Stefan Marquez is a mentioned NPC from Jarilo-VI.
Profile[]
Stefan Marquez was the Belobog Minister of Internal Affairs during the tenure of the seventh and the eighth Supreme Guardians of Belobog. He orchestrated the choice of the eighth Guardian Cyrille, and manipulated her behind the scenes for fourteen years.
Story[]
Stefan was the Minister of Internal Affairs of the seventh Supreme Guardian, and as one of the Architects he was a part of the process of finding the next Guardian. When a prodigious girl named Cyrilla was chosen to become the next Supreme Guardian, many Architects visited her home, including Stefan. Unlike the other adults, Stefan never ignored Cyrilla's younger and untalented sister Cyrille and always treated her kindly, slowly gaining her trust. Cyrille started keeping a diary on his advice and mostly wrote about him. He comforted her when she learned that Cyrilla would be taken away by the adults and she might never see her again. He promised her that he wouldn't let that happen and gave her a blue stone as a symbol of their agreement.
However, just when the Architects were about to relocate Cyrilla to Qlipoth Fort, she "mysteriously" disappeared. After days of searching without any success, the Architects wanted to begin the heir selection process anew, but Stefan strongly pushed for the instatement of Cyrille as the new Supreme Guardian, claiming that he had found Cyrille to be just as talented as Cyrilla and that they should appoint a new Supreme Guardian as soon as possible to avoid political instability after the previous Supreme Guardian's untimely death. The Architects finally agreed after heated internal debate.
But the Architects soon learned that Cyrille was an extremely mediocre child and inept in social situations. Stefan and his lackeys gained immense power over Qlipoth Fort and Belobog. Cyrille remained unquestionably loyal to Stefan, who told her to ignore those around her and listen only to him. He also claimed to be still searching for Cyrilla, but couldn't find her. The people grew increasingly angry with their puppet Supreme Guardian, and in the 14th year of her tenure, rebels within the Architects plotted a coup to overthrow Cyrille and Stefan. The rebels won over the Silvermane Guards' Captain and planned to lure the two of them to the Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone.[1]
Cyrille attended the military exercise there, but there was no trace of Stefan. A fake patrol of Silvermane Guards shoved Cyrille into an arsenal chest, took her to the far north of Belobog under the cover of darkness, and pushed the chest over a cliff. It is likely that Stefan was also killed in the coup in an unknown way.