a work in progress...

The basics/info for what tf I talk about on an almost hourly basis.

With the setting of modern-day Rome, and a small, semi-hidden society of witchcraft, magic, and immortality. A corrupt but intelligent organisation rises from the ashes of Pharaonic Egypt, and along with it a string of disappearances that may or may not be related. Our BAND OF HEROES - something cliche like that probably - etc etc.

Magic and Witches

Magic, a semi-sentient thing (being? organism? no one is really sure) that exists within certain bloodlines and humans.

There's a VERY small (~0.2%) chance that a random person is born with magic existing inside of them. Those that do possess it, however, are usually born as witches. The magic will manifest in them at any age (but usually between 15 and 30), and when it does they basically become highly sensitive to different forces in the world, and they're able to use these to their advantage. They're very similar to practicing witches in our own world, just a LOT more sensitive to things.

Magic can also be passed through bloodlines - if a witch has a child, it's certain that the child will be born with magic.

Immortals and Sleeping

On EXTREMELY rare occasions, the magic in someone's body doesn't manifest properly. This is where the semi-sentience of magic becomes more obvious. This lack of manifestation essentially causes the magic to freak out once it realises that it won't manifest, and it tries to "reset" the body in response to this.

This results in the Sleeping. A period of time in which the affected person is unconscious, and their body restored to an age in which the magic should have manifested. This response has not been known to ever work and actually trigger the manifestation of magic.

The length and frequency of ones Sleeps depends on the individual. With some it would last for around a year, and occur every 50, with others it could last 18 months, and occur every 40. To complicate this even further, a Sleep can also be triggered by fatal injuries or disease.

This constant restoration of the body results in immortality, with the person affected being unable to die of old age, injury, or disease.

A corrupt organisation

(Currently unnamed)

The New Kingdom of Egypt, magic and witchcraft was far more widespread, known about, and accepted than it is today. Pharaoh Thutmose II poured vaults of gold into researching the immortality phenomenon. The group he funded were tasked with finding out what caused it, and how exactly to prevent it from happening.

Years of work went into the project, but no cause or cure had been found. Or looked for. The group, twisting the words of the Pharaoh, searched for a way to create immortals from ordinary, non-magical people. From this came Meresamun and Amenaru, twin siblings from Shedet, Middle Egypt. Taken against their will, they were forced to be the test subjects of the group's experiments. The first and only successful attempt at creating immortals.

When the Pharaoh, now Hatshepsut, discovered what had happened, she cut all funding to the group and exiled them from the land.

They remained hidden from then on, but ever present. Meresamun had been cast out of the group for no longer "being useful" (a broken spine as a result of fighting back against their kidnappers), but Amenaru remained. Imprisoned and enslaved against his will, they turned him into their own personal assassin - tasked with taking out all who opposed them.

From then on, research turned to how to create and kill immortals. It had to be secret, and was far more brutal than it had ever been before. Kidnappings became regular, immortals, witches, and humans alike were taken and subjected to the (often fatal) experimentation.

Yet their influence and reach dwindled, and eventually they were forgotten. Until Meryem, a witch who had brutally forced her way through the group hierarchy and became leader in 1976 CE.

In modern times

While there are rumours and a popular public opinion in some places that magic does exist in many people, for the most part it goes unnoticed/ignored by most of the world. It is not utilised or capitalised on by governments and powers as it used to be, and all historical documentation is put down to superstition.

Witches and immortals are not so much underground, as opposed to just not being believed. And when they are believed, it usually doesn't go well for them (see: witch trials and persecution throughout history?)

It doesn't cause much hassle for witches, but immortals find it increasingly difficult to survive in a world where every aspect of human life requires legitimacy and documentation. Many struggle on their own, others seek help in the few witches/immortals who make their living out of providing such documentation and loopholes.

