Maxus has proven himself a honorable man and it was not unknown for a gladiator to rise so quickly especially if the prince was looking to replace a corrupt or Perfect that died.
Why do I think this was planned, and might not Valerius have planned the attack to closer bind Maxus to him? Suspicious Minds here, granted Maxus would have killed him the minute he had those suspicions confirmed.
Remember this was the SANE Emperor. He wouldn't have to stoop to something low like that to get Max to become the new Captain of everything, all he would've had to do was say "Oh btw, new job, you start tomorrow"
The same sane Emperor who maintained a a tight cut off the outside world policy, not as sane as you might think, but a clever plotting and planning one instead.
Dragonrider, I think you are being unjust to Valerius. None of us know what internal dynamics the politics of Nova Roma were undergoing. From the admittedly limited information we do have, he seemed to be sane (certainly sane-R) than either his father or his son.
Valerius may have had to defer opening up relations with other places simply to get his own house in order. And that was likely to be vastly more difficult because he didn't have his city's AI to support him (thanks to his father's actions).
Since Valerius was already planning on releasing Maxus, he felt it was important for Irene to be present to ENJOY the accolades that were going to be heaped on him. Valerius probably already had that job in mind for him too. Maxus is too good at everything he does to NOT trying and make the best use of his talents.
The fact that Valerius came to Maxus shows (to me) that he cared far more than others did/do. He knew where Maxus needed to be (with Irene) and accommodated him without losing any of his status as the guy in charge. :-) The fact he got someone of Maxus' abilities FIRMLY on his side was icing on the cake.
Storm has it about right Valerius was between a rock and a hard place and he had to do some serious clean up on things and had to make a lot of hard choices :D
And the way he went about it got him loyalty and thankfulness ensured - traits that are good to have if your safety depends on that man... (though it did not help for his survival, since he was not present to help...)
The more I see of DEci and Acantha's Dad the more I am convinced that A: Deci is clearly NOT their child but a changeling. of B: DEcis mom and dad should have had him screend as an embryo for mental instability and then Aborted...
True though I bet in deci's case when he was born him trying to strangle the Attending physician with his own umbilical Cord may have been a hint towards something was wrong with hi\m
Look at Douchie's Mom and then look at the Kali and notice the resemblance the forehead decoration, who did Kali emulate when she reformatted herself into the current form?
The cast page info is outdated, as a lot of the stuff on the profiles was written before we really started digging into the history. Kali's been around longer than just 30 years; she pre-dates Aurelian's coup.
Irene and Maxus together in the Black Palace. Hmmm! After one of their, shall we say sessions? No wonder she lives in a place far away! cough- noise pollution -cough.
a blackout hasn't happened over here for... sheesh, around 5-6 months, but DAMN it is annoying when it does happen. and solar would save me so much money.
Also, it's not like putting Maxus in the guard is going to hurt him. It's always good to have a grateful and intelligent meatshield as bodyguard. :D
Meanwhile, a doggy is smoking two chess pieces in a bong. :D
You are right though, it would have been funny to see that expression on Maxus' face. :-)
Valerius may have had to defer opening up relations with other places simply to get his own house in order. And that was likely to be vastly more difficult because he didn't have his city's AI to support him (thanks to his father's actions).
Since Valerius was already planning on releasing Maxus, he felt it was important for Irene to be present to ENJOY the accolades that were going to be heaped on him. Valerius probably already had that job in mind for him too. Maxus is too good at everything he does to NOT trying and make the best use of his talents.
The fact that Valerius came to Maxus shows (to me) that he cared far more than others did/do. He knew where Maxus needed to be (with Irene) and accommodated him without losing any of his status as the guy in charge. :-) The fact he got someone of Maxus' abilities FIRMLY on his side was icing on the cake.
Maybe she just look thirty ?
I always thought she was buildt while Aeneas was still sane.
I think it's been a good 7 years since we had a local blackout here. And some 16 years since the last regional blackout.