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tigersharkapologist · 13 days ago

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Marcus Acacius Headcanons

headcanons and some au stuff dump⊹ ࣪ ˖

TW: mentions of child abuse and murder 𓃦

General Marcus Acacius 𓅂

- Please get this man a vacation. He’s exhausted, he’s tired. Physically, mentally and emotionally.

- He has a broken toe he never addressed because it just?? stopped hurting??

- He has a very bad habit. When he does get these vacations, he tends to abuse them and literally does nothing but bedrot, like he literally wont even bathe unless Lucilla hounds him.

- Burnout induced procrastination and laziness final boss

- He grew up in a relatively larger household, four siblings including himself. All were sisters (this is largely why he knows how to be a decent and faithful husband).

- He actually heavily disliked Lucilla at first. It was mostly because Lucilla was, understandably, still grieving Maximus and her son, but often times that anger was directed towards him.

- they worked their difficulties and misunderstandings out through the wonderful mystical skill that is critical thinking and communication. You know. Like adults. (the rest of the Roman elite cannot say the same, I fear).

- Acacius always wanted children with Lucilla, but Lucilla always refused because she was still torn and ruined from the loss of her son.

- Of course this saddened him greatly, but he understood. He could only imagine what that kind of pain is like—probably far more than what he’s feeling.

- Lucilla is beefing with his sisters. Why? Acacius doesn’t know and frankly he doesn’t really want to? He’s far too stressed, which is understandable. You try not being haunted by the wails of grieving “barbaric” mothers and fathers watching the corpses of their sons being burned by Roman soldiers under your command. You probably wouldn’t sleep well, either.

- The General has great respect for Julius Caesar, he ordered the Medusa head to be molded into his cuirass in honor of him and his successes as one of Rome’s finest generals to ever live. (In one of his busts, Julius Caesar’s cuirass had Medusa on it so this fanboy got inspired).

- Acacius is a reader. Loves to read fiction, especially. It allows him to escape the stresses of his life and become immersed into the world of whatever genre he’s reading.

- Astronomy as a hobby! He likes the stars, he thinks they’re pretty. A petname he has for Lucilla is Stella.

- He’s very intelligent and extremely educated. Sure he was technically a nepo baby, like most of Rome’s elite, but he genuinely used his academics and intellectual prowess to get to where he is. He somewhat regrets his position now.

- As much as he just wants to ring the young twins by the neck some of the times—most of the times— he can’t help but feel extremely bad for them. Everyone close to the Septimius household knew of the horrors those two had to go through in their most vulnerable, innocent years. They are lacking in love and mercy because they were not given that by their parents. They lack education because of that same reason. Education is very important to Acacius (if he were emperor, all citizens of Rome would be given an education), and he strongly believes if they were to only receive a solid education, they wouldn’t be making half of the mistakes that they are making now. And the lack of parental love? It hurts him personally as someone who wants children desperately. He couldn’t fathom how someone could neglect their children, their own blood in such a way. (he does not know about the chronic beatings, all he heard about was that they were ignored). Acacius will never defend the emperors’ wrongdoings ever, but looking at their lives every now and then is a nice reminder of how blessed he was to grow up in a loving household. The part that really breaks his heart is how young they are to be suffering like this. However, they are adults now, they are expected to act and behave a certain way, to make the right decisions with the power they hold.

- Regardless, he fights for Rome and her people, and the two have been a threat. You can’t blame him for trying to start a coup against the Septimius twins, even if it was done with a heavy heart.

- Like the emperors, Acacius has always been antsy around the Praetorian Guard. Something about them irks him. To be honest, those freaks creep out the majority of the Roman elite, even the Senate who seem to favor them. All they do is stare and watch from the shadows. Acacius swears they’re incapable of blinking. Sure they’re physically weaker and shorter than the cavalry he commands, but that didn’t matter when he was sure they could kill you with only a single stare. He doesn’t believe in ghosts but he wouldn’t be surprised if the Praetorian were just made up of vengeful spirits. And if not spirits, the offspring of mars himself.

