Gaius Virilo Olivius

Because his true appearance is a mystery, depictions of Olivius are often fantastical and describe the illustrator's opinion

### Titles

The Peacemaker, The Demon King, The Revenant, The Great, The Dragon, The Tiger, Izamusang

## Physical Description

### Eyes

Unknown (possibly blue)

**Gaius Virilo Olivius** (often shortened to Gaius Olivius or just Olivius) was a legendary military leader, emperor, and statesman responsible for multiple worldwide paradigm shifts, including the establishment of Goodfellow rule worldwide, fathering the Oliphian race, ending the Magdamolia, and ending or suppressing the rise of several empires for hundreds of years.

Gaius Olivius was an Oliphian himself, and was the son of Horace Virilo and Eurydice. His birth and subsequently the Castigation of Espios were used as reference for the creation of the modern calendar.

There is some indication that Gaius Olivius was in fact a dragon, notably his depiction and worship among Goodfellow legions as such and his blood bestowing the dragon's curse to the Queen of Falchios.

## Birth and early life

Eurydice, Gaius Virilo's mother, had a pregnancy that was allegedly one of the most stressful and diseased ever recorded. Her midwife and *au pair* reported that Eurydice "suffered blisters and facial pox since the onset of the pregnancy; her eyes were bloodshot red even weeks into her pregnancy, and her agony was like that of a woman being tortured. The glow of a mother was not present in her skin and flesh; instead, she was bedridden with jaundice and fatigue, and if she was not asleep she was screaming."

Eurydice had a dream when she consummated her marriage to Horace Virilo that her womb had been struck by a thunderbolt, and when she awoke her stomach bore a discoloration in the shape of a lion. Many took this as a sign that their child would be a great leader.

Gaius Virilo's father, Horace Virilo, had been stabbed to death in the Senate while Eurydice was still pregnant with him. Virilo's friend and long-time rival Visello helped Eurydice escape Lenorum at the outset of the Thirty-Year Siege, also escorted by Virilo's personal legion, the 13th Twin Legion.

Gaius Virilo was born in Maplapel, a city about one hundred miles from Lenorum, ten days after the Castigation of Espios and four days after his father's murder. Though Visello was not present for his birth, he wrote in a letter that, "rather than a boy, it was stated that a wyrm erupted from Eurydice's womb, spitting fire and drooling poison." On the same day of his birth, the Omerads at the gates of Lenorum made their initial rush at the gates of the city and failed; this was often cited as a portent of good fortune for the son of Horace Virilo.

Throughout his childhood, Gaius Virilo was tutored by his mother, Visello, and a dwarf who lived ten miles southeast of Maplapel, Thorun Fireshard (related to Socrum Fireshard, who taught Lenor). Though the strategy and practical skills taught by the dwarf were exceptionally useful to the young boy, his mother groomed Gaius Virilo with stories about his heritage and ancestry. Based on his writings in *I Bring Peace*, the boy was told directly by his mother that he was an incarnation of a god destined to conquer the world.

Gaius Virilo was raised in Maplapel in secret, and rarely traveled outside of the village until he was in his teens. Out of fear that he would be captured and killed for being Horace Virilo's son, Eurydice worked with her family in the House of the Asp in cloak-and-dagger operations inside and outside Lenorum, poisoning or otherwise hiring hitmen to kill the former political opponents to her late husband. Much of this was an effort to keep eyes out of Maplapel and away from her son.

In his youth, Gaius Virilo initially disliked reading and would frequently get into trouble sneaking out of the village and traveling the countryside in secret; however, because there is so little recorded of his appearance and his apparent differences with his father, he was oft unrecognizable and thus not in particular danger. He says himself, and corroborated by some members of the 13th Twin legion stationed in Maplapel, that he killed his first man at the age of nine, when he was captured by Lonenites and was to be enslaved; he strangled the Omerad that had captured him with his chains, and tore the right arm from the orc's body in order to escape without dragging the whole body. He returned to Maplapel dragging the arm behind him.

As a part of his education, Thorun Fireshard had Gaius Virilo read classical literature including *The Madelian*, which enraptured him with curiosity and inspiration. Thorun gave an original copy by Roman to Gaius Virilo, which he continued to carry even into his late adult life.

## Political career

### Before Lenorum

By the time he was in his 20s, Gaius Virilo had begun building a reputation as a rightful heir to inherit the House of the Asp. The murder of his father was perceived quite negatively by the populace at large initially, and the growing support of Saturn in Lenorum had caused severe political violence.

The traditionalist leaders, outside of Cas the Spider, had now begun to age and deteriorate in contrast to the Catalani clergy of Saturn. The so-called "Anti-Parish," the loose association of former senators and Dinamid officials who opposed the Rosicrucians, was weakening in its leadership but had popular support.

Gaius Virilo and his mother Eurydice attempted to capture Cas the Spider, as despite his murder of his father, Virilo needed allies to secure support of the people of Lenorum. However, during a botched attempt to capture and escort Cas the Spider past the siege lines, the final member of the Kabal committed suicidewhile in custody.

### Lifting the siege

Now without potential allies in the city, Gaius Virilo wrote in a letter to his mother in Maplapel, "the only possibility to earn an eager welcome in Lenorum, is to do what the Rosicrucians could not do in thirty years." In this letter, he outlined his plan to lift the Thirty Years' Siege.

Virilo, having studied his father's campaigns in a saved copy of Horace Virilo's testament of the Iron Crusade, began fiercely drilling with his loyalists and recruiting men of Maplapel and the surrounding lands to create a formidable, veteran force. The legion, which stood at almost 500 strong by the year's end, engaged in small skirmishes with Lonenites outside of Lenorum to help prepare them for the inevitable clash.