The General

Profile

General Caius Quintus Ramulus Scaevola was a general of the cataphracts for the East Roman empire and a Champion of Occasus, the god of war, victory, the hunt, bloodlust, and so on. They’re a fan OC for my friend’s project The Red Rhapsody.

Set 500 years in alternate history East Rome (Byzantium) where magic and gods exist, they were a general who paid the ultimate price for summoning a figure of death… but it was not without regrets.

Appearance

Caius was a tall, tanned, broad-shouldered and muscular Italian Roman human who stood at 6’2″ (1.88m). They had short black hair, distinctively shaped eyebrows, and piercing light brown eyes. In their 30s, they developed subtle wrinkles on the sides of their mouth.

For fashion, they were very reserved in their choices but weren’t afraid to show their wealth. They wore many-layered, well-decorated, but functional and comfortable, tunics and dresses in bright red and white with gold embroidery, but they dressed in more somber colors before their death at 34. They also always wore their favorite pair of gold, diamond-shaped earrings.

When they became a general, they usually wore blue clothing under thickly-layered armor covering their whole body including their face, a red cloak, and equipped weapons such as a mace, spear, and sword.

Personality

Caius was a very discliplined and articulate individual who had an air of confidence to them, and a strong sense of justice. They were ambitious, striving for excellence at all times, but they were also mindful and compassionate in their pursuits, taking care to accomplish a goal with minimal issues. They were also rather resourceful since they knew their own limitations in knowledge. However, they were also prideful, condescending, and quick-tempered, which sometimes led them to make impulsive decisions. They also harbored a violent side to them that remained suppressed until they were on the battlefield. This formed an unspoken gap between them and their comrades, and even civilians, however, out of fear of their rumored wrath.

History

WARNING: Brief mention of CSA.

Caius was born the fifth and only surviving child to the prestigious Ramulus family, a family that earned nobility from their military prowess and a family full of womanly scholars, that originated from West Rome but moved to East Rome for its more lax practices. East Rome was the side of the Roman Empire that valued hands-on work more than praying to the divines; magic was considered a tool more than something sacred, and so it was employed in everyday use by the privileged and in battle. This led to tension between the two sides of the Roman Empire, but they set aside their differences to continue running the nation as smoothly as possible.

They were raised to follow in their father’s footsteps as a soldier, and any deviation was beaten out of them. Their father was a strict, narcissistic man who applied tough love to them, and their mother, while more gentle towards them, was coddling and overbearing due to her previous miscarriages and killed son. It was very clear that their mother resented their father for the tragic death of their elder brother, which kept their father in line from being more severe than he wanted. As a child, they were well-liked and influential but also largely a bully, and they were unfortunately groomed and sexually abused by one of their paternal uncles who practiced pederasty, a taboo practice that had been outlawed for centuries. He was never fully brought to justice and died before anything could be further done, which birthed a desire for justice in Caius, and they believed joining the military could bring them closer to this.

In their early adulthood, they mellowed out and learned kindness, but struggled with their identity and orientation, wondering whether they truly identified as a man or woman, or whether they were just gay (much to the disappointment of their family). By their mid-twenties they came to the conclusion that they felt like neither, and let themself fancy whoever they wanted. This was a difficult concept for others to make sense of, but nonetheless they didn’t care for those that wouldn’t accept them for their “strangeness”. They strayed from their father’s military path to become a cataphract: the independently acting forefront of the emperor’s army. They were originally a loyal and steadfast soldier, and quickly rose the ranks to become a senator, which oversaw a unit of 500 men, acting as substitute for campidoctors when necessary, and serving as a judge in the military court for minor cases. However, at some point they questioned their purpose, and more importantly, the orders being given to their unit lately. The general lording over them was merciful towards their questioning and let them confide in her, but it wasn’t enough, and Caius wanted to further work their way up the chain of command to investigate the emperor’s suspicious orders, and they planned on summoning the divine for this. They wanted to lay out their options first and sought Vituccio, an alchemist who was once an expert on the gods and their summoning rituals, and through his knowledge they summoned Occasus, the god of war to Romans.

