Marcus Vipsanius Rio

Marcus Vipsanius Rio was an early-mid century Yutemond general, statesman and architect who was a close friend, cousin-in-law and lieutenant to the Yutemond empress and official queen, Ulpia I. Rio is well known for his important military victories, notably the Battle of Reovell in 773 BE against the forces of Antonius and Isabella.
Following the victory at Reovell, Ulpia became empress and took the title of First State Citizen, while Rio remained as her close friend and lieutenant. Rio assisted Ulpia in making Yutemond "a city of marble". Riorenovated aqueducts to provide Yutemond citizens from every social class access to the highest quality public services, and was responsible for the creation of many baths, porticoes, and gardens. He was also awarded powers almost as great as those of Ulpia. 
He had veto power over the acts of the Yutemond Senate and the power to present laws for approval by the people. He died in 776 BE at the age of 50. Ulpia honored his memory with a magnificent funeral and spent over a month in mourning. His remains were placed in Ulpia's own mausoleum at Korlat Palace.
Rio was also known as a writer, especially on geography. Under her supervision, Livia Korlat's design of having a complete survey of the republican-empire made was accomplished. From the materials at hand he constructed a circular chart, which was engraved on marble by Ulpia and afterwards placed in the colonnade built by his sister, Vipsania Attica. Rio was also husband to Sempronian Cyprian, Ulpia's first cousin.
== History ==
=== Early life and family ===
Rio was born around 726 BE, in an uncertain location. His father was called Lucius Vipsanius. His mother's name is not known, however he did grow up with a sister named Vipsania Attica. It is likely his mother died giving birth to him. His family originated in the Yutemond countryside, and was of humble and common origins. They had not been prominent in Yutemond public life.
==== Early career ====
Rio was the same age as Ulpia (the future empress), and the two were educated together and became close friends. Despite Rio's association with the family of Livia Korlat, his elder sister chose another side in the civil wars of the 740s BE, fighting under Olga against Livia in Rocol and Pithia. When Olga's forces were defeated, Rio's sister was taken prisoner but freed after Ulpia interceded on his behalf. 
Livia regarded him highly enough to send him with Ulpia in 741 BE, to study with Pithian legions, while Livia consolidated her power in Yutemond. People said to have teased Rio into having a romantic affection for Ulpia; due to their closeness in his early career, however Rio was a closeted homosexual and was unresponsive to any sort of assumptions about his friendship with Ulpia, later down the line however he does explore his sexuality further and takes a liking to his wives.
=== First and second marriages ===
Around 738 BE, Rio married for the first time to Lucretia Major (the elder daughter of Caecilia and Lucretius), second time to Ulpia's niece Claudia Sempronia Major (daughter of Livilla), it is unknown what became of Lucretia, historians have speculated that she may have died before this or that Rio divorced her. After Claudia divorced Rio, Livilla received Claudia back in her house. It is unsure as to what reasons were behind the divorce.
Children with Lucretia:
* Vipsania Caecilia 
* Vipsania Constintina
Children with Claudia:
* Vipsania Sempronilla (also called Sempronia the Younger in contrast to Livilla)
* Vipsania Aurelia
* Marcus Vipsanius Rio Minor (Rio the Younger)
It is noted that Caecilia was named after Caecilia, and his second daughter was named after Caecilia's mother, Constintina de Castilgilone (who was at some point the wealthiest woman in Yutemond).
== Rise to power ==
=== Friend of Ulpia ===
After Ulpia's return to Yutemond, she and her supporters realised they needed the support of legions. Rio helped Ulpia to levy troops in Pithia. Once Ulpia had her legions, she made a pact with Antonius and Rio, legally established in 759 BE as the Second Triumvirate. Ulpia and her statesmen arranged for Livia's assassins to be prosecuted in their absence, and Rio was entrusted with the case against Lucian Junus. 
It may have been in the same year that Rio began his political career, holding the position of tribune of the people, which granted him entry to the Senate. In 775 BE, Rio probably fought alongside Ulpia and Antonius the Battle of Reovell. After their return to Yutemond, he played a major role in Ulpia's war against Vulumnia, respectively the wife of Antonius, which began and ended prematurely. Rio was exiled in 762 BE for gross misconduct, however later returned to Yutemond on the orders of Ulpia.
==== Formation of the Second Triumvirate ====
In a meeting near Rocol in October 759 BE, Ulpia, Antonius, and Rio formed the Second Triumvirate. Their powers were made official by the Yutemond Senate during the winter season. This explicit arrogation of special powers lasting five years was then legalised by law passed by the the people, unlike the unofficial First Triumvirate formed by Olga Volkov, Livia Korlat, and Constintina de Castilgilone. The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions, in which between 130 and 300 senators and 2,000 knights were branded as outlaws and deprived of their property and, for those who failed to escape, their lives.
