Markov Royal Line

## History

### The Kingdom's Beginning's

Markovia was a prosperous kingdom and independent land on the borders of Romania and Moldova. And then, we were faced with a sudden impending force that wanted to take over and strip our land and identity from us. But no longer what it took for us to do it or how many generations it will take. We will reclaim what was ours. This was sworn to the old ruler of Markovia, who fled to the hospitality of the Russian Empire.  Since then, this family has stayed strong, stuck with this military and offering their services until the promise of returning was made clear.

It is August 1774, and there are so few of us running things here in St. Petersburg. I have my wants and ideas of running things here, but I am all a simple officer. My name is Anatoly Markov, and I am writing in this journal not knowing the future. In contrast, I made my patrols through the streets in the poorer villages to the peasants. Most look hungry at me, with cold eyes, no joy, just contempt. I want to know why. I— no, something is wrong out here. It appears the peasants are revolting. I will have to go out and take care of this.

October 1774, It has been a while since I’ve written here for my services in stopping Yemelyan Pugachev's rebellion with the serfs from disrupting the peace. Empress Yekaterina Velikaya gave me many medals, but I only asked one thing. Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire right here, right now felt like the best time to take it back. This was my old homeland, and I want it back from the hands that took it from us. With the allowance to reclaim it for myself, I, Anatoly, shall bring back Markovia. That said, the old wives’ tales and rumors of Vampires and the like living there are nothing true.

March 1776, I have completely forgotten about this old thing. Who knew it would keep me company all the way out here? I, Anatoly Markov, have established the foothold of independence again. It was tough initially, but once I reclaimed our castle back to its original core and grew while stopping would-be invaders. Unfortunately, Russia wanted to make sure we stayed under their boots. I made sure that never happened. Things went well; winter was difficult, especially the long months. But we persevered, and I got around to making my true homeland prosper. Castle Markov is restored, and Markov Manor is now firmly established. I even have a wife and a growing family. This kingdom will be a nation with firm roots. This blood will be strong, and we will never have anything to worry about. That said, there have been attacks on our poor goats and sheep, but nothing to worry about. We will get the beast that takes the find for our stock and make them know we are in charge of this land.

### 21st Century

In the early turn of the 2000s, Markovia was ruled by **Viktor Markov** and his Wife, **Ilona De-Lamb Markov**. Viktor, as a king, was a romantic; he loved his wife, his position and power, and he loved his home. Soon, he will love his twin sons. Them being **Gregor** and **Brion Markov**. However, his affection can be misconstrued with his cavalier attitude and partially the fact that he couldn’t keep it in his pants. He ended up having multiple affairs with various women. And granted, his brother-in-law **Frederick De-Lamb** knew of this and used it to his advantage.

While a high member of royalty himself, Frederick was not satisfied with his social standing. But he did favors for his brother, like making sure Ilona didn’t catch wind of Viktor's dealings in the background while some of these women disappeared on occasion. In exchange, Viktor used his connections to let Frederick into some more secretive networks and make connections of his own, such as for the very wealthy and powerful individuals to those with ideologies that would be frowned upon in specific moral standings.

That said, eventually, Viktor’s romances would finally catch up to him. And it came in the form of two problems. He got two women pregnant. One was an American Air Stewardess; Viktor never bothered to learn her name or put it in any kind of record. And the other was some intern, now, luckily for Viktor, was able to get Frederick to help immensely with one last favor. He was able to have Frederick pay this administration worker a hefty amount to ensure **Atlee Markov** was never revealed to the public. Nor would she learn about her heritage; the same couldn’t be done to the American. As a result, **Tara Markov** was born, but the mother was dealt with promptly. And then Ilona found out about all of it. To put it mildly, The Queen was far from just angry; she was disappointed.

The family wasn’t exactly the same after that. Viktor couldn’t mend his relationship with his wife. Frederick won’t get rid of the bastard daughter. But he did offer a compromise. Apparently, some German scientists were working on recreating this Compound Serum back in the Second World War. The Americans got their hands on one of their head scientists that used it for their pet hero project called Soldier Boy. And as history went on, they figured why not try it again. Viktor had no issue with it, so he told them to use the girl, and so they tested and experimented with this new drug on Tara Markov to see if she had what it takes to unlock her latent metagene. And unsurprisingly, it worked though Viktor never knew about it. He just let Frederick deal with it all, granted when it was over. Frederick used it himself to gain those same powers, to further cement himself to become the monster he knew he would become.

