First, Book Word Update for Steel Praetorian: 36,100 words.
Hi everyone! I’ve got a small snippet of my latest chapter. Introducing Aurelia Appius, cousin of Constantine. She plays a much larger roll in this book, unlike in Iron Tribune, where she’s little more than a visitor in the story of the Steam Empire Chronicles, Aurelia will become a main character in her own right.
One of my thought processes behind Aurelia was to increase the variety of characters in my story. Although I had both Octavia and Marciena in previous books, it’s always important to me that I try to expand on the world of the S.E.C. Rome, after all, was an exceptionally cosmopolitan city, and empire. Aurelia is different in that her mother hails from Nubia, and is much darker skinned that her compatriots in these stories. She takes her role in this regard very differently. Her mother always impressed upon her the need to assimilate and yet use her ‘exoticness’ for advantage. Aurelia’s mother, Sophia, was not some side fling of a powerful man, but married to Sabinus Octavian Appius, brother to the emperor.
This ‘mixed’ marriage would have been met with some surprise and shock to some in the historical time period of the 1800s, but in a cosmopolitan Rome, it is not. After all, this has been happening for hundreds of years at this point. It would have been far more of a shock had Aurelia’s mother been from farmer stock, and not from a wealth family of merchants, explorers, and nobles in the southern reaches of Aegyptus province.
Aurelia does not consider herself different from others, but has no barrier to using her looks to achieve her goals. She’s smart, dedicated, and incredibly witty (which often gets her into trouble).
Here’s a small quote from her first official chapter.
Sweeping her long, wine dark gown down the hallway, Aurelia Appius worked hard at disguising her thoughts. An expert at the delicate game of politics since childhood, she was adept at maintaining an emotionless façade when needed.
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Ciao!
Modern Papyrus 