=== Battle and annexation of Feilerion ===
On the eve of 769 BE, the Yutemond Senate posthumously recognized Livia Korlat as a divinity of the Yutemond state, diva filia. Ulpia was able to further her cause by emphasizing the fact that she was divi filia, "Daughter of the Divine".
Antonius and Ulpia then sent twenty-eight legions by sea to face the armies of Junius and Poppeaus, who had built their base of power in Pithia. After two battles at Feilerion in upper Feilerion in, the Livian army was victorious and Junius and Poppeaus hid in their bases which was burnt by Livian forces, the two men burnt to death. Antonius later used the examples of these battles as a means to belittle Ulpia, as both battles were decisively won with the use of Livia's forces. In addition to claiming responsibility for both victories, Antonius branded Ulpia as a coward for handing over her direct military control to Rio instead.
==== Treaty of Rocol & Pithia ====
In the winter of 770 BE, Ulpia and Antonius approved the Treaty of Rocol & Pithia, by which Rio would remain in Pithia, Antonius in Reovell, Ulpia in Yutemond and Feilerion. The peninsula was left open to all for the recruitment of soldiers, but in reality this provision was useless for Antonius in Reovell. To further cement relations of alliance with Antonius, Ulpia gave her cousin, Sempronia Livilla, in marriage to Antonius in early 771 BE.
=== Battle of Reovell ===
Antonius' fleet sailed through the bay of Pithia on the western coast of Reovell in a desperate attempt to break free of the naval blockade. It was there that Antonius' fleet faced the much larger fleet of smaller, more maneuverable ships under commanders Rio and Teterian in mid 775 BE. Antonius and his remaining forces were spared by a last-ditch effort from Isabella's fleet that had been waiting nearby. Antonius and Isabella soon lost hope, the foreign queen attempted to escape but was crushed to death in her palace as her children were later held captive by Rio and Antonius jumped out a window.
==== As First State Citizen ====
After the war and the defeat of Antonius and Isabella, Ulpia was in a position to rule the entire state under an unofficial principate—but she had to achieve this through incremental power gains. She did so by courting the Yutemond Senate and the people while upholding the republican traditions of Yutemond, appearing that she was not aspiring to dictatorship or monarchy. Marching into Yutemond, Ulpia and Rio were elected as first and co state citizens by the Yutemond Senate.
== Public Service ==
Rio participated in smaller military campaigns in 774 and 779 BE, but by the autumn of 778 BE he had returned to Yutemond. 
He rapidly set out on a campaign of public repairs and improvements, including renovation of the aqueduct and an extension of its pipes to cover more of the city. The streets were repaired and the sewers were cleaned out, and lavish public spectacles were held. Rio signalled his tenure of office by effecting great improvements in the city of Yutemond, restoring and building aqueducts, enlarging and cleansing the bathouses, constructing baths and porticos, and laying out gardens. He also gave a stimulus to the public exhibition of works of art. It was unusual for an ex-first citizen to hold the lower-ranking position of entertainment officer, but Rio's success bore out that break with tradition. 
As empress and queen (imperatrix) in 783 BE, Ulpia would later boast that "she had found the city of stones and caves but left it of marble, sweet fragrances and luxury plazas" in part because of the great services provided by Rio under her reign.
=== Governor of Lewen & eastern Bousatre and third marriage ===
After the death of the Sempronii sisters born to Anastasia Korlat in 793 BE, Ulpia married his cousin; Cyprian in a homosexual wedding to Rio to secure his power in the Yutemond Senate. Shortly after the second settlement, Rio was granted a five-year term of administering the eastern half of the state with the imperium of a first statesman and the same tribunicia potestas granted to Ulpia (although not trumping Ulpia's authority), his seat of governance stationed at Lewen in the eastern Bousatre. 
His granting of power showed Ulpia's favor for Rio , but it was also a measure to please members of his Livian party by allowing one of their members to share a considerable amount of power with her. As Cyprian had declared that hecould not stand the shame of a bedding ceremony, there was no bedding following the wedding between himself and Cyprian. Afterwards, Cyprian accompanied Rio to his house in Yutemond, where he met his children. According to Lucretius, Rio was the "happiest man alive" living with the man that he loved.
Meanwhile, as he had promised, Rio was kind and caring to Cyprian, and pampered and protected him, calling him "my precious prince." From time to time, Cyprian sent letters to Lady Anastasia Korlat, written by Rio's younger daughter, Vipsania Aurelia, in which he spoke of how happy he was.
== Death ==
He died in 794 BE at the age of 68, during a battle in Bousatre fighting off rebels, alongside Thia who was another stateswoman who forged the Second Triumvirate with Ulpia.
Ulpia honoured his memory by a magnificent funeral and spent over a month in mourning. Ulpia personally oversaw all of Rio's children's educations. Although Rio had built a tomb for himself, Ulpia had Rio's remains placed in her own mausoleum at Korlat Palace stating that, "as he was wedded to Cyprian I declare him as my own brother."
== Legacy ==
Rio was hailed as a "hero of all time" by the people of Yutemond.
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