BRAN MAK MORN

Real Name: Bran Mak Morn (or Bran mac Morn, Gaelic for "The Raven, son of Morn")

Identity/Class: Human, King of the Caledonian Picts (see comments);
     3^rd century A.D.

Occupation: King (also known as High King or Over-King) of the Caledonian Picts, Chieftain of the Wolf Clan;
     possibly deity of the Pictish people;
     former ambassador, gladiator

Group Membership: Wolf Clan (Pictish tribe), one of the Kings of Pictdom, representative of the Picts in the Caledonian Confederacy (Caledones or Caledonii in Latin);
     possibly the Albidosi (Pictish pantheon)

Affiliations: Aeysla, Atla, Auctus, Bocah, Borcah, Brogar (11th century), Caradach, Cormac na Connacht, Domnail, Gonar (Pre-Cataclysmic Age), Gonar (3rd century), Gonar (11th century), Grom, Gron, King Kull of Valusia, Mogham, Rognar, Sirena, Turlogh Dubh "Black Turlogh" O'Brien, Ulpian;
     unidentified Norseman

Enemies: Claudius Argo, Cornelia, Titus Germanicus, Glaucus, Grok, Hell-Worm, Legate Caius Estulitius Incitatus, Legio IX Infernalis, Liuba, Tribune Drusus Marcellinus Maximus, Quintus Claudius Nero, Lucius Alfenus Senecio, Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus, Marcus Sulius, Titus Sulla, Ssrhythssaa the Deathless, Thorfel the Fair (11^th century), Centurion Ursus, Centurion Valerius, Worms of the Earth, Wulfhere;
   formerly Rognar

Known Relatives: Malis Mak Morn (father, deceased), Gydda (mother, deceased);
     Morgain (sister), unidentified siblings (deceased);
     Berul Crookback (paternal grandfather, presumably deceased);
     Othna Mak Morn (paternal great-grandfather, deceased);
     Brule the Spear-Slayer (aka the Dark God, ancestor, deceased), Brule's unidentified father (ancestor, deceased), unidentified ancestors (deceased)

Aliases: Brennus (Latinized form of Bran, used by Romans);
     the Morni, "The Arm of the Pict," "Fire of the Lost Race," "The Sword of the Picts," "The Wolf of the Heather" (honorifics);
     the Dark Man, the Dark One (honorifics post-deification);
     Partha Mac Othna (alias as Pictish ambassador to Roman Empire);
     Bran (alias as a Roman gladiator)

Base of Operations: The fortress of Baal-dor, kingdom of Caledon (also known as Alba, Caledonia, Pictland and Pictavia; located in modern Scotland, British Isles, United Kingdom) during the 3^rd century

First Appearance: (Historical) "Kings of the Night" by Robert E. Howard (first published in Weird Tales Vol.16 #5, November, 1930);
     (Marvel, cameo) Savage Sword of Conan I#15: A Portfolio of Robert E. Howard (October, 1976);
     (Marvel, full) Savage Sword of Conan I#16/2 (December, 1976)

Powers/Abilities: Bran Mak Morn possessed the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engaged in intensive regular exercise. He had peak level speed, stamina, durability, agility and reflexes, and was unparalleled in the use of Pictish weaponry, including short sword, bow, dirk, spear, staff and shield. He received additional training in gladiatorial combat while in Rome by the trainer Glaucus, although he remained inexperienced with unfamiliar Roman weaponry like the gladius and scutum. He occasionally wore a shirt of black chainmail. He was a proficient horseman and even skilled in driving a Briton war chariot, a vehicle used exclusively by the Britons. Bran was also a skilled tracker and hunter, capable of moving swiftly and silently, and like every Pict he could vanish unseen into the heather or forests of Caledon so effectively he could not be seen by a passing horseman.

     As a "noble Pict" (see comments) of the Mak Morn line, Bran Mak Morn was highly intelligent and had an implacable will, strong enough to even overcome the mind of the Pictish shaman Gonar during an arcane battle of wills.

     A brilliant tactician and charismatic leader, he was able to unite the dozens of autonomous Pictish tribes under his rule, as well as form an alliance with the normally antagonistic Britons and Gauls.

     He would at times have vague prophetic dreams about his destiny and that of the Picts, and Gonar used his own arcane powers to communicate with Bran in his dreams.

     His totem was that of a wolf, and at times during combat, individuals with a second sight had perceived Bran in battle as a wolf, including Gonar and possibly Titus Germanicus.

     Bran could speak his native Pictish language (a dead language by the modern era) as well as the archaic Pictish language spoken during the Pre-Cataclysmic Age, which he used to communicate with Kull. He was literate, able to speak and read Latin, and he spoke Celtic and the trade language to communicate with other peoples in the British Isles, as well as possibly the ancient Brittonic, Gaelic and Nordic languages.

     He wore an iron crown inset with a red jewel which had been in the Mak Morn bloodline for thousands of years, which the Pictish shaman Gonar was able to use as a beacon to transport King Kull from the distant past and subsequently return him to his own era.

     While in possession of the amulet of Aeysla, he and his companions were immune to the guardian spirits that protected the forest around the Cavern of Mists.

     While he acted as a Pictish ambassador, he possessed a bronze seal that allowed his safe conduct through the Roman courts.

     His fortress of Baal-dor commanded a position of strength in the Caledonian Highlands (modern Scottish Highlands). 

     Upon his death, Bran Mak Morn was deified by the Picts, reputedly becoming apotheosized as a god like his ancestor Brule, his soul residing within the statue known as the Dark Man or the Dark One.

     The ghost of Bran Mak Morn would appear to the shaman Gonar in dreams to communicate with his people.

Height: 5'10" (by approximation); (as Dark Man statue) 5'0"
Weight: 175 lbs (by approximation), (as Dark Man statue) 400 lbs (by approximation)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black

History:
    Bran Mak Morn was a "noble Pict," descended from the ancient line of Pictish chieftains, having kept its bloodline pure through the ages, as opposed to "savage Picts" who had degenerated, having interbred with the "Reindeer Men," red-bearded neanderthal giants, in ages past, becoming smaller and more brutish in stature and temperament over the millennia.

(Wizard and Warrior - BTS) - The earliest confirmed Pictish ancestors of the Mak Morn bloodline, whose descent included Brule the Spear-Slayer and Bran Mak Morn, began a few hundred years before the reign of King Kull of Valusia (which was circa 18,500 BC). Among them were skin clad tribal chiefs, painted and feathered warriors, shamans with bison skull masks and finger bone necklaces, and one or two island kings who held court in mud huts. There was also a legendary hero or two, revered for feats of personal strength or wholesale murder, deified by the Picts, perhaps as both Brule and Bran would one day be honored. Also, somewhere within their blood was a vagrant strain of Kelt or possibly Thulian, as the eyes of Brule were neither brown nor black, but rather a deep volcanic blue.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 (fb) - BTS) <18,500 BC> - After a strange battle in a dim land, King Kull gifted Brule a red jewel which the Pict wore inset within a ring. The gem remained within the Mak Morn bloodline for thousands of years.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 - BTS, Savage Sword of Conan I#43/2 (fb)) <18,500 BC> - The Pictish shaman Gonar, through eldritch means, communicated with his distant descendant, Gonar of the third century. As Kull was needed in the future era, Gonar transported Kull forward in time to the year 207 AD to help Bran Mak Morn, the descendant of Kull's ally Brule, in battle against Roman legions. After the battle, Kull returned to his own era.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 - BTS) <18,500 BC> - Probably either later during the reign of Kull or following it, Brule allegedly married and had children, continuing the Mak Morn bloodline. The red jewel gifted to Brule remained with the bloodline.

(Legion From the Shadows) - War chief Othna Mak Morn united the scattered Pict tribes against the Romans. He allowed his infant son Berul Crookback, born with a withered arm and a crooked back, to live to ensure the continuation of the male Mak Morn bloodline.

