You are born in the dirt, you die in the dirt. The wisdom of Aulus Priscus's father was simple and pragmatic, no time wasted for needless frivolities. For generations their family had been miners, men of great strength and some significant wealth. Now Aulus himself was an old man, with no family of his own and great ambition.

So the thirty-eight year old now resides from Rome, the city where ambitions were forged in the twin flames of politics and deceit. Aulus is not a fool who believes that he alone could forge a path through the complex political maze of Rome without allies, nor was he blinded to the potential for enemies to be waiting beyond every corner.