Hadrian Anaxander Marlowe

Hadrian is short and thin with a pointed, aquiline face, violet eyes, ink-dark hair, and a marble complexion -- the genetic hallmarks of House Marlowe. He is permanently smooth-faced from a Delian depilation rite at age thirteen, and bears a cryoburn scar on his left thumb from his father's ring. After his second resurrection his hair grew nearly to his navel. He wears darkest black throughout the Shadows Upon Time period, and black seraph-wing armor for the assault on Dharan-Tun.

Hadrian was decanted from a vat in the custom of palatine nobility and speaks nearly eight languages including Cielcin. Palatine genetic augmentation grants him enhanced physicality, longevity, and faster recovery from stun weapons. He died and was resurrected by the Quiet twice, his body remade with dramatically enhanced resilience -- surviving Dorayaica's blade, Cassandra's ignited sword, and a looping Watcher nightmare. His temporal ability, the Quiet's gift, allows him to flicker between positions in chaotic situations, traverse hyperspace bodily, appear as multiple simultaneous versions of himself, and perceive presents, pasts, and something of futures. He addresses the Irchtani in their own tongue -- something no other human can properly do -- and the Irchtani hear music in his voice. By the end, his body has been made immortal by the Absolute; his prophetic visions ceased entirely before his execution.

• Alistair Marlowe (Father, deceased) -- signed a writ of disavowal the day Hadrian arrived on Emesh
• Crispin (Brother)
• Elmira (Grandmother) -- co-signed the writ of disavowal
• Cassandra (Daughter) -- born of Hadrian and Dorayaica's biological material on Padmurak; fights alongside him in the final war; dispatched as Auctor when Hadrian surrenders at Tenba
• Princess Selene (wife) -- secretly wed in the Imperial bunker by Emperor William; later taken to Avalon and then to Earth, where she died
• Gibson -- scholiast tutor and intellectual mentor; died on Colchis; his sword carried throughout the Vorgossos and Dharan-Tun assaults; Hadrian asked Bassander Lin to bury it at a grave on Thessa on Colchis
• Cat -- street companion on Emesh; her death drove Hadrian to the Colosso; her dying words were quoted verbatim by the oracle Jari on the Enigma of Hours
• Pallino -- veteran myrmidon; closest companion from the Colosso through Akterumu; killed at Akterumu
• Switch (William) -- myrmidon companion; betrayed Hadrian's location on Vorgossos out of fear; expelled from the ship
• Elara -- myrmidon companion; killed at Akterumu
• Siran -- Red Company companion; released
• Otavia Corvo -- captain of the Mistral; stayed behind at Akterumu
• Valka -- Tavrosi xenologist and Hadrian's partner; killed on Perfugium by the Chantry; Hadrian carries her lamp drone and a medallion given to him on Berenike whose other half was hers
• Jinan -- companion during the Howling Dark period; left behind after the Balmung escape
• Bassander Lin -- Imperial officer; antagonist turned ally; Hadrian severed his sword hand on Vorgossos; later ordered by Hadrian to fire the Darklight cannon at Demiurge and to bury Gibson's sword on Colchis
• The Quiet -- cosmic entity that resurrected Hadrian twice, gifted him temporal sight, and ultimately made his body immortal
• Emperor William XXIII -- Hadrian's patron and father-figure; performed the secret wedding ceremony; named Hadrian his successor; Hadrian told him he was the best man he had ever known
• Syriani Dorayaica -- Cielcin Prophet; Hadrian's primary target across centuries; possessed by the Watcher Ushara; killed on Dharan-Tun when the Hakurani slave Radhassa smashed his head
• Lorian Aristedes -- ally; accompanied Hadrian to Vorgossos and through the final campaign; shot Orphan when Orphan seized Hadrian
• Prince Alexander -- future Emperor; confronted and forgiven at Fidchell Station; struck Hadrian across the face at Gododdin; sentenced him to death at Tenba; stabbed him with a ceramic knife before the hanging
• Lieutenant Edouard Albé -- HAPSIS agent who brought Hadrian out of two-century exile; commands Demiurge's crew through the final campaign
• Annaz -- Irchtani chiliarch; fights alongside Hadrian from Vorgossos through Dharan-Tun
• Neema -- personal attendant; salvaged Valka's medallion from the Arx Caelestis; sacrificed himself to save Hadrian from a Martian assassin at Tenba
• Ramanthanu -- Cielcin captain; accompanied Hadrian into Dharan-Tun; died and was buried in Demiurge's garden; his son Darathama survived
• Otomno -- Cielcin; bore Ramanthanu's child Darathama
• Darathama -- Ramanthanu's child; born aboard the Cielcin frigate; Hadrian touches his forehead and sees him as proof the Cielcin can be freed from the Watchers
• Orphan -- Extrasolarian pilot of Demiurge; defeated and shown mercy by Hadrian on Vorgossos; later seized Hadrian and demanded the ship; shot by Lorian; Hadrian held his dying hand
• Kharn Sagara -- ruler of Vorgossos; used Calvert's blood sample to grow the Angelus Series clones of Hadrian; killed by Hadrian in the throne room
• Aranata Otiolo -- Cielcin prince at Vorgossos; Hadrian served as apostol in his fleet
• Uvanari -- first Cielcin Hadrian negotiated with on Emesh; mercy-killed by Hadrian at the ndaktu request
• Prince Kaim-Olorin -- Jaddian prince; Hadrian's most trusted political ally in the final campaign; named steward of Annica; died before the Gododdin battle
• Here Soonchanged -- Extrasolarian prisoner; used by Hadrian to steal Chantry data; his braindead corpse carried by Hadrian through hyperspace
• Amon Kosis -- blocked Hadrian's departure from Aurora; Hadrian struck his head from his shoulders
• Lord Tarquin -- Chantry-aligned lord; confronted publicly by Hadrian at the Imperial court
• Prince Chancellor Aurelian -- Hadrian refused to kneel before him and cast his commendations at his feet on Forum

