imperial Julia Drusilla Augusta

[Anna]

JULIA DRUSILLA AUGUSTA

34 | JULY 31ST 39 | FEMALE | CAESARINI | AUGUSTA | DEMISEXUAL | BEREN SAAT

Personality.

At first glance, Drusilla comes off as soft spoken and mild mannered, a person who is willing to please those in authority over her. A trait that surely comes from the years of being in exile and locked away from Rome and it's intrigue. It often leads people to take her for a fool. Which they quickly learn, she's anything but. Honey attracts better than vinegar, after all. In truth, she is astute, honest, determined, and passionate in all things. With a clever, intuitive mind and ability to speak convincingly and warmly in order to get the outcome she wants. 

When it comes to the people of Rome, whose welfare she feels has been shared with her due to her marriage and as part of her birthright, she finds herself altruistic; compassionate and selfless. With a drive to better not just the capital city but to have her charity bleed out from Rome and into the outer reaches of the empire. Happy citizens mean a happy empire, in her mind and experiences, and she often voices her opinion either positively or negatively on matters of state that could cause discourse throughout the empire. Something she is not afraid of doing even when it is her husband's plans. 

Motherhood finds her to be a doting, caring mother. Even from the start when she an her husband was in their courting state, she took to his children and the orphaned Tiberius and Claudia as if they were already her own. And to a lesser extent, the twins haunted elder sister, Flavia. Yet, at the same time, she holds them to her heart with a firm, guiding hand. Pushing not only them but her own son to think independently, to have a strong sense of ethics and morality. She also thrives to be the ideal wife, though she knows she fails at times. She is not perfect and would be the first admit that it wasn't love at first site or even first month when it came to her life with her husband. However, it did get there eventually. They are well suited for each other.

Appearance

Neither plain nor extraordinarily beautiful, Drusilla is still of an elegant beauty, who holds herself with much grace and poise. All the while staying with the current trends and even leading a few of them amongst the ladies of the Empire. However, like her ancestress, she prefers the color white for her officially outings as far as her clothing goes. And only wears more vibrant tones in a more relaxed atmosphere. She, since her youth, prefers very little jewelry to be warn, finding too much to be some what garish. Her squarish face is crowned with a glorious mane that, when released from the braids and styles it is put in every morn, falls to her waist in a curtain of soft dark hair. 

Which had darken from the dirty blond she had when she was a toddler. Her eyes are of a hazel color and are expressive of her emotions. She is of average stature for Roman woman, barely touching 4'9", where as her figure is fit but with slight curves and only made more so with the late pregnancy of her son. Age has only started to show its hands on her, laugh lines can be seen in the right light and situation. Like jewelry, make up is only worn when needed and she is a believer and practicer of good hygiene. There are a few blemishes however from scraps and scratches from when she was a child.

Family

Father: Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Deceased 41AD

Mother: Milonia Caesonia, Deceased 41AD

Siblings:

Spouse: Quintus Flavius Caesar Alexander Augustus, Alive, Married early 67AD

Children:

by birth

Drusus Flavius Caesar Alexander {alive} {b. 67}

step-children

Titus Flavius Caesar Alexander {alive} {b. 57} 
Flavia Caesaris {alive} {b. 61}

Tiberius Claudius Caesar {alive} {b. 57} 
Claudia Caesaris {alive} {b. 61}

Extended family: Inlaws

Other: House slaves 

History

Being born the daughter of Caesar should have held its perks in Drusilla's life, but the Parcae had trials that the wished for the young daughter of the man known as Caligula. The first year of her life, which she fails to remember, was lavish as accustomed to her station. However, it was not meant to be. Her father, plotted against for many reasons, had met his untimely death at the sword of Chaerea and the Praetorians that sided with him. And only a few hours later her mother would meet the same by a tribune sent. But the child whose 'brains he knocked out' was not her. A loyal slave having hid the girl during the chaos and bloodshed, only to be revealed as still living once Claudius was secured. 

