The Powers That Be (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
powersthatbe) wrote2016-05-09 01:06 pm
powersthatbe) wrote2016-05-09 01:06 pmRoman Holiday Plot Important Infiltrator Information.
Please do not read these comments unless invited to by someone with a plot role.
powersthatbe) wrote2016-05-09 01:06 pm
THE CASSIUS FAMILY.
Daughter: Sansa.
Mother: Lin (Familiar Face).
Expected Activity: regular activity for each is fine, since it's spread across all three family members.
Social Status: Patrician (aristocracy).
Information: A once-proud branch of an old and important Roman family, Marcus (is that what we were going with?) Cassius and family have fallen on hard times in recent years. A repeal of taxes on food imports has lead to much harsher competition in the family business, and a ban on public officials sponsoring public entertainment cut into their client base at the same time. Forced to begin selling off slaves, properties, and even ships to keep their fortunes afloat, the rustic vacation villa is the smallest of their homes, and the last remaining - after all, running coastal importation of exotic foods can be run through a resort town more easily than anywhere else. But while the business keeps the family in an appearance of luxury, debts are mounting.
A rich patron or investor is desperately needed, or a good marriage, but a look at the ledgers might send them running. Therefore, for the summer vacation season, the Cassius family has one last desperate chance: live large, act confident, keep their fortunes and lack of liquid cash secret, and show off so that suitors or investors are impressed enough to come to them.
Exclusive Skill: Fashion Genius. The ability to use less expensive, used, or seasons-old clothing and jewelry in such a way that it looks hip, modern, trend-setting, and expensive, making observers mis-estimate the wearer's financial worth.
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Well, surely nothing bad could come of something like that on a Roman mother desperately trying to cling to her status of wealth's mind. Nope, none at all.
Also, I suspect when she isn't under so much social-economical stress, she would be a true model of trends and claim any cheaply produced but expensive-looking new fabric or accessory would be THE NEXT BIG THING and you'll all be left behind if you don't get in on this right now.
Re: THE CASSIUS FAMILY.
He's going to be a fair bit pickier on the husband front than he probably should be, but he won't let his (only?) child be trapped in some loveless marriage with
Joffreywhatever family has the biggest coin purse.I'm not sure how happy of a marriage the parents is, but he's always at least tried to keep his family happy.
SENATOR SPURIUS
Expected Activity: Skill Activity.
Social Status: Senator (high aristocracy).
Information: Spurius is more of a con man than a politician, in it for his own amusement and fortune, leeching funds, gifts, and entertainments off of everyone he encounters. His goal in any conversation, any venture or opportunity, should always boil down to what's in it for me - subtly, if possible, but now and then he doesn't mind being brazen. Whatever the cost to others, he never foots the bill if he can help it, never commits, defaults on every obligation he can, and enjoys himself immensely. As a Senator, he can act as a power broken for others, cutting deals, arranging votes, providing legal advice - but if he does so, it's because he's getting something even better out of it.
Exclusive Skill: Conversational Deflection. When acting as a middleman, he has the ability to make the most outrageous requirements, costs, or demands sound like the insistence of the other side in a negotiation - as long as the two sides never meet without him being present.
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THE CURSED LOVERS
Expected Activity: Skill Activity.
Social Status: Patrician (petty nobility) & Plebeian(common).
Information: A pair of young nobles who first met years ago on these same Neapolitan beaches, ill fortune has plagued their courtship ever since. Once both wealthy Plebeian families, Junia's has been named a patrician family for their contributions to the Emperor, all but requiring her to marry up, to another member of her new class. Phillip's attempts to win fame or impress either her family or the Empire have all gone awry in comedic accidents, and his father has now ordered him to cease his attempts - and patria potestas, obedience to one's father, is the law. But no marriage has yet been arranged for either, so for a brief window, hope may remain...
Exclusive Skill: Paramour's Pride. While in the sight of one's beloved, the ability to never give up hope, never lose determination, no matter the odds or the nature of failure, shame, despair, or disgrace.
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I am so amused that Phillip failed in comedic fashion- at least one of these incidents needs to have involved corgis/dogs.Re: THE CURSED LOVERS
WIDOW & WAIF
The Child: Chie.
Expected Activity: Skill Activity.
Social Status: Patrician (aristocracy).
Information: The two surviving members of gens Aemilius (or in the feminine form, Aemilia), are a mother and daughter who could not be more different. Women who have exited their first marriage and inherited property have a power in society far superior to other women, and the widow is an expert in exercising the nuances of those privileges, jealous of her prerogatives and looking to ensure a secure, comfortable life for her family.
Her daughter is carefree, disrespectful, mindless of the niceties of society, and constantly threatening the good name of the family and her own marriageability prospects. Evasive, the daughter usually avoids her mother's uncanny skill at making ehr behave responsibly by simply not being there.
Exclusive Skill (Widow): Widow's Wiles. The ability to play upon the pride of a social superior so that they treat you according to the social expectations of their reputation.
Exclusive Skill (Child): Enfant Terrible. No matter the social situation, you automatically know the inappropriate thing to say to bring an awkward silence crashing down, or an uncomfortable truth popping out.
Re: WIDOW & WAIF
(She now spends all her time with the gladiators and the charioteers. One charioteer in particular. Also, she may have cut her hair so I HOPE YOU HAVE A WIG, MOM.)
P.S. She and the Cassius daughter are now BOSOM FRIENDS.
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Genevieve is going to be Gratia Aemilia Pulvilla, the wise widow who respects her daughter's independence and all but darling please do not do the stab I'm sure your friends are delightful but be cAREFUL. If anything happens to you there will be much suffering. Mostly her own, Gratia is a softie.
She and her daughter are making the best of their one last moment of relaxation before the important suffering of normal people life resumes.
SLAVE SIBLINGS.
Priest's Slave: Yosuke.
Priest: Ambrose.
Senator: ???
Expected Activity: Regular Activity.
Social Status: Slaves.
Information: Siblings, sold into slavery at a young age to cover their parents' debts, these two have wound up on opposing corners of a social squabble. Cassia, as a gladiatrix, is a celebrity, with access to money, luxury, comfort, and education - in many social situations, she's on nearly equal terms with members of any class. While Cassia tours with a retinue from her master's household, the master himself generally remains in Rome.
The priest's slave, much more humble and domestic in his means, his master's social secretary, would see Ambrosius' star ascend. This agenda is stymied by every nobleman who would privilege urban over rural and who takes the effort to show up rustic efforts at class and sophistication - and Cassia's master, puppet-mastering from afar, is the foremost obstacle to the ambitions this slave holds for his master.
Despite being siblings, these two and their agenda find themselves in opposition, without the knowledge or direct involvement of their masters being necessary. And advancement in one household's position is likeliest to come at the expense of the other...
Exclusive Skill: Imposing Presence. The ability to be taken seriously and hold a crowd's attention despite any social circumstances. This does not imply good treatment or agreement - only fixed and continued attention.
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Re: SLAVE SIBLINGS.
Re: SLAVE SIBLINGS.
goatsbirds for the state.GOAL: reading the auspices for the Ludi Piscatorii festival. He wants announce how the fish fry will go. So much.
Re: SLAVE SIBLINGS.
Like, potential SUCCESS?!
Re: SLAVE SIBLINGS.
Re: SLAVE SIBLINGS.
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