new guy hours

trial of Statius Albius Oppianicus

iudicium Iunianum date: 74 BCE charge: lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis (poison attempts) defendant: Statius Albius Oppianicus advocate: L. Quinctius tr. pl. 74, pr. 68 (ORF 107.I) prosecutors: P. Cannutius (subscr.) (ORF 114.II) A. Cluentius Habitus (nom. del.)  iudex quaestionis: C. Iunius aed. 75? jurors (thirty-two in all): C. Aelius Paetus Staienus (Staienus [1]) q. 77 (voted C) M’. Aquillius sen. ? M. Atilius Bulbus sen. (voted C) M. Caesonius pr. by 66 L. Cassius Longinus pr. 66 (voted NL) C. Caudinus sen. (voted NL) L. Caulius Mergus sen. (voted NL) Q. Considius sen. (voted NL) Cn. Egnatius sen. (voted C) C. Fidiculanius Falcula sen. (voted C) Ti. Gutta sen. (voted C) Cn. Heiulius? sen. (voted NL) ? C. Herennius sen. (voted C) M. Minucius Basilus sen. (voted C) L. Octavius Balbus, = ? P. Octavius Balbus sen. (voted NL) ? C. Popillius sen. (voted C) P. Popillius sen. (voted C) P. Saturius sen. (voted NL) P. Septimius Scaevola sen. (voted C)

Cic. 1 Ver. 29, 39; 2 Ver. 1.157; 2 Ver. 2.31, 79; Caec. 28, 29; Clu. 66-77, 105; Quint. Inst. 4.5.11; [Asc.] 206, 216, 219, 255, 263St; Schol. Gronov. B 339St; Schol. Pers. 2.19; see also Cic. Brut. 241, 244, 251

Milonia Caesonia (died AD 41) was a Roman empress, the fourth and last wife of the emperor Caligula. The daughter of Caesonius and Vistilia, Caesonia was born toward the beginning of the first century, but the year is not certain. Her birthday was celebrated between 2 June and 4 June. Little is written of Caesonia's life. Suetonius says that when Caligula married her, she was neither beautiful nor young, and was already the mother of three daughters by another man. He describes her as a woman of reckless extravagance and wantonness, whom Caligula nonetheless loved passionately and faithfully. According to Cassius Dio, the two entered into an affair some time before their marriage, either late in AD 39 or early in 40, and that the emperor's choice of a bride was an unpopular one. The satirist Juvenal suggests that Caligula's madness was the result of a love potion administered to him by Caesonia. Caesonia was pregnant at the time of the marriage, and gave birth to a daughter, Julia Drusilla, only one month later (or according to Suetonius, on her wedding day). In the account given by Suetonius, the emperor would parade Caesonia in front of his troops, and sometimes displayed her naked in front of select friends. In an odd demonstration of affection, he would jokingly threaten to have her tortured or killed. On 24 January, AD 41, Caligula was slain by an assassin. As part of the wider conspiracy, Caesonia and her daughter Julia Drusilla were murdered just hours after Caligula's demise. Josephus reports that she died bravely: stricken with grief at her husband's death, she willingly offered her neck to the assassin, telling him to kill her without hesitation. #ancientrome #ancient #rome #coins #romanempire #coin #numis #history #collectors #veryrare #rare #numismatics #caligula #caesar #augustus #roma #spqr https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxu3Xi4FjL8/?igshid=16xul4m6pmunh

achievement unlocked: picked a surname for caes

everyone say hello to caesonius! he's here he's queer he's going to ruin your year 🤍

[picrew]

some fun Caes facts

his older brother sold him to House Nivaeum to pay off a gambling debt. Caes was 8. his brother has since tragically passed away (Caes had nothing to do with that, of course. his brother was a gambler and a cheat, and his lifestyle was going to catch up to him sooner or later)

his name (Caesonius) comes from caesius meaning blue-grey. he's named for the distinctive pale color of his eyes

he's a classically-trained mage, taught by Magister Aneleus himself. his areas of expertise are subterfuge/spying (mind sliver, message, detect thoughts, invisibility, detect magic, find familiar) and brute force damage (booming blade, eldritch blast, chromatic orb, steel wind strike, disintegrate). Why bother training a spy and an attack dog when you could get both for the price of one?

