CHARACTER
PROFILES
There are a slew of characters in the Dominus universe. Of course, Gaius Fabius and Allerix are the MCs of this lusty saga set in ancient Rome. Here I’ll post brief ‘biographies’ of other characters, both original characters and historical figures (as fictionalized by me).
POMPEIA PLOTINA
My fictionalized character: Plotina is a manipulative, controlling, and very powerful woman. She wears the toga in the palace and runs the place like a tight ship. Marcus (Trajan) adores her and would never think of divorcing her, even though they have no biological children of their own. They have two male wards: Publius Aelius Hadrianus and Gaius Fabius Rufus. Plotina clearly prefers the younger Publius (Hadrian) over Gaius, and wants Publius to be heir to the throne. When she’s not scheming for who should be the next emperor, she runs a very exclusive philosophy discussion group at the palace. The women of the imperial family, including Marcia Servilia, are often encouraged (forced) to attend these ‘ladies book club’ meetings that last late into the night.
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In 107, Plotina has been empress of Rome for nine years. She is 5’6” tall, average build, and has light brown hair and dark brown eyes. She wears a very distinctive fan-like hairstyle that many in the court suspect is a wig. Plotina is very fond of deep red lipstick and bright pink rouge. She never drinks to excess and despises gluttony. Plotina hasn’t had sex in a very long time, and that’s just fine with her. Plotina is a historical figure.
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For Plotina’s wikipedia page, click here.
LUCIUS PETRONIUS CELSUS
Born and raised in Rome, Lucius is the oldest son of Tiberius Petronius Longus, a nobleman of plebian ancestry who inherited his substantial fortune from his merchant ancestors. Lucius’s plebian mother, the gentle and beautiful Aemilia Regilla, doted on Lucius and his younger brothers, Titus and Gallus. In 107, both Tiberius and Regilla are dead; as the eldest son, Lucius inherited the property, wealth, clients and status as the dominus of the family. He and his brothers remain fiercely loyal to one other and to the memory of their loving parents. Lucius is thirty-seven years of age with a few sprouts of grey peppering the black hair around his temples.
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His skills in the law courts are justly renown and have earned him the coveted position of chief counsel for the imperial court. Lucius’s muscular frame stands just over 6’3” tall (190.5 cm). Sporting a lush bass voice and intoxicating grey-blue eyes, Luc loves to drink good wine, attend parties and share daft ribald jokes. Although it was not officially permitted in Roman society, especially among the aristocratic class, Luc has always been sexually, emotionally and intellectually attracted to men. At the age of twenty while in his third year of studies in Athens, he met Gaius Fabius. It was love at first sight for Lucius; seventeen-year-old Gaius took some convincing, the stubborn prick. Luc is married to Aurelia and has one child, a young daughter named Petronia. Lucius is a fictional character.
MARCIA SERVILIA
Marcia was born in Rome in AD 81. She is the great-granddaughter of a paternal cousin of Trajan’s biological mother. Her two family lines, the patrician branch of the Marcii and the illustrious Servilii, were both very old, blue blood families of Rome. Therefore, Marcia, like Gaius, is of patrician descent, and their arranged political marriage was considered mutually advantageous. The amiable union of Marcia and Gaius was orchestrated by Plotina, with Trajan’s consent. Marcia respects her husband and participates in his political career, but she prefers the company of women, both in and out of bed.
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Brunette with hazel eyes, Marcia is twenty-six years old (nine years younger than Gaius). She is 5’4” tall (162.5 cm) with a petite frame, a soft but strong voice and natural grace. As was the case with most noble Roman girls, especially those connected with the imperial court, Marcia received a solid education in literature, philosophy and music. She reads, writes and speaks both Latin and Greek with eloquence. She is a member of Plotina’s circle of friends and intellects and she spends much of her time at the court in the company of the empress. Marcia resides in Gaius’s ancestral mansion on the Caelian with her slave girls, rarely venturing down to Gaius’s villa in Campania. She inherited her own lakeside country residence in the Alban hills southeast of Rome. It technically transferred to Gaius as part of her dowry, but he has no interest in the property and it remains hers to do with as she sees fit.
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Married for seven years, Gaius and Marcia have no children. It was the first marriage for both of them. Like Gaius Fabius, Marcia Servilia is a fictional character.
