Emperor Marcus Aelius
Princeps of the Rasenna Marcus Aelius Marius- Varus
the third Emperor of the Rasenna and a notable philosopher for his collection of dialogues and ponderings known as the Kratistoria.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Marcus was afflicted with decaying eyesight, in his earlier years he loved wrestling, boxing and war games which were popular physical activities. As he lost his sight, Marcus became more feeble and sickly as he could no longer engage in activities like these.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Born the first boy and second child of Marcus Aelius Varus and his second wife Fausta Cavilla in 861 B.E, Marcus Aelius was the younger brother of his half-sister Catilla, born five years before him and with whom he would grow up. Marcus' father died three years into Marcus' life which would profoundly affect the boy as he was raised by his paternal grandparents for a short time. After his father's death, his mother chose to directly raise Marcus alongside his half-sister. When Marcus was near the age of six, he, his sister, and his mother would move to Rasca as Marcus' grandfather was a prominent politician in the Curia and they would move to his estate on the Laterian Hilltop. At his grandfather's estate, it was told by Marcus himself that he was struck by a terrible illness that would gradually reduce his eyesight with age. In the meantime, Marcus enjoyed activities like wrestling, boxing, and other sporting activities while also being tutored by a Mykran slave named Setetus who Marcus took a liking to and who would mentor the boy during his educational years. It was Setetus' teachings that would lead Marcus to dress and act in the manner of an old Mykran philosopher, sleeping on the ground, wearing rough and simple clothing, and speaking in the plain and honest language of the Mykran intellectuals who he admired.
In Marcus' teens, he was brought before Princeps Lucius Nervus Marius who took a deep liking to the boy, in a few years he would marry Marcus' mother and adopt Marcus and Catilla. Now Marcus was a member of the royal family and was betrothed to Nervus' niece Ravena and Catilla to the Princeps' nephew Quintus Nervus Sacerus who Marcus would become best friends with as the two shared a passion for humility, learning, and philosophy. Now in his 20s, Marcus was beginning to feel pressure from Nervus to act and behave in a more dignified and regal manner befitting his station as the likely heir. This made Marcus uncomfortable and he resisted the call to "dip into the purple" as he called it. Instead of engaging in courtly and political drama, Marcus reclined to his books, his tutors, and to a group of his close friends he called "The Kingsmen". In 819 B.E, Marcus was brought before an ailing Nervus and privately proclaimed the new Princeps, a role Marcus would be passively resentful of for the next twenty years of his life. By 816 B.E, Marcus was officially the sole ruler of the still young Empire of the Rasenna.
Two years of stillness and peace were shattered when, to the far north, the Alusii, a Herodi tribe had begun a mass migration crossing the Rhor river and sacking the city of Trevia. Marcus' first taste of war would be a brutal affair which saw his campaign against the Alusii conclude with them being pushed back across the Rhor and into their own lands. Here, Marcus was aided by his most accomplished general, Hiatus Caicinus Caudine, to be called Alusianus after his victories. Caudine became a trusted advisor of the Princeps as he waged war across the Rhor on and off for much of the Princep's reign. Here, Marcus engaged in more civic duties, as Princeps he sponsored new buildings and new roads as treasures and gold flooded into the empire due to Caudine's victories in Tuscia.
Meanwhile, Marcus' eyesight began to steadily decline and soon the Princeps was nearly blind. This affliction put life into perspective for Marcus and aided by his brother-in-law Quintus, Marcus began working on a series of writings that would later be known as the "Kratistoria", Mykran for "The Emperor's Story". The Kratistoria would be a twelve-book series of dialogues, thoughts, and ideas written as a therapy for Marcus himself. The Kratistoria is famously straightforward and to the point, much as Marcus himself liked to talk in his personal life and discusses Marcus' thoughts on fate, reason, and simply finding one's place in life.
Marcus wrote that life was about achieving balance, and equilibrium within the confines of a cosmic universe. Marcus saw life as unforgiving and cruel, in that, as opposed to a court of law that dictated rules and boundaries that provided order to live in society, the universe offered no such rules or boundaries. The universe that Marcus describes was cruel in that life did not offer a strict set of rules demonstrating for us in the present the Rasennan belief in the total justice of their judicial court systems. Marcus believed his affliction was a test from the gods, to see if he truly meant what he spoke about as a younger man, and Marcus believed that his pursuit of moderation was a fulfillment of his promise to live an honest and true life.
