List of works written by Gaius Virilo Olivius

Below is a comprehensive list of all of the works written by Gaius Olivius. As one of the most prolific authors among those in power, as well as being trained in grammar and poetry, his works are often used to teach Dwarvish to new speakers.

Olivius most often wrote of his conquests and battles with specificity and meticulous detail. However, three of his works (one published and two unpublished in his lifetime) venture into other territory, and are often held as being the best examples of Olivius' personality, thinking, and personal philosophy.

## *I Bring Peace*

### Context

Following his successful battles in August CE 30, the Battle of Spartan Springs and the Battle of Scorpions, Gaius Virilo gained the support of the Anti-Parish of Lenorum. However, his rise to power was contested by Velzar, the Catalani partaking in the Cultural Cleanse, Saturn, and a generally war-weary population in the former territories of Dinam.

Gaius Virilo spent three months in Lenorum writing *I Bring Peace*, detailing his life up until that point, his two battles with the Lonenites, and a manifesto explaining how he planned to right the wrongs set by his father, his father's rivals, and preceding dynasties of "classical kings wielding titles of service, whose contributions amount to further war, social degradation, class stratification, and a population yearning for prosperity."

The 93-page propaganda piece was widely reproduced by supporters of Virilo, distributed en masse across Dinam by his legionnaires, and even read aloud in villages and townships where literacy was low. The work was a massive success, and as a result, shifted popular sentiment in favor of Virilo. By the year CE 33, the Senate had voted him into the new position of "Emperor" and the Rosicrucians had retreated into the sewers of Lenorum. In keeping with his self-styled position as "a Peacemaker," Gaius Virilo was granted the title "Peacemaker" by the Senate as well.

### Summary

#### Rise of an Exile

Olivius describes his early life into his teens being an exile in Maplapel, some miles from Lenorum, and explains in graphic detail the many clandestine deeds of his mother Eurydice. Far from rebuking her or supplying evidence against her, Olivius portrays these actions as necessary to liberating Lenorum. He describes the men his mother killed as being either "paupers turned princes who, having now delighted in the feast of influence, seek to sate the hunger of men unaccustomed to the discipline necessary to inhibit one's greed for power," or as "pretender kings; whose army is loyal but not to Dinam, only to themselves; whose words are honeyed, but not by authenticity, only silky deceit; and whose heads are full, but not filled with a brain, but delusions of a new empire."

The life of Olivius as a refugee is portrayed as being simultaneously adequate preparation for the rule of a court, with education from a Fireshard dwarf no less as well as Visello, and full of hardship in which his ability to survive relied on his own wits and the cunning of his mother. This has been questioned over the centuries, as a life of proper education and courtly practice is in stark contrast to a life of labor and rural strife.

#### Battle of Spartan Springs and Battle of Scorpions

*See also: Thirty Years' Siege*

Olivius meticulously details his two engagements with Lonenites outside of Lenorum. The blessed Spartan Springs, where the son of Tomyra the Great was buried, was a surprising victory that led to serious provocation by the Emirate of Lonen. This was belabored for two weeks in a series of guerilla engagements before a massive army was organized to crush the single legion under Gaius Olivius. This engagement, the Battle of Scorpions, remains as the single most lopsided victory in all of history: 500 veteran troops versus ten thousand new rotations from Cascadia. Olivius, in a quick-witted and deft mastery of tactics, repulsed the Lonenite attack at the cost of most of his legion. However, despite the physical losses, this spelled the end for the Thirty Years's Siege, and Lonen withdrew.

#### Allegiance to the Anti-Parish

When Gaius Virilo arrived back in Lenorum with a small guard at his side that was once his legion, having stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his men, the welcome was virtually unanimous for the people who lived there. However, the leadership was resistant, as the Rosicrucians and Catalani at large, "held deeper ties to their worm-god that wallowed in sewage, than to the citizens who begged them in their time of greatest need to resist Lonen."

Now with his new title, Virilo rebukes the devotees of Saclis in a scathing critique that lasts for nine pages. In this chapter, Virilo claims that the Rosicrucians hold the citizens of Lenorum as greater enemies to their existence than the Lonenites themselves, and their activities in Lenorum are in fact hindered now that the siege is lifted. In this way, Virilo argues that they had a vested interest in the siege, and that they are not to be trusted.

Virilo advocates for proper burial of his mentor Visello and even Cas the Spider, despite misgivings between the two late players in the Magdamolia. He draws distinction between the orators, Legates, Kaisers, and the *occupatus* patricians of the Late Dinamid Republic, and pins blame on those Senators and the *equites* that did nothing with the wealth of their ancestors except spend it. Even praising the actions of his political opponent Velzar, he states that though he "fears what may be behind the Cat's Eyes," Virilo believes that "a blade is struck on both sides, tempered by metal, and thus, I welcome resistance," especially from those who follow in classic Dinamid values like Constantine the Younger.

Virilo claims that the Dinamid Republic as it was thirty years ago is impossible to revive and shouldn't be; the so-called peace of the past century was really wrought with war and political violence, and though great things had been done by those who had the wealth, the weakness of democracy were exemplified in the corruption and political games played by the elite to fool the public. Virilo dubs the Magdamolia here, explaining how in his family, the moment one sees the black magnolia bloom after a winter of care "is the only way a careful man knows his work is succeeding." Virilo says that now the winter is over, and his victory was "the blooming of the black magnolia, proof that your suffering is not in vain."

In his conclusion, Virilo states that it is the responsibility of the free people of Dinam to unite under his rule. He lists in a brief manifesto his intention to restore Dinam to a time of peace, the hundred years of development under both his father Horace Virilo, and his father's greatest enemy Black Cato. The damage done to the Republic could not be undone, but it wouldn't need to be. Virilo explains how his success in the battlefield was because his men followed his strict orders, and trusted in their leader, as his interests were vested only in the success of his men.

From this logic, Virilo makes the case for a militarized nation-state where his people follow his orders, and as he has demonstrated, his strategy is sound and not merely an illusion or blind luck. He says that an army in his command can accomplish any deed and makes three promises to the people of Dinam, corresponding to the "follies of the Kaisers before me":

* *Draco's Promise*: Unlike his uncle Gaius Draco, Gaius Virilo will not put his own need for power before the will of his people. At any time, if the Senate votes unanimously to recall Gaius Virilo's authority, the citizens of Dinam can cast their vote and if at least two-thirds of Dinamians want him gone, he will obey their will. This is not a belief in democracy, rather a statement of confidence that he will earn their trust.
* *Cato's Promise*: Unlike Black Cato, Gaius Virilo will not use magic, divine ordinance, or witchery to achieve his victories. Virilo promises that all of his victories will be based on pure strategy and wit, to set an example for his people.
* *Virilo's Promise*: Unlike his father Horace Virilo, Gaius Virilo will not keep his people like servants, but sons, and will not conquer lands to enslave them, but liberate them. Any man of able body can join his legions, and even after he conquers a new land, he will not be punitive, only seeking to spread the might and influence of Dinam. He will then have roads and bridges erected across the empire to ensure that Dinamians with citizenship can freely travel and trade with these new people, enriching the land by being a benevolent autocrat, not a despot with an insatiable appetite for wealth.

Virilo finishes his pamphlet by naming the enemies of the people, which include Saturn, Espios, and the *emir* of Lonen.

## *Arborea I*

### Context

The beginning of Olivius' campaigns in former Dinamid provinces began in CE 33, when Olivius officially became Emperor.