Name: Marcus “Marc” Black
Age: 31 (at the time of Kaleidoscope)
Occupation: Investigator / front-line agent
Family:
+ Father, Varrius Black, 52, enforcer – invalided out of active service following injury during secessionist rebellion, now returned to duty in Decker Hive following augmetic surgery.
+ Mother, Cassandria Black, deceased, victim of Makita’s great hive plague.
+ Sister, Kelly Black, 30, former enforcer (verispex division), and a member of Sidonis’ analysis and prosecutions team until she joined her brother in escaping with Van Der Mir.
Physical Description: Marc is 6'1 and of medium build, with short dark hair and green eyes. His strong jaw is usually cleanshaven. His features are otherwise unremarkable, and barring short periods of tan from missions to warmer climates his skin is the typical pale of a hive-dweller. He has entrance and exit scars on his right leg, courtesy of Major Al-Omar during the Pembroke case, which have healed up well but still give him some pain during colder weather.
Personality: Marc has an analytical mind and a talent for piecing together information. Generally, he hates to leave a job unfinished. With his employment with the inquisition now out in the open, he is considerably more social, while remaining businesslike when on mission. Ever since his father was injured during a successionist rebellion, he has possessed an almost fanatical hatred of traitors of any kind, and this has led to a continuing vendetta against the cultist Arcolin DeRei. He is incredibly loyal to his family, and to the friends he now includes under that heading, and he is ruthless in defending them. Nowhere was this more apparent than when he learned that Sidonis' favoured interrogator, archmagos Brunswick, was responsible for torturing McKenzie von Rousch – he needed little encouragement from Van Der Mir to crush the archmagos' larynx and leave him to suffocate, even though as it turned out he knew little about the heretic magos Carmine's operations on the planet below.
Equipment: Marc’s primary talent has always been investigation and his equipment reflects this, backed up by the full financial weight of the inquisition.
+ Spy drone - A mechanical construct similar in size and appearance to a common fly, which can transmit visual and auger data back to Marc’s armour. Alicia Tarran also has access to the data it transmits following an earlier exchange.
+ Low-level inquisitorial signet ring - A microprocessor containing inquisitorial overrides, worm programs and encryption breakers re-tailored to the various cogitator systems used in the Sol system.
+ Micro-needler - Mounted in another ring, it generally contains one dose each of Paralytum, Veritas and Etum Omega.
+ Triplex-Phall pattern laspistol - A relic of Marc’s undercover work with inquisitor de Shilo, it sits in a hip holster.
+ Military-grade flak vest - More often than not cast as the “face” of the team, Marc needs something that will both protect him and fit relatively inconspicuously under his customary business suit.
More dangerous deployments such as his recent unofficial mission on Teleostei call for additional, somewhat heavier armament:
+ Decker pattern autogun - Produced in one of Solomon's still-standing hives, it is a bullpup configuration assault rifle designed for urban warfare.
+ Military-grade carapace armour - A pressurised armour suit painted in urban camo, containing standard vox and image enhancement in the helmet and several mag-locks for additional equipment. A sophisticated auspex suite is built into the vambrace.
Background: Marc was born in Makita Hive on planet Solomon, into a family of mid-level hivers with a strong tradition of service in the local enforcers. His father was a front-line sergeant, preferring to remain in the field despite offers of transfer or promotion, while Marc rose up through the CID branch and his younger sister Kelly went into Verispex. Marc’s father was invalided out of service two years ago, losing both his legs to an IED planted by secessionist rebels. The rebels’ direct targeting of government and law enforcement assets in an attempt to destabilise Imperial rule drew the intention of the local Inquisition, and Marc was only too happy to assist them in their investigations. After playing a vital role in locating and apprehending a secessionist cell, Marc was brought to the attention of the inquisitor supervising the investigation – one Eran de Shilo. He was subsequently recruited, given additional training, and maintained as an unofficial agent in de Shilo’s staff. As far as everyone else knew he had simply gone freelance – a cover story that strained relations with his highly dutiful father.
Five years ago, Marc was ordered by de Shilo to join up with Franklin Priest and his group to hunt down Lucius Pembroke, a rogue inquisition agent who unknown to Marc and even de Shilo, was infected with malignant C’tan necrodermis. Despite his inquisition training, Marc quickly found himself in over his head. Another inquisitor, Nasreen Massani, was also after Pembroke and was willing to go through anyone from civilians to hive arbitrators to get at him. Marc’s team barely escaped from Daxos - Massani’s gene-augmented electro priest - to recover Pembroke, and relations within the team itself were frayed due to Marc’s suspicion of one of his associates, ex-arbitrator Arcolin DeRei.
The team’s attempts to escape and find out more about their pursuers resulted in a bloody firefight uphive. Marc was shot and wounded by Major Kadath Al-Omar, Massani’s prime hunter, and had to be evacuated to a Medicae hospice. While he was there, Houseman - another of Massani’s agents - made an attempt on his sister’s life which only failed by pure chance. Things went from bad to worse when Arcolin, also recovering in the hospice, revealed himself as a Tzeentchian cultist and disappeared. Lord Inquisitor Sidonis personally stepped in to resolve the Pembroke case, overruling inquisitor de Shilo on the matter and leaving Marc without orders.
Marc later joined up with - of all people - Major Al-Omar and his associate Westin, who had defected from Massani’s retinue following the uphive incident. Under the impression that Pembroke was secure, and bereft of further orders from his superior, Marc agreed to join Kadath in apprehending inquisitor Massani. Meeting up with Frank at the spaceport, they found themselves in a shootout with Houseman and Daxos, in which Westin and both of Massani’s agents were killed. Marc himself personally shot and killed Houseman, granting himself some degree of closure. Failing to reach Massani’s HQ before Sidonis’ space marines, Marc ran straight into the rogue inquisitor as she attempted to flee the building, and mortally wounded her with Kadath’s Tallarn autopistol. On the other side of the hive Pembroke finally lost his battle with the necrodermis infecting his system, and Marc and the others had to be evacuated while Sidonis levelled Makita Hive from orbit.
With his home destroyed and his cover blown, Marc joined the rest of Frank’s team in transferring to official inquisition service under Lord Sidonis. On the plus side, bringing his affiliation with the Ordos out into the open allowed Marc to reconcile with his father - who has since returned to active duty in Decker Hive, with a pair of high-grade bionic legs paid for by Marc’s share of Pembroke’s bounty. Marc and his sister Kelly, also looking for a new job (not to mention unwilling to let Marc simply bugger off on his own again), subsequently signed up to Sidonis’ extensive retinue.
Following the events on Teleostei, Marc has been wrestling with his doubts. He trusts his sister and his former associates (such as Kally) completely, Van Der Mir somewhat less, and the recently-resurfaced Arcolin not at all. Marc is practically seething that after his proven Chaotic allegiance, several fatal shootings on Teleostei, and most recently the brutal murder of major Kadath, the cultist still draws breath.
Azazeal's archive
Originally Posted by Felwether
Like I said, I've been wanting to do this for a while now.
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