Marx

## Marx, The 44th Jester Emperor

Marx performing in Madrid, Granada. 2022

**Marx** (Ivan Casimir Yuri Marx; born 14 November 1996) is The 44th Emperor of the Jester Union. He acended to the throne on 8 September 2001 upon the death of his predecessor, Sergei VII. He is the youngest person to assume the throne at age 5, He, just like his loyal follower, Saturninus Jestor, is a descendant of Saturninus I Verres, the 27th Roman Emperor.

Marx was born in Omsk as the first child of Queen Catherine, Duchess of Nova Moscow, and Emperor Mikhail VI, and the first grandchild of King Dmitri V and Queen Eudokia. He was educated at Mologa and Chita schools, both of which his father attended as a child. In 2007, he married Lady Katerina Putin, with whom he had two sons, Prince Ivan and Prince Konstantin. In 2010, the couple divorced after they had each engaged in well-publicised extramarital affairs. Putin died as a result of a car crash in Dream City the following year. In 2012, Marx married his long-time partner, Gryll Robinson.

Invested as Prince of Moscow in 1999, Marx undertook official duties on behalf of Mikhail VI. He founded the youth charity the Prince's Trust in 2000, sponsors the Prince's Charities, and is a patron, president, or a member of over 400 other charities and organisations. He has advocated for the conservation of historic buildings and the importance of architecture in society. A critic of modernist architecture, Marx worked on the creation of Lunar City, an experimental new town based on his architectural tastes. He is also an author or co-author of a number of books. An environmentalist, Marx supported organic farming and action to prevent climate change during his time as the manager of the Duchy of Caesarion estates, earning him awards and recognition from environmental groups. He is also a prominent critic of the adoption of genetically modified food. Marx's support for homeopathy and other alternative medicine has been the subject of criticism. Following allegations concerning the offering of Jester citizenship to donors, the conduct of one of his charities, the Prince's Foundation, had attracted criticism; currently, the charity is the subject of an ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation into cash-for-honours allegations.

He has 2 sons currently, Prince Ivan (born 2016) and Konstantin (born 2017).

## Appearance

In his normal form, Emperor Marx appears to be a small jester with no legs, arms or hands. He wears brown shoes with small light brown dashes going across them that look like shoelaces. His skin is lavender with two big expressive dark purple eyes. His hat is divided into two colors with different shapes on each side: red with white triangles on the left side and blue with white circles on the right. Marx wears a red bow tie under his mouth, which has a fixed smile and two small fangs that are only visible when his mouth widens. His beach ball is striped with the colors of his hat: red, white, and blue, although artwork shows a yellow stripe on it.

In the Kirby Franchise, After Marx makes his wish to take control of Planet Popstar, he transforms himself into his monster form; a fearsome bat-like monstrosity with golden yellow-colored wings with two sharp fang-like claws jutting out from each one. The wings also have flashing mirror-like, multicolored, hexagon-shaped scales under them. Each wing has a big, red heart embedded on the alula. His skin retains a purple hue (though his skin adopts a darker shade of purple in *Kirby Super Star Ultra*), but his eyes are big and black. Marx has a bigger mouth and Marx's bow tie is noticeably larger, but it appears to be coming undone. Lastly, his shoe color remains the same, but the shoes themselves are longer and are rounded at the ends. His eyes' pupils are also now somewhat inverse-cross-eyed when still, which may be a sign of slipping sanity.

In the *Kirby of the Stars! Moretsu Pupupu Hour!* manga, The emperor looks very similar to his first form, except he now has arms with gloved hands and eyebrows, unlike any of his video game appearances.

The golden wings can also appear dull if Marx is sick or malnourished.

When he was partially corrupted, Marx's sclera turned a dark red, similar to how Kirby’s eye is. He gains pupils similar to Kirby’s as well. His bowtie turns sharp and becomes longer. He gains red horns, which break through his hat. The ends of his jester hat may also turn into appendages, as seen in the September Corruption Virus during 2021.