Profile

They say that Kit Marlowe was a genius. They say that his plays were filled with poetry and beauty enough to make a stone weep. They say that he could have been greater then Shakespeare. They say that he had a quick tongue and a quicker temper and they say that he always escaped. They say that he was spy. They say that he was an atheist and called Christ a bastard. They say that he said all they that love not tobacco and boys were fools.

They say that he was killed in a tavern brawl nine years ago, and that he was buried in the plague pit at Deptford.

They say that it was an accident.

They say that it was murder.

They say that he escaped.

They say…

Christopher ‘Kit’ Marlowe is a man of average height with a round face, dark brown hair cut to roughly jaw-length, a trimed beard and a black velvet eyepatch over his right eye. The remaining eye is blackbird-bright and diamond-hard, and his voice is soft with a London accent. When he smiles he looks younger then he really is, and he still has the boyish, lively charm of the Kit Marlowe of old…when he chooses to use it.

Exceedingly intelligent and highly educated, with a gift for language and words, Marlowe was one of the darlings of the London theatre. Recruited into her Majesty’s secret service while still at Cambridge, he was arrested a number of times and always walked. However, nine years ago events forced him to sink entirely into England’s underground. Assuming the name of his dead college, Nicholas Skeres, Marlowe has been living entirely the life of spy and assassin for her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth I, to whom he is utterly devoted.

Now in his late thirties, Marlowe is bitter, cynical, violent, fiery and dangerous. He had been described as having a heart as old and cold as the Thames, and nine years of living under an assumed name in the bowels of English society has done nothing to improve this. However, somewhere underneath the (apparently) conscienceless killer there is a playwright, a poet, a man capable of creating beauty and humour with nothing but words...

Somewhere.

Notes: Unless stated otherwise, Marlowe will be dressed pretty much as he is in this picture, and also unless stated otherwise the clothes are dark or black. He will always have at least two daggers on his person, only one of which is visible on his belt.

In canon, he is viewed as “sinister” and “his soft voice…made my scalp creep”, to quote one Meg Lumley. Although in Milliways he won’t be trying to kill anyone (she hopes), he still has that element of danger about him if your character is inclined to pick it up or be bothered by it.

And if your character starts praising Shakespeare’s genius, the mun takes no responsibilty for Marlowe’s resulting bitterness (so she sayeth only slightly tongue-in-cheek).

Disclaimer: This version of Kit Marlowe isn't mine; he comes from the fifth book in the Tudor Terror series, the Lord of the Dreaming Globe. As such, he belongs to Terry Deary. He is being used on a non-profit basis for roleplaying in milliways_bar.