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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 1201798" data-attributes="member: 198">Behind the scenesMarius (then 47) was already an important cleric in the Pholtic heirarchy when the Greyhawk Wars broke out in 582. He led the Pholtic forces during the war and served as a beacon of inspiration to the warriors in the cause, saving countless lives through his actions. Although he emerged as an important war hero, he suffered personal tragedy during the campaign, losing his only son and daughter to the enemies. This loss partially unhinged his mind. After the liberation of Sterich (588), the Pholtic forces were asked to disband and return to their respective countries. As a reward for his services and in consideration of his advancing age, Marius was made a Prelate and put in charge of a new church in Flen. Marius, not completely wrongly, took this as a sign that he was being put out to pasture. Furthermore, he was disgusted at the corruption he saw around him in his new urban setting, so different from the clean black-&-white morality of the campaign against the giants. The relative unimportance of religion in Keoland (including the worship of Pholtus) further apalled him. Alone and aware of his increasing age, Marius came up with a radical idea to simultaneously give himself a goal, uplift the church of Pholtus in the Sheldomar Valley, and cleanse the land of the corruption he saw in it. When in Flen many years ago, Marius had spent time with a Pholtic priest called Langton who was obsessed with finding the fabled Crown of the Gods, a major artifact (lost nearly a millenia ago) that was supposed to grant almost godlike powers, including the ability to grant spells to worshippers. Marius began to believe that if he could find the Crown, he could use its to achieve tremendous power, enabling him to achieve his chosen (and to his own mind, benevolent) ends. Divination magic seemed singularly unhelpful about the subject. Though Langton died during the campaign in Geoff, Marius had some of his personal effects and notes on the subject. Finding information about some sites that had been linked to the Crown, Marius thought of a way he could obtain information about them without arousing suspicion. He hired a group of novice adventurers and sent them to one of the areas. The adventurers succeeded both better and worse than Marius had hoped. They discovered a text (The Desolation of the Dragon) with important information about the Crown's last known appearance, but apparently also released a centuries-old vampire that had worshipped its user, the dragon Ashardalon. Furthermore, it seems that one of the adventurers, Korven, is the son of a former leader in the Flen Thieves Guild, which Langton helped to destroy (in 578) in order to obtain information contained within. Korven confronted Marius, and although the latter told him the truth about Langton attacking the guild and his own uninvolvement, he did not mention the current connection. Marius decided that it may be expedient to kill off Korven at some point. Viewing his search as a holy crusade for the upliftment of the worship of Pholtus, Marius now believes that any measures are appropriate to achieve his goal. Now the adventurers are off searching for a dwarf-hold which may contain more information about the Crown, and Marius has also sent a more powerful party to find (and hopefully, destroy) Gulthias in the Dreadwood Forest. Marius has been scrying on each party on a daily basis, and trying to decide what to do with each when they return.</blockquote>

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