Agrippa Varius Leonis

Agrippa hails from a family as old as Rome itself, but one that only rose to prominence due to the aid and sponsorship of the famed Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. His ancestors eventually served in the Roman Senate, and served as advisers to various emperors and as officials throughout the Empire.

His uncle, Decius Varius Rufus, was an adviser and confidante of Marcus Aurelius, and arranged for his wayward, wild brother Titus to be assigned to the emperor's legions as a tribune.

Titus served under Avidius Cassius, one of the emperor's generals in the wars against Parthia. He earned renown and fame when he was the first atop the walls during Avidius Cassius' siege of Ctesiphon, and became known as the 'Lion at the Gate' for the ferocity he displayed when seizing the gatehouse.

Titus was badly wounded in the battle, and went to Egypt to recuperate, where he took part in liesurely travel along the Nile, and met a priestess of Sekhmet, and a son was born of that union, before the demands of duty took Titus away from his lover and son.

Titus was eventually killed fighting against Avidius Cassius, when his former commander tried to usurp rule of the empire. When Decius Varius Rufus traveled to Egypt to help ensure a stable transition of power and to deal with local dissent in the aftermath of the revolt, he met Titus' lover and child, and took the boy in. With his own children grown and off serving in various parts of the empire, Decius adopted the boy.

The boy, now called Agrippa, was taken to Rome at the age of eleven, and raised by his uncle and his uncle's household. In particular, he was trained by a gladiator owned by one of his father's lower-class clients, and also learned from old comrades of his father, who would come to visit.

When he came of age, young Agrippa sought the same military glories of his father, but his uncle desired to keep him safe and close, so arranged for the young man to take a position with the Praetorian Guard.

The dullness of those duties turned to chaos, due to the death of Commodus and his comrades' assassination of Emperor Pertinax. He was one of a handful of Praetorians that remained loyal and did not partake in the plot, and was thus spared from execution by Septimus Severus.

But the new emperor was still wary of keeping a former Praetorian close, so he named Agrippa as tribune, and dispatched him to the east in command of a unit of Numidian auxiliary cavalry, to serve as a scout and spy, to keep an eye on the actions of Pescennius Niger and other potential usurpers.