he keeps a ceremonial dagger on his person as the material component for his weapon-based spell attacks. nothing like dealing 6d10 force damage for stabbing a guy with a tiny knife

he has a small snake familiar named Nizar who can most often be found up his sleeves. never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes or a little help recalling information

he does not have (and never has) any particular loyalty to House Nivaeum, and their ignoble and inglorious end is a constant source of satisfaction

barbarian, paladin, wizard for minah, dai and caes!

ty my dear!! // d&d character class asks

barbarian: What makes your muse angry? How do they manage their anger? Has their rage ever led them to destroy something important?

MINAH — minah is generally easygoing and doesn't get angry a lot, but when she does it's usually personal. her anger is kind of insular and specific; she feels it on behalf of herself and a few people who are important to her but it doesn't really extend beyond that. on the occasion that she does get properly angry, she tends to be direct and sharp—she's not good at holding back. while anger specifically hasn't driven her to destroy anything important, she's destroyed important things and felt rage among the other emotions that led to that destruction. DAI — dai mostly gets angry about big and external stuff—how people treat each other, injustices in the world, how people treat themselves. he's pretty slow to actually reach full-blown rage (he'll simmer in irritation and annoyance for ages) and when he feels on that cusp he does his best to step away for at least a little bit and do some meditation or training or prayer, whatever he needs to recenter himself. it's on those rare occasions where he can't get away, or where the thing he's angry about is really close to home, that he snaps. I think he might consider his fight with izzy and their fallout to be something destroyed by anger, but he's self-aware enough to know it's more complicated than just that. CAES — sooooo much, and boy can he hold a grudge. he's got an itemized list of slights, abuses and mistreatment living rent free in his mind and he does not forgive or forget. he kind of lives his life operating at a constant low grade fury, which he channels into plotting the slow and specific downfall of his enemies. enrichment for his enclosure etc etc. his rage has led him to destroy plenty, but never anything that important to him. (he felt a tiny bit bad for Anaea's death, but it was a necessary loss to get things moving along. and she was never going to survive his plans anyway)

paladin: What does your muse fight for? What tenets or oaths drive them? Have they ever had to break a vow, and if they have, why?

MINAH — mostly she fights to survive, but somewhere deep deep down at the core of her, the one thing that's truly keeping her from abandoning the wardens and the blight, she fights to make up for a promise she broke. at the time it seemed like the only option, and she stands by that decision, but sometimes she wonders what might have happened if she'd made a different choice. it's not repentance exactly, but it's the closest thing to an oath she's got. that said, she still views survival as the greatest driving force in her life DAI — his paladin tenets are valor, discernment, resolve and character—he fights to protect people who can't protect themselves and to fix what's been broken. he's incredibly driven by the desire to help and heal (and save) whatever he can. on the flip side he's absolutely willing to take up the sword or the shield and excise what can't be saved and must be stopped. I don't think he's broken a vow yet? he takes his word incredibly seriously CAES — he fights for himself. he hasn't exactly got oaths or tenets but his own power and protection and standing are the things that drive him. technically he's broken any vow he made to House Nivaeum, but since they bought and owned him he considers any promises made to be null and void.

wizard: What is your muse like as a student? Do they have the patience for studying? What do they like learning about? What do they most want to know?