Due to his affliction, Marcus' running of the empire was quite passive compared to his predecessors and was regarded as very benevolent by the citizens of the empire. Marcus was seen as an absentee but still loving father by his people and his name was equated with that of the lawgiver Corlio, with many statues made of Marcus would be made in the likeness of the great lawyer and statesman who had a tremendous influence on Marcus' public image. In his personal life, Marcus and his wife Ravena would have a rocky relationship with one another, each decrying the other behind their backs and carrying on other affairs. Marcus would have two children with Ravena, a boy and a girl named Marcus Aelius Verus after his biological father and Catilla Aelius Nervea after his half-sister and adopted father. Other children of Marcus would be Lucilla Coemmia, Julius Aelianus, and Antonius Fabirius who would later become an actor.
Marcus' later years as Princeps would be more turbulent than his earlier ones, plague-ravaged Lakia and the surrounding provinces and while Marcus tried attending to it the best he could, he came down with a disease that threatened to kill him. Marcus' state was so poor that he designated that upon his death, the Curia choose one of his relatives to name the new Princeps. However, Marcus recovered and rescinded this statement, greatly upsetting the Curia who had wished to be granted the precedent of naming future emperors.
After recovering from sickness, Marcus further reclined from public ruling and set about pondering his succession along with his Kingsmen. Marcus had numerous nephews and grandchildren with whom he had audiences to judge if they had the temperament and mettle to rule. Marcus initially apointed his son Julius Aelianus as his co-emperor in order to elavate Aelianus' own son Julius to the role of heir to the aging emperor. Julius Aelius Verus was a towering figure in Marcus' later years as he had been a popular commander during Alusianus' punitive campaigns across the Rhor. Julius Aelius Verus was also an enormously popular general on his own as he had fought and subjugated the southern Galukian hill tribes and brought two new provinces into the empire. Funnily enough, the name Julius Aelius is not what he was called in his day, his name then would have been Julius Aelius Verus Drassidius, so named for his conquest of Natresh against the Drassids during his own reign. Darius is his name known to us today due to centuries of the mistranslations of Drassidus, giving us its bastardized form today.
Princeps Marcus Aelius Marius died due to illness, suspected to be dropsy, that took him in 799 B.E, he was sixty-two years old and had ruled the empire for seventeen years. Marcus was surrounded by his friends and Quintus Sacreus who would provide additions to the Kratistoria detailing his own personal stories with Marcus which would be found a few decades later and become a philosophical guide for future emperors who would read the words of a diligent, honest, and revered man who strived to live simply and live well.
In Marcus' teens, he was brought before Princeps Lucius Nervus Marius who took a deep liking to the boy, in a few years he would marry Marcus' mother and adopt Marcus and Catilla. Now Marcus was a member of the royal family and was betrothed to Nervus' niece Ravena and Catilla to the Princeps' nephew Quintus Nervus Sacerus who Marcus would become best friends with as the two shared a passion for humility, learning, and philosophy. Now in his 20s, Marcus was beginning to feel pressure from Nervus to act and behave in a more dignified and regal manner befitting his station as the likely heir. This made Marcus uncomfortable and he resisted the call to "dip into the purple" as he called it. Instead of engaging in courtly and political drama, Marcus reclined to his books, his tutors, and to a group of his close friends he called "The Kingsmen". In 819 B.E, Marcus was brought before an ailing Nervus and privately proclaimed the new Princeps, a role Marcus would be passively resentful of for the next twenty years of his life. By 816 B.E, Marcus was officially the sole ruler of the still young Empire of the Rasenna.
