Ok wait I think I’ve got Marrow’s backstory down kinda well this time (spoilers for things as of v0.1.9 btw)
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So because of the whole Calder thing with Hamish, Marrow’s hidden class in his profile and attitude towards his father and magic I’m pretty sure Marrow is a noble mage of house O’Shannessy, a son of Gaius O’Shannessy.
Now the stolen research about the same time as Cole’s birth must have been something to heal him from something (surely the disease mentioned by Hamish in Cole’s flashback), since I doubt Marrow would have ever used experimental magic on his son for any other reason.
Since Cole’s mother isn’t around and Marrow had likely been into Hamish for very long I assume the marrigae was arranged and she’s now dead, since I don’t think Marrow deciding to take Cole with himself would make things complicated for the story otherwise.
I don’t think she died of childbirth because I think it would have come up at some point by now, so I think she died either because of the same sickness that Cole had or, more likely, some nobility-related events, thus why neither we nor Cole know about them.
As for the reason for his escape I think it had something to do with Gaius or his plans threatening either Hamish or, more likely, Cole. You know, with the whole “high-mortality rate” of th house’s heirs thing Agatha mentioned, he likely risks his family’s lives for profit often.. I think his schemes may have been the nobility-related cause of Cole’s mother’s death (maybe even Cole’s disease somehow).