Dr. Marcus Jackson is a Euthanatos mage who works as a university professor. In January 2003, Jackson received a message from the Rogue Council on a chalkboard in his classroom, warning him of a threat arising in Etruria. The message instructed him to send "the knight and his squire" to address this threat rather than going in person, which Jackson interpreted to mean his colleague Gawain Alexander of the Order of Hermes and Alexander's apprentice Jezebel Lee. He asked Alexander to keep a journal of their time in Italy.