Their relationship was rocky at first. Just like any other Roman, Caius idolized this god until learning it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be; it was cold, oppressive and authoritative, and it ultimately believed they wanted to usurp the emperor’s throne. Caius’ first impressions weren’t great, either, but it was also only wanting to see the worst in them. Caius tolerated its behavior at first and tried to remain on its good side even while researching its past in the forbidden archives, until it offended them when it finally alluded to the notion of deposition. Through defying it with an impassioned speech, it realized it was wrong in its judgment. Thus, their relationship was finally growing closer, and more complex. With the added power of a god, they climbed through the ranks to get closer to the emperor, but the emperor had eyes and ears all over the empire, and he was on to their ruse. When the general of Caius’ unit was killed during a mission, the emperor chose them to take over her position instead of honoring the chain of command. While the power of this rank was tempting, they knew its ripple effect set them onto a dangerous path, one of suspicion, disdain and isolation. Occasus had their back now, however, and protected them discreetly. Caius questioned this secrecy, but it convinced them of the consequences of someone discovering they’re its Champion.

Over the years, the ripple effect and their responsibilities grew, leaving them feeling isolated, but Occasus was now by their side to alleviate this loneliness. Their complex relationship deepened, but neither of them were well-versed in expressing their feelings. Still, Occasus remained in the shadows, watching them continue their life with their other lovers when they could. There would be a time in their 30s where they’d finally find the right words to confess their feelings for it, but it rejected them, softly, to remind them of the power imbalances between them. Nonetheless, these two continued to stay by each other’s side, but there was something that it wasn’t telling them. Over time, this nagging feeling soon grew, but they ignored that feeling for the longest time since they wanted to remain close to it, especially when, after an assassination attempt by their own lover Flavius, pushed them to push everyone away for both theirs and their own safety. Their anger for the emperor deepened once they were this isolated, and the thought of revenge struck their mind, and so they hired a mercenary named Romeo to take out someone who’s been on their trail. They actually fell in love with this mercenary, but he was a prickly individual who believed East Rome was doomed, and after their revenge plan was completed he left them. A hollowness in them formed, and they only had Occasus to turn to, but even their relationship began to fall apart as things neared their end.

Caius’ plans were nearing completion, but they’ve been run ragged over the years from their responsibilities and the seemingly never-ending war. Their mind was splitting, and there were rumors they were going insane because of their unpredictable mood swings. The trust grew tenuous between everyone, and then Occasus when they finally disobeyed its very strict command to not reveal their Championhood to the entire battlefield in order to save their comrades. They simply wanted to protect their men, but in doing so, it led to fear and distrust towards them, and the emperor capitalized on this to run them even further ragged. They weren’t going down without a fight, and before Occasus fully turned its back on them as they continued to grow apart, it lent its hand to them just one more time so they could teleport to West Rome’s capital and personally deliver their evidence of the emperor’s crimes to the empress of West Rome.

Occasus didn’t want to wait for the results of their efforts, and simply told them they failed, and it finally revealed to them the true cost of being its Champion— their mind, body and soul. It possessed them and turned them into its puppet to do what it’s done for centuries, tearing battlefields apart into chaos, but this time it held regrets for what it did to Caius. Caius was still there, surprisingly, and their presence in its mind made it feel guilty for what it had done. At times, it relinquished control over their body so they could do as they pleased, not even considering the possibility of them doing something drastic. When the connection between them grew dim, they realized they were dying. Again, they weren’t going down without a fight, and so they took advantage of their situation to plan their final move. During a lull in the battlefield, Occasus’ strength weakened and Caius was able to regain control over their own body again. They used this opportunity to turn their own sword against themself, and plunged it into themself repeatedly until the shared pain expelled Occasus from their body. Thus, they expired triumphantly.

While they may have not lived to see the fruits of their labor, days after the loss of a large chunk of East Rome’s territory, the empress came to the East Rome capital and had the East Rome emperor executed for his crimes and to prevent the war from continuing. He was driven to insanity over the revelation that Caius had bested him even in death.

Trivia

• Scaevola means “left-handed” in Latin, which was a nickname given to them for them favoring their left hand in combat, but in truth they’re ambidextrous.
• They suffered from PTSD and Bipolar II, and while Occasus couldn’t “cure” them of it, it provided them calming relief through magic and meditation.
• Their mother secretly had an affair with a traveling merchant to birth them; they never knew this since she kept the secret to her (or rather, their) grave.