- Acacius was there in the audience when the Praetorians betrayed Caesar Commodus under Praefectus Quintus’ command. Now, he thought it was a very noble act (as Commodus was a man who should have never been given power in the first place), but the way they were so detached and how easily they just let their emperor die spooked him a twinge. Do they simply not care about who they’re supposed to protect? If they were so easy as to let the emperor die in the ring, what does that say about their loyalty to the Roman people? He knows Quintus personally, he’s a good man with a solid head on his shoulders. But what of his guard? Acacius isn’t too sure about them. As a highly respected General, it would only be his duty to keep an extra eye on them

- Those who speak poorly about the Praetorian best wish that they weren’t being listened to by them. Like corvids, they hear one bad word, one little slight, and the entire guard 400+ strong will know about it by the end of the night. They like to gossip and protect their own. Scary Alt Kid Mean Girl Gang who will Probably Kidnap You. Being on the Praetorian’s radar is quite bad for your health.

- Just in case they might be listening to his prattles to senators where they would discuss the Praetorian, which chances are they were, he refers to them as “aureus”. A fitting name, well, insult. Not as strong and mighty as his wolfish cavalry, but deadly and crafty in their own right. And if those jackals were listening, they’d probably confuse “aureus” as “Aurelius”, Commodus’ father. Hopefully. Maybe. Yeah probably.

- Enough of those spooks, Acacius can play instruments!! And he often does for his lady. He’s rather exceptional with the lute!

- He’s not the only general who’s sick and tired of the warring. There are people to feed, homes to build. They need the tax money that the twins are spending for their Golden Parties and Colosseum events. Unfortunately, Acacius was the only one with enough mettle to try and do something about it.

- He miraculously survived the arrow strike brought on by the Praetorians (SHUT UP he lived lets just say his cuirass was actually made out of freaking titanium LET ME HAVE THIS Vomits Cries Sobs Commits Third Degree Arson Eats You Chews You Spits You Out)

- Yeah it was that day forward he developed a permanent dislike toward the Praetorian. He didn’t care if they were “just doing their jobs” if it were him he wouldn’t have fired that arrow. Either the Praetorian were literally sheep or they had cracked out that “aureus” referred to them. Regardless Acacius KNOWS that they aren’t afraid of the twin emperors. They could kill the two in their sleep easy. Who’s going to arrest the praetorians if they disobeyed the emperors’ command to fire? Themselves? Acacius is hellbent that it was personal because they had all authority to not fire those arrows.

- Acacius may be becoming a sort of conspiracy theorist?? An attempt at your life that nearly succeeds would make you paranoid, too. He thinks the twins and the Praetorian had it out for him before the coup attempt even happened, that all they needed was a reason to get rid of him.

- He was going to confront Quintus about it because why would he ever let that happen under his watch? Apparently Quintus was literally outside of Roman boarders to visit family in Graecia (Graecia is its own country in this au, Caesar Aurelius gave them full freedom from Rome temporarily. Aurelius only kept Graecia absorbed by Rome because he thought their people would do better under Roman rule, but gave them that temporary freedom of power just to see how they would do (he’s rather fond of them and their culture, also the Graecian senate convinced him to). But eventually, following his death and the rise of Commodus, that deal was forgotten. And Commodus didn’t really care about Graecia as his attention was on his own Senate. And after he died, Septimius was going to reabsorb Graecia but got murdered. And after he died, Caracalla and Geta both have no idea Graecia isn’t apart of Roman rule anymore—they are solely focused on southeastern conquest. So Graecia is just its own thing for now.).

- So yeah Acacius hates those black and purple blue bloods.

- So does Lucilla because these two are power couple to the max. She trusts her husband’s instincts far more than some armored fellow in a dark corner staring into space while listening to everyone’s conversations.

- Acacius likes flowers! His favorite are Gladiolus, as they remind him of his Lucilla. Whenever he sees them on boarder patrols, he’ll pick some for his lady.

- It was these same flowers that Lucilla put in a vase for him on his nightstand when he was in the Medicus’ office. Out of distrust in the emperors, they used the office far away from the palace. Many had come to pay their respects and thanks to their hero General. It made him regret his job just a little less. Just a little.

