Mark Schaeffer

As the members of the team go, Marc makes an impression. He was born in 2010 T.E. to James and Shara Schaeffer in one of the mining towns in the Sentinel Mountains. James was a devout member of a local white supremacist faction, and Marc learned to chant racist aphorisms at the same time he learned to walk.

Before long, Marc was picking fights with other children in the local elementary school. His father approved of his son's constant suspensions: he took it as a sign that his boy was growing into a real man. Marc staggered through the school, getting acceptable grades in the spans of time he wasn't expelled for some shocking act of violence toward a fellow student.

By the time he reached his teens Marc had a reputation for being one of the toughest individuals in the eastern Sentinels. When he left home to move to the city, more than one of the locals breathed a sigh of relief and hoped he'd never come back.

Marc moved into a rundown pit of an apartment not far from the docks and scratched out a living loading ships and taking purses winning bouts in underground fight rings. It was there that he met Stacy Rogers, the love of his life. She was cheering on her current boyfriend in a match against Marc, but left with the later when he left the former lying in a puddle of his own blood on the floor.

Stacy soon moved in with Marc. They were together for seven months, living a course existence of low-paying jobs and nights out at the fights. Then tragedy struck. One night, while bar hopping to celebrate Marc's two month undefeated streak, a mugger accosted the couple. Marc gave him a casual punch, expecting to lay the smaller man out--and the smaller man tossed him against an alley wall without apparent effort. By the time Marc had shaken the stars from his vision, Stacy was lying dead on the ground, and the attacker's face and clothing were soaked in her blood. He came after Marc next and beat him to within an inch of his life. The brute tormented Marc not just with the savage beating, but with the sight of his girlfriend, lying dead on the alley floor. Marc was moments away from death when two strangers appeared. He was too far gone to see what happened next, and when he came to in a bed in an unfamiliar room with several strangers standing around him, he was rather upset. He was even more upset to learn that the two people that had saved his life were both black. In a fit of rage, he staggered out of the room, only to learn that he was in a secluded mansion deep in the desert.

Marc stayed at the Mansion under the care of the Lonely Winds while he recovered, but only reluctantly. It was two weeks before he would even speak to the man and woman, Hawk and Crow, who had saved his life, and weeks more before he could do so without impulsively including racist labels. But while Marc's injured body healed, Hawk, Crow, and the other Lonely Winds worked to heal his outlook, helping him to realize that there are worse things in the world than other people. In time he was able to accept that his girlfriend had been murdered by a vampire and he took the somber offer of the team's leader, George, to join them as a frontline fighter. He quickly came to enjoy the challenge of tackling creatures with levels of strength and fortitude well beyond those of any of the other fighters he had faced.

Today, he is often the first--and last--impression a monster has of the Lonely Winds. His battle savvy, raw courage and sheer physical hardiness allow him to go toe to toe with beings that might crush a normal man with ease. In many cases, a monster may be distracted by facing Marc in simple one on one combat and never notice the other members of the team taking aim from the shadows. Caustic personality or not, Marc is a valuable asset to the team.