Two years of stillness and peace were shattered when, to the far north, the Alusii, a Herodi tribe had begun a mass migration crossing the Rhor river and sacking the city of Trevia. Marcus' first taste of war would be a brutal affair which saw his campaign against the Alusii conclude with them being pushed back across the Rhor and into their own lands. Here, Marcus was aided by his most accomplished general, Hiatus Caicinus Caudine, to be called Alusianus after his victories. Caudine became a trusted advisor of the Princeps as he waged war across the Rhor on and off for much of the Princep's reign. Here, Marcus engaged in more civic duties, as Princeps he sponsored new buildings and new roads as treasures and gold flooded into the empire due to Caudine's victories in Tuscia.
Meanwhile, Marcus' eyesight began to steadily decline and soon the Princeps was nearly blind. This affliction put life into perspective for Marcus and aided by his brother-in-law Quintus, Marcus began working on a series of writings that would later be known as the "Kratistoria", Mykran for "The Emperor's Story". The Kratistoria would be a twelve-book series of dialogues, thoughts, and ideas written as a therapy for Marcus himself. The Kratistoria is famously straightforward and to the point, much as Marcus himself liked to talk in his personal life and discusses Marcus' thoughts on fate, reason, and simply finding one's place in life.
Marcus wrote that life was about achieving balance, and equilibrium within the confines of a cosmic universe. Marcus saw life as unforgiving and cruel, in that, as opposed to a court of law that dictated rules and boundaries that provided order to live in society, the universe offered no such rules or boundaries. The universe that Marcus describes was cruel in that life did not offer a strict set of rules demonstrating for us in the present the Rasennan belief in the total justice of their judicial court systems. Marcus believed his affliction was a test from the gods, to see if he truly meant what he spoke about as a younger man, and Marcus believed that his pursuit of moderation was a fulfillment of his promise to live an honest and true life.
Due to his affliction, Marcus' running of the empire was quite passive compared to his predecessors and was regarded as very benevolent by the citizens of the empire. Marcus was seen as an absentee but still loving father by his people and his name was equated with that of the lawgiver Corlio, with many statues made of Marcus would be made in the likeness of the great lawyer and statesman who had a tremendous influence on Marcus' public image. In his personal life, Marcus and his wife Ravena would have a rocky relationship with one another, each decrying the other behind their backs and carrying on other affairs. Marcus would have two children with Ravena, a boy and a girl named Marcus Aelius Verus after his biological father and Catilla Aelius Nervea after his half-sister and adopted father. Other children of Marcus would be Lucilla Coemmia, Julius Aelianus, and Antonius Fabirius who would later become an actor.
Marcus' later years as Princeps would be more turbulent than his earlier ones, plague-ravaged Lakia and the surrounding provinces and while Marcus tried attending to it the best he could, he came down with a disease that threatened to kill him. Marcus' state was so poor that he designated that upon his death, the Curia choose one of his relatives to name the new Princeps. However, Marcus recovered and rescinded this statement, greatly upsetting the Curia who had wished to be granted the precedent of naming future emperors.
After recovering from sickness, Marcus further reclined from public ruling and set about pondering his succession along with his Kingsmen. Marcus had numerous nephews and grandchildren with whom he had audiences to judge if they had the temperament and mettle to rule. Marcus initially apointed his son Julius Aelianus as his co-emperor in order to elavate Aelianus' own son Julius to the role of heir to the aging emperor. Julius Aelius Verus was a towering figure in Marcus' later years as he had been a popular commander during Alusianus' punitive campaigns across the Rhor. Julius Aelius Verus was also an enormously popular general on his own as he had fought and subjugated the southern Galukian hill tribes and brought two new provinces into the empire. Funnily enough, the name Julius Aelius is not what he was called in his day, his name then would have been Julius Aelius Verus Drassidius, so named for his conquest of Natresh against the Drassids during his own reign. Darius is his name known to us today due to centuries of the mistranslations of Drassidus, giving us its bastardized form today.
Princeps Marcus Aelius Marius died due to illness, suspected to be dropsy, that took him in 799 B.E, he was sixty-two years old and had ruled the empire for seventeen years. Marcus was surrounded by his friends and Quintus Sacreus who would provide additions to the Kratistoria detailing his own personal stories with Marcus which would be found a few decades later and become a philosophical guide for future emperors who would read the words of a diligent, honest, and revered man who strived to live simply and live well.
