Prince Ozmarius of Oz

"I'm not one for all that formal title stuff... you can just call me 'Marius,' if you like."

- Marius

Prince Ozmarius of Oz, better known as Marius, is the son of Princess Ozma from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum. He debuted in 2017.

As he would love to follow his destiny of someday ushering in a golden age of Oz, but does not wish to give up his gender identity in order to do so, Marius considers himself a Roybel. Nobody is actually completely sure where he is, presently, as he is supposed to go missing for several years (in accordance with the original fairytale). He vanished from Emerald City Academy halfway through his junior year, almost immediately after Celadon West refused to sign the Ozian Storybook of Legends on Legacy Day. Though the general consensus is that he's playing out the part of the story where Ozma goes missing, he has actually run away from school and is presently in hiding somewhere.

((Please be warned that The Land of Oz handles matters relating to gender very poorly. There are direct quotes taken from the book on this page.))

Personality
Despite the lengthy title and his primarily royal upbringing, Marius is actually a very casual character. Those who have had the chance to speak with him before his mysterious disappearance would say that he is, indeed, a "people's prince," the sort of guy who takes a trek down the Yellow Brick Road with his own two feet just to visit friends who live along the way. He is somewhat soft-spoken and very good with words, almost always taking others' feelings into account before he speaks.

However, this sensitivity is a double-edged sword, as Marius is also quite easily hurt by comments made off-handedly, sometimes ones that may not even have particularly negative connotations for the average listener. Though he does try to conceal how much it bothers him, he cares very, very much about what people might be thinking or feeling, especially in regards to his own actions. For example, he may become uncomfortable after being asked a question like "have you done the assignment due tomorrow?" This can be because he is worried that the asker might think he is a procrastinator or a bad student, or even because he actually might not have finished the assignment that's due tomorrow, and good Baum, is he a procrastinator?

Marius has a bit of an issue with fibbing, and sometimes outright lying if he believes it will spare someone's feelings to do so. Though his intentions are good, he often finds himself fibbing about a dress being more flattering than it really is, or stretching the truth of his opinion to the point where he believes it cannot possibly offend the person he is speaking to. This is especially true in the case where Marius believes he will be considered an "unfit ruler" if he answers truthfully-- "have you done the assignment due tomorrow" will almost always be answered with a "yes, of course I have" or a "I'm going to put the finishing touches on it this afternoon." This is regardless of whether or not he has actually finished the assignment in question.

As someone who is fairly self-conscious, he does not wish to present himself as an unlikable person, particularly since he is expected to rule over all of Oz someday. The pressure of following Princess Ozma's highly detailed and exceedingly idealized destiny can be quite heavy, especially since the story itself quite literally calls her a "perfect ruler." Marius is very afraid that he cannot live up to that standard, particularly since (pretty much right out the gate) his decision to "remain" under the ""Mombian curse"" has already garnered more than its fair share of criticism.

He cries at tragic plays and weddings, but very rarely otherwise.

He lives by the mantra of offering mercy before punishment but forgiveness before mercy, and considers himself an excellent judge of character. Marius is particularly excellent at mediating between two or more disputing parties and listening to what each side has to say. Though he does have some literal magic powers, his true strength is in "diplomancy"-- better known as the art of finding peaceful resolutions, or, in some cases, the "magic of friendship."

However, though Marius attempts to garner a full understanding of both sides of a story before forming any sort of judgement whatsoever, if he has made up his mind that something is truly, unforgivably evil, it is very nearly impossible to talk him out of that mindset. He is very confident in his capability to correctly interpret a set of events, and though he keeps an open mind towards any last-minute entreaties or evidence, when he must mete out justice he does so decisively, however much it may pain him to do so.

Hobbies & Interests
In addition to being all-around helpful, studying politics, and signing at least 20 of Rosabella Beauty's MirrorNet petitions every week, Marius also enjoys popular "high fantasy" novels taking places in worlds where nobody has destinies to fulfill, magic isn't real, and high schools teach such made-up subjects as "English" and "Precalculus." Since many of these books cite interpersonal drama as the primary conflict, as opposed to evil queens and dragons, he cannot help but be a little fascinated by them.

He also enjoys organizing charity events, joining protests, and writing lengthy essays about social issues relevant to people's lives today. Though he will deny it if you ask him, he also enjoys writing poetry of all varieties, though he isn't particularly confident in sharing any of it.

He keeps a diary in which every entry is addressed to his multi-great grandmother, Princess Ozma, often posing questions that ask for hypothetical advice. He has never gotten a response, nor does he expect any-- but he finds that phrasing it as a letter and wondering what the original Ozma would do can help lead to an eventual resolution.

