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Aulus Calpurnius Praetextatus


Sharpie

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Aulus Calpurnius Praetextatus

41 | September 33CE | Senator | Soldier/Politician | Bi | Wanted | Sam Hazeldine

 

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Personality.

Aulus is a man completely at ease with himself. He is a member of the ruling class of the most civilised nation on earth and has the inborn and taught confidence that comes with that. He will defer to those above him socially (and there are few who are) who have the strength of their convictions and personality. Anyone who has a rank that they could not have earned (whether or not they did or came to it by birth) is not someone Aulus would choose to associate with. He does not suffer fools gladly, whatever their rank.

Aulus is strict and demanding of his men (slaves and soldiers both), yet fair, and does not demand anything of his men that he is not, or has not been, prepared to do himself. He knows when to press for absolute perfection and when 'good enough is good enough' - though woe betide the soldier who has not cleaned his weapons or armour off properly. He is fair, not punishing a whole squad for one man's mistake, but is a firm believer in the principle that in the Legions, one mistake can get you and those around you killed. He would rather his men own up to mistakes and learn from them than hide them and make things worse.

He is devout only in the impartial way that Romans are devout: the gods may take an interest in the affairs of men, and may be swayed by sacrifices, but generally they don't bother him and he won't bother them except on occasions when it would be rash and foolhardy not to plead their intervention. Aulus is not, after all is said and done, a rash or foolish individual, but one who is certain of the reality facing him, knows his strengths and is frank about his weaknesses, gathering trustworthy men around him whose own strengths compensate for his particular weaknesses, though it would not be at all correct to describe him as a weak man.

He has a strong, though not overbearing or manipulative, personality. He knows what he wants, has no qualms in specifying it, and will not listen to excuses. Reasonable, well-thought out, well-stated arguments against, yes, but not weak excuses.

He is loyal, to his Emperor and to his men and expects that same loyalty to be returned. Betrayal brings down the very worst punishments because saving oneself at the expense of one's comrades is the ultimate in cowardice (or worse still, selling knowledge and secrets - lives - for money). Trust, once broken, can never be regained, so that Aulus has few close friends and acquaintances - his body-slave, one or two close friends. They are very few in number because he can absolutely trust very few people, as proven by events during the civil war in 62CE.

He picks his subordinate officers with care, choosing men of ability and sense. He was very close to his sister (as close as a boy can be with a girl three years his junior, anyway) and writes to her as often as possible, though his letters are filled more with the details of daily life than with committing descriptions of his current campaigns to writing. He has written of his older campaigns, once the details are no longer so sensitive. They have, perhaps, grown apart a little, but that can be put down to Aulus' focussing on his career (and his sister being taken up with her Vestal duties),  their difference in age, and simple geographical separation and the difficulty of communicating regularly over such distance.

He is straight-talking, though perhaps not quite so plain-dealing as people might suspect, being shrewd and forward-thinking. When angered, he goes quiet and the angrier he is the quieter he gets, the quiet voice accompanied with a piercing glare from blue eyes grown suddenly ice-cold.

 

Appearance

Aulus has a commanding presence, standing at five feet eleven inches. His wavy hair was blond when he was young but darkened as he grew older, settling finally at a shade that can be described as ash-blond, though it can appear a mousy brown in some lights. He has a strong jaw, with a scar across one cheek received from a flying chip of stone in his early youth. Perhaps his most notable feature are his blue eyes, the colour of which most closely resembles the sea - though they can turn an icy blue when Aulus is roused to anger.

When on campaign or fulfilling some military duty, he wears the usual soldier's tunic and armour, with the crested helmet of a senior officer, arming himself with the gladius on his right side and the pugio (or dagger) on the left. He carried himself with an upright bearing and a direct look, knowing his own worth.

On his return to Rome, by long custom, he has to set aside his military garb and replace it with the tunic and toga of a citizen, although he is entitled to the broad purple stripe of a senator.

 

Family

Father:  Tiberius Calpurnius Praetextatus (alive)

Mother: Aurelia Faustina  (alive)

Siblings:

Younger Sister:  Calpurnia Praetextata (Vestal Virgin)

Spouse: Horatia Justina

Children: surviving: Titus Calpurnius Praetextatus (13), Calpurnia Horatia (11)

Extended family:

Other: None

 

History

33CE: Born to Tiberius Calpurnius Praetextatus nd his wife Aurelia Faustina, the eldest child

36CE: Aulus' sister Calpurnia Praetextata is born

45CE: Calpurnia is chosen to become a Vestal Virgin, a great honour for her and for her family

49CE: Aulus puts on the toga virilis, aged 16

51CE: Aulus embarks on his military career as a tribune serving under Quintus Flavius Alexander

60CE: Meets and marries Horatia Justina, the daughter of a senator visiting Greece, where Aulus was based at the time.

61CE: Having completed his ten years' service, Aulus returns to Rome to take up his quaestorship 'in his year' at the age of 28, which is permitted for those in the senatorial class. His son, Titus Calpurnius Praetextatus, is born in Rome.

62CE: Civil war breaks out while Quintus is in the east.  Aulus has to leave Rome quickly and in secret lest he be caught up in the purges of the Senators in March; he goes to join Quintus Flavius Caesar Alexander Augustus in Cappadocia, supporting him in his bid for Emperor, and marches with him on his returns to Rome in August.

63CE Accompanies Quintus to the Rhine frontier where he is involved with the restructuring of the Legions, and later accompanies him on his expedition to Britain. While he is away, his daughter Calpurnia Justina is born in Rome.

64CE: Is among the envoys Quintus Caesar sends to the British tribes

65CE: Remains in Britain for the year (missing on Quintus' Triumph in Rome in February), involved in various campaign and minor skirmishes to take territory for Rome.

Late 68CE/Early 69CE: Runs for election to Praetor, supported by Quintus

70CE/71CE Takes up governorship, as propraetor, of Raetia in Gallia at Caesar's bidding, and is there for three years

74CE Returns to Rome (at Caesar's bidding?) a few months short of his 42nd birthday, after which he will run for election to Consul 'in his year'

 

 

Sharpie | GMT | Discord (#4424)

Edited by Sharpie
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