Markus Telus

Markus Telus was one of the Ark's three censors, called the scholar, and one of the greatest wizards who ever lived. He built the palace on the island that bears his family's name.

An old man with white hair, a jeweled staff, and the Ark's white-and-blue robes with gold sleeves, Markus preferred demonstrations to entrances. At dinner, he could turn the wine in every guest's cup into a doorway, walk through it, and let the wine settle behind him. Cerberan wizard robes copied that older style.

His family's ruin began with a judgment. When his youngest son Hector raped Olga Varanov, Markus ordered him to marry her and repair the crime. The marriage raised the merchant Varanovs into the nobility. Commode Telus then destroyed the family, arranged Vlad's condemnation, and helped create both the Minotaur and the first vampire.

Markus stopped trusting his advisers and investigated alone. He found Commode at the center of it, imprisoned him in the lighthouse, and exiled him to Brazzant without making the truth public. He then ordered the hunt that failed to kill Vlad Varanov. His justice removed his son from the Ark but left every consequence alive.

Three centuries later, Cerberan agents killed the Minotaure beneath Telus. Markus declared them Heroes of the Minotaur, blessed by Archon, and ordered a scribe to preserve the story with the explosives omitted. When they asked him to support Florentus Telus's land bill for veterans, he agreed. It cost him little and made an enemy of Censor Crassus.

The bill became part of Gérard Alois's design. Florentus was later murdered, and Markus went to war against the rival censor blamed for his grandson's death. The Ark began tearing itself apart before Cerberus landed an army.

Telus became the main front of the invasion. Markus fell there against Gérard Alois, the Varanovs, and Brisé. The surviving records disagree about which Varanov fought him, but his death was what convinced Sylla to unleash Total Destruction.