#caesonius

[mikeford2477]

Milonia Caesonia (died AD 41) was a Roman empress, the fourth and last wife of the emperor Caligula. The daughter of Caesonius and Vistilia, Caesonia was born toward the beginning of the first century, but the year is not certain. Her birthday was celebrated between 2 June and 4 June. Little is written of Caesonia's life. Suetonius says that when Caligula married her, she was neither beautiful nor young, and was already the mother of three daughters by another man. He describes her as a woman of reckless extravagance and wantonness, whom Caligula nonetheless loved passionately and faithfully. According to Cassius Dio, the two entered into an affair some time before their marriage, either late in AD 39 or early in 40, and that the emperor's choice of a bride was an unpopular one. The satirist Juvenal suggests that Caligula's madness was the result of a love potion administered to him by Caesonia. Caesonia was pregnant at the time of the marriage, and gave birth to a daughter, Julia Drusilla, only one month later (or according to Suetonius, on her wedding day). In the account given by Suetonius, the emperor would parade Caesonia in front of his troops, and sometimes displayed her naked in front of select friends. In an odd demonstration of affection, he would jokingly threaten to have her tortured or killed. On 24 January, AD 41, Caligula was slain by an assassin. As part of the wider conspiracy, Caesonia and her daughter Julia Drusilla were murdered just hours after Caligula's demise. Josephus reports that she died bravely: stricken with grief at her husband's death, she willingly offered her neck to the assassin, telling him to kill her without hesitation. #ancientrome #ancient #rome #coins #romanempire #coin #numis #history #collectors #veryrare #rare #numismatics #caligula #caesar #augustus #roma #spqr https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxu3Xi4FjL8/?igshid=16xul4m6pmunh

[cityandking]

2, 14, 17 for Caesonius, Minah and Narayani?

ty!! // oc asks childhood edition

2. Where did your muse grow up? What was their home like? Did they like where they grew up?

CAESONIUS — grew up in Vyrantium, first in his family's meager lodgings and then in the house of Magister Aneleus when his older brother sold him into slavery to pay off a gambling debt. neither was great—the first was in poor condition and he had to deal with his brother's frequent gambling and unsavory companions; the second was his master's house, where he was afforded a cell of a room and endless obligations. but he also received an education and training and power, so between the two... well, he got what he wanted eventually MINAH — minah grew up in the Free Marches. she had a pleasant home life; she got along with her family and had her own room and she could go down to the river when she wanted to. she was happy there. NARAYANI — rani grew up on the move with her clan, which was a small but tight-knit community, and one she liked. she had, if not an interesting childhood, at least a happy one—which is honestly maybe better

14. Who was a mentor or a hero to your muse as a kid? Why did your muse look up to them and what did your muse learn from them? How is that relationship now?

CAESONIUS — absolutely not a hero, but Magister Aneleus was certainly a mentor. he taught caes magic, and cruelty, and ambition, and the machinations of power. in return, caes helped drive his house to ruin and killed his children. so it goes. MINAH — minah really looked up to her dad. he had a strong work ethic and cared about the community and knew loads (from her young and un-worldly perspective, anyway), and she'd spend hours traipsing after him, soaking up everything he had to offer. his death really messed her up. NARAYANI — of all the clan elders, Iravel was the one she looked up to most—something about the old woman's personality, her patience, and her stubborn pride spoke to little rani. they had a fight shortly after rani became a hunter, a mission she'd accepted that Iravel disagreed with. rani went anyway, and when she got back afterwards (flushed with pride and success, hands bloodied for the first but not the last time), Iravel had passed. she regrets not resolving that argument before Iravel's death, though she doesn't regret accepting the hunt. this was the first snapping threat between her and the clan—though she didn't realize it til years later.

17. How is your muse with kids now? Do they want kids of their own? What lessons from their childhood would they pass on to the next generation?

