Cicero Srek

Cicero Jerthaeden Srek, third son to Omelia and Victor Srek, brother to Merdon Srek. Cicero’s life was a lively duality of interactions with his mother and brother with little to no interactions with his father. Cicero is a eccentric Half ElfMagus hailing from Cliffhome who paints and values beauty greatly.

Beauty First Dear
Cicero’s mother was a very proper woman and although she showed Cicero much love, she was cruel to the servants, and valued beauty about anything else. When she became angry she would strike Cicero, but she would never strike him in his “beautiful” face. She would regularly punish maids who changed their hairstyle or became pregnant. In her love, she would force Cicero to travel regularly to Aelmont to view a single painting, or observe a sculpture. She made Cicero make his own art, starting with singing, then sculpting, and finally moving on to painting. She would stand above him as he practiced his art, with a wooden sphere wrapped in leather. When his mother had first brought it home, it had been the most brilliant white leather, but not it was red and brown with the stains of blood from each time she would strike him if he made a mistake. When singing, if he missed a note or forgot a word, he was beaten. When sculpting, she would beat his legs to test his steady hand. When painting, she would beat him. She would beat him before he began to paint for stalling, during his painting for his posture, after for the subjects of his paintings. But when he succeeded, when he didn’t fail, Cicero was treated to days long parties, visitors from other countries, and fellow painters to critique his work. He longed to impress his mother, to show her his vision of perfection and beauty.But even with these sick and twisted times he spent with his mother, he always sought them out as a way to avoid his brother.

The First Son
Merdon was significantly older than Cicero and was charged with turning him into a man similar to himself. But to have so much power over some, a twisted person like Merdon couldn’t resist the opportunity to abuse his brother. If Cicero became distracted or uninterested in Merdon’s whims, he would beat Cicero first and then make Cicero perform acts he loathed. At the young age of seven, Merdon forced Cicero to kill a homeless beggar found camping in a nearby woods. Cicero refused, but Merdon threatened his life over this homeless man’s, and Cicero complied. This wasn’t the first time, and it wasn’t the last. It only started with the homeless, vagrants, but it soon twisted to drunks and whores as his brother enforced the finer details of murder on his younger sibling. In the beginning of these encounters, he was angry at his brother for what he had forced him to do, but by the time Cicero was fourteen he started to enjoy the act, seeking to impress his older brother, although Merdon was never impressed and would attack Cicero for being weak.

Family First
Fortunes changed greatly for him family once his father died and Merdon took charge of the family. In less than a month his brother has planned a meeting with the other landowners of Cliffhome to discuss terms of bargain, but the meeting was anything such. Although no blood was spilled, there was much shouting, that Cicero heard from the nearby room. Nearly one day after the secret meeting, the Srek’s had been granted additional land privileges in the area, and with this came significantly more wealth. This afforded Cicero more time away from home, and more time away from Merdon to practice his art and to seek his own beauty in the city of Aelmont.

First Love
It was on his seventh visit to the city at the age of sixteen that he first saw the princess. He radiant beauty was a national treasure, even for someone so young. Cicero knew he must have her, and set for on that day to win her affection. Cicero tried for years to cox her into meeting him, but his station was not high enough to even warrant a bat of an eye. He was devastated and a particularly bad encounter where she refused to see him after he had waited three days to see her. That night he went into Aelmont and killed as many women he could find that even slightly resemble the princess. The next morning another shocking even occurred, his brother was to be named Regent, as the king was ill. Cicero knew this was his chance to finally meet the princess and prove to her his love. His obsession with her was not unheard of, surely Cicero’s family knew of his intent, but throughout the first week with his brother as Regent, he was not allowed to enter the keep and see her. On the beginning of the next week, Merdon made a surprise announcement, he planned to marry the princess. He claimed it was to secure the throne, but Cicero knew better, it was just another way his brother could attack him further. Cicero pledged that day to end his brother, and take his rightful place as the head of the family, not as an insane murder who was power hungry like Merdon, no, he would be someone who believes in perfect beauty. He had been painting for many years now, perfecting beauty and he has gathered a wonderful collection to show the princess, What he wants most is to paint her, make her beauty immortal through this artistic medium so it will never be lost. He will capture it perfectly, he has every shade of red he could ever need, and if not, he knows how to get it.