MINAH — she's a decent student. she gets impatient when it's stuff she doesn't care about, but she's got the curiosity and study habits to pick up the stuff she is interested in pretty quickly. she likes learning new crafts, languages, gossip, and secrets. she most wants to know [redacted]. DAI — he's such a teacher's pet. he's also honestly curious and likes learning and has good study habits but he's just incapable of Not being a teacher's pet. he's honestly gotten really into learning about the places he's visiting—y'know, learning to let go of expectation and just enjoy the experience. he'd love to know how to heal/fix the void. CAES — he's a decent student—very driven to learn what interests (or empowers) him, less interested in the other faff. he has immense patience, and he applies it to his studies as much as anything else. he likes learning magic, and also history and politics—he likes the networks and the webs they produce. he'd like to know all his enemies secrets so he can use them against people.

okay so thinking about this and, after some consideration:

Branwen: incidentally bloody. she tends toward a brawling sort of bloodiness, chaotic and messy and over relatively quickly. equal chances it's her own or belongs to someone else

Caesonius: rarely bloody, but when he is he makes a beautiful mess of whatever's bleeding. these days it's rarely himself

Daichi: bloody surprisingly often. pretty equally his blood and also other people's blood (his in a "I accidentally ended up tanking for this encounter" kind of way and someone else's in a "healers have the bloodiest hands" sort of way). he is remarkably (unsettlingly?) chill about it

Eniko: is also bloody surprisingly often, though it's rarely his own. one can't forget the years of blood on his hands, literal or metaphorical. as for his own hurts, he's more of a bruiser — as with many things, he keeps his hurts under his skin

Kiyu: I simply cannot imagine kiyu bloody. he's too ephemeral for it; the mortal world doesn't touch him that closely. (sometimes he scrapes up his knees or knuckles crawling around those ruins, but it's barely anything)

Lira: very bloody. it's everywhere, knuckles and mouth and getting in her eyes. she just bleeds and bleeds and bleeds, and scrubs it out til the stains are pink, and bleeds again. the only way she knows its hers is that darkspawn bleed black, and she's red all over.

Minah: definitely a little bloody — it's part of warden life, unfortunately. she's bloodiest in her nightmares, though. there's always so much of it, and it's never her own.

Vesper: incidentally bloody. it's her own, mostly — she bleeds for herself and her companions and the people under her protection. she also sometimes is standing too close to whoever Bull is slicing in half, and the splatter is atrocious.

photo album, mixtape, psyche, shooting star for minah, vesper, & caes!

tyyyyy!! // oc ask meme

photo album: describe one of your OCs’ favorite memories.

MINAH — answered! VESPER — sitting in solas' study talking about some semi-obscure magical theory and being delighted by the way solas approached it from his (assumed) hedgemage perspective and how that reframing added something she'd missed in her circle education. dorian, overhearing them, had leaned over the banister from the library above and was so insistent on getting in on the discussion that he was halfway through a lecture before solas asked if perhaps he'd care to join them for tea and scones, or if he was too loathe to abandon his pulpit. they'd been at it so late that leliana had dinner sent over, and vesper had just been satisfied and thrilled and grateful, which were novel and delightful things to feel in the middle of the war and the chaos. CAES — also answered!

mixtape: 5 songs that describe your OC(s) or songs they themselves would like.