CAESONIUS — simply wouldn't know what to do with a child if he saw one. he's been around kids, vaguely—some of the other slaves had children; some of the other slaves were children—but he outgrew that long ago and has no interest in dealing with kids. the only lessons he has to pass on are sharp and cruel, and even he knows better than inflicting them upon a child. MINAH — there were always kids coming to see the Orchestra's shows, so she's got some familiarity with entertaining and humoring children. she also (once upon a time) really wanted kids of her own. these days, she's a little iffy about them (she doesn't want any herself), but she's still pretty good with 'em. she's not sure she has any lessons of her own worth passing on—maybe remembering to tip entertainers? (I guess her advice to loras—to be his own man, that he doesn't have to be what his father was—is its own sort of lesson.) NARAYANI — rani's spent a bit of time around kids and has taught a lesson or two to apprentice hunters—it's impossible to avoid children in the clan—but she's not interested in having children and is just a little awkward around them. her own childhood feels ages ago, and it's a little uncomfortable to be reminded of the hollow feeling it carries in her memories

[cityandking]

dragon age canon: elves can't grow facial hair

me, slapping a beard on my elf mage because he deserves it: I don't know suddenly I can't read

[cityandking]

minah vo • caesonius verna

just a couple of assholes bumming around thedas ❤

[picrew]

[cityandking]

🗡️ for lira, minah + caes!

thanks!! // character danger meme

LIRA

Raw power. ★★☆☆☆ [not the strongest or the biggest]

Formal Training. ★★★★★ [this is where she really shines—she had the best teachers growing up and it shows]

Combat experience. ★★★☆☆ ⟶ ★★★★★ [she'd mostly had experience with small skirmishes and training before the Blight; after the Blight she's seen almost everything]

Willingness to kill. ★★★★☆ [she may not like it too much, but she's a pragmatic girl]

Previous victims. ★★★☆☆ [prior to the Blight, she did more spooking and scaring than killing. then the Blight happened, and that changed]

MINAH

Raw power. ★★☆☆☆ [she's a rogue babes she's not wowing anyone with raw strength or mana or anything like that]

Formal Training. ★★★☆☆ [she's more informal training but she's definitely had a decent amount of training in a variety of fields]

Combat experience. ★★☆☆☆ ⟶ ★★★★☆ [#blightcore]

Willingness to kill. ★★☆☆☆ [she doesn't like it much but she'd definitely rather have a dead enemy in the ground than a live enemy running amok. unfortunate when they are dead in the ground and then get up and start running amok]

Previous victims. ★☆☆☆☆ [she hasn't really got any?]

CAES

Raw power. ★★★★☆ [he's a strong mage boy for sure]

Formal Training. ★★★★☆ [had some of the best, and only had to be a house slave for a decade or two to get it!]

Combat experience. ★★☆☆☆ [while he's had the training to fight and guard his (ex) master, he didn't often have to use it]

Willingness to kill. ★★★★★ [he has no compunctions and also few morals]

Previous victims. ★★★★☆ [once upon a time he helped with the downfall of a noble house. one of his fondest memories]

[cityandking]

☣❣☹ and ♥ for Caesonius, Minah, and Narayani?

thanks! // horrific headcanons

☣ Would they kill someone close to them if they had to?

CAES — not only would he, he has! or he's arranged situations that have led to the death of someone close to him, anyway—he'd rather not get his hands dirty if he can help it. he did like anaea nivaeum (relatively, as much as he liked any of house nivaeum), but she was in the way and had to go MINAH — if it were a sort of zombie apocalypse there's-no-saving-them kind of choice, yes, or if there were some kind of major betrayal from someone she had trusted. but the extenuating circumstances would have to be especially extenuating—I don't know that she's capable of actually literally stabbing a friend in the back NARAYANI — if she had to, yes.

❣ If someone had the power to bring them back after death, would they want them to?

CAES — he's not opposed to it, but he'd want to know that he'd come back unbound/as himself. he's spent all his life clawing his way up the social ladder so no one can have power over him, and he wouldn't exchange freedom for anything—even another chance at life MINAH — given the party's experience so far with things continuing after death (looking at you Desvaux. also the darkspawn) she'd be a little leery of being brought back from the dead. that said, she wouldn't turn down a revivify if the situation called for it (narratively no, mechanically yes I guess?) NARAYANI — yes. she wouldn't rest easily regardless, and she'd gladly take the chance to come back

☹ Name one person they would kill for.

CAES — himself MINAH — tbh the party at this point. maybe not quite as quickly as rhydian, but if the situation called for it, she'd be there NARAYANI — nobody, both in the sense that there's no one she would kill for and also in the sense that no one need ask for her to kill

♥ Have they ever acted out of heartlessness?