Sexuality
The relationship between Marcus and his brother in law Quintus has been often wondered about, in correspondence, the two referred to one another as "dearest lover or dearest friend" which can be interpreted as a display of a deep friendship and respect for one another or as a gesture of love and as seen in a romantic relationship. This relationship, in the past, would have been tolerated as relations between men in the past of the Rasenna were even celebrated in some instances. However, by Marcus' day, the expansion of the state had brought new stigmatization of such relationships particularly from newly conquered Areul and Galukia.
Education
Tutored and mentored by the Mykran philosopher Setetus
Employment
Heir apparent to the Rasennan Princepate
Princeps of the Rasennan Princepate
Princeps of the Rasennan Princepate
Accomplishments & Achievements
Victories against the Aleusii
Completion of various civil buildings and the introduction of complex road networks mainly the Via Aelia which connected Rascia to the southern provincial capital of Arnzium.
The Kratistoria, a pillar of Rasennan philosophy.
Completion of various civil buildings and the introduction of complex road networks mainly the Via Aelia which connected Rascia to the southern provincial capital of Arnzium.
The Kratistoria, a pillar of Rasennan philosophy.
Failures & Embarrassments
Multiple instances of infidelity
Sometimes remembered as an often apathetic ruler
Sometimes remembered as an often apathetic ruler
Intellectual Characteristics
Rational
Reflective
Reserved
Reflective
Reserved
Morality & Philosophy
Stoicism
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
To became the perfect idea of what his stoic belief taught him, living one life with honesty, humility and utmost virtue was the only way to a happy life.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Best Friend and brother in law of Quintus Nervus Sacerus
Family Ties
Son of Marcus Aelius Verus and Fausta Cavilla
Half brother of Catilla Aelia
Father of Lucilla Coemmia, Julius Aelianus and Antonius Fabirius
Grandfather of Julius Aelius Darius
Half brother of Catilla Aelia
Father of Lucilla Coemmia, Julius Aelianus and Antonius Fabirius
Grandfather of Julius Aelius Darius
Religious Views
Marcus was a firm believer in the gods but personally differed on his belief in their involvement in the affairs of man. He saw the gods as movers and shapers of the natural order of the universe but very uninvolved in the daily rule of the world. This was Marcus' explanation of the notion of free will which he thought was the driving force of mankind's action in their world.
Social Aptitude
Marcus was seen publicly as a paternal and wise leader, privately he was noted as a jovial, passionate and captivating man. Quintus says that Marcus once told a joke to his friends, he waited for their thoughts on it which they apparently decided to not react to. Marcus then jumped on the table in front of them and retold the joke much louder to see if his dear friends had gone deaf, in Quintus' words he was "as sociable a man with his afflictions as I had ever known and one who could not submit to silence."
Speech
In the Kratistoria, Marcus' language is very plain speaking and simple, he speaks in a dialect that is rustic compared to contemporary literature from authors of his standing. He swears often in the books and at one point waxes on about his questioning of how certain words are profane and some not which he says is odd and a product of human subjectivity. The Emperor then proceeds to continue his long paragraph about how he and all others should be given the right to use language as they see fit to get a message across regardless of vulgarity.
Relationships
Religions
Current Location
Ethnicity
Date of Birth
23rd of Modia
Date of Death
1st of Cavelt
Life
861 B.E
799 B.E
62 years old
Circumstances of Birth
Born the First son of Marcus Aelius Verus and Faustia Cavilla
Circumstances of Death
Died of dropsy at the age of 62
Birthplace
Sarmium, Southern Lakia
Place of Death
Rasca, Lakia
Spouses
Labiena Urbana
(spouse)
Siblings
Catilla Aelia
(Half-Sister)
Children
Current Residence
Rasca
Gender
Male
Eyes
Light Brown
Hair
Curly, Brown
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tan
Height
5'5
Weight
165 lbs
Quotes & Catchphrases
If I were to dip myself into vice, to become a man who knows luxury, comfort and every taste known; I fear I may become little more than a dog. I live true, I may live hard or easy from where ones eyes gaze, but I live honest and I live the best I can for it is all I can do to avoid my gazing into the pit."
Belief/Deity
Manus and the Pantheon of the Rasenna
Aligned Organization
Comments