My name is Quintus. I am a slave. Well, what did you expect, Caesar himself? I am sure the great emperor has far more important things to do than stand here and pass the time of day with the likes of you. I, on the other hand, have no one to talk to. I work in the household of G. Marcellus Verus, a well liked but low ranking senator. The other slaves of the household are always busy with their own petty problems so they seldom have time to listen to me. But I am a great observer of character. I understand situations far better than most people, even than those involved in them and I have many interesting stories to tell. Despite their typical patrician exterior, the family for which I work has many interesting secrets clouding their lives, which I can share with you.
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 This is the atrium in The House of The
Dolphin. Beautiful isn't it. The Senator's wife has always had excellent taste. The
bedrooms of the family radiate off the atrium to the left and right and the door to the
tablinium is to the north. Beyond that is the peristylium, the kitchen, and the families
private baths. And behind the dinning room is a tiny hall with a set of tiny rooms where
we slaves have our billet.
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 Here is the Senator, Gaius
Verus Marcellus,
at work in his study. The senator is a kind and patient man with a good sense of humor.
Nearly everyone who has met him seems to like this man. Despite his amiability, he has
never achieved a very high position in the senate. To the public he is a model husband and
father. But for those who look closely, there are sometimes visible traces of pain and
sadness in the Senator's eyes. It is if he carries a burden that he is afraid to share
with anyone, even his family.
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 Here is the Senator's wife, Ullia
Concordia, sitting in the Atrium, just as she would like to be seen. Publicly, she fulfills
the role of a typical Roman matron with grace and style. However, her impeccable public
face hides a cold relationship with her husband and a distant one with her children. She
runs an orderly household and does all her duties, but the slaves, who see everything,
know how she leaves the house some nights in her litter to pay a visit to a gladiator she
greatly admires.
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 Flavius
Verus Rufus. The senator's son.
Charismatic and charming, this boy has inherited his father's sense of humor. Well loved
and admired by all those he meets, he has acquired many friends. He is currently on leave
from his duties in Gaulia as an officer in the Legions. Everyone who matters agrees that
this boy has real promise and will go far in his career. So does it really matter that the
boy drinks to much? That he spends a bit more time with women than he ought? Stays out to
horrible hours of the day and night? Not really. He probably still has better character
than half of Rome.
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 The Senator's daughter,
Vera Marcella is a spoiled brat. Everyone who has had to put up with her unreasonable requests and
silly tantrums knows this. This is a result of her father lavishing the attention on her
that his wife would not allow him to give to her. Her friends are all disgustingly rich.
She makes a point only to befriend those that she feels of sufficient "value." I
daresay that most of these "friends" are as insipid and boorish as she herself
is want to be. It is widely agreed among those who know something that it is only a matter
of time before this girl disgraces herself and her family as a result of her overpowering
greed and stupidity.
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 I am not the lone slave of the household.
I share my work with this pack of rogues and troublemakers. Most of them are far more
interested in their own affairs than they are on actually working and always are coming up
with creative ways to blame each other when the work does not get done.Dora is a ladies' maid with a rather inflated opinion of herself. She is supposed to be in charge of dressing and attending to the ladies of the household, but seems to spend most of her time gossiping with the slaves next door. Grullius is the Steward and Porter. His job primarily consists of sleeping and drinking with Flavius Rufus and his friends. When not engaged in these all consuming actives, he builds up an enormous gambling debt which he pays off by stealing from the Senator. Then there is Xanthos, the Senator's scribe. High strung and nervous, this man spends all his time keep the senators affairs is order and carrying out every task set to him. In his spare time he works on a treatise expounding on the merits of fish sauce. He seems to be too busy to get into trouble. This could mean that he is the only virtuous person in the house, or it could mean that he is hiding something particularly nasty. Either way, he frightens me.
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Downloads Download the House of the Dolphin Note: I have removed the family for the House of the Dolphin. This is because I feel providing it was far more trouble than it was worth, since it was hard to install and caused many people's computers to crash. I may offer them again in the future, but do not feel I can provide a stable and safe file at this time. In the mean time, the above file contains all the costumes needed to create a family of your own. I will provide the family anyone who wishes to contact me about it but wish to be in no way responsible for the outcome of its use. This file contains all the walls, floors, objects, and skins needed to re-create the house of the dolphin in your neighborhood.
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Salve!
This
is where my master makes his home, in a luxurious villa in the hills around Rome. Once
there was an ancient fountain at the site of the house, with the statue of a dolphin
rearing up in the middle. The fountain is long gone, but the villa is still called The
House of The Dolphin in remembrance. The Senator has marked the entrance with a pair of
topiary dolphins and is quite proud of his house's history.