CAES — yeah, definitely. he's met cruelty with cruelty before and he'd do it again MINAH — no. her heart is always in everything she does—maybe too much, sometimes. it's a stupid and thoughtless organ and she's made choices with it that she should have made with her brain instead NARAYANI — no. pragmatism and anger and pride, sure, but never heartlessness.

[cityandking]

🍊 🍌 🍐 for Caesonius and Minah

thanks! // oc interview questions - fruits & veg

🍊 [ORANGE] Does your OC have a prophecy surrounding them? If they don't, what would it be?

CAES — nope, but he's ripe for some ancient grecian thing about power and destroying enemies. as a character he's really built to be the evidence of past sins come back to haunt and he'd fit that kind of prophesying to a T. less the object of the prophecy and more the doom that brings it to pass MINAH — she also doesn't have a prophecy but if she did it would be some kind of horrible "you can never escape your roots" thing. one of those "no matter how far you run you'll only ever be fulfilling the role you were meant to play" inevitabilities

🍌 [BANANA] Have parts of your OC been lost to time (in-universe)? What do they wish they could lose from themselves?

CAES — not really. sometimes he thinks he wouldn't mind losing everything from before he became a slave, but if he didn't have that to claw himself back to (and beyond) as a reminder of freedom he wouldn't be the same person. he has little enough already; he holds onto everything he can MINAH — yes, absolutely, and she doesn't want to see them again, except for when she does.

🍐 [PEAR] What is their current social standing? If they could change it, would they, and to what?

CAES — he's in the magisterium! the uppermost echelons of society, even if he's barely made it, even if he's a freed slave. he's always wanted that power, that privileged, that standing. the only changes he'd make would be to be even more solidly rooted in his position. he wanted power and he got it and now he wants to keep it by any means necessary MINAH — she's a traveling entertainer, a pickpocket and a thief, conscripted to the wardens to save the punishment of a judge. all things considered she's pretty damn low. it suits her fine—she's emphatically Not A Fan of the noble class and she enjoys her life—but sometimes she does wonder what it would be like to attend a ball as a lady and not a conscripted warden pretending to be a lady's entertainer entourage.

[cityandking]

barbarian, paladin, wizard for minah, dai and caes!

ty my dear!! // d&d character class asks

barbarian: What makes your muse angry? How do they manage their anger? Has their rage ever led them to destroy something important?

MINAH — minah is generally easygoing and doesn't get angry a lot, but when she does it's usually personal. her anger is kind of insular and specific; she feels it on behalf of herself and a few people who are important to her but it doesn't really extend beyond that. on the occasion that she does get properly angry, she tends to be direct and sharp—she's not good at holding back. while anger specifically hasn't driven her to destroy anything important, she's destroyed important things and felt rage among the other emotions that led to that destruction. DAI — dai mostly gets angry about big and external stuff—how people treat each other, injustices in the world, how people treat themselves. he's pretty slow to actually reach full-blown rage (he'll simmer in irritation and annoyance for ages) and when he feels on that cusp he does his best to step away for at least a little bit and do some meditation or training or prayer, whatever he needs to recenter himself. it's on those rare occasions where he can't get away, or where the thing he's angry about is really close to home, that he snaps. I think he might consider his fight with izzy and their fallout to be something destroyed by anger, but he's self-aware enough to know it's more complicated than just that. CAES — sooooo much, and boy can he hold a grudge. he's got an itemized list of slights, abuses and mistreatment living rent free in his mind and he does not forgive or forget. he kind of lives his life operating at a constant low grade fury, which he channels into plotting the slow and specific downfall of his enemies. enrichment for his enclosure etc etc. his rage has led him to destroy plenty, but never anything that important to him. (he felt a tiny bit bad for Anaea's death, but it was a necessary loss to get things moving along. and she was never going to survive his plans anyway)

paladin: What does your muse fight for? What tenets or oaths drive them? Have they ever had to break a vow, and if they have, why?

