Marius believes that hell is indeed coming to Golarion, and that it is his duty to make sure that the world is prepared for the coming storm, that every beast knows its role and its masters, and that even the plants of the field are orderly and bent in submission. He is the gardener, who will prune and shape all things according to the great design, and ensure that, as man learns his place below Hell, so too will the wild things learn their place below man.
His father a Signifier of the Hellknight Order of the Gate, Marius was conceived on a night when his father, drunk with power, bound an Erinyes for a night of passion. It was surely a coincidence that his wife became pregnant that night, although her husband was away. Regardless of his parentage, Marius strongly resembles his father, having the same thinning black hair, prominent nose, olive skin and eyes that have been called hazel, but are more yellow than any other color. (His eyes mark the sole departure from his father’s appearance, as his parents both have dark brown eyes.)
Not inheriting his father’s keen intellect, nor his mothers shark-like social graces, Marius instead grew up observing the world keenly through his amber eyes, seeing things that others missed. He saw the Clerics of Asmodeus tending to the mortal flocks, and his father’s order calling up the forces of the Infernal, but saw too that the hawks and hounds and horses upon which modern society was so dependent were not so well accounted for. This seemed to him a strange omission, in a raising of Hell that was otherwise so minutely planned, and so Marius took it upon himself to defy his parents intentions of submitting him to the Infernal Orders, and instead learned the ways of the Druidic faith, interpreting their primitive naturalism through a lens of obedience to the forthcoming Infernal Order.
His parents have disowned him for his disobedience, but Marius knows that his path is a valuable one, and he has left Cheliax to avoid his father’s men, who wish to drag him back home to be properly disabused of his disobedience and properly inculcated into the clergy of Asmodeus. Truthfully, he already *is* a priest of Asmodeus, just not in the manner of which his parents would approve, and so he has fled all the way to Riddleport, to hide among scoundrels and pirates, while he plans his next move.
In his flight, he stole a cloak from his father, an item that he fancies that he may someday earn the right to wear openly, the gold-trimmed crimson cloak of the Signifiers. When the room is secure, and none are about to see, he gently unrolls the cloak from his backpack and places it around his throat, imagining the day that he will be able to return to Cheliax unchallenged, wearing it proudly.
Animal Companion
Spoiler:
Absollos (‘Soot’)
Riding Dog Animal Companion (+1 Trick, Link, Share Spells)
Medium Animal - 2d8+4 HD (13 hp), Init +2, Spd 40 ft., AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), Base Attack / Grapple: +1 / +3, Attack: Bite +3 melee (1d6+3), Full Attack: Same, Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft., Special Qualities: Low-light vision, Scent, Trip, Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1, Str 15, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Jump +8, Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +3, Survival +1*
Alertness, Track (B)
Riding Dogs have a +4 racial bonus to Jump checks, and a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent
Trip (Ex): A dog that has been trained for war that hits with a bite attack can attempt to trip an opponent (+1 trip modifier) as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the dog.
Tricks (7): General Purpose - Fighting (attack, down, stay), Come, Defend, Guard, Attack 2 (undead and aberrations)
‘Soot’ appears to be a rottweiler, with both tail and ears clipped, in the fashion of dogs meant for pit-fighting, with soot-black hide and burning orange eyes, perhaps an unsubtle trace of his (purported) hell hound ancestry. He is a fierce bully of a dog, growling at any who come near and showing his fangs, muscles visibly straining with barely repressed violence, save to Marius, to whom he bows his head, showing obedience, if not love.
