Lord Marsten

Lord Marsten is the final official governor of Monitor, a city on the Serpent Isle in the time of Ultima VII Part Two.

Description
A Knight of the city, Marsten was the leader of the Leopard Command. In the final year of the city, it was Marsten's turn to be in control of the city, thus his title of Lord. Marsten, though short in stature, was a fierce and effective fighter. He was bedmates with Astrid, the current Champion Knight of the city. He said they were bedmates as opposed to lovers, saying that their relationship was one of comrades and arms and the physical intimacy was just that (despite the fact he did harbor strong feelings for her).

During his time in office, the sage Batlin arrived in Monitor with three companions. After a few days and several complaints, Marsten had them thrown out of town.

Unbeknown to nearly all, Marsten was a shrewd and ambitious figure. Dissatisfied with merely being a lord of the city and convinced that the Wolf and Bear Commands would never be able to get past their squabbling to ever win the war against the Goblins, Marsten quietly began scheming to eliminate those two commands and establish himself as King of Monitor. He drew Spektor, the town treasurer and fellow Leopard, into his schemes. The two of them secretly made a pact with Pomdirgun, King of the Goblins, to ambush a patrol led by Astrid. According to the plan, Astrid was supposed to be left unharmed. The plan also involved the Goblins seizing the Monitor controlled towers at Fawn and the Inn of the Sleeping Bull. Meanwhile, Marsten had Spektor steal money from the treasury to finance the creation of a secret weapon by Standarr, the town blacksmith. Marsten planned on using this weapon once the Bears and Wolves had been decimated to kill Pomdirgun and achieve total victory over the Goblins.

Unfortunately for Marsten, his plans quickly went awry. Astrid was captured in the ambush and dragged back to the Goblin camp to be killed. With her the Helm of Monitor was lost to the city. Marsten also did not realize that Pomdirgun had a spy living in the city (a goblin disguised as a human). When the Avatar arrived just after the fall of Fawn Tower, a teleport storm dropped one of his companions in the midst of the funeral for last Pikeman who had fallen at the tower. Marsten had him promptly thrown in jail, but agreed to free him should the Avatar become a Knight of the city. The Avatar agreed and quickly passed the Knight's Test, becoming a member of the Wolf Command. His banquet was disrupted when talk of treachery was brought up. When the Avatar revealed that Shmed had rigged the Knight's Test, Marsten quickly declared Shmed the traitor, hoping to divert attention away from himself. After unmasking the Goblin spy and learning the location of their village in the Western Forest, the Avatar led a bold raid against the camp which resulted in the death of Pomdirgun and the recovery of the Helm of Monitor. The Avatar also recovered documents proving that Marsten had betrayed the city. After these were presented to the leaders of the other commands, Marsten and Spektor were arrested. He remained completely unrepentant for his actions.

Lord Marsten was killed in his cell when the Bane of Wantonness (possessing the body of Dupre) conquered Monitor at the head of a huge army of Goblins and other ferocious monsters.

Trivia

 * The model for Lord Marsten's character portrait is Fred Schmidt, Origin's Vice President and General Manager from 1988 to 1993.