This article is part of a series about the Sencen family |
Basic Information
Sencen
Current Members
Cassius Sencen • Gisela Minette Sencen • Keefe Sencen
History
Keefe's Legacy
Residence(s)
Candleshade • Shores of Solace
Lord Cassius Sencen is a member of the Sencen family: the father of Keefe Sencen and husband of the estranged Lady Gisela Sencen. Lord Cassius is also a current member of the Black Swan.
Appearance[]
Lord Cassius is described to possess many of Keefe's characteristics, with slick-back blond hair, and maintains a neat attire, while Keefe aspires to do the opposite. He is also tall and lean. His smile is said to be "oily, dripping with insincerity." He has ice blue eyes that resembles his son's.
History[]
Pre-Keeper[]
Lord Cassius's childhood remains mostly unknown, though it was shown in a memory that he struggled at school and was often bullied.
At one point, he was matched with Lady Gisela. During their marriage, she had him drink bottles of Quintessence, but erased his memory by Washer of that encounter later on.
Lord Cassius joined the Nobility at one point and began to work with the Councilors. He presumably took great pride in his position.
When Lord Cassius's son, Keefe attended Foxfire, he put expectations on his shoulders. Cassius was greatly disappointed in his son and seemed to hardly care about him.
Cassius set up a room that would be filled with his son's accomplishments, but according to Keefe, the only thing in there was a pile of detention slips.
In one memory, he forgot about Keefe, too busy engaging a conversation with a friend. In another, he ripped up his notebooks, which were full of his sketches. Lord Cassius even told Keefe that he would prefer the Vacker boy (Fitz) over him.
Eventually, Keefe stopped trying to please his father and went out of his way to annoy him at every turn.
At an unknown point of time, Lord Cassius wrote The Heart of the Matter, a book that talked about how emotions were different in the head than in the heart. Keefe claimed that he was more of a "torturer of innocent readers" than a writer.
Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities[]
Sophie meets Keefe and Lord Cassius in the Level 4 wing at Foxfire. Sophie notices that Keefe is always dejected whenever his father is near. Lord Cassius describes Tiergan as an "infamous mentor" after Tiergan saves Sophie from sharing her ability as a Telepath.
After Sophie's telepathy is revealed to the public, Keefe describes his father as very smug. Apparently, Cassius had guessed that Sophie was Tiergan's prodigy. Keefe says that his father must always be right, and that he always is.
Book 2: Exile[]
In Exile, Sophie and Lord Cassius have a brief encounter shortly after Alden's mind breaks during the Elite Dedication.
Book 3: Everblaze[]
During Everblaze, Sophie and Keefe meet him in Candleshade, with his wife, Lady Gisela. Later, Mr. Forkle suspected that Lord Cassius was a member of the Neverseen, since the Sencen crest he gave to Keefe was rigged. The Black Swan planned to set a trap for him and the other members of the Neverseen on Mount Everest. However, later, the traitor turned out to be his wife, Lady Gisela, who also mimicked his voice.
Book 4: Neverseen[]
After being betrayed by his wife, Lord Cassius and a few telepaths search his memories for any information on the Neverseen. It was mentioned that he lost his title, though he managed to regain his superiority.
Book 5: Lodestar[]
Sophie, the bodyguards, Mr. Forkle, and her friends went to Candleshade, to see if they could find anything that convinced Keefe to join the Neverseen. There, they meet Lord Cassius. Before they left, he asked Sophie to tell Keefe that there would always be a place at home for him.
Book 6: Nightfall[]
In Nightfall, Lord Cassius kept an eye on Sophie and her friends as they searched for Vespera's symbol. He assumed they were looking for something and offered to help the Black Swan, since he knew his way around Atlantis. However, his requests were denied. Later on, they reached out to him again, and filled him in what they were looking for. Eventually, Lord Cassius managed to find the signature they were looking for.
At one point, Lord Cassius confronted Keefe and Sophie. He offered them a bargain, saying that he could reveal where Vespera hid her signature in Atlantis if they accepted him into the Black Swan, and if his son would move in with him. Reluctantly, they agreed, and he was inducted into their order.
Book 8: Legacy[]
In Legacy, Lord Cassius continues to help the Black Swan. He allows Fitz to search for his memories to see if they can find anything useful about Lady Gisela.
Book 9: Stellarlune[]
Lord Cassius seems to think Keefe would be able to fend for himself in the Forbidden Cities. He talks with Sophie about the Black Swan, and continues to have his memories searched by her.
Relationships[]
Lady Gisela Sencen[]
- Estranged Wife/Enemy
Lady Gisela was Lord Cassius's wife. He confesses that he did feel love for her, though he lost it when Keefe, Sophie, Fitz, and Biana found her on Mount Everest with the Neverseen. He regards her as an enemy after her betrayal and works with Sophie and Fitz in order to uncover his shattered memories in Legacy.
He is in an estranged marriage with Lady Gisela, the current leader of the Neverseen; the most likely reason for him not filing a Match-Fail is due to the scorn associated with being one.
Keefe Sencen[]
- Son
Lord Cassius has a poor relationship with Keefe. From a young age, Lord Cassius verbally abused and targeted Keefe, and constantly thrusted unrealistic expectations on his shoulders. He often insults or scoffs at Keefe. This repeated abuse affected Keefe and his view on himself and others, something Lord Cassius seems oblivious to. From a young age, Keefe thought of Alden as a father figure rather than his father and began wishing that he was a Vacker. In Nightfall, Lord Cassius forced his son to live with him by threatening to withhold vital information that the Black Swan desperately needed. In recent books, he seems to care about Keefe more, though Keefe remains annoyed with him, often disregarding Lord Cassius altogether. In Legacy, it is revealed that Lord Cassius does care for Keefe, but is incredibly reluctant to show any kind of affection due to his convoluted views on love.
Ro[]
- Son's bodyguard/nuisance
Ro dislikes Lord Cassius immensely and goes out of her way to make his life miserable, feeding him harmful amoebas and insulting him every chance that she gets. Lord Cassius generally regards her as a nuisance, though he tolerates her as she is Keefe's bodyguard.
Sophie Foster[]
- Son's friend/forced acquaintance
Sophie is generally hostile towards Lord Cassius, hating him for his treatment of Keefe. She hates that he is a member of the Black Swan, and originally believed that he was a member of the Neverseen. Lord Cassius has begrudging respect towards Sophie, though he is very cold towards her. He has faith in her abilities, allowing her to search his memories in Legacy.
Trivia[]
- His name, Cassius, means "empty" or "vain."
- Cassius also means "hollow" in Latin
- It takes Lord Cassius exactly 31 minutes to comb his hair.
Quotes[]
“Do you know we have an entire room at our house dedicated to the Wonder That Is Him?”
“Where there is a will, there is a way.”
“Back to nag me already? You seriously need to get yourself a hobby. I hear spelunking's fun. Oooh, or you could try swimming with the krakens! I doubt they'd eat you—but maybe we'll get lucky!”
“Everything I withhold is for his own good. Love... convolutes things”
“I fear the reality is simply that while it may be impossible to lie to an Empath, it's far, far too easy for us to lie to ourselves.”
“And Lord Cassius, for all of his bravado, was very, very weak.”