(Legion From the Shadows) <Late spring, 128 AD> - Publius Calidius Falco and the Legio IX Hispana of the Roman army advanced northward into Caledon to lay waste to all tribes before them. They were ambushed at Serpent Gorge by over 10,000 Picts. Most of the Legio IX Hispana were killed, but Calidius Falco and others found refuge in a large cairn, the entrance of which Othna ordered buried. The Legio IX Hispana were captured by the degenerate Worms of the Earth, and their ruler, the Serpent Man Ssrhythssaa the Deathless, forced the survivors to breed with the Worms to strengthen their numbers.

    After Othna Mak Morn died from injuries sustained during the battle, the Pict alliance was short lived.

    Berul Crookback later fathered Malis Mak Morn.

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) <Early 180s AD> - Bran Mak Morn, a noble Pict, was born to Malis Mak Morn, chieftain of the Wolf Clan, and his wife Gydda. In the year of Bran's birth, the men of Caledon attacked and destroyed some of the Antonine Wall (see comments), which once represented the northernmost frontier barrier of the Roman Empire.

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) <190 AD> - Bran's sister Morgain was born. No other siblings had survived past infancy.

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) <Mid 190s AD> - During the wild days of his youth, Bran, despite being the son of the chief of a minor clan, dreamed great dreams and saw in those days of fire and pillage the vision of Rome swept into the sea and of a new Pictish nation.

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) <196 AD> - Malis Mak Morn fell in a bloody assault against Hadrian's Wall. His wife Gydda, consumed with grief, did not long survive his passing.

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) <Late 190s AD> - At the age of sixteen, the young Bran Mak Morn and other Picts swarmed over Hadrian's Wall, spending months drenching his sword in Roman blood to make them atone for their oppression of Caledon. The Picts burned the Romans' forts, watchtowers, camps, and towns, and they pulled down great sections of their mighty wall. Bran optimistically thought that year to see the end of Rome, only to turn to bitterness when they could not overtake the larger Roman encampments, and he grew dismayed when he watched as his army broke apart into bands of reavers at the first show of Roman resistance. The Picts sought to engage in old feuds and easy plunder, shattering his dream of unity.

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) - Bran entered a plundered villa and came upon the corpse of a girl hanging from a limb over a mosaic floor of a garden. The soft sound of writhing maggots falling from her belly onto the mosaic tiles and their blind wriggling through the scattered leaves evoked a sound of utter abomination within Bran.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 (fb)) - Bran, rising by his own efforts from the negligent position of the son of the Wolf Clan chief, quickly gained power and loosely united the feuding Pictish tribes who had been split for over five hundred years, becoming the King of Caledon (modern Scotland) during the Roman occupation of Brittania (modern Britain). Bran proved to be a brave and wise ruler, who attempted to convince the Pictish clans to end their feuds to present a solid front against their foreign foes, to end their bloody rituals and end their worship of the Serpent. He also worked to forge alliances with the other peoples of the British Isles, the Gaels and the Britons.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 - BTS) - As the King of the Caledonian Picts, Bran Mak Morn wore an iron crown resembling a circlet upon his brow. The red jewel once gifted from Kull to Brule, which had remained within the Mak Morn bloodline for thousands of years, was inset within the crown.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 (fb); Legion From the Shadows - BTS) - Bran decided to have the ancient fortress of Baal-dor reconstructed, as the Pictish keep commanded a position of strength in the Highlands of Caledon. The stone walls had remained in ruin until Bran undertook its restoration. Pictish legends held that Baal-dor had been a citadel of the Reindeer Men, the race of red-bearded giants whom the Picts had battled in the ages past.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#102/2 - BTS) - A rich merchant from Corinium Dobunnorum, Cirencester (located in modern Gloucestershire, England) offered a thousand pieces of gold to any who could bring to him Bran's sister, Morgain. The merchant sent a spy past Hadrian's Wall to steal her away, but Bran sent the merchant back his head.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#103/2 - BTS) - Bran often led his Pictish warriors in battle against Roman forces. A Norseman who was also a Roman citizen often saw Bran, usually in the forefront of battle.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#102/2-104/2,#106/2; Men of the Shadows) <205 AD> - After a legion of 500 Roman soldiers searching for a Pictish priest was massacred by Pict warriors in Caledon, the one remaining survivor, the Norseman was spared by the Pictish king. Morgain asked that Bran show mercy and set the Norseman free, but the Pictish shaman Gonar wanted to sacrifice the Norseman to their gods. Bran, who was attempting to end the human sacrifices among the Picts, challenged Gonar to an arcane battle of wills, during which Gonar witnessed the wolf totem of Bran before losing, and he accepted Bran's authority.

     Gonar subsequently related the origins of the Pictish race, from the birth as the Nameless Race among the Pictish Isles to the west, to their survival of the Great Cataclysm and their migration to western Thuria, which after an age became the British Isles upon which their kingdom of Caledon stood...and how their time was soon to pass.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#16/2 - BTS) <206 AD> - To better understand the threat the Roman Empire posed to Caledon, Bran Mak Morn assumed the identity of Partha Mac Othna (possibly named after his great-grandfather Othna Mak Morn) and disguised himself as a Pictish emissary to Rome. Bran and his vassal Grom, an old war chief, remained at the Roman fort of Eboracum, located in Eboracum, Brittania (modern York, North Yorkshire, England) and observed its military governor Titus Sulla.

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) <206 AD> - During the weeks he spent at Eboracum, Bran sought solace in reading the Latin book Aeneid by Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), whose warlike spirit he admired.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#16/2-17/2; Worms of the Earth) <206 AD> - While at Eboracum, Bran (as Partha Mac Othna) and his vassal Grom watch as the military governor Titus Sulla had a Pict crucified upon a cross, having been found guilty of striking a Roman merchant who had first cheated and then struck him. After the Pict spat in the face of Roman Centurion Valerius, the soldier immediately killed the crucified Pict. This angered Titus Sulla, who wanted the Pict to suffer a slow and agonizing death, and he had Valerius imprisoned. Bran then decided it was time for the Picts and their allies to strike against the Roman Empire.

     Giving Grom his bronze seal that would allow him free passage to leave Eboracum, Bran ordered Grom to head north and instruct his ally Cormac na Connacht of the Isle of Erin (modern Ireland) to have his Gaelic forces sweep the frontier north of Hadrian's Wall. This would cause Titus Sulla to send Caius Camillius to lead Roman forces north, while Sulla himself would head west to secure himself in the Tower of Trajan. That night, Gonar, slumbering in Baal-dor, approached Bran in his dreams and unsuccessfully warned him against his intent to summon the demonic Worms of the Earth against Sulla. Bran subsequently slaughtered Valerius in his cell, after which he escaped Eboracum, riding westward to the mountains of Wales. There he encountered Atla, the witch-woman of Dagon-Moor and one of the Worms, although of more human appearance.

     Bran had intimate relations with Atla in exchange for information to contact the Worms of the Earth. Bran entered the subterranean caverns below the mound of Dagon's Barrow and stole their revered Black Stone, which he briefly hid in the lake Dagon's Mere. He and Atla then met with the Worms themselves within a cavern, and the inhuman creatures agreed to abduct Titus Sulla. Bran then journeyed to the Tower of Trajan to find it destroyed, before traveling to Dagon's Ring, an ancient circle of stone menhir monoliths. There the Pictish king returned the Black Stone, and the Worms turned over the abducted Titus Sulla, driven mad by the experience, whom Bran promptly beheaded. Bran then departed back north after Atla warned him the Worms of the Earth would come to him again.

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) <206 AD> - Titus Sulla was succeeded as the Roman governor of Brittania by Lucius Alfenus Senecio. Alfenus Senecio would strive ineffectively for months to subdue the rebellious tribes of Caledon.

(For the Witch of the Mists - BTS) <206 AD> - Drusus Marcellinus Maximus, High Tribune of the Sixth Legion, a Roman assigned to Britannia the year prior, began to actively engage in battle against the Pictish nation. He was also a sorcerer who sought to use the ancient magicks of the British Isles to enhance his power.