Hadrian grew up on Delos as the named heir of Meidua Prefecture, studying under Gibson and coveting a life as a scholiast or Expeditionary Corps traveler. When his father decreed he would enter the Chantry seminary, he conspired with Gibson to escape, was foiled by his father's intelligence corps, then fought his way past his brother Crispin and fled to the merchant vessel Eurynasir. He entered cryonic fugue and woke on Emesh penniless, thirty-five years having elapsed. He spent years as a street beggar in Borosevo, then entered the Colosso under the alias Had of Teukros after his companion Cat died of the Gray Rot.

Taken into Count Mataro's household as the tutor Hadrian Gibson, he killed the Chantry priest Gilliam Vas in a duel and was stripped of his family name. He joined Valka's excavation at Calagah, experienced inexplicable visions in a hidden chamber, and when a Cielcin vessel crashed nearby, conducted the first known solo verbal negotiation with surviving Cielcin, introducing himself to Captain Uvanari. Conscripted as translator for the Chantry inquisition of the prisoners, he carried out the ndaktu mercy-killing Uvanari had requested and secured authorization to leave Emesh with Valka.

Forty-eight years later, he commanded the Meidua Red Company, pursued a peace mission to Vorgossos, survived the Painted Man encounter, stole the Cielcin prisoner Tanaran from the Balmung, and escaped into Extrasolarian space. At Vorgossos he met the Mericanii daimon Brethren, was imprisoned for months, and served as the sole Cielcin interpreter in the peace negotiations with Prince Aranata Otiolo. The talks failed; Aranata selected him as apostol. He served in the Cielcin fleet for years, was captured and tortured at Dharan-Tun, and escaped with the Red Company through the Akterumu massacre, losing Pallino and Elara.

On Colchis he witnessed Gibson's death. Returning to Imperial custody, he underwent medical reconstruction, publicly revealed the Lothrian conspiracy, and served as military advisor. He led the covert strike on MINOS, confronted Prince Alexander at Fidchell Station, fought on Perfugium, and lost Valka to a Chantry assassination. He struck the Emperor and was sentenced to the Jaddian volcano-exile as the Halfmortal. He spent two centuries in Jaddian exile studying the ruins of Annica and the Quiet's nature with Valka.

Returned by the HAPSIS agent Edouard Albé under Imperial pardon, Hadrian discovered his second resurrection: the Quiet had remade his body entirely, granting him the ability to move sideways through time, traverse hyperspace bodily, and perceive presents, pasts, and something of futures. He confronted Ushara at Phanamhara, reported to Forum, was poisoned by the Chantry, was resurrected a second time, and traveled to Latarra.

Commanding the Demiurge, Hadrian assaulted Vorgossos, killed the female Sagara, destroyed Brethren, and secured the Archontic arsenal. He repelled the Chantry assault on Demiurge, killed Strategos Douro in self-defense, and briefed the Jaddian court on the cosmic war between the Quiet and the Watchers. He proposed triggering a star's core collapse to destroy the Watchers and presented his case to Emperor William on Forum. Appointed Auctor of the Imperium, he oversaw the Gododdin evacuation, survived the Catraeth riot -- manifesting as five simultaneous versions of himself -- and exposed the Chantry's conspiracy by traversing hyperspace to steal their flagship's data. He secretly wed Princess Selene by the Emperor's command.

At the battle of Gododdin, Hadrian descended alone to Dharan-Tun, surrendered to Cielcin guards, and witnessed the Hakurani slave Radhassa smash Dorayaica's head. When Ushara emerged, he signaled Voidmaker and leaped into the abyss, destroying the Watcher on the planet's surface. Escaping back to Aurora, he repelled Miudanar's attack by holding the flagship in superposition through an act of will. Emperor William named him successor and gave him the Imperial rings. He struck down Amon Kosis, fought through the Martian line with Cassandra, settled into Demiurge's pilot throne, and fired Astrophage -- igniting the Gododdin star, destroying Miudanar, Ushara, and the bulk of the Cielcin fleet, and weeping at what he had done.

In the aftermath, he ordered Demiurge destroyed so its weapons could never fall into wrong hands, dispatched Cassandra as Auctor with one of his Emperor's rings, and surrendered at Tenba to spare his crew. On the steps of the governor-general's palace in Meridian, he cast the Imperial rings to the ground, grasped Alexander's blade bare-handed without suffering injury, and commanded the Knights Excubitor to kneel. After Neema sacrificed himself to save Hadrian from a Martian assassin, Hadrian killed the assassin with the assassin's own poniard and surrendered. Imprisoned in the Tower of Morne, he refused Bassander Lin's offer of escape and asked Lin to bury Gibson's sword at a grave on Thessa on Colchis.

Bound and barefoot on the portico of the palace at Tenba, stripped of his boots and cloak as a deliberate humiliation, Hadrian identified himself as the Emperor of All Mankind. Prince Alexander stabbed him with a ceramic knife beneath the ribs. Hadrian was half-carried to the public scaffold, looked up through the clouded sky, and felt a final peace. The trapdoor dropped and his neck broke at once. He died a third time. The retrospective narrator states that he returned from beyond the darkness that awaited him, but will speak no word of where or when or how, declaring his account complete.