Marçal Passante
Born into a family of prominent academics, Marçal has devoted his life to scholarly pursuits from a young age. He funneled this passion into his studies, which allowed him to graduate from the university at Sagacidade at an unprecedented age. While there is no subject that Marçal doesn't retain a passing interest in, his thesis was a study on the importance of the anthropological studies of local folklore and mythology - an endeavor that saw him stationed in the mountain communities of Luavila.
It was while collecting the local folklore of Conexão that Marçal met and befriended the itinerant poet Bixo das Flores. The two became fast friends, often losing hours in animated intellectual discussions that saw breakfast turn to lunch turn to evening drinks along the riverside. This friendship served to keep the two men tethered to the city they had both thought would be a temporary stopping point on their journeys.
Through this friendship, Marçal and Bixo ended up founding the Fellowship of the Seven Petals and embarking on several incredible adventures that, unbeknownst to the citizens of Iberys, frequently pulled the region out of existential catastrophe and ushered in unfathomable miracles.
Marçal would later go on to establish the Academy of Narrative Cosmology with his fellow academics Erasmus Elazar de Galvez and Kavita Vahamonde das Flores.
The Fellowship of the Seven Petals
While the fellowship would not exist without Marçal, and his involvement in the exploits of the group were foundational, he never saw himself as an adventurer and carried a great fear that his presence was nothing more than a liability. Bixo, of course, always held the belief that Marçal was the actual leader.
Though Marçal was present for the Prophecy of Conexão and the Rise of the Seven Petals, Marçal eagerly took to home life once the group established the House of Blossoms, and officially considered himself 'retired from adventuring' once he and his colleagues founded the Academy. As far as anyone else was concerned, this made him no less a pivotal member of the fellowship.
Family Life
During the course of their adventures Marçal quietly fell in love with Frida, the spunky cook that accompanied the fellowship despite the threat and danger. Neither of them realized they had fallen in love until four years after their adventure brought them to The House. Marçal had taken to helping Frida in the kitchen, and the two spent so much time together that they hardly noticed they had essentially moved in together. When it occurred to Frida what was happening, she cornered Marçal and demanded to know "Are you in love with me, or what?" to which Marçal had to consider the question. When he responded, he said "Well, I suppose I am, now that you mention it" she said "Okay… Good." The two had their first kiss then and there.
Three years later, in 3'3244, the couple gave birth to twins: Nilo & Alba.
The Academy of Narrative Cosmology
In 3'3249 Marçal, Erasmus Elazar de Galvez and Kavita Vahamonde das Flores open the Academy of Narrative Cosmology in Conexão. This university, in contrast to the school at Sagacidade, focuses on the impossibility and wonder of the mundane world, and the places in which everyday life intersect with the dreaming world. Having spent most of his life as a pragmatic scholar, taking such a broad view of the universe was, at first, challenging - but considering all the uncanny things he encountered through his work with the Fellowship of the Seven Petals, Marçal was surprisingly well suited to lead this peculiar school.
