Appius Julius Clemens

[David]

Appius Julius Clemens

39 | January 11th 38 | Plebeian | Bounty & Slave Hunter | Heterosexual | Original | Joaquin Phoenix

 

 

Personality

When not hunting after whoever currently has the highest bounty on their head, Appius is rather laid-back and always up for a good joke or a cup of wine. Making use of rather obscene expressions or telling equally obscene jokes is also not something he's above - one of the many habits he acquired as a gladiator and has since been unable to get rid of. When work calls, however, his demeanor quickly changes - he becomes much more careful, much more en garde and suspicious of his surroundings. He is a very skilled tactician and close combatant and is also rather good in horseback riding and archery, all skills essential to his job that he has picked up and steadily improved over the years. As one might suspect from someone involved in crime, Appius also does not have the most upstanding moral compass or a very strong need to "do the right thing;" Appius can actually be bought pretty easily, if your coffers are full enough.

 

 

 

Appearance

Appius sports a rather muscular physique and is quite tall. Hygiene is of a somewhat secondary importance to him, but to call him a slob would nonetheless be an insult. His face is weathered and wrinkly, his skin tan from countless hours spent chasing after fugitives in the sun. He usually moves rather quickly and silently, which is not intentional, but rather a professional deformity. He is seemingly always lost in thought or analyzing his surroundings. Despite this first impression, should one actually decide to speak to him (and come with good intentions), Appius will momentarily don a smile from ear to ear, which is accompanied by dimples in his cheeks. When in a relaxed setting, he looks more like the approachable neighbourhood goofball than the stern, calculating hunter one would typically expect someone of his profession to look like.

 

Family

Father: Opiter Julius Clemens (dead)

Mother: Istacidia Rebila (dead)

 

History

Appius Julius Clemens has, as his weathered appearance might suggest, been through a lot. Despite what his name might suggest, he is not noble at all and merely a descendant of Julii freedmen, hailing from a dirt-poor Plebeian family. He volunteered to become a gladiator at the earliest opportunity, largely due to the increase to his quality of life that came with being a gladiator; steady meals and good medical care certainly beat starving to death or dying of sickness in some damp and dark hole, as would've probably happened if he hadn't chosen the path of the gladiator for himself, and he wasn't exactly bothered by the newfound attention he got as a gladiator either. The fact he essentially had to become a slave to be able to indulge in this lifestyle didn't really bother him much.

Appius generally does not speak about his life before he had become a gladiator; whether that's because he's genuinelly forgotten over the years or would simply like to forget, not even he himself knows. Due to his socioeconomic status, his childhood was filled with shortcomings and hardships.

He was trained as a retiarius-class gladiator, and as such was armed with a trident and a net, protected only by light armor. Appius quickly grew accustomed to the rigorous training regimen he had to endure as a gladiator and grew to be very proficient with his trident and net.  He fought valiantly in the ludi, willing to do anything it took to perserve and improve his stauts as a gladiator - even kill, both animals and humans. However, Appius found it much more amusing to taunt his opponents and attempt to catch them with his net rather than try and slaughter them with his trident, earning him the nickname of Piscator.

For years, Appius reveled in his successes in the arena. The money, the wine, the women, the fame... What more could a man want? Hell, his sweat was being used as an aphrodisiac! All this fame and attention began to seep into his brain, and little by little, he became more vain and less careful in his battles. In fact, he had become so careless and vain that it took only one loss for his entire Collosseum career to come to an end in the blink of an eye; the injury - a rather nasty cut to the leg - meant he could no longer continue fighting as a gladiator, and as he was rather well-liked by the audience, the organizers of the ludi refrained from making him an easy target for a newcomer or making him a tiger's next meal as well. Instead, Appius' Plebeian status was restored as a parting gift for years of success in the arena.

For a while, Appius lived off his savings. He had managed to save up quite a pretty penny for himself; enough to buy a small domus in the city, even. For years, he  was a rather active member of Rome's social scene, his status as a previous star of the ludi no doubt aiding him in climbing the social ladder bit by bit. The connections he had managed to form during those years would prove to be very useful later when, itching for combat once again, yearning for the good old days, Appius decided to put his training to good use once more and turned his attention to hunting down criminals and runaway slaves for payment.

Due to his ties to Rome's high society, Appius could find out pretty quickly when someone was missing a slave. With his trusty net in hand, and having replaced the trident for a whip, Appius could (and still can) be seen riding out of Rome as soon as the news of an escape come to him. He thoroughly enjoys chasing after the slaves, trapping them, hearing them plead for mercy and then simply tangling them up in his net, loading them up onto his horse and dropping him off at their owner's again, which is always followed by advice to the tune of "Have you considered a collar?" or "Perhaps you should think about branding this one." Appius isn't really in the bounty business for the money; moreso for the thrill, and for the fame he has garnered as a successful-gladiator-gone-bounty-hunter. He has hunted people all around the Empire, and has thus been able to expand his network to nearly every one of it's corners. If there's a city somewhere in the Empire, Appius likely has an informant in it, who helps him sniff out the trails of runaway slaves or the hideouts of the latest up-and-coming criminal.

When it comes to criminals, however, Appius is much more lenient in terms of his pursuit than when it comes to slaves. Criminals - unlike slaves - have money. Enough money, in fact, to bribe him to look the other way, or let them get away with just a slight injury (after all, he has appearances to uphold, and it needs to at least look as if he'd made an effort). What's more, Appius has become entangled in many a form of racketeering, mainly manipulating the ludi as part of the Lupii of Roma. As a former gladiator, he knows the inner workings of the ludi inside and out, and is thus a valuable asset to the association.

Thus, Appius continues to live a rather comfortable life. These days, he makes most of his money manipulating the games, however his main source of pride remains in his former success as a gladiator and his ongoing success as a bounty hunter.

 

 

David | GMT+1 | BurningBridges#7040

@Gothic

Edited April 26, 2022 by David

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