Witches and immortals feel like a community, but in its fragmentary state there is no society as such...

in progress...

immortals

(in order of age)

witches

also witches: melina oria, sotiris oria, zoe oria, elektra argyris

humans

(I added some links to wikipedia articles for historical figures/events/places/concepts if you don't know what they are or just want to read up on them!!)

samuel novikov

→ Birth name: Hanno (to his family), Artemon (to everyone else)
→ Other names: Lucius Antoninus Camillus (in Rome, Carthage & Egypt), Samuel Katsaros (in England), Samuel Novikov (in Russia to present)
→ Born 23rd November 149 BCE, Carthage, Phoenicia (modern calendar)
→ 2166 years old
→ Sagittarius, lawful good, ENFJ
→ Bisexual

Backstory is currently a WIP! I have 149 BCE - 80 CE done, god hes so old ⇣

hanno the carthaginian

→ Born at the start of the Third Punic War between Carthage and Rome. The only child of Bostar (human) and Sophonisbe (witch). Not a noble family, but still quite well off. Bostar soon became wrapped up in the war against Rome. Sophonisbe raised Sam with her sister.
→ At the beginning of 146 BCE, as the siege of Carthage was nearing its end, a Roman soldier, supposedly an acquaintance of Sophonisbe's family in Athens, got word to her inside the city. He promised to sneak her and her family out before the Roman army stormed the walls. She accepted his help, knowing that they would be killed or enslaved if they stayed.
→ The soldier kept his word, and sneaked them out in the dead of night. Sophonisbe and her sister used all the magic they could to stop themselves being detected. The soldier brought them, Sam, and Sam's cousin, far out of the grounds the Roman army had established. There were two horses waiting.
→ There they parted ways with the soldier, and rode across the desert (so as to minimise the chances of being caught by any Romans). They almost died of thirst and starvation, but persevered until they reached Cyrene. They stopped briefly here before booking passage across the sea to Athens.
→ Sam grew incredibly ill during the time it took to cross the Mediterranean; he would have likely died if not for Sophonisbe's healing spells that left her sick by the time they reached Athens.
→ Sam was only 3 years old and so doesn't remember much of their escape, other than being thirsty, the sound of waves, and the image of sand.

artemon the athenian

→ Sam grew up in Athens, among his distant Greek cousins that took he and his mother in. Sophonisbe changed his name to Artemon so he wouldn't draw attention to himself as a Carthaginian.
→ Now being refugees, they didn't have any of the money or resources that they had in Carthage. All they had was what their cousins were willing to spare. Sam got some basic education as he grew older, but for the most part his time in Athens was spent in his cousin's smithy.
→ Turns out he had quite a talent for smithing? As he got older and took over the forge, his work became known across the city.
→ He had a really close relationship with his mother, and sought her advice and guidance on absolutely everything he ever did.
→ But she started to worry as he reached his mid-20s, as no magic had appeared in him. Her sister told her that he might be an immortal, people who are forced by their magic to live forever. This devastated Sophonisbe, but she kept it quiet for the next few years, until she was certain that Sam was not a witch.
→ It wasn't until she grew gravely ill that she told him. She was 58 years old, Sam was 33. He took the news far more positively than she had, maybe due to his optimistic personality, maybe he just hadn't realised the full extent of immortality.
→ Sophonisbe died the following year, leaving a hole in Sam's heart. He turned completely to refining his skill as a blacksmith.
→ This was the course he followed in life, and soon had even a little bit of fame in Athens as a blacksmith. He never married, his family afraid of how his immortality would affect any children he had.
→ His first Sleep came when he was 60 years old (89 BCE). It was unexpected, and he collapsed in the middle of the acropolis. His cousin and a woman visiting the parthenon carried him home. He woke up 11 months later, with the physical appearance of a man in his early 20s.
-

→ In 49 BCE, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, and the Roman world was plunged into civil war. The civil war between Caesar and Pompey lasted for 5 years, taking them across the Mediterranean world.
→ 48 BCE saw the opposing Romans clash in central Greece. As they prepared for the battle, Mark Antony, one of Caesar's trusted generals, commissioned Sam, the renowned Athenian blacksmith, to supply his legion with weapons.
→ After the battle was over, Antony was so impressed with Sam's work, he asked him if he would move to Rome so that he could commission him far more easily. He would be heavily compensated, given a forge in the city, and once the civil war was over, Caesar would grant him citizenship. Sam accepted. The civil war was almost over by the time he was able to move to Rome, but Caesar and Antony still commissioned him throughout.

