| Livia Plurabella | |
| Fictional Character | |
| Gunpowder Empire POD: 12 BC | |
| Type of Appearance: | Direct |
| Nationality: | Roman Empire |
| Religion: | Roman pantheon |
| Date of Birth: | c. 2053 |
| Spouse: | Marco Plurabello |
Livia Plurabella was the wife of Marco Plurabello, the richest banker in the city of Polisso, in an alternate known to Crosstime Traffic as "Agrippan Rome."
A middle-aged beauty with scars from smallpox, Livia came to purchase a razor from Amanda Solters. Due to a loss of contact with the home timeline, Amanda could not except grain as payment anymore, and had to insist on a price of 150 denarii. When Livia tried to haggle the price down to 80, Amanda refused, and started giving an elaborate sales pitch, knowing that Livia could not leave without purchasing the trinket she had boasted that she would own. Livia agreed to send her slave to deliver the money to the store.
Amanda found it odd that Livia had no qualms about slavery, when Livia's husband's own father had once been a slave. Livia wondered why the Solterses refused to own slaves, and wondered if it was an Imperial Christian tenet.[1]
On one occasion at the fountain, Livia chided Amanda for being too familiar and friendly with Maria, the slave of local craftsman Pulio Carvilio. Amanda restrained her anger and made witty upbeat remarks, even though she imagined herself smashing a jug on Livia's head.[2]
After the Lietuvan siege of Polisso was underway, Livia came to purchase a watch. She and Amanda briefly bonded over their shared terror about what a Lietuvan sack of the city would entail, and a determination as women to put on a brave face when men expected them to cower in terror. But then Livia aroused Amanda's ire again with callous talk of slavery, and a suggestion that Amanda would never be Livia's social equal.[3]
Literary comment[]
Livia Plurabella is named for Anna Livia Plurabelle, a protagonist of the Irish novel Finnegans Wake (1939) by James Joyce.
References[]
- ↑ Gunpowder Empire, pgs. 120-126.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 155-156.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 166-168.
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