MINAH — 1. bad blood - bastille (all this bad blood here / won't you let it dry? / it's been cold for years / won't you let it lie?) 2. part of me - noah kahan (even through the pain, I can't recall your face / just the ache of knowing everything was gonna change / I got so close to love with you, my dear / but I don't miss you / I miss the way you made me feel) 3. final girl - chvrches (telling all the tales took time that I just do not have / sifting further through the wreckage, I think you just have to laugh) 4. you can run - adam jones (truth gonna come out, someday / it's gonna wipe that smile right off your face) 5. liar - the arcadian wild (my life’s become this grand game of deception / my mind’s ignored all my heart’s good intentions) VESPER — 1. dear doubt - michael schulte (dear doubt, you wore out a path to my door / and it's needless to say that there's no way that I want you here) 2. make them gold - chvrches (we are made up of our longest days / we are falling but not alone / we will take the best parts of ourselves / and make them gold) 3. son - sleeping at last (so I will try, try, try to breathe / 'til it turns to muscle memory / I'm only steady on my knees / but one day, I'll stand on my own two feet) 4. woodblock - joe gil (I don't have to take my burdens home / I don't have to do this on my own) 5. be yourself - harrison storm (take on the colors on / and fire fight the winter storms) CAES — 1. everybody wants to rule the world - tears for fears (all for freedom and for pleasure / nothing ever lasts forever / everybody wants to rule the world) 2. forces of the unseen - cloud cult (I'm gonna make it through, you'll see / I swear I'll prove you wrong / you haven't seen the last of me / I am way too strong) 3. culling of the fold - the decemberists (listen up boy / and listen up girl / it's a shallow little trench / and it's giving off a stench / it's a shallow little world) 4. heat stroke - black math (you're breathin' hard but I still got a hundred miles / untouchable I live for this / I breathe for this / I bleed for this) 5. my songs know what you did in the dark - fall out boy (be careful making wishes in the dark / can't be sure when they've hit their mark / and besides in the mean-meantime I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart)

psyche: what’s their head space like? do they have any mental illnesses? how do they process difficult or emotional situations? what are their coping mechanisms?

MINAH — it... could be worse? like it's not great up there but she's perfectly functional. she just ignores some stuff (or obsesses over it too much, or swings wildly between the two). processing emotions is not really part of her skill set, so most of her coping mechanisms are rooted in avoidance, distraction, and deflection all piled together into a wobbly card tower of maladaptive techniques. but honestly, she's fine. VESPER — her headspace is mostly just bleak. kind of a constant churn of what-if and not-again. she's definitely got a bit of an undiagnosed anxiety thing going on, but she copes with it pretty well all things considered. her emotional processing works overtime to keep up with how much thinking she does all the damn time, and her coping mechanisms tend to be Working Even More. one of the upsides of the inquisition is that she finally gets a proper support network. CAES — pristine. you've never met anyone better at compartmentalizing. he's a horrible little man who doesn't know how to let go of a grudge but he will have it sorted by date, location, responsible parties, and weather at the time. I'm not sure he "processes" his emotions but he sure does Do Something About Them (exact revenge, be petty, plot people's downfalls, etc.)

shooting star: if your OC(s) could have one wish what would it be?

MINAH — she doesn't know. she's so torn about what she wants most that it would be almost impossible for her to choose just one thing to wish for. maybe to go back and do it all over again. maybe just to have all the facts, so at least she'd know what went wrong. VESPER — part of her would feel obligated to wish for things for other people—a stop to the fighting, peace in southern thedas, that sort of thing. I think probably in actually she'd wish for happiness, or the chance to talk to solas again—to try to change his mind, or just to understand why he's so determined to continue down this path. CAES — power, probably. the sort of power you can dangle over people's heads; the sort of power that works quiet and in secret and bends the world to your will. it's why he wanted so badly to join the magisterium—it may be cutthroat and bloody and twisted, but it's also the center of everything and a great place to be to get shit done.

☣❣☹ and ♥ for Caesonius, Minah, and Narayani?

thanks! // horrific headcanons

☣ Would they kill someone close to them if they had to?

CAES — not only would he, he has! or he's arranged situations that have led to the death of someone close to him, anyway—he'd rather not get his hands dirty if he can help it. he did like anaea nivaeum (relatively, as much as he liked any of house nivaeum), but she was in the way and had to go MINAH — if it were a sort of zombie apocalypse there's-no-saving-them kind of choice, yes, or if there were some kind of major betrayal from someone she had trusted. but the extenuating circumstances would have to be especially extenuating—I don't know that she's capable of actually literally stabbing a friend in the back NARAYANI — if she had to, yes.

❣ If someone had the power to bring them back after death, would they want them to?

