving) +5, Diplomacy +10, Heal +10, Knowledge (history) +8, Knowledge (political philosophy) +11, Perform (poetry, guitar, oratory) +14, Ride +5, Spellcraft +18.

Feats: Combat Casting, Great Fortitude, Quicken Spell, Spell Focus (enchantment), Spell Penetration, Silent Spell, Still Spell.

Languages: Campanian, Skye, Valtajeren, Vendeen.

Possessions: Little more than the clothes he is wearing. In his current state, Michael (his dead lover's son-in-law) is providing for Mark's needs as they travel.

Appearance: Mark is 5'10" tall and weighs 155lbs (70 kg). He was born on 10 May 617, and is now 29.

Background: Mark is the illegitimate son of Susan Brooke and a man whose name he was never told. His mother was the only daughter of John and Elizabeth Brooke, the second of their four children, and held in shame by her parents because of Mark. Because of the unfavourable treatment meted out to him by all of his family except his mother, Mark was a solitary child. After his mother died from influenza when he was eleven, Mark took to wandering in the wooded hills east of his village. Within three months of Susan's death, Mark ran away from a home to which he no longer felt any attachment. After a few days, he was found in the forest by Lucien, an aged ascetic, healer and sorcerer, who took him to his Cave and accepted him as an apprentice.

Mark spent eight years learning from Lucien, the Hermit of the Cave. In exchange for provisions and news, Lucien would help anyone who came to his Cave, tending to injuries, freeing from curses, and giving advice when it was sought. Lucien had travelled widely in his youth, and knew a great deal about many matters. As he was dying, he encouraged Mark, the next Hermit of the Cave, to leave the Cave and learn about the wider world before returning to take up his duties. Mark followed Lucien's advice, and left the Cave.

In the years that followed, Mark was embroiled in the schemes of the powerful of Skye and Vendee. He was a friend and travelling companion of Cody the Kingmaker throughout Skye, Vendee and Valtajeros in 639, though their paths eventually separated. Mark travelled south again to Vendee, trying to avoid the war and forget his dead lover, killed by Cody's enemies.

Shortly after arriving in Vendee late in 640, while browsing the newsheets in a public library, he fell in love at first glance with a stranger. The man took him home, where they got along very well. The next morning, however, Mark learned that the man was Enrique de Montauban, Cody's greatest enemy. Enrique was equally surprised to learn that his newest lover was Mark Brooke, one of Cody's allies. However, these discoveries did not dim their ardour for one another, and Mark joined Enrique in his palatial mansion, meeting Enrique's other live-in lovers and becoming embroiled in the domestic politics that were making Enrique's life a misery.

Mark stayed with Enrique for the best part of a year, and Mark's poetry began to circulate and be published. Eventually, Enrique's son Jon, his prospective son-in-law Michael, and a woman called Rat arrived from Etrenne. Then, Enrique wrote to Cody and asked him to come to Vendee and finish things "man to man", which he did, killing Enrique in single combat. Left with a substantial fund of money, Mark remained in Vendee, devoting himself to supporting the fledging republican government of Vendee with pamphlets. Unfortunately, a military coup in 642 removed any possibility of lasting political reform in Vendee, and Mark spent almost three years under arrest as a political prisoner.

Shortly after being freed by the new government in January 645 and rejoining de Montauban's extended family, an emergency came up that forced Jon, Michael, Mark and the recently returned Rat to travel south through the jungles south of Valtajeros to Campania. In the jungles, Mark drank a potion that altered his perception of the world, showing him the true nature of the Trace. He is still affected by the sudden broadening of his senses, and sometimes has difficulty interacting with other people and the world around him.

Roleplaying Notes: Mark is powerful and capable of tremendous feats of magic, but generally refrains from flashy or dramatic effects. He is neither violent nor aggressive, and tries to solve problems by negotiating and finding mutually satisfying solutions. Both loyal and principled, Mark is willing to live and to die for his friends and for what's right. At the moment, however, his priorities have been dramatically skewed by his newfound ability to see the "true nature" of the world about him: Mark will sometimes concentrate all his attention on observing a pebble, or answer a question five minutes after it was asked.

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