Marcus Corelinus Snou is the Director of the Imperial Anti-Corruption Agency of the Ryccian Empire.

History

Marcus was born as an illegitimate child of the noble Corelinus family of the Core and to the poor Snou family. His mother had a love affair with the father, a noble who had been assigned to the planet of Antperren as the Commander of the Light of Justice, a cruiser of the local garrison. He was never publicly acknowledged as part of their family until much later, but he was able to live a modest middle-class lifestyle due to the covert financial support of his father.

Growing up, Marcus never knew his father, and was confused on why his mother did not work and instead took care of him whilst being able to live a good life compared to his friends. The father, Antonius Corelinus, although refusing to acknowledge him publicly, still wished for his son to have a good childhood, and thus convinced his mother to be a stay-at-home mom so she can take care of him full-time. As she loved her son, she wanted this anyway, so she accepted.

Marcus grew up with the “Snou” surname only, but he was told the truth at 18 years of age covertly by his own father, who wished to see him in private. Noting his immense intelligence, Antonius agreed to secretly fund his education in the Core worlds. For a person from a far-flung area of the Empire, he did incredibly well, entering Thurvel University in the capital, the ninth most prestigious university in the country.

In his college years, Marcus was an oddity, speaking with his Far Northern (OOC: Afrikaans) accent and being from a place so far from the Core. The wealthy aristocratic students thought little of him in general, despite him experiencing a lifestyle that matched theirs due to his father’s support. As a result, he was often the richest amongst his friends, who were mostly members of Thurvel’s outer alumni population (“outer” refers to any pupils who are not from an aristocratic background and/or that are from outside the Core and The Rim). He got involved in campus leadership, becoming President of the Thurvel Outer Association, a student organization that promotes outer interests and increased contact between inner and outer students.

After graduating from Thurvel University, his superb grades qualified him to go to the Imperial Academy’s law school, the best of its kind in the Empire. Unlike most of his classmates, he did not stay in the Core. Instead, he went back home, founding a law firm. Due to being the most educated lawyer in the planet despite being a complete novice, his business took off, never losing a case in over twenty years. He was especially beloved in his planet and the region when he went out of his way to represent the poor against wealthy defendants or appellants, albeit he was known to represent companies as well in his career. It is at this time when he met his wife, a middle-class teacher and tutor that he defended against a mining baron that accused her of stealing money from his home.

He provided legal consulting to the local government at Antperren. Due to his expertise, fame as a defender of the poor and growing political connections, Corelinus became the planetary Minister of Justice. It is now widely believed that his appointment was a move for the government to make themselves popular with the people after barely winning re-election, but this tactic would cost the incumbents dearly. The new Minister aggressively attacked local corruption, investigating and/or prosecuting several prominent politicians, even some Cabinet members. His removal by the Governor incited worldwide protests, forcing the leader to reinstate him to his former post.

Earning significant public approval, Marcus ran for Governor of his homeworld, securing the position with 62% of the vote. He famously eradicated corruption in his two terms, and his extermination was regarded as a model for the region of The Edge as a whole. When his tenure ended, he ran for Senator.

In the Imperial Senate

As Senator, Marcus was a vocal opponent of corruption. He was also a proponent of economic policies that would benefit poorer worlds like his. It was here that some greedier members of the Corelinus family got wind of his true origins, and tried to connect with him in order to create political links. This backfired, as Marcus exposed these attempts at obtaining influence (in the Core, blood links are valued and held sacred far more than in faraway regions, which tend to have far less aristocratic blood and customs). Due to this revelation, he was officially granted the noble titles he was supposed to be born with.

He was seen in a better light by the wealthier Senators from the Core after the incident, as the Corelinus lineage is a cadet branch of the powerful Imperial House of Charlotte. This entitled Marcus access to exclusive galas and other social gatherings of the nobility as a cadetist from the Charlottes. Despite this preferential treatment and constant invitations from Charlotte nobles and cadetists, he seldom went to any, only attending if it was politically advantageous. In an autobiography recently released, he was disgusted by this elitism that had lifted his status, being repulsed by the fact that it was only his origin of noble blood that improved his ties with Core Senators, who previously saw him as “another Senator from some backwater”, or so he put it.

After serving in the Senate and several anti-corruption committees for fourteen years, he was nominated by the outgoing government to head Ryccia’s Imperial Anti-Corruption Agency. It is now thought that the exiting party did this out of spite to their rivals to create chaos among their ranks and to make themselves look good, as Corelinus is an excellent investigator and prosecutor against corruption.

As Director of the Imperial Anti-Corruption Agency

Marcus has lived up to his reputation, being a potent force against corruption in the Imperial government. He has earned praise from various parts of the citizenry and the Emperor. The Director is the only major official the Emperor formally supports. In fact, when several legislators attempted to remove him from his post, the Emperor threatened to use his constitutional powers to veto such an idea, the first time any Emperor has dared to use their constitutional power outside of formal ceremony in centuries. The Emperor is so delighted with him that he granted the ceremonial title of Grand Duke of his homeworld, a title that officially increases his prestige amongst the nobility to a significant degree. Having the patronage of the Imperial throne and some politicians, Corelinus is able to investigate with practical political impunity, caring not whether the elite shall be furious.

Facts

The reason Marcus became a lawyer and prosecutes corruption with an unrelenting passion has been his experience with a past Governor of his homeworld, who influenced the proceedings of a sexual assault to protect his son. The victim was a cousin of his, and he vowed to chase any abuse of power if he had the chance. His encounter with corrupt Corelinus relatives only added fuel to the fire, as he remains livid that they tried to use his bloodline like hypocrites, as aristocratic culture in the Core harshly shames extramarital affairs and having children out of wedlock.

Despite being a commoner, his wife, Sarah Kielfam, is known to regularly attend the galas and parties Marcus is invited to in order to entertain herself. She has become a tad of a socialite amongst the Charlotte nobles and cadetists despite her origins. She is known to be friends with the Minister of Finance, Josefina Algenia, after befriending her at a gala of all the prominent nobles and cadetists of the Imperial Houses of the Core held every four years, to which Marcus was invited but did not attend.