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This week, to coincide with the recent release of "GURPS
Imperial Rome, Second Edition", our first character is a
Roman official, one of several authentic historical
characters to come.
Aurelius Fortunatus; Agens in Rebus on private crusade of
revenge
(c) copyright 2000 Volker Bach
Total Points: 148.5 Points
Age 37; 5'10"; 160 pounds; a broad-shouldered, heavy-set man
with reddish-brown hair, grey eyes and a scar over his left
cheek - once in fine warrior trim, but now going slightly to
seed.
ST 12 [20] - thrust 1d-1, swing 1d+2, fatigue 10
DX 11 [10] - basic speed 5.25, move 5, dodge 5
parry
(shortsword) 6, block (shield) 6*#
IQ 12 [20]
HT 10 [-] - hit points 12
WL 12 [-]
*includes -2 encumbrance penalty
#includes shield PD, but not PD from armour
ADVANTAGES: Administrative Rank 5 (Curiosus of the Province)
[25]; Legal Enforcement Powers [15];
Literacy [5]; Patron (Master of the Offices, 6-)
[13]; Status 3* [5]; Wealth (Very Wealthy)
[30].
*one level free from both Administrative Rank
and Wealth
DISADVANTAGES: Bully [-10]; Duty (to service, 12-,
rarely hazardous) [-5]; Intolerance (Aristocracy)
[-5]; Reputation -2 (nasty snoop, to the upper
classes) [-5]; Sense of Duty (the Empire)
[-10].
QUIRKS: Puts great store in manly Roman virtues; Uses
military slang; Uncomfortable around aristocrats; Usually
armed; Tries not to bully lower-class people.
[-5]
SKILLS: Administration-13 [4]; Bard-11 [1];
Bow-10 [2]; Brawling-12 [2]; Broadsword-12
[4]; Cryptography-10 [1]; First Aid-12
[1]; Intelligence Analysis-11 [2];
Interrogation-13 [4]; Intimidation-11 [1];
Knife-11 [1]; Law-11 [2]; Orienteering-12
[2]; Politics-12 [2]; Riding (Horse)-12
[4]; Savoir Faire-11* [0]; Shield-11
[1]; Shortsword-10** [0]; Spear-11
[2]; Strategy-10 [1]; Swimming-10
[.5]; Tactics-10 [1]; Teamster-10***
[0].
*free from Status
**default from Broadsword
***default from Riding
LANGUAGES: Latin (Native)-12 [0]; Greek-11
[1]; Aramaic-10 [1]; Germanic (Gothic)-10
[.5]; Koptic-9 [.5].
MANOEUVERS: Mounted Attack (Broadsword)-10 [2];
Horse Archery-8 [2].
EQUIPMENT
Aurelius Fortunatus usually wears a richly embroidered
tunic, a Pannonian fur hat and a light cloak in the military
fashion. Suspended from a baldric he carries a military
broadsword (1d imp, 1d+3 cut) in a finely decorated
scabbard. Wax tablets, money and his seal of office are
always on hand. When going into battle, he will wear his
accustomed military gear - ridge helmet (PD 3, DR 4 to top
and back of head), scale corselet (PD 3, DR 4 to torso and
abdomen), greaves (PD 4, DR 4 to lower legs) and a cavalry
shield (PD 3). The total will put him at medium encumbrance.
BIOGRAPHY
Aurelius Fortunatus was born to a Roman citizen smallholder
living near Oescus in Moesia. He spent most of his childhood
on his father's farm, working the land and struggling to
withstand the encroachments of wealthy landlords. Bright,
physically well-developed and ambitious, he came to the
attention of his paternal uncle, a military officer in the
course of a meteoric career of the kind so common in the
third century. He secured the youth a proper education and a
place on the rolls of Diocletian's new paramilitary corps of
messenger-troubleshooters, the /agentes in rebus/.
Young Fortunatus enjoyed his new life immensely. Always a
physically active man, he thrived on the challenges of
weapon training and horsemanship, and the demands of
administrative duties hardly taxed his mental faculties.
Soon going out on his first errands, he proudly showed off
his soldierly finery, descending on way-stations with
shouted demands for food, wine and fresh horses. But most of
all he enjoyed the awe and fear he inspired.
An errand to his home town Oescus came as the final
eye-opener; the decurions and landlords who had pushed his
father around, their children who had looked down their
noses at him, the officials who had treated him with
peremptory demands... all of them bowed and scraped before
him. Fortunatus had amassed enough hatred of the high and
mighty to find immense pleasure in his authority over them.
Indeed, when Fortunatus heard that one of them had cheated
his father out of a piece of pasture he contrived a treason
charge and had the man dispossessed of all his lands. The
ease with which he could pull it off surprised even himself.
Fortunatus served his term with distinction, making the
imperial voice heard in the provinces and pushing people
around left and right. In due time was promoted to
/curiosus/ (overseer of the public post in a given
province), in which position he had even greater power to
intimidate the aristocrats and dig out their nasty little
secrets. He reports what he sees as a threat to the empire,
prosecutes what he finds intolerable, but most of all he
keeps it all in his head for further reference.