Ilona tried her best to be the mother to her sons; as for Tara, well, that one wasn’t hers. But she was still crowned as a Princess, given her coronation, became a part of the family with the photos and the paintings. The Twin Princes didn’t know anything since, after all, they were sheltered and distracted, but they still treated Tara like a sister, even if their parents were weird about it. And time marched forward for them all. And then, a few years later, while Tara was still a child, the brothers Brion and Gregor were on the cusp of becoming teenagers. Now for context, around this time, Viktor tried to have his own way of things. He wanted to lessen Frederick's reign and control over things as he was making some even shadier business dealings in the background. Ilona was coping with it all by barely being present. That said, at least the maids and the servants were watching things when the Royalty wasn’t. Viktor was at his wit's end, trying to keep everything together when the control he had before just wasn’t the same.

Frederick's desperate acts call for desperate measures. So he began his coup on a fateful night; the tragedy began with Frederick having a team of mercenaries come into the manor and kidnap the princess. As well as help spread rumors in some dimwitted village about the blonde devil who is posing herself as a Markov. And those changed in turn in the passing months, but the resentment for Tara grew from there to someone they don’t even know. That said, those mercenaries did their job and took the Princess to a village. Well hidden, and as for the rest of the family, well, Viktor and Ilona as king and queen, did the bare minimum. Got in a car and started it before the vehicle erupted in an explosion of flames. The Twins Princes woke up to look outside to see fire.

### The Calm before The Storm

The next day was a dawn of mourning. As all the twins could do was attend a funeral for their parents which they knew, and love was gone. Their sister was still missing. Their parents died quickly and in flames, but they at least had each other. But there were many questions in the air, and many of the answers were not satisfactory, especially for the youngest of the princes, Brion. However, Gregor was more concerned about their role as they were not ready to lead a nation alone. Brion, on the other hand, was more concerned about their survivability and to find out what really caused their parent's deaths. Even confused about why no one’s concerned or even looking for their sister, Brion searches for his father’s study and any official places he can find. In the meantime, since Frederick was the only adult technically to keep things running, he took charge and had his plans ready to go.

Brion was suspicious of his Uncle Frederick, while Gregor was taken by surprise to be more favored by him. Frederick made it a mission to have these brothers split from each other as much as possible and put Brion in a Bad light due to his nuisance of poking and prodding for information. To Frederick, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that he needs to do something about this soon as this small problem can’t just be ignored anymore. In the midsts of all of this Brion did eventually found his sister in that village. She appeared to have grown accustomed to the way of life there. And the people who kidnapped her weren't present anywhere. But Brion was overly cautious about it, so he felt it was best to remain quiet until he can gather more evidence in the meantime. Brion just figured out if he could keep looking for answers as to why.

Frederick De-Lamb did what he always did best: he manipulated the situation. He told Gregor half-truths that Brion is the one that caused all of the tragedy in their family. The Deaths of their Parents, The one who hid Tara away, presented to him fake evidence that, without an eye for it, couldn’t tell if it was real or not. And even went around to show him a fake confessional letter from Brion that he admitted everything. Even lied about how Brion is planning to kill the both of them. On the other hand, Frederick left a bread trail of information for Brion that left the young man right into Frederick's office, where he had the evidence that proved Frederick did it. The paper trail showed him paying mercenaries and photographic evidence of where the bombs were from. And so much, but when Brion confronts his uncle about it all. Well, the tyrant just laughed at him; after all, who’s going to believe a boy over a grown man? Brion tried to kill his uncle right there in that office, and Frederick used his metahuman powers to save himself. Use it as evidence to have Brion arrested for the attempted murder of a king. Gregor, his own brother, wouldn’t even look him in the eyes as Brion was sentenced to Exilement out of the country. A year later a nearby village was hit with an small rupture at a small isolated village in the country was destroyed, leaving many dead villagers with signs of beheadings and no living witnesses.