BRYAXIS
Twenty-eight years old, Bryaxis is 6’2” (188 cm), lean and well muscled, with golden-brown hair and evocative green-brown eyes. Born the first son of a blacksmith in Caledonia (modern Scotland), he had two older sisters and grew up in a small village plagued by poverty and tragedy. He was enslaved at the age of twelve and sent to Rome to be sold at auction. Lucius Petronius Celsus purchased the young, scrawny Celt for a pittance with the hopes of training him to be his future legal assistant. Lucius named him Bryaxis after Luc’s favorite Greek sculptor. His Caledonian name was Brendan (“brave”). Bry remembers his birth name and still speaks his native language fluently. He believes that his entire family is dead and he has long given up hope of ever returning home.
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The gangly boy bought at auction soon grew into his long limbs and matured to a stunningly handsome young man. Since turning seventeen, Bry has been Lucius’s only pleasure slave, spending most nights in his master’s bed. He has no patience for sycophantic bullshit, and adores his cheerful and protective adoptive slave mother, Euphronia. Bry speaks Latin and Greek with a faint Caledonian accent and is exceptionally intelligent, sarcastic, sensuous and, above all, loyal to his beloved Dominus. As Luc’s legal assistant, he accompanies his master to the courts and has been granted limited access to the state archives and libraries.
Day and night, he and Luc are rarely apart. Lucius’s new wife, Aurelia, is viciously jealous of Bryaxis. Gaius tolerates his lover’s pet, barely. Bryaxis is a fictional character.
MAXIMUS
Maximus (born Malqabar, “first born”) is 6’1” (185.5 cm) with a muscular build, expressive brown eyes and a killer smile. The oldest of four children, his family was part of a patriarchal, semi-nomadic community that lived on the northwestern fringes of the ancient kingdom of Kush (modern Sudan). For reasons to be explored later in the series, Max was condemned to the brutal marble quarries at Simitthus when he was seventeen years old. During his time stationed in Numidia, Gaius visited the quarries, purchased the gorgeous boy and eventually took him home to his seaside villa near Naples. There, Max quickly befriended Theodorus, the older slave Gaius had inherited from his father. Maximus is twenty-nine years old and was given his slave name by Gaius.
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When he was in his early twenties, Max was trained to read, write, speak proper Latin and handle basic weapons. He has lost all trace of his native accent and has no desire to return to his homeland, though he sometimes misses his mother and younger siblings. He has a quick, dry wit and loves to laugh. Having been Gaius’s favorite for a decade, Max has recently and unexpectedly received ‘conditional freedom.’ He is no longer a slave, but instead enjoys the coveted rank of freedman and client of Commander Fabius. Although his primary task is to train and manage the male pets at the villa, he occasionally travels to Rome with Gaius. Loved and well cared for, he is fiercely devoted to his former master. Although he rarely sings for Gaius anymore, he has a beautiful baritone voice. Max is a fictional character.
CALLIDORA
Forty-two years old and of Greek descent, Calli is the highest-ranking female slave at Gaius’ Campanian villa. She formerly belonged to Gaius’s mother, Julia, and was a long-time member of the familia of Gaius’s father, Quintus Fabius. She spent much of her early life in the capital city serving as a domestic slave for the Fabii family. When she was twenty-three years old, Calli was bred with Quintus’s favorite whore, Theodorus. A healthy, beautiful male child was born and named Simon. Three years earlier, Calli had given birth to her first son, a gentle but sickly child named Castor. Castor adored and doted on his little precocious half-brother, Simon, and the two became very close siblings. Calli deeply mourns the loss of her precious Castor to this day.
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At 5’5” tall (165.1 cm) with thick, wavy brown hair and a voluptuous body, Callidora is a sensual, smart and ambitious woman. Except on very rare occasions, she no longer serves as Gaius’ pleasure slave. Her current responsibilities include fashioning herbal remedies from plants and mushrooms that she tends in her small medicinal garden, and watching over Gaius’ scurrent favorite female pleasure slave, Zoe. Housed with young Zoe in a private suite on the far side of the main house, Calli has little direct contact with the boy pets at the Campanian villa. For many reasons, she and Maximus fiercely dislike each other. Proud and somewhat spoiled, Callidora expects Gaius to grant her freedom as just reward for years of faithful service, in and out of his bed. When freed, she plans to return to Rome and run an herb & spice shop for Gaius’s profit. Not surprisingly, Gaius is unaware of any of Callidora’s dreams for the future. Callidora is a fictional character.