Pet Peeves
Though he usually has quite a bit of patience otherwise, any sentence that begins with "when you become Princess" is pretty much instantly ignored. He presently considers himself a member of royalty, though he should theoretically lack the memories of his royal upbringing. Continued discussion quite deeply bothers him. Though he is usually the type of guy who offers "mercy before punishment and forgiveness before mercy," this line of questioning is perhaps the one exception.

Appearance
Short and slight at roughly 5'4", Marius is a somewhat babyfaced young man with curly, dark brown hair and emerald-green eyes that seem to smile on his behalf. Though he very easily fit in with the rest of the junior year class, it would not have been a stretch for someone to mistake him for a freshman.

He places a great deal of emphasis on grooming and filling his eyebrows each morning, wearing them thick, intense, and slightly uneven. He has exactly one (very reliable) mousse that he uses to keep his hair in relative order.

Though an otherwise unknowing passerby would think at first that he is wearing "too much" body-spray deodorant, those who are more accustomed to the use of magic might identify it as the scent of pure Ælfshot, so sharply aromatic that it burns the senses. As he is too accustomed to the smell that accompanies his magic, Marius is more or less ignorant of how severely it clings to his clothes.

How the Story Goes
Marius is destined for Princess Ozma's role in The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

In summation, the story goes a bit like this: before the Oscar Diggs, the Wizard from Kanzas, came to Oz, the land was ruled by a mortal King and the Fairy Queen (immortal). They had Princess Ozma together, and the Fairy Queen left to go rule over the fairies. The king died, but before she could inherit the throne, Princess Ozma was kidnapped and sent to the malicious Witch Mombi of the North (there are many variations on how, exactly, this happened, and at least three of them are canon). In order to prevent being discovered, the Witch Mombi transformed her into a servant-boy named Tippetarius, or Tip for short, the curse also erasing all of his memories of having ever been Princess Ozma, "or even a girl at all."

The Wizard of Oz wound up leading Oz in that tumultuous time, eventually abdicating the throne in favor of the Scarecrow. In The Land of Oz, Tip escapes from Mombi, helps the Scarecrow when he is overthrown by the rowdy Jinjur, and eventually finds himself in the company of the Good Witch Glinda in order to (ironically) search for Princess Ozma, who is the only one capable of overthrowing the tyrannic Jinjur for good. Eventually, it is discovered that Mombi cursed the Princess into becoming Tip, and the Witch is forced to break the curse on punishment of death, even though Tip quite clearly pleads, "Let Jinjur be the Queen! I want to stay a boy, and travel with [my friends]! I don't want to be a girl!"

Glinda, in possibly her most unfortunate line in the entire series, insists that "you were born a girl, and also a Princess; so you must resume your proper form, that you may become Queen of the Emerald City [...] never deal in transformations, for they are not honest."

Thus, Tip begrudgingly agrees, and is returned to the form of Princess Ozma, regaining all memories that had once been lost. She is "content" with the curse having been broken, and has many adventures in Oz over the course of the next 34(ish) books, proving herself an excellent and just ruler.

How does Marius come into it?
Upon ascending the throne, Princess Ozma XCVII married a polite young eyeglass-maker from the Emerald City, and together they had a child-- expected to be the future Princess Ozma XCVIII.

However, as the child grew, he found that he had no desire to be a princess or even a girl at all, an unfortunate circumstance for a royal child growing up beneath the careful scrutiny and high expectations of the people of Oz. Aside from several temper-tantrums (staidly ignored) circa age seven, Marius held his tongue on the matter, lest the enemies Oz bring into question the strength of his mother's rule.

After Marius' mother abdicated the throne in order to continue following her own mother's destiny as Queen of the Fairies, her mortal spouse passed away and left Ozmarius in the hands of the most recent Witch Mombi. However, when Witch Mombi cast the curse that should have turned Ozmarius into a boy and erased his memory of having ever been a princess, "or even a girl at all," the spell did not take effect as planned.

Because Marius has always identified as a boy., the spell did absolutely nothing.

Marius possesses all of his original memories, but believes that it is only because of the presumption that he is under a curse that most of the Ozian people recognize him as a boy at all-- the form of Tippetarius from legend. As long as his "curse" is never "broken," Marius feels certain that the people of Oz will see him as he truly is.

On the eve of his acceptance into Emerald City Academy, Headmaster Oz appeared at the witch's fortress and informed Marius of his destiny, expecting full shock and awe. Marius feigned surprise, but announced in full press-coverage that he would not ascend the throne as Princess Ozma, but rather as himself. The citizens of Oz went into uproar on the matter, deeply worried that their Golden Age would never come under the reign of a Tippetarius, and Headmaster Oz achieved peace only by assuring them that it was likely only shock and the traditional resistance of all pre-awakened Ozmas.

Unable to brush off the immense pressure of his citizens, Marius signed the Ozian Storybook of Legends in his sophomore year. He very badly wishes that he hadn't, especially after Celadon West refused to sign at all in the year following. Shortly afterwards, Marius fled from Oz-- his reasons unknown to any save for himself.

