MARCIOSMARCIOS
Real Name: Marcios
Identity/Class: Human, (Hyborian Era) citizen of Khauran
Occupation: Soldier
Group Membership: Khauran Army
Affiliations: Taramis, Astreas, Attalus, Conan of Cimmeria, Krallides, Marcios
Enemies: Constantius, Khumbanigash, Salome
Known Relatives: Avga (partner)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Khauran (Hyborian Era)
First Appearance: "A Witch shall be Born," Weird Tales
(December, 1934);
(Marvel) Savage Sword of Conan#5 (April, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: None. Marcios had the training and the abilities of a normal Guard of Khauran. He carried a sword and wore leather armor.
History:
(A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 (fb)) - Marcios
was a soldier, one of the Guards of Khauran. He was loyal to Taramis, Queen of
Khauran.
(A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 (fb)) - One day, Constantius, an exiled
mercenary, led his army through the lands of Khauran asking to pass over to
reach Turan. He was secretly allied with Salome,
twin-sister of Taramis. Taramis accepted to let the army
pass through Khauran but she had Constantius
confined in the southern tower, until his Shemite mercenaries had passed the borders with
Turan.
That night Salome, impersonating her sister,
let the Shemite mercenaries
enter the town. She also freed Constantius
from his prison.
(A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 (fb)) - Marcios was not in service when the Shemites entered in the city. A sergeant found him, and with all the soldiers he had to assemble outside the Royal Palace. So, Marcios was present when Salome, impersonating Taramis, accepted Constantius' marriage proposal, and released the Khauran army. He saw Conan, a Captain of the Guards, accusing Salome of being a false Taramis, and when the Shemites attacked Conan, Marcios flanked him and the other Khauran soldiers, but they were outnumbered by the Shemites and they were killed or fled. Conan was captured. Marcios was wounded but managed to flee.
(A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5) - Marcios hid in the house of Avga, his woman. He was sure that Taramis had betrayed her people. Conan was condemned to death on the cross.
(A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 (fb)) - In the following months, Marcios changed his idea. He saw Taramis, still impersonated by Salome, marry Constantius, the people of Khauran heavily taxed, vexed and humiliated. Many young Khaurans were sold as slaves to the Turanians. After that Salome started to worship unnamed demons and slaying innocent people for human sacrifices. Marcios was convinced of the same idea of Conan, that the Queen was not Taramis but a Witch. Marcios told his suspects to Astreas, a historian. Then, he organized a revolt. But it failed and Marcios had to flee and hide again.
(A
Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of
Conan#5) - A night of seven
months after Salome's arrival, Marcios,
disguised as a deaf-mute, saw Khumbanigash
and Salome
going out form a prison. He heard them speaking about Taramis, and learned about
her real situation. Salome
noticed him, but saw only a deaf-mute, and gave him
the head of Krallides,
counselor of the Queen, known by Marcios.
Khumbanigash
ordered him to go away.
(A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5) - A week after, Conan, having survived the cross and now leader of more than 11,000 Zuagir warriors, headed to Khauran with his nomads, plus a secret battalion of 3,000 Hyborian knights of Khauran. Meanwhile Marcios had organized the liberation of Taramis from the prison, using the chaos resulting from the coming battle and the few presence of Shemite troops in the city. Attalus and other men agreed to help him.
The Zuagirs and the Hyborian defeated the Shemite mercenaries. Marcios sneaked into the prisons and found Conan fighting Zinn, one of Salome's slaves. Salome was killing Taramis then Marcios jumped over Salome and stabbed the witch with her sword. He extracted the sword from her body but she didn't die. Conan transported Taramis outside the Temple, Marcios followed him, but Salome was still alive. With her last whispers she recalled her demon, Thaug, then died. Marcios brought Taramis far from the demon, while Conan tried to stop the monster. Helped by and the Zuagir Desert Wolves Conan killed Thaug.
Taramis was the Queen again. She offered to Conan to become Captain again and also to become her counselor. But Conan preferred to be the leader of the Zuagirs, then Taramis claimed Marcios new Captain of the Guards.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils) and "The Tribe" (inkers).
In the original novel:
Taramis and Salome have black curly hair;
The name of the loyal soldier is Valerius and not Marcios, moreover, Valerius and his men freed Taramis form the prison and were attacked by Salome and an unnamed priest (Zinn, in the comics). Conan gatecrashed in the town only after Valerius had killed Salome and saved Taramis, just in time to have his Desert Wolves kill Thaug;
Ivga is a bit more present than in the comics.
Clarifications:
Marcios has no known connections to
Avga has no known connections to any other character with a similar name
Attalus has no known connections to any other character with a similar name
Astreas has no known connections to any other character with a similar name
Avga was a normal human.
Avga was the woman of Marcios and was really jealous of him.
The night that the Shemites entered in the town she heard something about the
disorders but was surprised to see Marcios wounded. She listened to him about the
story of the "betrayal" by Taramis, then hid him and cured his wounds.
--A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5
Attalus was a normal human. He was a soldier and was one of the men who helped Marcios in freeing Taramis.
The other rebels were also soldiers. They wore leather armor, helm and carried a sword.
--A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5
Astreas was a normal human. He was a historian, chronicler and probably a philosopher.
Astreas reported the events happened in Khauran. He had gotten a correspondence with Alcemides of Nemedia, and probably Alcemides used some of Astreas' informations to write his Nemedian Chronicles.
Astreas was really surprised from the changes happened from Constantius arrival in Khauran. He asked himself if the Queen was possessed by a demon, and was quite sure that Conan wasn't dead but rode at the flank of Olgerd Vladislaw and his Zuagirs. Astreas also spoke to Marcios, a soldier, who was sure that the Queen was a witch and that Taramis was alive but imprisoned.
Astreas went to live in a camp of tents, some miles outside Khauran, and from there sent his letters using carrier-pigeons.
--A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5
Images:
A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5,
p1, pan1 (Marcios, full body)
A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5,
p1, pan3 (Marcios, head shot)
A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5, p1, pan3 (the rebels)
A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5, p28, pan8
(Attalus, head shot)
A Witch shall be Born; Savage Sword of Conan#5,
p20, pan3 (Astreas)
Last updated: 09/07/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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