Gaius Flavius Latartus

Gaius Flavius Latartus was born in 2E 430 in the Waterfront District of Imperial City two days after Savirien-Chorak was assassinated. While he may have been born to humble begininnings, he would later become the Eleventh Reman Potentate.

EARLY LIFE

"When I was a young man, I remember staring at White Gold Tower, and I would try to think of how beautiful it was on the inside. I fanticized that the fountains were of chocolate, and the roofs of solid gold. I thought that it could never fall" - Flavius Latartus

Flavius was born to Gaius Attrebus and Saria Marcia Latartus in the Imperial City Waterfront Slums, a large group of tennaments built on the outer coast of the waterfront, prone to floods and unsanitary conditions. Saria, his mother, died in childbirth.

Flavius' father was a dock worker at the East Empire Company. His father was also a drunkard, and was abusive. He grew up working along with his father at the docks because his family was too poor to send him to a school. Flavius developed an interest in the world because of his environment. Every day a new boat would enter the harbor, and every day Flavius would see sailors and merchants from the four corners of Tamriel.

RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME

''"Truly, it was one of the hardest days of my life. I had never gone beyond the Imperial Gates, but here I was, standing on the White Bridge. It streched off into the distance, fading to a point far away. It was then I realised just how incredible a world Tamriel is." -'' Flavius Latartus

In 2E 445, the merchants stopped coming to Imperial City as the Empire's borders retreated. Because of this, Flavius and his father were forced into unemployment. Flavius' father took this hard, and began to drink even more, and became more and more abusive every day.

Flavius worked at a local laundry trying to earn any money he could, though his father took most of it to fuel his drinking.

Finally, at the age of seventeen, Flavius had had enough, and he left Imperial City.

BOETHIA'S HAND

''"We all have our demons. Some are just more real than others. I am not proud of those days, but they made me who I am today." -'' Flavius Latartus

Flavius found himself in Weye the next morning. It was then that it finally hit him what he had done. He was lost in Weye without a penny to his name. When a rainstorm hit, he hid under an awning, there he met Sullia Velan.

She offered him to join her family. Flavius happily accepted, not knowing what she meant. It was later, when he entered a dilapidated temple, he learned what he had just done. He had joined a Cult of Boethia.

They branded his right arm with the Hand of Boethia, and thus began his three year long journey with the Boethian Hands, under the leadership of Fadrill.

It was during this time that Flavius met the first love of his life, Sullia Velan.

Flavius was a member of Boethia's Hands for nearly 3 years, until one day he was blindfolded, and brought to a secret shrine of Boethia, where he spoke to the Daedra. She gave him a mission, kill the Count of Leyawiin.

That night, Sullia came over to Flavius, and they spent the night together. The next morning, however, Sullia was gone. She had run away in the night. Disheartened, Flavius began his mission for Boethia.

STEWARD OF LEYAWIIN

''"When I think of the happiest days of my life, I think of this. I had a wife, a son, and a future. The Empire slowly disintegrated, but I didn't care. It was not my concern. I thought it would last forever." -'' Gaius Flavius Latartus

Flavius failed in his mission. He was caught by the Count of Leyawiin, and given a choice. Either betray his family and live, or die. In his youth, Flavius was a coward, and revealed the location of Boethia's Shrine. Every person there was killed. No survivors. At least, so he thought. Two members escaped, Fadrill and Sullia Velan.

Now that Flavius' head was marked by Boethia, Count Attellus gave him a choice, work for him as his steward, or be killed by assassins. He took the former.

In the next ten years, Flavius fell in love again, with Maria Attellus, the count's daughter, and in 2E 454, they were married. This made Flavius the Count's son-in-law, and the heir to the County of Leyawiin.

Together, they had a son, Gaius Flavius Latartus II. Flavius pledged that his son would have a better life than he did. Thus, he had them moved to Imperial City, the last bastion of Imperial Wealth in the Empire.

Sadly, it was this very devotion which killed his family. When Imperial City was attacked and sacked, he was in Leyawiin attending to the Count, who was sick. The few soldiers who returned from Imperial City told stories of the rape of the city, and how it was put to the torch.

He never found out the fate of his wife and son, and perhaps it was best that he never will.

Later that month, the Count passed away, leaving Flavius as the highest ranking politician in the Empire.

POTENTATE OF THE EMPIRE

"Today, I am forced to take the position of Reman Potentate, after the tragic passing of Count Marcus Attellus. He was truly a father to me, and he shall be missed. I take his postition as Potentate, not from ambition, but because the sun must never set over the Reman Empire." - Gaius Flavius Latartus

Flavius' Potentateship was a hard one. By this point, the Empire only controlled Leyawiin and a single city in Elsweyr which swiftly broke off. Most of his rule was simply keeping the remains of the Empire from ripping itself apart.

The Imperial Senate became more and more unruly, to the point that Flavius was worried about a potential assassination plot.

In private, Flavius was unconsolable, and he even contemplated suicide a few times. His entire life had fallen apart, and he truly had no hope.

This continued for nearly ten years, when he received a message from Imperial City about a conference of all the former states and counties of Cyrodiil.

THE WAR OF THE SHATTERED DIAMOND

''"This, this is the price of war. No matter how noble our intentions, in war we risk all that is pure. We truly are no greater than what our hearts allow. We must remember this every day, or it shall be our downfall." - ''Gaius Flavius Latartus