lucius the roman

→ Sam moved to Rome in 45 BCE, at the end of the civil war. Antony kept his word, and gave him a forge and a hefty sum of money for his work. Sam saved as much of it as he could. Caesar granted him citizenship upon his return to Italy. Antony and Sam established a patron/client relationship.
→ The following years were chaotic for Rome politically, with Caesar's assassination and another two civil wars, but Antony commissioned Sam throughout both. Artemon the Athenian Blacksmith was a name known across Rome, even if Sam didn't quite know it. And even if he didn't want to admit it, his riches grew with the political turmoil.
→ However, after Octavian's victory over Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BCE, he was all too aware of the role Sam played in helping his enemy. Sam was pardoned by the new emperor, much to his own surprise, and found himself under imperial employment. His payment ended up far more than anything Antony had paid him, but he was no longer allowed to produce weapons for anyone other than Augustus and the new Praetorian Guard.
→ In 30 CE, Sam was granted the authority by Tiberius to stand for the Senate. After 60 years of work, administrative service, blood, sweat, and tears, Sam had dragged himself up the social and political ladder, and was now in a financial position to be eligible for senatorial rank.
→ He had taken the name Lucius Antoninus Camillus (Antoninus in honour of Antony, the only reason, Sam believed, that he'd gotten anywhere) after waking from his last Sleep (27 CE). Now a fully-fledged Roman.
→ At his first Senate meeting was where he met Ignatius Secundus Gratianus. Not only was Ignatius the first and only immortal Sam had ever met, but he had also come from Greece. They clicked very quickly. Ignatius introduced him to his sisters, Priscilla and Marcia, and they became their own little senatorial social group.
→ Sam's next Sleep came a little earlier than expected, in 61 CE. Though he didn't know it (he didn't even know they were witches), it had been an experiment of the three siblings to see how much they could affect another's immortality.
→ In 63 CE, Sam married Laelia Lucretia, daughter of Laelius, a senator who thought Sam to be the son of the older Lucius who had "died" just before young Sam appeared.
→ Sam and Laelia completely fell in love with each other, despite the marriage initially being political. They had a son, Valerius Antoninus Camillus, in 67 CE.
→ Finally feeling like he'd found true happiness and meaning in his life, Sam completely devoted his life to his family and his work. This left Ignatius incredibly jealous. It hadn't been apparent to Sam at all, but Ignatius had completely fixated on him, to the point where he believed Sam belonged to him and no one else.
→ Laelia got sick in the summer of 79 CE. Sam, believing that the dense & unhealthy city air was to blame, sent her and Valerius to their villa in Pompeii. Ignatius and Priscilla accompanied them, with Marcia already staying in the town.
→ Mount Vesuvius erupts in August 79 CE, destroying Pompeii. The siblings may have sensed it, or they may have concocted their plan on the spot; either way, they used the eruption to further experiment with their influence on others. Priscilla took 12 year old Valerius out of the town, ensuring that he was safe. Marcia took Laelia. Ignatius rode to Rome to find Sam. They told each of them that the rest of their family had died in the eruption, and with their own magic, heightened the reaction they got.
→ Valerius runs away from Priscilla. He doesn't like her, he never liked her or her brother or her sister, and he didn't believe her either. He was going to go back to Rome and find his mother and father by himself. She doesn't chase him.
→ Laelia believes Marcia. Marcia is her best friend, after all. Truly believing her family were dead, and unknowingly encouraged by Marcia, she throws herself onto the rocks in the bay of Naples.
→ Sam doesn't want to believe Ignatius. He grabs a horse and rides to Pompeii to see for himself. He doesn't get very far, with the volcano still erupting and the whole area all but decimated. With a lot of reluctance he turns back to Rome, sending messages to every person he knows across all of central and southern Italy to see if they have seen Laelia and Valerius. When telling this story to Sariya in the present day, he describes it as "the first time he ever truly felt despair."
→ He wants to run away. To never look back to Rome ever again. He would have, if he hadn't been approached by Titus, the new emperor. Titus tells him how much he sympathises, and understands how much Sam wants to leave Italy, but he's "reluctant to lose such a good man in the Senate". He offers Sam a compromise - if he can bear Rome until the end of the year, he will appoint him as his new governor of Africa. Sam accepts.
→ This is the first time he is anywhere near Carthage since his escape in 146 BCE. (Not quite the same city - as the original had been destroyed by Rome).