(For the Witch of the Mists) <207 AD> - Following the divination of the shaman Gonar, Bran journeyed to the Cavern of Mists in the mountains far to the west of Caledon, where the spirit of Aeysla, daughter of the moon god Golka, foretold that Bran would journey to Rome to recover the mortal with whom she would merge to walk upon the Earth again. Bran recovered an amulet of Aeysla from a dead Roman Centurion Ursus, but was soon captured by the Roman forces of Drusus Marcellinus Maximus, High Tribune of the Sixth Legion and a sorcerer, who sent him to Rome itself as tribute to Emperor Septimius Severus. During the voyage to Rome he befriended a Briton named Borcah, but due to a clerical error they were both purchased as slaves by Claudius Argo, who had his trainer Glaucus educate them in gladiatorial combat.

     During a gladiatorial match at the Flavian Amphitheatre attended by the Emperor himself, Bran engaged in the savage ordeal, but Borcah was slain. Cornelia, the wife of Claudius Argo and secretly a sorceress, suspected the slave "Bran" was truly the Pictish king Bran Mak Morn. Bran learned that her slave Sirena, a twenty year old orphan from Ionia (located in modern Turkey), was the chosen of Aeysla when he placed the amulet of Aeysla upon her. Bran, Sirena and her lover Auctus escaped and fled north to Gaul, where the druid Mogham secured them a vessel to allow Bran and Sirena to sail west across the Narrow Sea (modern English Channel) back to Brittania. During the two month absence of Bran, his ally Grom had been instigating revolts against the Roman forces. Bran and Sirena crossed Britannia to its west coast, where his allies from the Isle of Erin, Cormac na Connacht and the druid Caradach, sailed them to near the Cavern of Mists, and the spirit of Aeysla merged with Sirena. Drusus and Cornelia, former lovers two years prior, allied to locate the Cavern of Mists to obtain the power of Aeysla for themselves. Arriving with Roman Legionnaires, Cornelia betrayed Drusus by murdering him with arcane lightning, but died herself when Aeysla turned her magic back upon her. The Roman soldiers were turned back first by the guardian spirits protecting Aeysla, then by the arrival of Pictish forces led by Gonar and Grom.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 - BTS) <207 AD> - The occupying Roman forces led by Marcus Sulius prepared for a major assault on Caledon with eighteen hundred soldiers. To oppose them, Bran formed an alliance of his loosely federated Pictish tribes, including those led by tribal chieftains Bocah and Gron, the Celtic horsemen led by the Gaels Cormac na Connacht and Domnail, and the Britons and their war chariots.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 - BTS) <207 AD> - Northmen from Norway raided the countries of the south in their galleys, ravaging the coasts and burning villages of the Picts of Caledon. Bran Mak Morn burned their longships and ambushed the Northmen, and he threatened to cut them down with thrice their number of bowmen hidden in the forested hills. He spared them when the Northman leader Rognar swore to lead his three hundred warriors in an alliance against the Romans.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 - BTS) <207 AD> - An arrow fired by a Roman scout killed the Northman leader Rognar. With the death of their leader, the Northman Wulfhere assumed command of his raiders, and feeling no longer bound by the oath of Rognar to aid Bran Mak Morn, threatened to have his men side with the Romans unless Bran could ensure they would be led by a king who was neither Pict, Gael nor Briton.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2; Kings of the Night) <207 AD> - Bran Mak Morn and Cormac na Connacht witnessed as the Pictish shaman Gonar sacrificed a captured Roman soldier, the portents predicting triumph for the coming battle. Bran then observed the assembled Pict, Gael and Briton forces preparing for battle, but Wulfhere informed him that his Northmen would depart if there was no king to lead them to battle. Gonar communicated with his Pre-Cataclysmic Age ancestor Gonar through eldritch means and summoned the Valusian king Kull, using the red jewel in Bran's iron crown as a beacon to draw him across the centuries. Kull slew Wulfhere in combat and agreed to lead the Northmen.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#43/2; Kings of the Night) <207 AD> -The following day, Roman leader Marcus Sulius led twelve hundred legionnaires against the alliance, but upon entering a valley where they faced Kull leading the three hundred Northmen, the Romans are besieged on all sides by fifty war chariots and five hundred horsemen, one thousand archers and countless warriors. The Roman forces are slaughtered, although the Northmen are all slain as well. Kull was returned through a portal to his own time, as Bran informed Cormac that this victory would inspire the thousands of Picts as yet not loyal to him to unite under his rule so they may drive the Romans from Caledon.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 - BTS) <207 AD> - With his defeat of the Roman forces led by Marcus Sulius, Bran Mak Morn had established himself as the King of the Picts, not in just name but in the loyalty of the thousands of unorganized Picts that had remained aloof, and the remaining Pictish tribes flocked to his banner. 

(Legion From the Shadows - BTS) <208 AD> - Lucius Alfenus Senecio, the Roman governor of Brittania, sent the Roman fleet to burn the Gaelic settlements along the Alban coast. Cormac na Connacht and his Gael reavers, who had crossed from Erin to claim a foothold on the western coast of Caledon, battled against the Roman invaders. Bran Mak Morn began to consider that as he was now the undisputed ruler of all the united Pictish tribes, he no longer required alliances with the Gaels, Britons or any of the other people of the British Isles.

(Legion From the Shadows) <Spring, 208 AD> - Bran, alongside Gonar and Grom, marched with an army of three thousand Pictish warriors against a Roman encampment led by Marcus Sertorius Facilis, but they were horrified to discover the camp destroyed and all two thousand Roman legionaries already massacred by the Worms of the Earth. During a later celebration at the fortress of Baal-dor, Bran sister, Morgain, was abducted by the Worms. Bran was summoned to barrow Kestrel Scaur, where he was by met by Atla, the witch of Dagon-Moor, and Quintus Claudius Nero, the half-Worm great-grandson of Publius Calidius Falco, whose Legio IX Hispana had been buried in Serpent Gorge in 128 AD. The Worms had bred with the human survivors, and now Nero commanded their hybrid descendants in the Roman-styled Legio IX Infernalis. Bran refused their proposal for an alliance against Rome and then barely survived an attack from their Hell-Worm. Bran entered their subterranean lair to rescue Morgain, but was captured by the Worm leader, the Serpent Man Ssrhythssaa the Deathless, who hoped to control him with the Black Stone.

    Morgain escaped through an underground river but was recaptured by Nero, who briefly took her as a lover before she again fell into the claws of Ssrhythssaa. Bran was rescued by the mysterious Pictish woman Liuba, and together they recovered Morgain, their narrow escape assisted by the appearance of Grom leading Pictish warriors against the Worms. Nero murdered Ssrhythssaa and assumed control over the Worms, soon launching and attack against Baal-dor with the Legio IX Infernalis and the Hell-Worm. The Hell-Worm was driven back to the underworld with fire, and the Legio IX Infernalis was defeated by the forces of Baal-dor and an army of ghosts that Liuba had summoned. Nero fled south to Brittania, only to be captured and crucified by the Romans he so adored. Before she fled into the night, Atla revealed to Gonar and Morgain that Liuba was a threat to Bran. Liuba was soon revealed to be an immortal vampire who had beem freed when her barrow Kestrel Scaur was violated by the Worms. A former queen of the Pictish clans of lost Atlantis and a warrior-sorceress, Liuba sought out Bran, but she was driven off by Gonar and Morgain.

(Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth - BTS) - The alliance between the Picts and the Gaels ultimately fell apart, with them resuming conflicts with each other, as well as continuing to harry and raid the Roman border along Hadrian's Wall. Legate Caius Estulitius Incitatus ordered bribes be gifted to the leaders of the Gaels to deter the attacks, payments that were accepted by the leaders, but with little control over their subjects, the Gaelic assaults continued.

(Historical accounts) <208 AD> - Emperor Septimius Severus of Rome arrived in Britain with around 40,000 men and marched north to Hadrian's Wall, where he initiated a massive reconstruction project which finally transformed the wall into stone. After reparations to the wall commenced, Severus marched north and reconquered all the land between Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall. After completing the occupation, Severus began another reconstruction project, but this time on the Antonine Wall.

(Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth) <208 AD> - While stationed at Hadrian's Wall at Corstopitum (modern Corbridge), Titus Germanicus, a Centurion and Roman citizen of Germanic birth, hoped to exploit the tribal enmity between the Picts and the Gaels by allying with the Picts against the Gaels, arming the Picts and cultivating an even greater hostility between them and the Gaels. He established a parley with Bran Mak Morn at Eboracum, and Bran agreed to lead Titus through the heart of Caledon, passing the destroyed Tower of Trajan and through several Pictish encampments and forts.

     Their forces came under attack by the returned Worms of the Earth, who sought revenge upon Bran Mak Morn for his earlier actions against them. During the fever of battle, Titus Germanicus perhaps observed the wolf totem of Bran and believed him to be a werewolf, a misjudgment that Bran did not dissuade and in fact embellished upon. Bran and Titus Germanicus battled the Worms many more times, once with Titus even assisting a gravely wounded Bran from subterranean tunnels where their men had been slaughtered.

(Historical accounts) <209 AD> - Septimius Severus led his Legions north into the Caledonian Highlands, but suffered heavy casualties due to the guerrilla tactics used by the Pictish warriors. Severus began reoccupying many of the older Roman forts in the area, planning to hold all the territory he could and devastating all the territory he could not. This forced many of the Caledonian tribes to try to reach a peace agreement with Severus for fear of genocide by the Romans. Peace talks however failed, and the war continued until Severus fell sick.

(The Children of the Night - BTS) - During the life of Bran Mak Morn, his likeness was carved by a master sculptor on a type of stone not found anywhere in the British Isles or the known world.

(Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth) <210 AD> - Bran Mak Morn was slain in battle due to the treachery of Titus Germanicus, after he determined that his attempts to ally with the Pictish king to be unnecessary. With Bran dead, Titus expected Pictish aggression against Hadrian's Wall to subside. He wrote of his victory to Caius Estulitius Incitatus and promised to send him the salted head of Bran Mak Morn as a trophy. Without Bran to lead the Pictish tribes, his unified kingdom crumbled apart. His death marked the end of the Mak Morn bloodline.

(The Children of the Night - BTS, The Dark Man - BTS) <210 AD> - After his death, Bran Mak Morn was deified by the Picts, reputedly becoming apotheosized as a god like his ancestor Brule, his soul residing within the statue carved in his likeness, known as the Dark Man or the Dark One. The idol was mounted on an altar within a great cave on the Isle of the Altar, its location unrevealed but presumably somewhere in Caledon (modern Scotland). It was attended until at least the early eleventh century by the line of Gonar. The cult of Bran Mak Morn was reputed to exist for centuries.

(Historical accounts) <210 AD> - Septimius Severus, having fallen sick, returned to Eboracum, Brittania.

(Historical accounts) <February 4, 211 AD> - Septimius Severus died in Eboracum, and his son Caracalla ended the war against Caledon, returning to Rome to consolidate his power.

(Historical accounts) <4th Century AD> - No other High King of the Picts would arise to rival Bran's greatness. The historic Pictish Chronicle, a pseudo-historical account of the kings of the Picts, recorded the regnal list of kings of the Picts who would later reign over the remnants of the Pictish nation, the earliest monarch being Vipoig, who reigned from circa 311 AD and died circa 341 AD, being succeeded by Canutulachama.

(Historical accounts / Avengers Annual#20/2 (fb)) <September 4, 476 AD> - The Western Roman Empire officially fell when Emperor Romulus Augustulus (later known as Tyrannus) was deposed by Odoacer, King of Italy.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A To Z Update#3: Arthur Pendragon) <6th Century AD> - The Kingdom of Logres, Britain, ruled by King Uther Pendragon, was repeatedly beset by external enemies including the Picts, Anglo-Saxons and Irish.

(Historical accounts) <9th Century AD> - Kenneth MacAlpin (also known as Cinaed mac Ailpin) was born circa 810 AD, and upon the death of his father Alpin mac Echdach, Kenneth succeeded him as the King of Dal Riada in 841 AD. The son on a Pictish princess, Kenneth then undertook the conquest of the Picts, annexing Pictavia into the nation of Alba (modern Scotland) and reigning from 843 to 858 AD.

(The Dark Man - BTS) <1017 AD> - Worshipped by the remaining Picts, the Dark Man was located upon its altar on the Isle of the Altar. It communicated with its followers as Bran Mak Morn through the dreams of the shaman Gonar, descended from the line of Gonar. This tribe of Picts was led by the chieftain Brogar (not to be confused with Brogar of the Hyborian Age). The lesser priest Grok and his followers stole the idol and fled, taking to sea along the Hebrides islands of the west coast of Scotland. In his dreams, Gonar followed their route. Grok and his followers encountered a group of Viking Danes and they battled upon a shelving shore near the Isle of Swords, resulting in the death of all Danes and Picts, leaving the Dark Man there during a storm.

(The Dark Man) <1017 AD> - Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, or "Black Turlogh," kinsman to King Brian Boru of Ireland, pursued Thorfel the Fair (not to be confused with Thorfel the Fair of the Hyborian Age), whose viking forces had abducted Moira of the O'Brien clan. En route to the island of Slyne, called Helni and also the Isle of Swords by the Norse, he recovered the statue of the Dark Man from the shelving shore, observing the dead Danes and Picts about and noting how light the statue seemed. Arriving at the Isle of Swords, Turlogh hid his vessel, but it was soon found by two Dane warriors who brought the Dark Man to the longhouse of Thorfel. As Turlogh prepared to rescue Moira, he witnessed as she killed herself rather than wed Thorfel. Consumed with rage, Black Turlogh entered the longhouse and slaughtered a great number of Danes, and she was shocked when a Pictish war party led by Brogar too entered, killing the rest. In the aftermath, Brogar thanked Turlogh for rescuing their god, the only god they had left. As the shaman Gonar recovered the effigy, the Picts sailed away from the isle. As they departed, Turlogh had a brief vision of Bran Mak Morn as if in a dream.

(The Children of the Night - BTS) <1839 AD> - Over the centuries, the tales of the deeds of Bran Mak Morn had grown distorted and many myths about his abilities invented. It was rumored that even by the nineteenth century, the cult of Bran Mak Morn continued to exist. Explorer and author Friedrich Wilhelm von Junst, in his book Unaussprechlichen Kulten (Nameless Cults) published in Dusseldorf in 1839, mentioned the statue of the Dark Man as being hidden in a cavern. The members of the cult, descendants of the Picts, continued to worship Bran in secret, and they had to undertake a pilgrimage to the idol once during their lifetimes. The cult believed that one day the statue of Bran Mak Morn would breathe and move again, and that he and his people would rebuild their lost empire. Scholars continued to discuss the existence of the cult by the early twentieth century.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#200 - BTS) <November, 1930> - Robert Ervin Howard, an American author, published his first Bran Mak Morn story, "Kings of the Night," in Weird Tales magazine.

Comments: Created by Robert Ervin Howard, and first illustrated by Jayem Wilcox.
     Adapted for Marvel Comics by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith and Tim A. Conrad.

     One or two of the forefathers of Brule were legendary heroes, revered for feats of personal strength or wholesale murder, and were deified by the Picts, but it was unknown if they were apotheosized as gods as both Brule and Bran were.

     The primary chronology for Bran Mak Morn was in the early third century, and was derived from the dates put forth in Legion From the Shadows, Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, Second Edition and Timeline of the Cthulhu Mythos. In his original Bran Mak Morn manuscript written around 1922-1923, Howard stated "the time is between 296 A.D. and 300 A.D.", but when he wrote Kings of the Night, Men of the Shadows and Worms of the Earth, there were very few specific chronological details given. Other sources confirm Bran Mak Morn of the Marvel Universe was active around "200 A.D." (Savage Sword of Conan#14: A King Kull Glossary, 1976) and "200 AD" (Marvel Atlas#1: Norway, 2007).