MINAH — mostly she fights to survive, but somewhere deep deep down at the core of her, the one thing that's truly keeping her from abandoning the wardens and the blight, she fights to make up for a promise she broke. at the time it seemed like the only option, and she stands by that decision, but sometimes she wonders what might have happened if she'd made a different choice. it's not repentance exactly, but it's the closest thing to an oath she's got. that said, she still views survival as the greatest driving force in her life DAI — his paladin tenets are valor, discernment, resolve and character—he fights to protect people who can't protect themselves and to fix what's been broken. he's incredibly driven by the desire to help and heal (and save) whatever he can. on the flip side he's absolutely willing to take up the sword or the shield and excise what can't be saved and must be stopped. I don't think he's broken a vow yet? he takes his word incredibly seriously CAES — he fights for himself. he hasn't exactly got oaths or tenets but his own power and protection and standing are the things that drive him. technically he's broken any vow he made to House Nivaeum, but since they bought and owned him he considers any promises made to be null and void.

wizard: What is your muse like as a student? Do they have the patience for studying? What do they like learning about? What do they most want to know?

MINAH — she's a decent student. she gets impatient when it's stuff she doesn't care about, but she's got the curiosity and study habits to pick up the stuff she is interested in pretty quickly. she likes learning new crafts, languages, gossip, and secrets. she most wants to know [redacted]. DAI — he's such a teacher's pet. he's also honestly curious and likes learning and has good study habits but he's just incapable of Not being a teacher's pet. he's honestly gotten really into learning about the places he's visiting—y'know, learning to let go of expectation and just enjoy the experience. he'd love to know how to heal/fix the void. CAES — he's a decent student—very driven to learn what interests (or empowers) him, less interested in the other faff. he has immense patience, and he applies it to his studies as much as anything else. he likes learning magic, and also history and politics—he likes the networks and the webs they produce. he'd like to know all his enemies secrets so he can use them against people.

[cityandking]

achievement unlocked: picked a surname for caes

[cityandking]

some fun Caes facts

his older brother sold him to House Nivaeum to pay off a gambling debt. Caes was 8. his brother has since tragically passed away (Caes had nothing to do with that, of course. his brother was a gambler and a cheat, and his lifestyle was going to catch up to him sooner or later)

his name (Caesonius) comes from caesius meaning blue-grey. he's named for the distinctive pale color of his eyes

he's a classically-trained mage, taught by Magister Aneleus himself. his areas of expertise are subterfuge/spying (mind sliver, message, detect thoughts, invisibility, detect magic, find familiar) and brute force damage (booming blade, eldritch blast, chromatic orb, steel wind strike, disintegrate). Why bother training a spy and an attack dog when you could get both for the price of one?

he keeps a ceremonial dagger on his person as the material component for his weapon-based spell attacks. nothing like dealing 6d10 force damage for stabbing a guy with a tiny knife

he has a small snake familiar named Nizar who can most often be found up his sleeves. never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes or a little help recalling information

he does not have (and never has) any particular loyalty to House Nivaeum, and their ignoble and inglorious end is a constant source of satisfaction

[cityandking]

new guy hours

[cityandking]

okay so thinking about this and, after some consideration:

Branwen: incidentally bloody. she tends toward a brawling sort of bloodiness, chaotic and messy and over relatively quickly. equal chances it's her own or belongs to someone else

Caesonius: rarely bloody, but when he is he makes a beautiful mess of whatever's bleeding. these days it's rarely himself

Daichi: bloody surprisingly often. pretty equally his blood and also other people's blood (his in a "I accidentally ended up tanking for this encounter" kind of way and someone else's in a "healers have the bloodiest hands" sort of way). he is remarkably (unsettlingly?) chill about it

Eniko: is also bloody surprisingly often, though it's rarely his own. one can't forget the years of blood on his hands, literal or metaphorical. as for his own hurts, he's more of a bruiser — as with many things, he keeps his hurts under his skin

Kiyu: I simply cannot imagine kiyu bloody. he's too ephemeral for it; the mortal world doesn't touch him that closely. (sometimes he scrapes up his knees or knuckles crawling around those ruins, but it's barely anything)

Lira: very bloody. it's everywhere, knuckles and mouth and getting in her eyes. she just bleeds and bleeds and bleeds, and scrubs it out til the stains are pink, and bleeds again. the only way she knows its hers is that darkspawn bleed black, and she's red all over.

Minah: definitely a little bloody — it's part of warden life, unfortunately. she's bloodiest in her nightmares, though. there's always so much of it, and it's never her own.

Vesper: incidentally bloody. it's her own, mostly — she bleeds for herself and her companions and the people under her protection. she also sometimes is standing too close to whoever Bull is slicing in half, and the splatter is atrocious.

[cityandking]

everyone say hello to caesonius! he's here he's queer he's going to ruin your year 🤍

[picrew]