His present location is unknown.

Parents
Though his parents only ever saw him as Princess Ozma XCVIII, Marius still cares quite a lot about them and what they might think of him today.

Ozma XCVII heard the call of Fairyland more acutely than even her predecessors, and she departed very suddenly with less than three days' notice. Once upon a time, many years ago, she loved her husband and child very much, but as the years dragged on, she grew exceedingly inattentive to the affairs of her home and family. Some adviser or another had persuaded her that Marius was going through a "tomboy phase," and she thought nothing deeper of the matter.

Marius has always viewed his mother as a sort of distant figure, though he admired her strength and diplomatic prowess very much. She was always very busy hurrying around Oz working on social programs and mediating disputes, but even when she was home, she would look only towards the window as if her mind was somewhere thousands of miles away. He hopes that she found her peace in Fairyland.

He misses his deceased father very much, though in his later years, the King of Oz seemed to grow increasingly strict about Marius' "unorthodox, and sometimes inappropriate choices in clothing." Though they argued quite frequently, the two always ultimately reconciled-- the King would nearly always apologize for his harsh words, and express that he was only concerned about their people's perception of their future leader. The King was always a very anxious sort of man who wished for his child to have an easy sort of reign, devoid of any true conflict or controversy.

Marius did not cut his hair to its present length until after both of his parents were no longer around to see him do so.

Foster Family
Though she is a very strict taskmaster and assigns chores lists that would make nearly anyone quake, Marius doesn't terribly mind living with the Witch Mombi. Though she is determined to instill a very, very strong work ethic in her adopted son, she has never threatened injury, nor has she ever misgendered him.

Marius is very fond of his adopted sibling, the inheritor of Witch Mombi's legacy.

Distant Family
Given the Ozian tradition of marrying within their own borders, Marius is distantly related to much of Oz. However, it has been the tradition of recent Ozmas to take on a consort with little to no prescribed destiny at all in order to eliminate questions of succession. Marius' next closest living relatives are thirty-eighth cousins, at the very least.

... unless the rumors about Rain "the Lost Witch" West and Ozma LXI are true. Though Rain's twins were said to have been fathered by Princess Ozma while still in the form of the peasant-boy Tip, Marius does not personally place much stock in the theory. He has read the diary Princess Ozma LXI kept in the castle library, and while her friendship with Rain West is well-documented, there are no mentions of any romantic relationship whatsoever. Still, in the event that the rumor is true, this would make Marius Celadon West's thirty-fifth cousin once removed, and Garnet East's thirty-fifth cousin twice removed.

Friends
Marius considered nearly everyone at Emerald City Academy something of a friend... but he found it easiest to be himself around the upbeat and generous Saphon Goodspell. He has many fond memories of discussing classes with her, usually over a tub of dish soap and several bubble-wands.

Additionally, ever since Celadon West refused to sign the Ozian Storybook of Legends on Legacy Day, Marius has admired his courage and his ability to ignore the gossip that subsequently spread. They have never exchanged more than a few words, but West is pretty cool in Marius' book.

Romance
"I am agog, I am aghast-- is Marius in love at last?"

- Les Miserables, ABC Cafe

No, Marius does not have a present known love interest.

Enemies
Marius didn't consider anybody a true enemy during his time at Emerald City Academy... but he has always been a little bit unsettled by Garnet East], who had something of an uncanny knack for knowing when Marius wasn't telling the truth.

Outfits
Marius wears a great deal of button-up dress shirts, fanciful jackets, and smart khakis. He has an impressive collection of silk-flower crowns, the majority of which he has left at school. However, one duffel bag's worth of clothes have gone unmissed from what seems to have been Marius' rather extensive clothes collection, a wardrobe that was purchased to suit a prince.

If anyone paid attention enough to notice, they would be able to infer that the missing Marius presently owns a total of four shirts, three pairs of pants, one sweater, a coat, two pairs of shoes, an odd assortment of undergarments, and his swimwear (a full-bodied, insulated surfing-styled wetsuit).

Trivia

 * The name "Ozmarius" is a portmanteau of "Ozma" and "Tippetarius," the two names given to Princess Ozma in the original book series (the latter being used during her time under the Mombian Curse).
 * According to Baum's books, all male rulers of Oz take on the name of "Oz" during their reign, and all female rulers take on the name "Ozma." Marius' decision to go more commonly by "Marius" is 100% wholly and completely intentional.
 * Though Bluebutterflychan's Oz characters all have somewhat noteworthy collars, Ozmarius' is probably the most extreme (also the least realistic, but hey-- cartoons).
 * Oz is an incredibly problematic place to live.

Quotes
"There are worse places I could be."

- Probably mumbled to himself, wherever he is.