Stewards Intelligence Report: Alexander Marcus
Begin audio-to-text and subject linking. Author name, Atticus McCallow. Discussing Alexander Marcus -- attach public articles for further reading. Signatory, Stewards. Heading--
Alexander Marcus
Marcus is the oldest living son of the prestigious House Marcus, the Prime Executive of Absalom Station, one of five members of the Directorate in the Pact Council, and quite possibly one of the most dangerous men in modern history. As part of our government oversight protocols, we've had eyes on the Marcus family for years, but my predecessor didn't spend much time on Alexander. I joined the Stewards around the time Alexander disappeared, and then showed back up at his own funeral. Uhh... 291 AG. My boss thought I was an idiot for looking into him, but it was later revealed that my boss was working for Philip Marcus -- Alexander's late father. Prior to 292 AG, Alexander had zero magic capability. From all my reports, the kid couldn't even light a candle. Then the Swarm attacks Triaxus, the kid disappears into the shadows, stays hidden for a whole year, and then walks out of the shade glowing with power. Now, I'm not an expert on such things, but my good buddy Edmund -- rest in peace you old bastard -- had me convinced that he'd made some kind of "old world pact". Likely to one hell of a shadow, judging by his sudden mastery of that school of magic. I spent about three years monitoring him after that, and turned over my findings to Edmund. Eventually he determined that young Marcus had made a deal with something called a Wall Walker by the name of Nassistra. Apparently she had been sealed up in some ruins on Castrovel, and Alexander found a way to set her free. Edmund was going to tell me more, but he was dead when I went to see him the next day. After that, I kept my correspondence about House Marcus off of official Stewards channels, and left a lot of lights on. More than were necessary -- a standard-grade LED will save you from most of his shit, unless he really wants in, but that's easy to detect. Anyway, I'll avoid what you can find out from public record. Let's start with what he can do. Heading--Individual Powers & Abilities
I don't think it's a secret that Alexander is a grandmaster of Shadow magic and Technomancy. Basically, he's a Mystic and a Technomancer, but individually he's about as good as my best practitioners. So put them both together, and he's probably the strongest magic user in the Pact Worlds. I've heard that he can pull weapons and armor out of thin air, hack people like computers, dive in and out of the shadows, punch holes in buildings -- you get what I'm saying. As far as I know, him splitting up his attention means that he doesn't know the craziest spells from either discipline on his own, but with Nassistra -- at least from a mystical standpoint -- he doesn't have to. It appears that she can pull him through the Plane of Shadow to wherever he wants to go, and can summon lesser shadows to work for her. That last bit is how Alexander hears us in the darkness -- the little shits are reporting on us. Money takes him the rest of the way. Synaptic accelerators, magical relics, fancy starships. You name it, he's got it. Alexander approaches every combat he's involved in differently, has the armory to support his crazy ideas, and twelve backup plans in case the one he came in with goes wrong. Those usually include his lackeys. Heading--Allies & Assets
If my mystics are worth what I pay them, you already know that Alexander Marcus is involved with Jestyr -- maybe even answers to him directly. Ultimately, we know he worships Nyarlathotep, as has every adult member of House Marcus since its founding. From an organizational perspective, Alexander answers to Jestyr, and Jestyr answers to Nyarlathotep -- usually through Casari the King on Aucturn, who we've all but confirmed is one of his aspects. While not directly affiliated, this means Alexander can usually convince the Cult of the Elder Mythos to work for him, thus his frequent utilization of the Gorgon. Oh, while we're on the topic, Charon's aspect is on the Cult's G.O.L.A.R.I.O.N. team. Uses the name Catherine, not sure if she was a mortal that Charon possessed, or if she's a Mantle-less version of Charon herself. Moving on, Alexander keeps the Aspis Consortium in his back pocket, and is a majority stakeholder in Akura Corporation, the funding arm of Project 9. I hate to break it to you Twelve, but it's pretty likely your friend Tesin is a traitor. Nassistra has a pretty strong connection to the planes of Night, and Tesin's connection to Alexander via her "former" employer are too much of a coincidence for my tastes. I'd recommend mitigating whatever access she has to your systems ASAP. Otherwise, Marcus has plants all over the Stewards and the Starfinder Society. Our mutual friend is clean, but she's been pretty quiet of late... She responds to my messages via proxy, even when I reach out to her through private channels. Anyway, all of these connections got him a pretty strong holding in the Horse Eye Orbital Plate. So strong that I had to move our covert operations elsewhere. That's where he built his Access Beacon, and where he's started to build a number of gnarly starships. You probably saw Nakira flying one on Crucible. I can bet we'll be seeing a fleet in action sooner rather than later. What else... Oh! Heading--Enemies
You picked a damn good lawyer, Twelve. But don't get to comfortable with Valentina Terris. She and Alexander were secret lovers from 292-295 AG, before Marcus started to get into the really nasty stuff. From what I can tell, they met a few times before he disappeared, but nothing kindled until he came back. Supposedly they hate each other now, but House Terris has one hell of a intelligence team. I've never got an agent in -- you can thank your friend Nicholas Carter for that. All the goody-two-shoes organizations you can list probably don't like Alexander as a person, but given that the majority of the public isn't aware that he's a two-faced monster, they're pretty content to let him be... Isra made a good pick with the Hellknights, you might want to keep them on retainer. Alexander has offered them deals at least a dozen times, but for some reason Asmodeus hates the guy, and refuses to work with him. Next time you're on Golarion, it might be worth looking into why. That's not a hint, by the way. I legitimately don't know! But if I had to guess, it'd have to do with-- Oh, yeah. Heading--The Ultimate Plot of Evil
This is where things get a little less factual. Mostly skepticisim on my part, gotcha? Stuff I've gathered personally over the years, and some of what I've heard from our personal G.O.L.A.R.I.O.N. teams. Basically, we've got a little war going on here. The Centurion wants Golarion back in the Pact Worlds, Kesil wants it to stay where and how it is, Asmodeus wants to turn it into a second Hell, and the Jester wants to tear the fucking world down. A classic four corners opposition! Shit -- did we send you to Classics this time? Whatever, it's a big fucking mess, okay? Why does the Jester have such a raging hard-on for Golarion, you ask? My guess is that it has to do with the Devourer. Marcus has been real interested into converting the Cult of the Devourer to his side lately, and Golarion still is, or used to be, the-very-similar-god Rovagug's prison. I think a big chunk of Rovagug actually escaped during the Gap, becoming the Devourer, and that there's still a little piece rattling around on Golarion. If he can get to it, and give it back to Rovagug, it might kick off the end of all days. Spooky, I know, but that also explains why the Horsemen of Abaddon are working with him. Because the Centurion and Jestyr are fighting, I can only assume that the old ghost wants Golarion back in the real world for another reason, but I don't know what. Either way, I suggest keeping the Jester -- and thus, Alexander Marcus -- away from whatever he's looking for. Heading--Conclusions
That's pretty much it. Like I'll tell you during the data transfer, my goal here is to inconvenience Marcus, so use the data as you will. As for the rest of it... Well, everybody's got a boss, Twelve. I'm just listening to mine. End recoding.Artwork by Valentina Remenar
Type
Report, Intelligence
Medium
Digital Recording, Text
Authors
Signatories (Organizations)
Comments