Specific Bran chronology:

• Gonar was born in c. 104 AD, as he was "more than a hundred years" (Savage Sword of Conan I#103/2) and "outlived a hundred years" (Men of the Shadows) in 205 AD, and again "outlived a hundred years" (Legion From the Shadows) in 208 AD.
• Othna defeated 9th Legion in 128 AD, "eighty years" and "some four-score years" (Legion From the Shadows) before 208 AD.
• Bran was born in early 180s AD, "in his late twenties" (Legion From the Shadows) in 208 AD.
• Morgain was born in 190 AD, her "eighteenth summer" (Legion From the Shadows) in 208 AD.
• Bran dreamed of a Pictish nation in mid 190s, "in his middle-teens" (Legion From the Shadows) in 208 AD.
• Malis and Gydda died in 196 AD, "twelve years" (Legion From the Shadows) before 208 AD.
• Bran attacked Hadrian's Wall in late 190s AD, at "sixteen" (Legion From the Shadows).
• Bran learned history of the Picts in "205" and "three years" (Legion From the Shadows) before he met Gonar in 208 AD.
• Bran summoned the Worms of the Earth in "206 A.D." (Timeline of the Cthulhu Mythos), "206" and "almost two years" (Legion From the Shadows) before 208 AD.
• Bran at war with Drusus 206 AD, "over a year" (For the Witch of the Mists) before Bran escaped Rome in 207 AD.
• Bran summoned Kull in "207" (Legion From the Shadows) and "207 A.D." (Timeline of the Cthulhu Mythos).
• Bran recovered Aeysla in 207 AD, "a year" (For the Witch of the Mists) after he posed as Partha Mac Othna at Eboracum in 206 AD.
• Bran battled the Worms of the Earth in "spring of 208, on the eve of Severus' arrival in Eboracum" (Legion From the Shadows).
• Bran battled the Worms of the Earth with Titus Germanicus in "208 A.D." (Timeline of the Cthulhu Mythos).
• Bran was slain in "ca. 210" (Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, Second Edition).
• Turlogh found the Dark Man in 1017 AD, "scarcely three years" (The Dark Man) after the Battle of Clontarf on April 23, 1014 AD.
• Von Junst published his book in "1839" (The Children of the Night). In Conan the Barbarian I#68, 1976, the Hyborian Age sorcerer Karanthes summoned a blood red jewel from the mists of time to give to Conan, who shortly thereafter encountered Kull, who had been displaced in time along with the City of Wonders. Conan gave him the jewel, which was revealed by Kull to have vanished from his crown when the City was displaced by a demonic impostor of "Gonar," and the City returned to the Pre-Cataclysmic Age shortly thereafter. Perhaps this is the same blood red jewel Kull later gifted to Brule, which later was passed down to Bran Mak Morn and allowed Gonar to transport Kull to the third century.

     If Legion of the Shadows stated that the men of Caledon attacked Antonine's Wall in 180 AD, that causes a mild chronological conundrum, as in the real world Antonine's Wall was abandoned by the Romans around 18 years earlier than that. - Loki

     The Bran Mak Morn story The Dark Man was never directly adapted into Marvel Comics, but was freely adapted as a Conan story in Savage Tales#4, 1974. Conan replaced Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, Mala replaced Moira, and the Dark God (an apotheosized Brule) replaced the Dark Man (an apotheosized Bran). Other characters (Brogar, Thorfel the Fair) and locations (Isle of Swords) may have similar names, but the Hyborian age and 11th century versions are distinctly different beings.

     Brule the Spear Slayer (Savage Tales#4, 1974) and Bran Mak Morn (The Dark Man) were both deified by the Picts upon their deaths, worshipped as deities. It was unrevealed whether either was truly apotheosized as a god, but the effigies of both, Brule as the Dark God and Bran as the Dark Man, possessed supernatural characteristics. Either may be considered one of the Pictish pantheon of gods. Brogar of the 11^th century stated the Dark Man was "the only God we have left" (The Dark Man), and Brogar of the Hyborian Age also stated the Dark God was "the only God we have left" (Savage Tales#4, 1974). An ancestor or two of Brule and Bran may also have been honored as gods, as there was "a legendary hero or two, semi-deified for feats of personal strength or whole sale murder" (Wizard and Warrior).

     Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth was written as a supplement for the roleplaying game Werewolf: The Apocalypse. There were many aspects of the story that somewhat contradict established details of the Howard story, primarily with Bran (called Brennus therein but confirmed as Bran Mak Morn later in the book) being a werewolf and the Worms of the Earth being aspects of the Wyrm, a power of entropy. However, the issue can be reconciled with Titus Germanicus seeing Bran appear as his wolf totem during battle, something similar happening when Bran battled Gonar (Men of the Shadows), and Titus incorrectly assuming he was a werewolf, and Bran, who sought his alliance, indulged Titus' erroneous assertions about the supernatural. There was also the seeming contradiction of Bran turning against the Gaels and seeking an alliance with Rome, but at this time during the Roman invasion of Caledonia (208-210 AD), Septimius Severus personally led the Roman forces north to Hadrian's Wall, forcing many of the Caledonian tribes to try to reach a peace agreement with Severus for fear of genocide by the Romans. In Legion From the Shadows, Bran considered ending the alliance with the Gaels, feeling the Pictish forces he now commanded able to oppose Rome, as he stated "We are an army of Picts! A victory today will prove to all Britain that Pictish savages can defeat the Roman colossus -- defeat Rome without Celtic allies, without ensnaring sorceries! That will be a victory, Gonar! Pictish valor and Pictish steel will win that victory -- and then shall the Celtic tribes look to Pictdom for leadership!"

     The unseen Roman Emperor during the battles of Bran Mak Morn was not identified by Howard, but was revealed as Septimius Severus, who reigned from 193 to 211 AD, in For the Witch of the Mists and Legion From the Shadows. Severus would have probably also been the same Roman Emperor that time traveler Tommy Tyme encountered in "200 A.D" (Young Allies Comics#14/2, 1944).

     It's probably worth noting that the Picts didn't call themselves by that name. Picti ("painted ones") was the Roman name for them. However, since the Picts had no written language that we know of, there are no records of what they actually called themselves. - Loki

     This profile was completed 8/12/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Wolfram Bane and Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Bran Mak Morn has no known connections to:

• Bran, the Proud Walkers--Hulk Comic#61/2 (1979)
• Bran Bardic, Albion of Earth-70518--New Excalibur I#5 (2006)
• Ellen Brandt, Man-Thing's wife--Savage Tales I#1 (1971)
• Brand Corporation, research company--Amazing Adventures II#11 (1972)
• Bran the Blessed, Celtic demigod--She-Hulk#24 (2008)
• Betty Brant, Spider-Man ally--Amazing Spider-Man I#4 (1963)
• Morlun, Spider-Man foe--Amazing Spider-Man II#30 (2001)
• Morningstar, the demon Lucifer--Ghost Rider VI#1 (2006)
• Morning Star, Marya Meshkov--Avengers West Coast#87 (1992)
• Moroni, Church of Lucifer--Hellstorm#19 (1994)
• Don Moroni, Spider-Man criminal--Marvel Presents The Spider-Man Annual 1979
• Bran Mac Muffin (Cerebus character)--Cerebus (Aardvark-Vanaheim)#5 (1978) - though he's obviously named after Bran Mak Morn

Auctus

Auctus was a slave employed as a horse groom at the estate of Claudius Argo in Rome since 200 AD. He began a romance with fellow slave Sirena in 205 AD, but had always held disbelief in her faith in magic. When he befriended gladiator Bran in 207 AD, Auctus learned Sirena was destined to become the host body for the goddess Aeysla, and he helped Bran and Sirena escape Rome, taking brief refuge in the brothel of his friend Ulpian, before fleeing northwards to Gaul. When the druid Mogham helped them reach the Narrow Sea, Auctus departed, realizing that his beloved Sirena was no more. He decided he would ride to Gesoriacum (modern Boulogne-sur-Mer, France), wandering for a time before becoming a soldier at Hadrian's Wall.

