Character Biography: Martin

Batiste,  the 14^th Baron of Bonne

Terre was born in the French

Province Nord-Pas-de-Calais in July

of 1750.  He grew up in comfortable

surroundings and wanted for

nothing, yet even at an early age,

saw the inequities and injustice

surrounding him.  Martin as he

grew into adulthood became

engrossed in the Enlightenment.

He immersed himself in science,

engineering, politics, social

philosophy among other disciplines.

In 1768 his Father died under

mysterious circumstances, and an

altered (later learned falsified) will

that named his Uncle Rene as the

heir to his father’s lands and titles.

When Martin attempted to

challenge the ruling, his Uncle

concocted a scheme to frame Martin

for his Father’s murder.  Martin

went into exile in order to gather

strength to clear his name and

regain his title.

Over time Martin met men and

studied under men like Ben

Franklin, Voltaire, along with some

of the finest swordsmen, military

strategists, criminals, and whoever

could aid him with his main goal.

While in Prussia, Martin observed a

meteor land nearby.  He went to

explore the crash site to find the

meteor was not only still intact, but

was made of an unidentified metal

ore that he later dubbed

INVINCIUM.  Martin took the ore

and had it smelted and forged into a

shield in the shape of the Fleur-de-

lis.  He decided to take on the role

of a masked adventurer known as

THE LIBERATOR and used the

shield as his symbol.

Martin returned to France in 1773 to

find Bonne Terre was in a state of

ruin.  Batiste had become a cruel

tyrant who bled the countryside dry

for his own selfish gain.  Martin

began a 5 year campaign against his

Uncle, and eventually regained his

land and title, and in process

became a national legend and came

to the attention of King Louis XVI.

In 1777 he was summoned to Paris

where he was asked to go to

America to aid in revolutionary

cause.  He was requested by Ben

Franklin personally.  Martin landed

in Baltimore in January of 1778.  He

met up with George Washington

and a Spaniard adventurer known

as Phantasma.  Washington had the

two costumed crusaders gather a

band of fellow adventurers that

went on  a series of missions

varying from sabotage to guerilla

warfare.  Over time these super-

heroes did their part to help win

America its Independence, in the

process Martin gained the respect

and almost universal admiration by

both the common citizenry and its

top governmental and social

figures.

Jean returned to France in 1783.

He went into a semi-retirement at

that point, mostly a few adventures,

ruling Bonne Terre, and

philanthropic work.  He even

managed to find a wife and have two

children.  Then the French

Revolution struck and Martin’s life

was near ruined.  The republic

seized his lands and fortune,

imprisoned his family, as well as

tortured and imprisoned him.

Things looked bleak.  Even the

people of Bonne Terre turned on

him either out of fear of the

committee, or in some misplaced

sense of allegiance to the new

republic.  Things only became

worse as cholera took his wife and

daughter’s lives while imprisoned.

Martin languished in jail for over a

year until a series of impassioned

plea from over 2 dozen political

figures, including George

Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and

James and Dolly Madison, had

swayed the government to release

Martin and his surviving son

Michael on the provision that they

leave the country immediately.

Martin was given a stipend and a

government position by President

Washington.  Eventually Martin and

Michael relocated to New Orleans in

1804 after it became a possession of

the US.  Both spent the next decade

or so in a quiet manner.  Then in

1815, events led to the Battle of New

Orleans.  General Andrew Jackson

was in need of men of all quarters to

aid him in his effort to hold the city.

Jackson approached a then a 64

year old Martin to don the Liberator

garb one last time.  Martin

reluctantly agreed, and once again

aided United States in maintaining

its fragile newfound freedom.

In 1817 Martin returned to France

and Bonne Terre.  Louis XVIII

returned his title and properties to

him, and he spent his final days

trying to rebuild the humble land to

its former stature.  He died

peacefully in 1831.  A statue of him

in his Liberator costume was

erected 5 years later.  In 1916 his

great grandson Jean took on the

mantle and shield of the Liberator,

carrying on the legacy as he fought

in both World Wars.