HISTORICAL NOTE
The /agentes in rebus/ were a mounted unit organised along
military lines, but under the command of the Master of the
Offices and entrusted with carrying imperial messages and
undertaking various special missions. Their vague title
(roughly translated as Agents in Affairs‚) concealed
sweeping powers. They investigated treason charges,
supervised the public post and road network, delivered
imperial commands, and often stayed to ensure their
implementation. They also reported back to the court on
everything they saw. Excitable classicists have labelled
them an ancient Gestapo, which is unwarranted, but they were
the eyes and ears of the emperor and certainly a dangerous
and intrusive lot. Their supervision of the post is often
presented as a kind of censorship or reading of private
mail, but in fact the Roman Empire's /cursus publicus/ was
intended solely as a vehicle for official missives and
anyone using it to send private letters - a common abuse
among aristocrats and officials - was committing a felony.
Retired /agentes/ often went on to higher posts in the civil
administration.
ENCOUNTERED
Aurelius Fortunatus is a harsh, peremptory man with a
penchant for inspiring fear. While he usually restricts his
worst intimidation to the aristocracy he is not above using
his position and sheer physical presence to push around
ostlers, cooks and bartenders when he is in a bad mood. When
he remembers, he tries to make amends for it later, in view
of his own childhood, but PCs should not bank on it.
Aristocrats will find him curt, rude and irritating. He will
never let them forget that he has the power to ruin them and
may threaten them outright if he wants something specific.
PCs managing to make friends with Fortunatus will find it
worthwhile. He is loyal to his comrades and generous with
his possessions - and those of other people, on occasion.
Characters with a military bent, or those with an axe to
grind regarding old money, may even find him congenial,
though in general he is hard to approach.
CANONICALITY
Aurelius Fortunatus uses the ST=HP/HT=FT optional rule from
Compendium I (p.CI7) because it is particularly apt for this
character design. He is still big and tough, but has lost
his stamina to the good life. His Savoir-Faire skill has
been set lower than the level his Status would normally
dictate; this reflects the fact that Aurelius Fortunatus is
not "to the manner born". He worked hard to achieve his
Status, and had little time to learn the niceties of good
society along the way. Fortunatus' combat skills have been
subject to degradation as outlined in Special Ops (p.SO72).
WHAT IF?
There is little point translating Fortunatus into another
background. He solidly belongs in early fourth-century Rome.
Between AD 290 and 380 he is viable - before or after he
becomes unlikely, even impossible. A similar kind of agent
for a fantasy or other historical background is best built
from scratch.
A younger, active (or cinematic) version should have HT and
DX increased by one or two points, and have advantages such
as Combat Reflexes and Fit added.
Aurelius Fortunatus is a somewhat ambivalent character. On
the one hand, his habit of pushing people around will hardly
endear him to PCs, and he has been known to threaten and
blackmail others for his own purposes. On the other hand, he
is a dutiful and conscientious civil servant loyal to his
superiors and mindful of his responsibility to uphold the
Empire's order and stability. Either facet of his person
could be introduced into a running campaign, and he makes as
good a Patron as an Enemy for low-level PCs.
Eventually his role will come down to the picture your
campaign has of the Late Roman state. If you subscribe to
the idea that it was an oppressive, dictatorial horror, then
Fortunatus is an exponent of that and his bad habits could
be extended to cover Greed or Lecherousness. If, on the
other hand, you present the empire as the last stronghold of
classical civilisation struggling against the tide of
barbarism, then Fortunatus can be cast in a far more
positive light, fighting to retain central control over a
fractious, egotistical and greedy aristocracy by fair means
or foul.
ADVENTURE SEEDS
Auri Sacra Fames: Aurelius Fortunatus is not above
exploiting his position for his own interests. Right now he
is after a nice city property that a local decurion intended
to be his daughter's dowry; Fortunatus wants to acquire it
through a shady charge of tax evasion that would see it
auctioned. His credibility and influence carries the case
through the governor's court and the property is up for
auction within six months. The PCs - having been approached
by either the owner, his daughter or her distraught fiancee
- will have just that time to get to the court, present
their petition to the emperor and return with a verdict.
Given that Fortunatus has friends in high places, this could
take some doing.
The Wolf is at the Door: Reading through the public post's
official correspondence going across his desk, Aurelius
Fortunatus discovers evidence of a plot by local landlords
to hand over the city and district to a barbarian warlord.
Little does he know how far the scheme has progressed, or
how deep its tendrils reach - for as he tries to send off
his missive informing the imperial court, he finds the land
hostile and the local officials unhelpful. Once more
Fortunatus will have to brush off his rusty skills, gird his
loins and set off on the ride of his life - perhaps with a
little help from a friendly party of PCs.
- written by Volker Bach
(volker_bach@public.uni-hamburg.de)
- editted and formatted by andi jones
(andi@angelwerks.com)
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