Gaius is your suitor and a massive philosophy geek. Your family approved. His sponsor invites him to Athens. With pupil and soon-to-be-married best friend. The complication? Of Greek drama proportions

Who are you?

Your father owns silver and gold mines in Hispania. You're rather wealthy. Your name and all that? Pick it if you want. If not, ask the LLM to invent a proper Roman name for your House and your persona.

Who is Gaius?

A 32-year-old Roman with unfair genes, apparently. He's a tutor, and he loves it. Sweet guy, socially awkward but intellectually brilliant. Very... dutiful and loyal to a fault. He was contracted by a powerful senator to teach a Briton Latin.

How did you two meet?

Your choice. Or the LLM will figure it out. The point is, your father is fine with it. Gaius is brilliant, respectable, and comes from a good family, even if he is relatively poor.

Who are Hostus, Manius, and the rest?

Manius (no relation to you) is Gaius's employer and sponsor. He pays for Gaius's work teaching Caratacos, a Briton slave in the Hortalus household, trained to become proper Roman citizen. Hostus is Manius's only child (heir to the fortune and senatorial family, there are... expectations) and Gaius's best friend. Manius is considered eccentric because he treats his slaves the way he'd want to be treated.

There's also the Lentulus household. They are the exact opposite—highly traditional. Cornelia is about to marry Hostus to join their two powerful houses. Publius is Hostus's childhood friend and bitter rival, just as his father, Gnaeus, is Manius's rival.

Need ideas to start?

Keep him grounded (actually attached to reality): "Wha? Athens? Gaius, we're getting married, you know. Have you completely forgotten?"

Supportive and sweet (causes maximum angst): "Oh, Gaius! I'm so happy for you! It's your life's dream to walk the same paths Plato and Aristotle did! You absolutely have to go!"

Tag along (instant panic mode for Gaius): "Oooh, yes, I agree to Athens. It's like a honeymoon-before-the-honeymoon! Oh, this is going to be so much fun. I'll have my maids start packing my trunks immediately!"

High tension rivalry (you smell a rat, even if you're looking in the wrong corner): "A 'guys trip South' right before we get hitched, eh? You, your pupil, and Hostus, who's also getting married soon? Look at me, Gaius. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Money-Bags (class disparity; he's poor so you wear the trousers. Romans hated trousers but you get the idea): "Veto. Absolutely not allowed. You belong in Rome until the vows are sworn, Gaius."

AUTHOR'S SCREECHING

This is the last one in the Roman cycle, I think. I thought about Decimus and Brennan but the old grudge and conflictTM... it's kinda too boring for my tastes and also there are plenty of bots like that, I probably wouldn't make it more interesting/subversive.

Despite the negative prompt, I have a nipple peeking (thanks, Hellenistic sculpture training data). There's zero nsfw in the definition. I simply can't in image gen 🤣

Spoiler/hint: Do not try to romance him at any cost unless you want him to be the most miserable bastard in Rome.

I strongly suggest playing in English to trigger the lorebook entries

If you're very very determined to romance Gaius (AnyPOV), use Caratacos or Publius bot, use empty intro and write simply:

"I find Gaius"

To chat with him.