CAES — he's not opposed to it, but he'd want to know that he'd come back unbound/as himself. he's spent all his life clawing his way up the social ladder so no one can have power over him, and he wouldn't exchange freedom for anything—even another chance at life MINAH — given the party's experience so far with things continuing after death (looking at you Desvaux. also the darkspawn) she'd be a little leery of being brought back from the dead. that said, she wouldn't turn down a revivify if the situation called for it (narratively no, mechanically yes I guess?) NARAYANI — yes. she wouldn't rest easily regardless, and she'd gladly take the chance to come back

☹ Name one person they would kill for.

CAES — himself MINAH — tbh the party at this point. maybe not quite as quickly as rhydian, but if the situation called for it, she'd be there NARAYANI — nobody, both in the sense that there's no one she would kill for and also in the sense that no one need ask for her to kill

♥ Have they ever acted out of heartlessness?

CAES — yeah, definitely. he's met cruelty with cruelty before and he'd do it again MINAH — no. her heart is always in everything she does—maybe too much, sometimes. it's a stupid and thoughtless organ and she's made choices with it that she should have made with her brain instead NARAYANI — no. pragmatism and anger and pride, sure, but never heartlessness.

#squad for all your thedas kids! photo album, parachute, contact for caes, dai and minah!

thanks dear!! // oc ask meme

#squad: who’s friends with who? what are the squad dynamics like?

okay so I tried to hash out the various canon and AU and DADND worldstates and who would conceivably interact with who and that failed so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ on the DADND side: I don't think caes and minah would ever be friends. caes is way too invested in politics and power for minah's comfort and caes has no interest in petty circus thieves unless they're useful to his goals. maybe with some of those nat 20 insights caes would find something interesting (if he could get past her deception), but you know his prodding would only shut her down faster than iggy could rip a guy's throat out. obviously I want this desperately. in a world where both their histories and motivations were laid bare I think they'd be a lot of fun. still not friends! but a lot of fun for the canon thedas girlies: warden!lira and inquisitor!vesper would be 30 y/o wine-drinking friends post-Inquisition when they've both mellowed out a bit. they'd get along marvelously well—both stubborn, both exhausted, both inclined to long nights bitching with possibly the only other person in the world who Gets It. the secret shadowy remains of the inquisition have a contact in the Ferelden court and it's the Hero of Ferelden who stops by vesper's house while cullen is busy with the kids so they can gossip and talk politics. alternate wardens and worldstates: lira and winry amell would not get on well and there would be a lot of clashing opinions but eventual (grudging) respect. lira and kalle tabris would also not get on well but would have a lot of the same opinions, and they'd both be incredibly annoyed by that (probably they should kiss about it). winry and kalle would get along surprisingly well but would disagree on everything. not sure what the alt worldstate inquisitor contingent would be like. rasa gets on with everyone. rosie trevelyan is a two-faced bitch but she gets the job done

photo album: describe one of your OCs’ favorite memories.

CAES — the first time Aneleus turned to him for some public show, the first time he realized there was power in the performance and in being the favorite student—it didn't make the hate or the ridicule or the servitude any better, but the future was suddenly a clear and sharp thing that he could craft with the careful application of performance and perceived duty and a long, slow game of attrition DAI — that incredibly strange night in monrah after the test of strength but before they set out to find asmeda, before the izzy fight and the mirrors and the castle falling out of the sky and the deaths. even the annoyance of scratch and ozy prompting the mothmen to bother him was undercut by the game of it and zaref stepping in. it was just nice. it was a moment where daichi though, oh, I would be okay if it were like this forever. and then, of course, it wasn't. MINAH — coming off stage the first time she performed in a show, the utter wonder of being someone else and being loved for that transformation. the orchestra had toasted her that night and that had been a pleasure too, being plied with food and drink and praise and laughter, but nothing held a candle to the magic of disappearing into someone else's face, even if only for an hour or two.

parachute: who does your OC(s) trust the most? who makes them feel safe? who would they do absolutely anything for?

