Most of the history of Marlenius prior to his time before becoming a gladiator is unknown, and he likes to keep it that way. What is known of that part of his life is that the village he comes from was attacked when he was in his early teens. His father was a simple wood carver, and his mother was a potter. It is known that during the attack both of his parents were killed, and he was taken captive and made a slave.
His first master kept him only long enough to reach a costal town, where Marlenius was sold to a merchant to be an oarsman on one of his cargo vessels. He was chained to an oar for about two years. On a voyage to Farlanth the ships captain sold him to a woman that owned a stable of gladiators. She was mostly looking for a young man to satisfy her pleasures, and after just a few weeks she grew bored with him and had him sent to her gladiator school.
This is where history catches up with Marlenius, he stepped onto the sands of an arena when he was just twenty-three years of age. Despite his minimum skills he managed to defeat his opponent and prove himself to his stable master. The fighting instructions he was receiving were greatly increased. He usually fought twice a month, and after a year he was undefeated.
Even though he was still a slave his master allowed him to go out into the city alone, and he was allowed to keep a portion of the money that was bet on him, so he buy things for himself. People on the streets instantly recognized him, children followed him around wherever he went. By the end of his second year he was still undefeated, so his master granted him some special privileges. He would be allowed to live in a home away from the barracks he had been living in. He would still be a slave, but he was granted all the privileges of a free person. He was even allowed to buy himself a slave to take care of his home as well as tend to his needs.
Each year Marlenius' winning streak continued and his popularity grew and grew, he was more recognized than the Emperor Luciat. And this did not sit well with the emperor. Luciat tried to get him killed by hiring the best gladiators he could find anywhere on the world, but after over a dozen failures he arranged to hire the services of a secret sect of warriors from Sava. There were six assassination attempts on Marlenius' life over the span of a couple of months, he killed each assassin.
Marlenius finally found out who was trying to kill him when one of the other gladiators from his stable attacked him in one of their training areas. Before Marlenius killed the man he made him reveal the identity of who was after him. During his next battle in the arena of Armath Marlenius' friends started spreading the word that the emperor was trying to him killed because he was more popular.
That day Marlenius fought eight opponents, they had all fought well so he had spared their lives. After his last opponent was helped off of the arena sands Marlenius faced Luciat. In a loud voice that was heard by everyone in the arena Marlenius told Luciat that if he wanted him dead he would have to do it himself, since all of the numerous trys had all failed.
An angry Luciat accepted the challenge, and a few minutes later he was standing on the sands just a few feet away from Marlenus. Luciat then announced to the gathered crowd that if Marlenius defeated him, he would buy his freedom from slavery. But if Marlenius killed him, then the emperors throne would be his.
Luciat was known to be an excellent fighter, that he often trained with his guards and in the past had actually volunteered to fight in the arena. Despite all of his skill it was a short fight, less than five minutes later Marlenius had run his sword through the chest of Luciat, pinning him to the dirt.
As Luciat had ordered, Marlenius became the new emperor of Armath, and it did not take long for the citizens of Armath to realize that he was going to be a good one. He started public works projects to give people jobs and to fix the broken parts of all of the cities of Armath. He negotiated many trade contracts that would greatly help his nation, and her people. He recruited more city guardsmen for all cities which caused the crime rates to all drop sharply.
Marlenius has been emperor of Armath for twelve years and its people love him greatly, and he returns their love equally. Kalina, the slave that he had bought to take care of his house when he was a gladiator, he freed her, then married her. They had a daughter from prior to their marriage, then after they were married the had three more children.
Talishya is the daughter he had had before he had married Kalina, she as now twenty-two years old. Ohmyris is his oldest son, he is nine years old, and looks to be a fighter like his father. Silyanna is his seven year old daughter, and she has already started learning the ways of Chalana Arroy and plans to be a healer when she is older. Tarock is his youngest son, only four years old.
Marlenius is nearly forty years of age and is still in excellent shape, he trains with the sword daily. He is six feet five inches tall and has black hair that is nearly mid-back in length. Despite his many years of fighting Marlenius has no visible scars anywhere on his body. He has no practical education, just the teachings of his parents and whatever else he was able to pick up through the years. His skill as a negotiator appears to come from his natural ability to read people. He has almost a sixth sense when somebody is lieing to him, and he has imprisoned many people for being dishonest with him.
Marlenius is a Rune Lord of Humake, and he takes his duties to his religion very seriously. As emperor he maintains an open door policy, anybody (except slaves) can petition so see him, and he always see everyone, maybe not that day, but usually within two days. He is loved by the people of Armath, for since he came to power he has brought a stable peace to the entire continent. The economy of Armath is soaring, as he has negotiated many trade agreements that are bringing in lots of jobs and money for the people of Armath.