Prince Marcus Von Roterstein
Prince Marcus W.L. Von Roterstein is a member of the Ardoraghi royal family during the late Fourth and early Fifth Era. He is the son of the youngest brother of the current High-Lord and King of Ardoragh and the third in line for the Ardoraghi throne. He is most well known for being kidnapped in the early Fifth Era whilst visiting Solleria.
Life
Born as Lord Marcus Von Roterstein in Ardoria, the young lord studied law, earning his bachelor degree at the Imperial University of Ardoria, and getting his master degree at the Imperial University of Helmira. For most of his life he has lived in a manor house in Helmira, from where he practices law.
During the late Fourth Era, just before the Grand War, he got into conflict with his uncle when he published a paper accusing the Ardoraghi Duke Ulv of facilitating piracy in the Dodehavet Sea in a vast scheme by the Ardoraghi nobility to avoid paying the increasingly high taxes to then-Emperor Louis Viromaro. He was recalled to Ardoria, where after staying at the High-Lord's castle for five months he formally renounced his earlier accusations after his father met with the High-Lord.
After the Reforma Carta reformed the Province of Ardoragh into the Kingdom of Ardoragh, the Von Roterstein family gained the official status of one the Kythiran royal houses. Ever since his full name and title is His Royal Highness Marcus Whaza Leonard Von Roterstein, Prince of Ardoragh.
When his father died he inherited a fortune of 800,000 Florynts. He proceeded to buy a country estate in the form of the Chateau Imperia in northern Attica for 150,000 Florynts. A small castle with a village and size-able land holdings from the Third Era. For 50,000 Florynts he renovated the castle, increasing the living spaces, building an extra tower and a large hall. He often uses the chateau to escape Helmira during the hot summer months.
During the renovation project he had to fight off several poachers and loggers who were taking from the castle’s lands. This caused him to become interested in preservation of Kythira’s vast nature reserves, and he donated 100,000 Florynts to the Hjarta Foundation. Shocked by the treatment of several slaves owned by the company that renovated the castle, 15 of which died during the construction of the grand hall alone, the prince became a staunch abolitionist, pouring another 150,000 Florynts into anti-slavery propaganda.