Julius Valerius
Roman Cast of Characters / Ventrue / London
- Roman Times
Appearance: Julius is twenty years old and very good physical condition. He is lithe, but muscular and tall for a Roman. His dark hair is worn cropped short, he is clean shaven and very tan where he isn't covered with armor. He is an attractive young man with host of interesting new scars from the most recent round of Pictish Wars.
Background: Julius is the eldest progeny of House Valerius and son of Senator Tiburtius Quintus. He was raised in Rome, where he was the leader of his generation's wild young men. Until his sixteenth birthday he lead the comfortable existence of young man of noble birth, after it, he chose to follow in his father's footsteps and join the legions. His father's proudest moment was his son's induction into the his old brotherhood, the Legio Nona Hispana (Ninth Spanish Legion, stationed at Eboracum (York). As a noble youth on the fast track of promotion, he quickly rose in the ranks of the Ninth during Septimius Severus's three year war with the Picts. As of the reign of Caracalla, he rises in rank to the position of Broad Band Tribune in service to the Legatus Ulpius Marcellus Minor. After the assassination of his father in the purges of Caracalla, he assumes his father's office as a junior senator with the approval of the other Patrician families of Rome.
Personality: Originally, Julius was the spoiled and arrogant young son of a Roman patrician senator. Though a wild child, he received an excellent education and possesses a bright mind. Unfortunately, he has ever lain in the shadow of his father and his ambition has always been to prove his worth to his father. Thus upon his majority, he chose to set aside his undisciplined youth and embrace the ambitions of adulthood by joining his father's old legion. His dream of being on the fast track to the senate and perhaps a consulship were shattered by the Caledonian Wars of Septimius Severus. During the war beyond the Wall of Hadrian, he came see the horrors of armed conflict, the virtues of camaraderie, and the necessity of responsibility. When the Ninth Legion finally returned to Eboracum, he was a different person, beloved of his troops, respected by his fellow officers and viewed as the best of the next generation by his superiors.
Current Events: Julius has recently been given a field promotion to Centurion upon the death of his predecessor at the hands the Picts. The latest Pict invasion has spurred the Ninth Legion to send a Century into Caledonia to restore the honor of the legions. To assure their victory, they carry the venerable Eagle of the Ninth into battle against barbarians of Caledonia.
The mission was an unmitigated disaster: The century was decimated in an ambush, and the Eagle was lost. A bare handful of survivors returned barely in time to see the legion destroyed by a Pictish army that had no right to exist. Somehow, Julius found himself in charge of the Empress's retreat back to Rome, promoted to the head of her bodyguard.
In Rome, he tried to help the Empress negotiate her husband's succession. Her two sons were radically divided on issues of policy, and nearly matched one another in ambition. However, the Empress's passion and skill were devoted to a different cause: She burned to free her husband's from the sorcery of the ancient Pictish sorcerer, Cathbad. It was for this that Julius and a small band of companions left Rome on a covert mission through Greece, and into Transylvania, the Land Beyond the Forest.
And Julius Valerius could remember none of this.
- Valerius, child of the Empire
Julius Valerius awoke in a Mithraeum. It was the wrong Mithraeum. It smelled wrong, it was too small, and there was no one to greet the newly inducted initiates. There were too few of them: Three legionaries (one inexplicably retired), an equitae, and a Brithonic Priestess who happened to be the sister of one of the legionaries. There was a battle going on out side, and Valerius and his companions were forced to flee along with the inadequate garrison of some Romanian outpost he had never heard of.
A year was gone, and all that Valerius had to show for it was a journal, written in his own hand, that read more like an extremely dull epic than a personal memoir. As an explanation, it was thorough and pedantic. It explained the events of the last year. Julius was delighted to discover that he had been promoted not once, but several times, and now held a position of influence in Rome itself. Apparently, he and his companions had been chosen to serve the will of Mithras by playing host to spirits. But the spirit neglected some extremely important details.
Details like their interaction with Vampires. Many times over the next centuries, these details nearly killed Valerius. Marius, Tatius and Boudica frenzied, destroying the remains of the garrison. Along with Brutus Pontius, Julius made his way back to Rome. They even accidentally stumbled across the secret the Empress wanted: the identity of a cult of immortals, who could give her the time she needed to match Cathbad and free her husband.
As Mithras's voice in Rome, Julius prospered. His sire's reputation ensured him unprecedented power and more room to maneuver than any neonate had a right to expect. His own natural affinities and talents stood him in good stead when faced with Vampires centuries his elder. But the actions of the possessing spirit continually came back to haunt him. Ghede was probably the worst. The Setite warrior was the only one who ever defeated Valerius with a sword, but he did so more than once. Other events came out of no-where, shattering his intricately laid plots like so much porcelain. Every time, he could trace the source of the disruption, the unexplained enemy, back to the actions of the spirit during the year he lost. When Mithras lost interest in Rome and sank into torpor, Valerius had no support.
With each event, Julius fell further into a black paranoia. Eventually, he was so crippled by his fears that he refused to show his face to any but a bare handful of trusted, blood-bound and dominated retainers. The Vampires of Rome mocked him, then forgot him. Still, he maneuvered in the shadows.
When Mithras awoke, Julius Valerius was recalled to England. For a time, fighting and scheming at his sire's side, he forgot his black moods and the demons that lurked in the shadows. He was even re-united with his old companion, Brutus, now using the name Camden. But it couldn't last. When Camden was betrayed by his clanmates and assassinated, Valerius was Mithras's hand in striking them down. When that task was done, Valerius sank deeper into his own paranoia than ever before. When the treacherous Duke of Amber made his ham-handed grab for power, Valerius obeyed his sire's command and took the reins of power. Unable to expose himself to the world, he created a pawn, re-crafting a forgotten grandchilde in his own image, and convincing the world that Walhhere was the only Valerius, and Seneschal of London.
Walhhere was a capable soldier and an adequate Seneschal, but could not cope with the renewed boldness of Mithras's enemies. Unwilling to expose himself to unknown dangers, Julius encouraged his proxy to make alliances with the Tremere and others to ensure the safety of Mithras's domain. In his funk, Julius never realized how much Mithras despised the warlocks, and bore Mithras's displeasure badly when the ancient returned. The last thing he did was to ensure his own anonymity by convincing the Ventrue of London that his treacherous childe and successor, Anne Bowsely, was a diablerist, and the childe of Walhere.
Without the support of his sire to counter his paranoia, Julius Valerius hid himself away and sank into torpor, leaving his proxy, known as Valerius, to ride out the consequences. Lady Anne removed the pretender under the cover of World War I. Decades later, Mithras's agents moved Julius's torpid body. He awoke under assault from hordes of Lupines - but someone had thoughtfully provided him with silver blades. His native skill and instincts took over, and Valerius revelled in the carnage and freedom to act as he had not done in centuries. When it was over, Lupine corpses lay in mountains around him. The tide of bloodlust passed, and he nearly succumbed to his wounds. He never noticed the approach of the Assamite neonate, Montgomery Coven.
