Marius de RomanusÂ
Wise Teacher of all Vampires
He was a citizen of the Roman Gallic city of Massilia during the time of the
Roman Empire. At the age of forty, Druids abducted him when he was working on a
history of the world. The Druid's god, the God of the Grove who is a burned and
crippled vampire chooses Marius to replace him. Mael, the Druid Priest educates
and prepare Marius to become the perfect god for the Druids. At the night of
the great Feast of Samhain, the Druids took Marius to the giant oak tree where
they had imprisoned their god. Inside it, the vampire god makes him into a
vampire and urged him to go to Egypt to find out why vampires around the world
had been burned or destroyed. Marius broke free from the Druids and went to
seek the answer in Egypt. In Alexandra, Marius encountered the Elder, a vampire
who told him about Those Who Must Be Kept. The Elder, tired of taking care of
them put them out in the sun to be burned, before retrieving them again. That
same night Akasha asked Marius to take them out of Egypt before the Elder
destroyed them. Marius took them as requested, and settled on an island
fortress in the Aegean, where he built a shrine for them. In the 15th century,
Marius bought Armand from a brothel and apprenticed him in Venice. To Marius,
Armand was a wounded boy whose blend of sadness and simplicity was too great to
resist. He fell madly in love with him and they understood each other. Marius
did a painting on Armand called The Temptation of Amadeo, however, their
happiness was short-lived when Santino's coven put a torch to Marius and
captured Armand. Marius managed to escape to his secret shrine in the mountains
of northern Italy. He healed himself by drinking the blood of Those Who Must Be
Kept. When Lestat heard of Marius from Armand, he went to search for him.
Marius heard Lestat calling and was aware of his search. He brought him to
Aegean, when Lestat undergo the second death. There he tells Lestat his story.
He made Lestat promise not to tell the story to any other vampires and then
send him away to live on his own. In the 20th century when Lestat becomes a
rock star and awakens Akasha, she traps Marius in ice for ten days. Marius
sends out danger signal to other vampires. His fledgling and lover, Pandora,
along with Santino goes to rescue him. Marius is then joined by the vampires
that stand against Akasha. He met Armand in the first time after centuries.
Marius tries to reason with Akasha, to talk her out of her plan. He fails, but
Akasha was destroyed in the end. Although he had survived the whole ordeal, the
experience humiliated and spiritually bruised him. He was hurt that Akasha has
chosen Lestat, over him who had taken care of her for two thousand years. He
urges Lestat not to write about it, but Lestat ignores his advice. The
surviving coven drifts apart and Lestat believes that Marius went into Asia. He
appears again to give Lestat's his judgment in the Tale of the Body Thief. He
turns his back on Lestat in front of Louis’ little house that Lestat set fire
to.