### Tyranny of Baron Bedlam

Markovia faced many changes in the coming decades. While being puppeted from behind, Gregor was blind for a long time before he found the truth. Brion, on the other hand, was a young man that survived the scraps of the world and used his minor connections. Got an education, traveled globally and abroad, and made friends and enemies but still only had one determined goal in mind. Save his home no matter what it takes. He did try to find out what happened to his sister, but even he couldn’t find her. She was a needle in a haystack.  And he didn’t know what happened to her. And most importantly of all, his uncle's powers… those didn’t come naturally. He would know about it, he imagined, only to learn about a scientist who wrote a book and a science conference about this Soldier Boy Theory.

Dr. Helga Jace was her name, and she showed her guilt. She was already discredited for her findings and the fact that what she did was reprehensible to his sister and more. But more importantly, this was the key to why his uncle was so confident. So Brion gave her an ultimatum, granting him the same experimental procedure that gave Uncle those powers. In exchange, he won’t ruin her life even more than it already is. She agreed not out of fear but out of pity for the lost prince.

Since his time in power, Frederick and in name Gregor allowed more corruption to plague the once beautiful nation. Becoming worse by the year as drugs, gangs, and violence ran rampant. No one stopped it, as the civilians who wanted to speak up about it were put in mines to chip away at the diamonds. Children included, taxes were high, and basic living was harsher by season.  No one is happy, and the natural resources that made this country worth visiting were being ripped apart for fleeting luxury. Although there was a bright spot for Gregor, her name was Iliana, and she was the love of his life. The only thing that kept him going as he wanted to marry her. However, Frederick forbids it as she’s just a common girl. Better to have him be married to someone of a higher status. Unfortunately, things were tense between them, needless to say.

### Revolt against the Mad King

Brion, using the remaining connections and resources he had left, made his case to the United Nations. And plans to prove and work with them on the corruption of his home country. And was able to work with one of their departments to get an investigation going. This led to multiple raids and successful operations that showed the wide web of corruption, which pointed the finger at many involved, even outside of the country. Even those inside of the country who was tired of the way things were wanted a voice, a person to turn to, a hope to make things better again. And Brion did that as himself and as Geo-Force. Removing the shackles of the falsely imprisoned workers, being a vigilante against the corrupt authorities. Providing Justice to a lawless nation as many citizens rose up to fight with him.

And then, the revolt happened with Brion’s army against his Uncle and his Brother. Gregor didn’t want to use violence against these insurgents, but Frederick did not bow down from the challenge. Unfortunately, Gregor tried to dissuade the fight as deaths began to happen from either side. He almost died getting stabbed from behind by his Uncle, the one he trusted over his brother. And Frederick, or what he preferred to be called while in his reign as Baron Bedlam. Fought one last time before Brion took him down and sedated him. He needed to answer for his crimes, and death would not be his reprieve.

### Transition of Power

Since then, the country has been looking more optimistic since that bloody battle. Gregor made it to a hospital, and his life was saved though it was touch and go for a while. Brion took over and immediately threw his uncle into the dungeon to live out his days in isolation. However, their Uncle had one trick left and used it to escape from his refuge, which is still missing to this very day. But since then, Brion had kept his promises as he gained power. He helped his country fundamentally change back into the monarchy it once was. And brought about massive economic changes that will bring Markovia back to its former glory. And while Gregor rested and eventually came back to power, trying to clean up his image and rule alongside Brion.

Gregor realized that he didn’t really have it in him to keep doing this. He just wanted to settle down, Gregor married Iliana as soon as possible, and they were expecting a child soon. And well, Brion still saw there was too much to do as the corruption ran very deep into this country, but he will do whatever it takes to make it happen. That said, because of Brion’s actions and his helpfulness to the United Nations, he made great strides and even became nominated to the Career Position of Secretary-General as he got crowned into becoming King of his Homeland. Brion accepted both positions. While there are some ups and downs in his rule so far, it’s been shown that he’s made a real difference. Only time will tell what his legacy means in the long run.