- Lucilla stayed by his side until full recovery, telling him about how he’s technically the step-father to Lucius. (Oh yeah Lucilla lives too because Geta’s death didnt occur in this au)

- He was actually very excited because Lucius is the biological son of Maximus, someone Acacius respects fully. But he’s worried that Lucius would never accept him to fill in that role, which is understandable. Lucius has been hurt by Rome too many times, the last thing he needs is a constant reminder of what was taken from him in favor of a cheap replacement. These are the things Acacius would think about in and out of consciousness.

- Poor Acacius has been very cruel to himself lately, as you can see.

- Lucilla would often sing to him to cool his thoughts. He loves his scary wife.

- They own two Borzois. One is named Gelu, the other is Nivis. They are sisters! They’re very good girls and are loyal to their owners. Gelu is far nicer than her sister, as Nivis is rather wary of others. They like to run along the palace walls in a blur. They are very polite but don’t let that fool you, they just want whatever snack they think you have.

- Acacius is very fond of Gelu and Nivis, he considers them the children he’s never had.

- Before this whole fiasco and all of the life threatening drama (the first year of the twin emperor’s ruling, so when the two were 17), Gelu and Nivis were given freedom to run around the whole palace, including the Executive Floor (where the emperors roam). Unfortunately, Acacius had no idea about Caracalla’s apparent crippling fear of dogs, because when Caracalla saw the two white blurs charging toward him, their tails wagging and barking playfully—he had a full blown panic attack and mental breakdown. He almost had a heart attack, too. Completely. Everyone on the Executive Floor made a b-line towards the shrill cries of horror. Geta was FAST, say what you want about him but this guy can sprint. He got there first. He expected to see pools of blood and gore, but only saw Gelu and Nivis licking Caracalla’s fingers while he was screaming. It may be funny to you but it was terrifying to Caracalla. His brother ushered the dogs away so the Medicus could get to him. When the Medicus, with the help of Dondas, calmed down the shaken emperor, Caracalla demanded that both dogs be put down by their owner effective immediately. Acacius was heart broken, but Geta stepped in. He deemed that the dogs were not at fault whatsoever, there was no attack and it was all a misunderstanding. Gelu and Nivis have been pardoned, however, they were strictly prohibited from ever leaving Acacius’ part of the Palace. To Geta, Caracalla’s health comes first, always.

- Acacius wonders if that incident caused a permanent mistrust within Caracalla. He remembered how quick the twin was to arm himself with a gladius and charge at him to protect his brother when the secret about Acacius’ coup came out. Poor kid. But Acacius didn’t feel bad about that coup attempt at all. In fact, looking back. he probably should have used Gelu and Nivis to scare off Caracalla and separate two. Sure, they couldn’t fight at all, they had zero fighting skills. But if they were apart, it would make the attempt much easier, and possibly successful.

- These are the thoughts he would have while in recovery. What he could’ve done differently. What could have changed? Well, as far as he was concerned, the twins were still in power. But at least he had his queen.

- Acacius has many different cuirasses and uniforms all for different occasions (also he likes many different color pallets). His second favorite is the ceremonial white and gold, but his first favorite has colors that Lucilla said complimented well. And, boy, does Lucilla have a fine taste. This uniform is mostly starch black, with cherry red as a secondary color and gold highlights here and there. It’s bold, it’s intimidating and it’s beautifully handsome on him. He likes to wear it in his spare time :)

- Sort of kind of separate from Acacius. Higher ranking guards, cavalry, Generals, Captains, Praetorian/Praefectus and, of course, Emperors have full design authority over their cuirasses. They can choose any molding they want on there, usually done to represent themselves and their personality. Acacius chose Sphynxes because they represent wisdom and strength, things he needs—well he hopes he has—as a general. The Sphynx is also a nod to Maximus, as the Medusa head is a nod to Julius Caesar. Maximus chose horses to represent his ability to endure and stand for justice; a noble and strong beast. Etc. Some of the more boisterous men enjoy keeping it plain as to not distract from the abs. Very classy.

- Yes, they get full design authority on helmets, too

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