SIMON
With rich brown curly hair, vibrant green eyes and an infectious laugh, Simon stands just short of 5’9” (175 cm) and is eighteen years and seven months old. A homebred slave of Greek heritage, he is the son of Callidora and Theodorus. Simon and Callidora originally belonged to Gaius’s mother, Julia. For reasons to be explored later in the series, Gaius convinced his mother to sell the pair to him. When he returned from his philosophy studies in Greece, Gaius moved Simon and Calli to his villa in Campania to join Theodorus. Seven-year-old Simon soon started lessons with a local tutor. Gaius’s intention was for Simon serve as his scribe.
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Even after Max and then Nicomedes arrived, Simon continued to live in the main villa with the women and rarely saw his master. Out of sight and often forgotten, he grew into a beautiful, lusty young man. Five months ago, Gaius carried him from his office to his bedchamber. He has been Gaius’s favorite pet ever since. When he’s not entertaining his master, Simon’s chores include copying Gaius’s correspondence, keeping the villa library collection organized, and helping out at the stables. Simon is a fearless and skilled horseman. He daydreams about handsome heroes and daring adventures, but he’s only left the villa a couple of times with Max to run errands in the nearby bustling city of Neapolis. He dislikes loud thunderstorms and large crowds, but he loves the warm sting of a good, firm spanking. Simon is a fictional character.
MEMMIA CORNELIA
Born in AD 33 during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, Memmia Cornelia descended from one of Rome’s greatest families, the Cornelii Scipiones. Although the once powerful family holds little true political authority in AD 107, Memmia never misses an opportunity to flaunt her illustrious patrician ancestry. Back in her prime, this seventy-five year old matron stood 5’2” (157.5 cm) tall with golden-brunette hair and light brown eyes. One of the most desirable and wealthy Roman aristocratic girls of her generation, she was married to Quintus Fabius Quietus at the age of twelve. After suffering three miscarriages, she gave birth to her only child, a boy named Quintus Fabius, father of Gaius Fabius Rufus.
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Quietus and Memmia were married for nearly thirty years. Memmia never remarried after the death of her husband; she lives alone with her cats and peacocks and other assorted birds (and a large staff of freedmen and slaves, of course) at her suburban estate on the Via Tiburtina outside of the city proper. She remains close to her long-time platonic friend and confidant, Cornelius Tacitus, and often invites him to her home to share meals and conversation. She rarely drinks and she avoids Empress Plotina’s dull cultural gatherings at the palace at all costs. When, on rare occasion, she is still forced to attend one of those tedious philosophical readings, she feigns sleep. Like her grandson, she prefers tales of the gods, the myths of men, war stories and histories. She has never visited Gaius’s Campanian villa and has no desire to travel any more. Above all, Memmia Cornelia is respected by her peers. She is a fictional character.
TITUS PETRONIUS
A younger brother of Lucius Petronius, Titus is the second son of Tiberius Petronius Longus and Aemilia Regilla. In stark contrast to Luc’s career in the legal courts, Titus has spent much of his life as an officer in the Roman army. He served as a senior military tribune under Commander Gaius Fabius for both the first and second Dacian Wars. He and Gaius have great respect for one another, although Titus has always been displeased about Gaius’s intimate friendship with Lucius, not to mention Luc’s devotion to Bryaxis. In 107, following the victories over the Dacians, Titus was allowed to retire from military service. He was quickly rewarded for his valiant service with the highly covetous position of Roman governor of Achaea, one of the most peaceful and prosperous provinces in the Roman Empire.
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At 5’10” (177.8 cm), he’s shorter and less muscular than his older brother, but he’s a talented fighter, horseman, and civic administrator. With dark brown hair and blue eyes, Titus enjoys spending time and sharing old war stories with fellow soldiers and veterans, especially over a beer or two. Often accused of being too pensive, Titus rarely attends dinner parties outside of his home on the Esquiline Hill and he does not own pleasure slaves. He’s 34 years old and happily married to the love of his life, Antonia Cicurina. Together, they have two boys (Tiberius and Titus Jr.) and one girl, Petroniana. Titus Petronius is a fictional character.