CAES — I don't think caes trusts anyone but I do think there's a certain comfort with deca and knowing that they both know far too much of each other's secrets (something something mutually assured destruction turned into working towards the same goal). he does truly want her on his side, mostly for her skillset and partially because she's become something familiar. besides that, he hasn't much love or loyalty to share with anyone at all. DAI — at this point he trusts the party the most, and would do anything for them, and feels safer with them around. and his dad, of course. zaref definitely makes him feel the safest, probably, but that's boyfriend privileges. MINAH — alesso is the person she trusts most at the moment. he's also the person who makes her feel safe, along with a couple other long-time members of the orchestra—people she's traveled with and worked with for years. as for who she'd do absolutely anything for? her sister.

contact: how does your OC(s) feel about touch/physical contact? are they affectionate? if so, how do they display affection to others?

CAES — touch has always been something held over him as a sign of ownership and obligation, and he doesn't particularly enjoy it. that said, he doesn't particularly mind it either. he's happy to use any and all tools he has to his advantage, and sometimes that includes getting chummy with someone. he's not super picky, just vaguely irritated. (he isn't affectionate and doesn't display affection to others, except as a means to an end) DAI — he's actually a big fan of physical touch, he's just awkward about it. he's pretty straightforward (verbally) with his affection, but he definitely sprinkles physical affection in there—hugs, clasped shoulders, ruffled hair, other small touches. once he knows he has the go-ahead to be physically affectionate he will be, it just takes a while for him to work up to it MINAH — touch has been part of her line of work these past years (performing, dancing, living in cramped quarters with six to twelve other people, even some of the thievery) and she's pretty at ease with it. she used to be skittish as fuck, but she's grown past that, thankfully. that said, it wouldn't be her number one way of showing affection—she's more about giving people things and keeping an eye out and making herself useful. (I think despite the work she's a little touch starved, and if someone were really properly gentle with her she might have to Take A Moment)

🍊 🍌 🍐 for Caesonius and Minah

thanks! // oc interview questions - fruits & veg

🍊 [ORANGE] Does your OC have a prophecy surrounding them? If they don't, what would it be?

CAES — nope, but he's ripe for some ancient grecian thing about power and destroying enemies. as a character he's really built to be the evidence of past sins come back to haunt and he'd fit that kind of prophesying to a T. less the object of the prophecy and more the doom that brings it to pass MINAH — she also doesn't have a prophecy but if she did it would be some kind of horrible "you can never escape your roots" thing. one of those "no matter how far you run you'll only ever be fulfilling the role you were meant to play" inevitabilities

🍌 [BANANA] Have parts of your OC been lost to time (in-universe)? What do they wish they could lose from themselves?

CAES — not really. sometimes he thinks he wouldn't mind losing everything from before he became a slave, but if he didn't have that to claw himself back to (and beyond) as a reminder of freedom he wouldn't be the same person. he has little enough already; he holds onto everything he can MINAH — yes, absolutely, and she doesn't want to see them again, except for when she does.

🍐 [PEAR] What is their current social standing? If they could change it, would they, and to what?

CAES — he's in the magisterium! the uppermost echelons of society, even if he's barely made it, even if he's a freed slave. he's always wanted that power, that privileged, that standing. the only changes he'd make would be to be even more solidly rooted in his position. he wanted power and he got it and now he wants to keep it by any means necessary MINAH — she's a traveling entertainer, a pickpocket and a thief, conscripted to the wardens to save the punishment of a judge. all things considered she's pretty damn low. it suits her fine—she's emphatically Not A Fan of the noble class and she enjoys her life—but sometimes she does wonder what it would be like to attend a ball as a lady and not a conscripted warden pretending to be a lady's entertainer entourage.

trial of Marcus Caesonius

date: around 74 BCE charge: uncertain (misconduct as juror?) defendant: M. Caesonius pr. by 66

[Asc.] 216St; see also Cic. 1 Ver. 29