Julius Scaeva

## The Imperator

Now the thrice-elected Consul of Itreyan Senate, **Julius Maximillianus Scaeva** has maintained sole consulship since the Kingmaker Rebellion six years prior to the beginning of *Nevernight*. The position is usually shared, and consuls sit only one term, but with Scaeva, the rules seem not to apply.

A master arkemist, Scaeva is considered by most to be the most powerful man in the entire Republic.

Scaeva presided over the execution of Darius Corvere, Mia Corvere's father, and sentenced her mother and infant brother to life imprisoned on The Philosopher's Stone. He also ordered Mia drowned in a canal.

Of the three men, Mia has committed to memory and vowed to destroy, she despises Scaeva the most.

## History

Scaeva's life prior to the Kingmaker rebellion is shrouded in mystery. It can be assumed that he was prominent politician prior to becoming consul, a man of great ambition, well-versed in court politics. It is also known that he had a long-lasting relationship with fellow political genius Alinne Corvere.

While Mia believes she killed Scaeva at the end of the *Venatus Magni*, it is later revealed that she only killed a double, fleshcrafted by the weaver Marielle to look like Scaeva.

## Appearance

When Mia first sees Scaeva at her father's execution, she describes him a beautiful dark-haired man, with eyes of piercing black and perfectly white teeth, his smile as bright as all three Itreyan suns. He usually wears the traditional consul attire~ fine robes dyed with the deepest purple. She revered him highly in her youth, a man even the Everseeing would obey.

## Personality

Scaeva is exceedingly clever, a master of deception and manipulation. A master chess player, he always knows how to be at least two steps before his opponents. Possibly the most dangerous man in the Republic, he has yet to be bested by a rival. A true narcissist, Scaeva seems to care for nothing and no one other than himself. He willingly risked the life of his wife and child in attempt to lure out Mia Corvere and bring about the death of his rival, Cardinal Duomo, and he heartlessly condemned Alinne Corvere, the mother of his children, to an agonizingly slow and torturous death on The Philosopher's Stone. There is nothing he will not do, no one he will not crush, no line he will not cross, to achieve his goal, which is, seemingly, to forge himself a crown. Hypocritical, since it was his defeat of the Kingmaker rebels and his condemnation of Darius Corvere and Gaius Antonius that made his name, men who attempted the very same thing. A man with a heart of ice and a will of steel, his ruthlessness is matched only by his endless ambition and his unquenchable thirst for more power.

## Relationships

### *Mia Corvere*

Julius's daughter and first-born child who hates him more than anyone could possibly hate anyone. When he stopped the Kingmaker Rebellion, he ordered her to be drowned viewing her as nothing but a snot-nosed highborn brat with no real use to him. He later praises her as the greatest killer in all the Republic, which he takes full credit for, when it is really Mercurio who deserves the credit, as he was more of a father to her. He offers her to join him by reminding how her parents were not good people, but it instead only makes her hate him even more. Eventually, she gives her own life to end his by impaling them both on the statue of the Everseeing.

### *Jonnen Corvere*

His son and heir, who he took from his mother in the Philosopher's Stone. He renamed him Lucius and raised him alongside his wife Liviana, making him believe she was his birth mother while grooming him to be his heir. When Jonnen is taken back by his sister he seeks to reclaim him, not because he is his son, but because he needs an heir. At first Jonnen loved his father, but like his sister, he eventually grew to hate him after learning his true colors. Jonnen later proved instrumental in his downfall.

### *Alinne Corvere*

Likely a strictly sexual relationship begun for mutual political advancement, Alinne and Julius were lovers for many years, it seems. He fathered both of her children~ her daughter Mia, and her much younger son, Jonnen. The children have an age difference of nearly ten years, so, evidently, the affair lasted a good long while. While there was clearly no love between them, and the pair showed absolutely no respect for each other in their final confrontation, Mia did observe an intimacy between them whilst they were speaking alone, and she also notes that Alinne did briefly cause Scaeva to waver in his certainty and confidence during their conversation, which is no small feat.

### *Marcus Remus and Francesco Duomo*

Initially allies, the trio were primarily responsible for the downfall of Darius Corvere and the failure of the Kingmaker Rebellion. However, over time, they began to drift apart, Remus and Duomo beginning to detest Scaeva, partially for his willingness to consort with the Red Church, sworn enemies of the Republic, and partially for his seemingly endless ambition and monarchial tendencies. By the time of their deaths, both men utterly despised the consul and actively sought his destruction.

### *Liviana Scaeva*

An enigmatic character, Liviana is only seen once in the course of the novels - at the grand *venatus magni* of Godsgrave, alongside her husband and (adopted) son. The two appeared to be a harmonious couple and were even openly affectionate with one another. But knowing Scaeva and his true nature, and if his previous relationships are anything to judge by, this likely could not be farther from the truth.