Merlin: born early November 433, about 30 miles from Exeter (Isca) near Okehampton in his father’s village. Extremely tall at 6 feet 3 inches, in a time when few men were more than 5 feet 4 inches, he is raven-haired with intense blue eyes, and called Ambrosius Marcus Cotta by his father but Myrddin by his mother. As a Roman soldier, he will change his name again to Ambrosius Merlinus. A child prodigy with 80% recall of everything that he reads and hears, as a young adult he matures into an accomplished poet, linguist, engineer, mathematician, scientist, architect and astrologist. He is able to unlock the future, to fly the pathways of the air, and has been schooled by a Pictish shaman in the Wyed ways of the wood. His Welsh mother trains him in shape-shifting, in complex spells and enchantment, and Michael, the Archangel, trains him in aerial display and combat with a Darker Magic.