--For the Witch of the Mists

Baal-dor

     The fortress of Baal-dor commanded a position of strength in the Caledonian Highlands (modern Scottish Highlands). Pictish legends attributed its construction to darker eons, its name clearly not being Pictish, but the original architects remain long forgotten. Baal-dor stood upon a towering bluff below whose precipitous slopes two tumbling mountain streams came together. Ascent along the face of the cliffs from below was near impossible. The approach was by high stone walls from whose ramparts archers could defend the fortress. The ancient foundations were of cyclopean construction, in some places incorporating slabs as large as menhir standing stones. The walls surrounding the fortress would require siege equipment on a scale not yet seen in Britannia to breach.

     Pictish legend held that Baal-dor had once been the fortress of the Reindeer Men. Baal-dor had been occupied and abandoned countless times during the centuries of Pictish occupation of the Highlands.

     Despite the ancient stone walls laying in ruin, Bran Mak Morn had undertaken its restoration, finding the need for a central stronghold for his vision of a unified Pictish nation.

     In 206 AD, Gonar slumbered at Baal-dor as he contacted Bran Mak Morn within his dreams in a failed attempt to dissuade him from summing the demonic Worms of the Earth.

     In 207 AD, while Bran was abducted to Rome, Grom and Gonar remained at Baal-dor, planning their next act against Rome. Grom decided to undertake a campaign of guerrilla attacks north of Hadrian's Wall until the return of Bran.

     Later, in spring of 208 AD, Bran held a victory feast at Baal-dor over the destruction of a Roman encampment, but he was concerned as it was apparent that the Worms were responsible. That evening, Quintus Claudius Nero and Atla entered Baal-dor and proposed for an alliance against Rome, abducting Morgain as a hostage. Bran eventually managed to recover his beloved sister, and Nero launched an assault upon the fortress, having the main walls undermined by the Hell-Worm as he has the Legio IX Infernalis attack both from the outside and inside through hidden tunnels. Under his command, Bran's forces caused the Hell-Worm to flee after he had it engulfed it with flame, and a ghostly army summoned by Liuba managed to send the Legion to flight.

 --Savage Sword of Conan I#16 - BTS; Worms of the Earth - BTS, For the Witch of the Mists, Legion From the Shadows

Note: The fortress of Baal-dor was an ancient structure in the Caledonian Highlands. Its name suggested it was of Mesopotamian origin, despite being located over 3000 miles away from Mesopotamia. Despite it being used by the Picts and even possibly the Reindeer Men sometime after the Great Cataclysm, its true origins are unknown. The first syllable "Baal" or Ba'al was a title and honorific meaning "owner" or "lord" in Ugaritic and the other Northwest Semitic languages, and was often associated with Annunaki deities, particularly with the storm and fertility god Hadad or Ba'al-Hadad. The second syllable "dor" meant "circle," "dwelling," "generation" or "habitation" in Hebrew, often used in the names of cities including Dor, En-dor and Hammoth-dor. Thus the name Baal-dor may be possibly interpreted as "the city of lords."

Berul Crookback

     Berul Crookback was a noble Pict whose father, Othna Mak Morn of the Wolf Clan, died at Serpent Gorge in 128 AD.

     Othna had allowed the infant Berul, born with a withered arm and a crooked back, to live to ensure the continuation of the male Mak Morn bloodline.

    Berul later fathered Malis Mak Morn., who, in turn, fathered Bran Mak Morn. 

  --Legion From the Shadows - BTS

Borcah

Borcah was a Briton who worked on a Roman farm until he tried to kill his master. He was arrested by the Romans in 207 AD, and befriended the apprehended Bran Mak Morn in Ratae, Britannia (modern Leicester, England). They were both transported to Rome, where they were purchased as slaves by Claudius Argo, who had his trainer Glaucus educate them in gladiatorial combat. Borcah was subsequently slain during a gladiatorial match at the Flavian Amphitheatre.

  - For the Witch of the Mists

Legate Caius Estulitius Incitatus

Caradach

     Caradach was the older druid of the Irish tribe of war chief Cormac na Connacht. He sensed the approach of Bran Mak Morn and Sirena, who was destined to join with the moon goddess Aeysla, in a dream in 207 AD. Cormac and Caradach found them on the west coast of Brittania, and sailed Bran and Sirena northward, bringing them ashore near the Cavern of Mists.

Claudius Argo

     Claudius Argo was a patron and retired procurator of gladiators in Rome. He spent his life evaluating fighting men from across the known world, from barbarians, criminals, gladiators and veterans of war, and he procured some of the most formidable fighters the Ludus Magnus, the gladiator training school, had ever seen, retiring a wealthy man. He was married to Cornelia, a woman whose family was of a higher patrician standing than his own, although he ignored rumors of her being secretly a sorceress. He was aware his wife had feelings for Drusus Maximus, the two having had an affair that had started even before she was married to Claudius, which finally ended with Drusus being sent to Britannia in 205 AD. With Drusus gone, Claudius vowed to be a better man to his wife, but with her contempt of him and continuing rumors of her practicing sorcery, he focused solely upon training gladiators for the arena.

     In 207 AD, Claudius Argo observed the captive Bran Mak Morn kill the trainer Hylas; impressed with Bran's prowess, Claudius purchased Bran as well as his friend, a Briton named Borcah, as slaves. He had his trainer Glaucus educate them in gladiatorial combat, and during a gladiatorial match at the Flavian Amphitheatre attended by Emperor Septimius Severus himself, Bran engaged in the savage ordeal, but Borcah was slain. Cornelia suspected the slave "Bran" was truly the Pictish king Bran Mak Morn, and after Bran escaped the estate of Claudius with slaves Auctus and Sirena, the mortal whose form was destined to be possessed by the goddess Aeysla, Cornelia reunited with Drusus Maximus to track them down. A drunken Claudius, enraged by the scandal of the escaped slaves, and believing Cornelia had resumed her affair with Drusus, confronted the pair, but Cornelia used her magic to murder him.

  - For the Witch of the Mists

Cornelia

     Cornelia was born into a wealthy Roman family and secretly a practitioner of magic, having spent nights with an aunt learning the secrets of witchcraft. She eventually married the wealthy Claudius Argo, who was of a lower patrician standing than her own, and he was intrigued when she revealed her powers to him on their wedding night. She was a worshiper of the moon goddess Aeysla, and she practiced sorcery and strange rites in the privacy of dark chambers and the woods outside the city to sacrifice to ghosts and demons. She purchased an orphaned Sirena in Ionia as a slave and brought her to Rome in 187 AD. Sirena worshipped alongside Cornelia, awaiting the incarnation of Aeysla, and she secretly learned about magic from Cornelia as well. Even before her marriage, she had a romantic liaison with Drusus Marcellinus Maximus, himself a Roman sorcerer and a master of the black arts. She also had other lovers.

     In 205 AD, Drusus learned through Cornelia of the sacred amulet of Aeysla, guarded by the priests of Artemis at Ephesus, Ionia, Greece (located near modern Selcuk, Izmir Province, Turkey), and he also learned from her that the path to access that power was through the Pictish king Bran Mak Morn in Caledon. Drusus then ended his relationship with Cornelia, becoming High Tribune of the Sixth Legion and being assigned to Britannia, secretly searching for the Cavern of Mists. Cornelia at one time had a premonition that this Pictish king would arrive to fulfill an ancient prophecy, and she cast spells to cause the magical king to come her way.

     In 207 AD, Drusus had captured Bran Mak Morn in Caledon and sent him in chains to Rome, but he ended up purchased as a gladiator by Claudius Argo. At their estate, Cornelia realized that the gladiator was Bran Mak Morn, but Bran also determined that Sirena was destined to claim the divine essence of Aeysla, and they subsequently fled. Drusus, unsuccessful in locating the cavern, returned to Rome to discover that Bran and Sirena had fled, but, despite allying with Cornelia, he was unsuccessful in locating them. Cornelia murdered Claudius when he drunkenly thought she and Drusus had resumed their affair. Drusus returned to Brittania with Cornelia, disguised as an eastern oracle, and with a company of a thousand Roman soldiers behind them, they ventured into western Caledon to locate the Cavern of Mists. Confronting Bran and Sirena, Drusus attempted to use his alchemical magics against Bran and Sirena, but Cornelia, anticipating his betrayal, had sabotaged his potions, and she then killed him with arcane lightning. Cornelia subsequently attacked Sirena, now possessing the power of Aeysla, but Cornelia was instead slain when Sirena turned her own magic against her.