Who 'kindly' placed her in exile, relocating the toddler outside the city of Rome, with a household chosen by him. Those he knew he could trust with her raising, as well as their loyalty to him. There she would remain. It was as charmed as any gilded cage could be for a little bird. Tutors were sent, lessons and schooling was given. History, philosophy, anything and everything to fill a bored child's head. A bored and lonely little girl who had no playmates her age, and a house full of people who would only warn her to not be like her father or her mother. To be a good girl. To hold her temper. To bite her tongue. There was little news beyond the walls of her little world. Not that she cared at such a young age.

 

But as she grew into a young woman, things changed subtly. Her allowance was raised substantially, her housekeeper could afford better things for the villa when sent out on shopping day. With the heavier purse came letters from Rome. A Lucilla Augusta. No one in Rome, let alone Caesar's wife, had ever taken interest in her and she poured her heart out to this mysterious woman; parchment by parchment. What first was monthly correspondence soon became weekly. Eventually offers came as well. Did she need anything? Did she want anything. 

She never asked for her freedom, she never asked for anything for herself. Just warmer fabrics for the winter, so she and her ladies could suffer the crisp air better, or fresher fruits when they were in season. But the letter that came to her in 56 was not received well. Her guardian had been assassinated, much like her father had. Her friend's son had risen to Caesar. There had been nothing in Claudius' will to pardon her and Darius had ambitions of his own. She had fallen to the wayside, like many political wards had with this Caesar. Letters from the outside world came less frequent.

Her exile continued well into the next round of Emperors. She had written her condolences to Lucilla over the lost of her son. Expressing them wholeheartedly but there were soon secrets she had been given insight on. Her friend was not well. And then one day, she found herself without that connection. Lucilla's last letter to her attached to that of a scribe's who promised to do what they could to continue with word from Rome. But those letters were never as personal as the ones she had received for nearly a decade. And she had been inconsolable. Just as she had been when news came that there was no move to pardon her from her exile. 

In the spring of 63, a day which Drusilla thought would never happen, her lifelong exile had finally been lifted. Finally after living the last three or four years in fear of the unknown. Of the civil war and of being remembered that she existed. In truth, she was surprised that a man had not been dispatched to end her. Even if she had no plan of ever challenging the current regime, the fear still remained. She was of the Julii, after all. But no man came, and she was finally free to move beyond the boundaries of her villa. But she was nearly a pauper, having made the decision to discreetly sell what she could to keep her household in comfort.

She was brought to Rome by a man named Octavius, she did not know it yet but this act set in motion the next chapter of her life. Having became fast friends with her 'savoir's' wife, she soon stepped into Roman society. Finding names from the old letters she kept tucked safely away, becoming friends with those names. She was finally free, and despite her twenty odd years of exile, she flourished socially thanks to her newfound status. A group of women flocking to her side, relatives to the young Valeria.

It was through her new found connections that she would be pushed into the sights of the emperor. They were married in January, and she quickly found herself a mother to be, at least in the traditional sense. Quintus had children already, along with a ward. She would learn from them the ways of parenthood as the months went by waiting for her son to be born. But the year of 67 was not an easy one on the family, the great matriarch of her husband's family suffered with bouts of illness almost from the start of the year, passing merely a month or so before she was to deliver. Drusus arrived in the prime of Autumn, with healthy lungs and robust constitution, heralding new joy into an otherwise grieving family. 

By summer of the next year, she had taken under her wing many charitable endeavors. Filling her free time with wholesome work. She had a dream, after all, had it since her exile was lifted from her shoulders. First it began by testing the waters, to see if the people would be accepting of her endeavors. Temples, other historical buildings and their upkeep and renovations came first. Eventually organizing relief efforts for natural disasters that had struck the empire after her marriage to Quintus. At the dawn of their sixth year of marriage and her being Augusta she began another project closer to her heart. Seeking out old uninhabited villas, she began planning out orphanages and schools for children who had lost parents in both the aftermath of the civil war and those misplaced by the flood of 70 and the eruption of 72.

 

 

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