 --For the Witch of the Mists

Dark Man

    The Dark Man (aka the Dark One) was an effigy of Bran Mak Morn, apparently linked to or housing his spirit.

    Carved of a stone not found anywhere in the British Isles or the known world, smooth and free from corrosion as if carved yesterday, and bore the perfectly engraved image of Bran Mak Morn himself, retaining his regal or even divine countenance. The Picts revered and worshipped the statue, which seemed to possess an awareness of its surroundings. It stood five feet tall and appeared to weigh enough so that two men could carry it with some difficulty, however it appeared to sense the intentions of those around it. With those whom it considered a friend it would be be no heavier than if made of light wood or even near weightless, but against those will darker intent it seemed unyieldingly heavy, and even seemed to force itself from their grasps. To its allies, the idol could allow a ship smooth sailing through stormy water, and the Dark Man could also cause weapons to shatter, either those weapons used against those it considered an ally or weapons striking the idol, leaving its surface unmarred. 

    It could apparently communicate as Bran Mak Morn via the line of Gonar.

(The Children of the Night - BTS, The Dark Man - BTS) <210 AD> - After his death, Bran Mak Morn was deified by the Picts, reputedly becoming apotheosized as a god like his ancestor Brule, his soul residing within the statue carved in his likeness, known as the Dark Man or the Dark One. The idol was mounted on an altar within a great cave on the Isle of the Altar, its location unrevealed but presumably somewhere in Caledon (modern Scotland). It was attended until at least the early 11^th century by the line of Gonar. The cult of Bran Mak Morn was reputed to exist for centuries.

(The Dark Man - BTS) <1017 AD> - Worshipped by the remaining Picts, the Dark Man was located upon its altar on the Isle of the Altar. It communicated with its followers as Bran Mak Morn through the dreams of the shaman Gonar. This tribe of Picts was led by the chieftain Brogar. The lesser priest Grok and his followers stole the idol and fled, taking to sea along the Hebrides islands of the west coast of Scotland. Via his dreams, Gonar followed their route. Grok and his followers encountered a group of Viking Danes, and they battled upon a shelving shore near the Isle of Swords, resulting in the death of all Danes and Picts, leaving the Dark Man there during a storm.

(The Dark Man) <1017 AD> - Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, or "Black Turlogh," kinsman to King Brian Boru of Ireland, pursued Thorfel the Fair, whose viking forces had abducted Moira of the O'Brien clan. En route to the island of Slyne, called Helni and also the Isle of Swordsby the Norse, he recovered the statue of the Dark Man from the shelving shore, observing the dead Danes and Picts about and noting how light the statue seemed. Arriving at the Isle of Swords, Turlogh hid his vessel, but it was soon found by two Dane warriors who brought the Dark Man to the longhouse of Thorfel. As Turlogh prepared to rescue Moira, he witnessed as she tragically killed herself rather than wed Thorfel. Consumed with rage, Black Turlogh entered the longhouse and slaughtered a great number of Danes, and was shocked when a Pictish war party led by Brogar too entered, killing the rest. In the aftermath, Brogar thanked Turlogh for rescuing their god, the only god they had left. As the shaman Gonar recovered the effigy, the Picts sailed away from the isle. As they departed, Turlogh had a brief vision of Bran Mak Morn as if in a dream.

(The Children of the Night - BTS) <1839 AD> - Over the centuries, the tales of the deeds of Bran Mak Morn had grown distorted and many myths about his abilities invented. It was rumored that even by the nineteenth century, the cult of Bran Mak Morn continued to exist. Explorer and author Friedrich Wilhelm von Junst, in his book Unaussprechlichen Kulten (Nameless Cults) published in Dusseldorf in 1839, mentioned the statue of the Dark Man was hidden in a cavern. The members of the cult, descendants of the Picts, continue to worship Bran in secret, and they were required to undertake a pilgrimage to the idol once during their lifetimes. The cult believed that one day the statue of Bran Mak Morn would breathe and move again, and he and his people would rebuild their lost empire. Scholars continued to discuss the existence of the cult by the early twentieth century.

Note: The Bran Mak Morn story The Dark Man was never directly adapted into Marvel Comics, but was freely adapted as a Conan story in Savage Tales#4, 1974. Conan replaced Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, Mala replaced Moira, and the Dark God (an apotheosized Brule) replaced the Dark Man (an apotheosized Bran). Other characters (Brogar, Thorfel the Fair) and locations (Isle of Swords) may have similar names, but the Hyborian age and 11th century versions are distinctly different beings.

Tribune Drusus Marcellinus Maximus

Glaucus

Gydda

Lucius Alfenus Senecio

Malis Mak Morn

Mogham

Moira

Turlogh Dubh "Black Turlogh" O'Brien

Othna Mak Morn

Rognar

Emperor Septimius Severus

     Lucius Septimius Severus, born at Leptis Magna (modern Al-Khums, Libya) in 145 AD, became the Emperor of Roman on April 14, 193 AD.

     He observed the gladiatorial games in 200 AD, where one gladiator, the time traveler Tommy Tyme, taught him a lesson in sportsmanship.

     In 207 AD, Drusus Marcellinus Maximus of the Sixth Legion captured Bran Mak Morn and sent him to Rome as tribute to the Emperor, but due to a clerical error, Bran was purchased as a gladiator by Claudius Argo. Bran fought a gladiatorial match at the Flavian Amphitheatre attended by the Emperor himself and made an impression, but soon escaped back to Caledon.

     In spring of 208 AD, the Worm of the Earth leader Claudius Nero proposed an alliance to Bran Mak Morn to oppose Septimius Severus, who was coming to Brittania to assume control of the domination of Caledon.

     In 208 AD, Severus arrived in Britain with around 40,000 men and marched north to Hadrian's Wall, where he initiated a massive reconstruction project which finally transformed the wall into stone. After reparations to the wall commenced, Severus marched north and reconquered all the land between Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall.

     In 209 AD, he led his Legions north into the Caledonian Highlands, but they suffered heavy casualties due to the guerrilla tactics used by the Pictish warriors. Severus began reoccupying many of the older Roman forts in the area, planning to hold all the territory he could and devastating all the territory he could not. This forced many of the Caledonian tribes to try to reach a peace agreement with Severus for fear of genocide by the Romans. Peace talks however failed, and the war continued until Severus fell sick. He returned to Eboracum in 210 AD to recover, but died on February 4, 211 AD, and his son Caracalla ended the war against the Caledonians and returned to Rome to consolidate his power.

 --Young Allies Comics#14/2; For the Witch of the Mists - BTS, Legion From the Shadows - BTS

Sirena

Thorfel the Fair (11^th Century)

Titus Germanicus

Ulpian

Centurion Ursus

images: (without ads)
Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2, page 10, panel 3 (Bran Mak Morn)
Frank Brunner's Bran Mak Morn portfolio (Bran killing a Roman soldier, colorized version of image from Savage Sword of Conan I#30, p57, pan1)
Savage Sword of Conan I#104/2, page 1, panel 6 (Bran and Morgain)
Savage Sword of Conan I#103/2, page 6, panel 1 (Bran vs Gonar battle of wills)
Savage Sword of Conan I#17/2, page 12, panel 19 (Bran w/ Black Stone)
Frank Brunner's Bran Mak Morn portfolio (Bran facing the Worms, colorized version of image from Savage Sword of Conan I#30, p59, pan1)
Savage Sword of Conan I#43/2, page 1, panel 2 (Bran and Kull)
Savage Sword of Conan I#43/2, p3, pan 1 (Bran and Kull plan for the coming battle)
Savage Sword of Conan I#30, p56, pan1 (Bran battles wolves)
Weird Tales V20 #5, p26 (numbered 604), panel 1 "Worms of the Earth (first depiction of Bran)
Savage Sword of Conan I#17/2, page 5, panel 5 (Atla)
Savage Sword of Conan I#104/2, page 6, panel 5 (Atlanteans)
Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2, page 2, panel 3 (Cormac na Connacht)
Savage Tales#4, page 13, panel 2 (Dark God)
Savage Sword of Conan I#43/2, page 9, panel 1 (Domnail)
Young Allies Comics#14/2, page 7, panel 4 (Severus)
Savage Sword of Conan I#43/2, page 6, panel 5 (Marcus Sulius)
Savage Sword of Conan I#103/2, page 4, panel 6 (Morgain)
Savage Tales#4, page 16, panel 5 (Thorfel the Fair)
Savage Sword of Conan I#16/2, page 7, panel 1 (Titus Sulla)
Savage Sword of Conan I#16/2, page 14, panel 3 (Valerius)
Savage Sword of Conan I#17/2, page 15, panel 11 (Worms of the Earth)
Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2, page 16, panel 4 (Wulfhere)
cover of Weird Tales, December 1931 (Bran as the Dark One statue; with Moira)
Legion From the Shadow, cover (Legio IX Infernalis)
Weird Tales, December 1931, cover (Dark Man)
Weird Tales, December 1931, cover (Moira)

Appearances:
Young Allies Comics#14/2 (December, 1944) - Dan Barry (pencils), Allen Bellman (inks)
Kull the Conqueror I#1 (June, 1971) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Ross Andru (pencils), Wally Wood (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Kull the Conqueror I#2 (September, 1971) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Marie Severin (pencils), John Severin (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Supernatural Thrillers#3 (April, 1973) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Gerry Conway (adaptation), Gil Kane (pencils), Ernie Chan (inks)
Sub-Mariner I#62/2 (June, 1973) - Howard Chaykin (writer, pencils), Steve Gerber (writer), Joe Sinnott (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Sub-Mariner I#63/2 (July, 1973) - Bill Everett (writer), Steve Gerber (writer), Joe Sinnott (inker), Howard Chaykin (penciler), Roy Thomas (editor)
Savage Tales#4 (May, 1974) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Gil Kane (pencils), Neal Adams (pencils, inks), Pablo Marcos (inks, tones), Frank McLaughlin, Vince Colletta (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#2/2 (October, 1974) - Robert E. Howard, Lin Carter (original story), Steve Englehart (adaptation), Howard Chaykin (pencils), Russ Heath, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Alan Weiss (inks), Roy Thomas, Marv Wolfman, Tony Isabella (editors)
Savage Sword of Conan I#6/2 (June, 1975) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Alex Nino (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#6: Gods of the Hyborian Age Part One: The Homes of the Gods (June, 1975) - Robert Yaple (writer), Alex Nino, Mike Vosburg (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#7: The Hyborian Age, Chapter 1 - The Pre-Cataclysmic Age (August, 1975) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#8: The Hyborian Age, Chapter 2 - The Rise of the Hyborians (October, 1975) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#9: The Gods of the Hyborian Age, Part IV: Demi-Gods and Demons (December, 1975) - Robert Yaple (writer), Pablo Marcos, J. Steinle (pencils, inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#12: The Hyborian Age, Chapter 3 - The Hyborian Kingdoms (June, 1976) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks)
Eternals I#2 (August, 1976) - Jack Kirby (writer, penciler, editor), John Verpoorten (inker), Marv Wolfman (consulting editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#14: A King Kull Glossary (September, 1976) - Fred Blosser (writer), Al Milgrom, Mike Whelan, Michael Wm. Kaluta (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#15: The Hyborian Age, Chapter 4 - The Beginning of the End (October, 1976) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#15: A Portfolio of Robert E. Howard (October, 1976) - Tim A. Conrad (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#16/2 (December, 1976) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Barry Windsor-Smith (pencils), Tim A. Conrad (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#16: The Hyborian Age, Chapter 5 - Fire and Slaughter (December, 1976) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#17/2 (February, 1977) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Tim A. Conrad, Joyce Furman (pencils, inks), Larry Gaydos (inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#17: The Hyborian Age, Chapter 6 - The Darkness... and the Dawn (February, 1977) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#26 (January, 1978) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), John Buscema (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#27 (March, 1978) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), John Buscema (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#31: A Gazetteer of the Hyborian Age, Part II (July, 1978) - Lee N. Falconer (writer), David Wenzel (pencils), Duffy Vohland (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#42/2 (July, 1979) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), David Wenzel (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#43/2 (August, 1979) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), David Wenzel (pencils, inks)
King Conan#2 (June, 1980) - Lin Carter, L. Sprague De Camp (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), John Buscema (pencils), Ernie Chan (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#55/2 (August, 1980) - Roy Thomas (writer, editor), Alfredo Alcala (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#68/2 (September, 1981) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Gene Day (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#69/2 (October, 1981) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Gene Day (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
King Conan#9 (March, 1982) - Doug Moench (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Ernie Chan (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
Kull the Conqueror III#4/2 (February, 1984) - Alan Zelenetz (writer), Ernie Chan (pencils), Joe Rubenstein (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#102/2 (July, 1984) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Gene Day (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#103/2 (August, 1984) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Gene Day (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#104/2 (September, 1984) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Gene Day (pencils, inks)
Savage Sword of Conan I#106/2 (November, 1984) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Gene Day (pencils, inks)
Handbook of the Conan Universe#1 (January, 1986) - Alan Zelenetz (writer), Larry Hama (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition#7 (June, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald, Peter Sanderson and others (writers), Michael Carlin (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#132/2 (January, 1987) - Chuck Dixon (writer), Val Semeiks (pencils), Mark Schultz (inks), ??? (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#137 (June, 1987) - Chuck Dixon (writer), Gary Kwapisz (pencils), Ernie Chan (inks), Larry Hama (editor)
Marvel Graphic Novel: Conan of the Isles (May, 1988) - Lin Carter, L. Sprague DeCamp (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), John Buscema (pencils), Danny Bulanadi, Ricardo Villamonte, Armando Gil, George Roussos, Dave Simons (inks), Louise Jones, Susan Flaxman (editors)
Conan: The Ravagers Out of Time (1992) - Roy Thomas (writer), Mike Docherty (pencils), Alfredo Alcala (inks), Mike Rockwitz, Barry Dutter (editors)
Savage Sword of Conan I#197/2 (May, 1992) - Roy Thomas (writer), E.R. Cruz (pencils, inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#200 (August, 1992) - Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Ernie Chan (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Conan the Adventurer#3 (August, 1994) - Roy Thomas (writer), Rafael Kayanan (pencils, inks), Richard Ashford (editor)
Conan Saga#95: The Conan Comics Chronology, Chapter Seventeen (February, 1995) - Roy Thomas (writer)
Conan Saga#97: The Kull Comics Chronology (April, 1995) - Fred Blosser, Roy Thomas, Jim Neal (writers)
Adventures of the X-Men#12 (March, 1997) - Ralph Macchio (writer), Yancey Labat (pencils), Ralph Cabrera (inks)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A To Z#3 (2006) - Jeff Christiansen and others (writers)
Incredible Hercules#123 (January, 2009) - Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente (writers), Clayton Henry (penciler), Salvador Espin (inker), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A To Z Update#3 (October, 2010) - Jeff Christiansen and others (writers), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Blockbusters of the Marvel Universe (March, 2011) - Jeff Christiansen, Mike O'Sullivan and others (writers)
Savage Sword of Conan II#6 (August, 2019) - Meredith Finch (writer), Luke Ross (pencils, inks), Mark Basso, Martin Biro, Ralph Macchio (editors)
Conan: Serpent War#1 (February, 2020) - Jim Zub (writer), Scot Eaton, Vanesa Del Rey (pencils), Scott Hanna, Vanesa Del Rey (inks), Mark Basso, Martin Biro, Ralph Macchio (editors)
Conan: Serpent War#4 (March, 2020) - Jim Zub (writer), Vanesa Del Rey, Ig Guara (pencils, inks), Mark Basso, Martin Biro, Ralph Macchio (editors)