Aurelia Mitela, archetype Roma Novan, came to life when I was writing the first Roma Nova book, INCEPTIO. Then, she was the clever, experienced grandmother of Carina, the book’s heroine.
Let Carina tell you in her own words of her first impression of Aurelia:
“She’d been so concerned for me, but not in a soppy way. Direct and ‘no-nonsense’ fitted her perfectly, but her smile had been warm. I couldn’t help speculating how it would have been to grow up with her instead of the Browns.
I started tapping the keys, surfing for Roma Nova while I was drinking and thinking. I couldn’t leave it alone. My grandmother’s name shot out at me. Fascinated, I loaded the English translation. The screen displayed a list of her business interests. Sketchy on detail, it gave some personal stuff at the end: head of the influential Mitela family, senator and government advisor, cousin to the current imperatrix. She really was a big hitter.”
In CARINA, a novella which follows INCEPTIO, Aurelia is now the most senior advisor to the imperatrix, and still a formidable leader, but despite her experience and mental agility acquired over the years, even she can fail when Carina confronts her with an unpalatable truth:
[Carina speaks] “But I want to talk about your part in this, Nonna.’
‘Whatever do you mean?’
‘Don’t go all professional on me, Nonna,’ I began. I looked down at my phone and selected the playback and Vibiana’s disembodied voice echoed round the atrium.
‘I didn’t want to get either the vigiles or your lot involved but I was overruled. The head of the Silver Guild, Prisca Monticola, knows a senator on the intelligence oversight committee and they fixed it up through some covert old girls’ network.’
‘Interesting words. I think she must mean you, Nonna. Tell me, what exactly was this cosy little arrangement?’
‘No need to use sarcasm, my girl.’
‘I think you need to come clean, Nonna.’
Aurelia sent me a stern look, but I refused to look away. She was my beloved Nonna, but now she was a potential witness or even accessory. I had to harden my heart and maintain Praetorian mode.
She put her glass down on the little table beside her chair.
‘Monticola confided in me that she needed to recover this silver processing element, but couldn’t be seen to be negotiating directly. Vibiana was tasked to investigate it undercover, posing as a thief, and effect an exchange. To make it more realistic, she was posted as a fugitive, and going through the correct channels, I asked Legate Vara to send a couple of Praetorians after her, but only to look as if they were chasing her. They, you, weren’t supposed to catch her.’
‘Those weren’t my orders, Aurelia,’ Conrad said in a grave voice. ‘We were told to be discreet, but to use all possible means to stop her and bring her back.’
Nonna looked towards the tall windows. A faint flush crept into her face as she frowned. ‘It looks as if we’ve all been deceived.”
In PERFIDITAS, we see Aurelia, the cool ex-Praetorian, holding the family together after they’d been falsely arrested:
“[Aurelia to Carina] ‘I’ve been through a great deal worse. I’m not a little old lady out of some genteel novel.’
No, she truly wasn’t. She’d been PGSF [Praetorian Guard Special Forces] in her time, even led the attack to retake the city during the civil war. Although now in her mid-seventies, she definitely belonged to the “tough gals” league.
She gave me a close description of the arresting party. What a difference it made when the victim was a trained professional and could give you precise, detailed information. She’d printed off her statement and signed it already.”
Throughout INCEPTIO, CARINA, PERFIDITAS and SUCCESSIO, we catch glimpses of Aurelia’s early life, but even more, a whole range of questions are thrown up. What did she do in the Great Rebellion nearly twenty-three years before the time of INCEPTIO? Why is she so anxious when she compares the villain in SUCCESSIO to Caius Tellus, the brutal ‘First Consul’ who instigated the rebellion all those years ago? Who was the great love of Aurelia’s life that Carina only learns about in SUCCESSIO?
1960s Berlin
In AURELIA, the fifth book which takes us back to the late 1960s, Aurelia is accused of murder while on a mission to Berlin, and while in remand undergoes a (hostile) psychological assessment. Here’s the report on her:
Subject is highly rational, quick-minded and a natural leader. She sees nothing is impossible given enough time and resources. Subject has the confident personality and willpower to pursue and implement her goals, easily bringing others with her. A dominant personality.
Strategic thinker, curious, innovative, able to grasp and deal with problems with determination and precision. Energetic and excellent communication skills, happy to confront and negotiate with others. Intelligent enough to recognise other people’s talents, and work with them. Requires challenges and even failures, or her self-confidence could easily turn into arrogance and condescension.
Personalities of this type cannot tolerate inefficiency or those whom they perceive as lazy or incompetent. They can be chillingly cold and ruthless when the situation arises, operating purely on logic and rationality.
They interact very well with others, often charming them to their cause, and paying attention to other people’s feelings – or at least pretending that they do. Most mature and successful personalities of this type are genuine in this aspect to some extent, even though their sensitivity may hide a cold and calculating mind.
This is a slant on the classic ENTJ personality profile from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a psychometric test system popular in business to indicate psychological preferences about how people perceive the world and make decisions. I needed to make the report negative for the story, but positive aspects of this type of personality are that they are conceptual and global thinkers, able to see connections where others don’t, and to think ahead. Couple this with the intuition and sense of fair play many ENTJs possess, it can make life frustrating for this personality when people around them don’t grasp things the way they do. Of course, this conflict is a gift for a writer… 😉
In essence, Aurelia is a blood-and-bone Roma Novan whose values are based on traditional ancient Roman ones; tough, loyal with a strong sense of duty and fully aware of her responsibilities as head of a great family. But her desire to keep all the balls juggling in the air with precise timing leads to her being riven by guilt if she doesn’t perform a hundred percent.
Aurelia has a major vulnerability, her love for her frail daughter, Marina. She will do anything to protect Marina, especially from her nemesis Caius Tellus. This vulnerability, and willingness to sacrifice everything for Marina, is also her greatest strength, along with her determination to serve her country as it resonates so much with us and with our love for our children and parents.
Is she sympathetic? Yes, because under all that resolution and toughness, she is still a human being who experiences fear, love, despair and grief. She bitterly misses the strong comradeship of her earlier military career, and is exhilarated when going back into action. And then, there is her devotion to her life-long love, elusive though he sometimes is…
Buy AURELIA here: https://books2read.com/AURELIARomaNova
Buy the Carina Omnibus (INCEPTIO, CARINA, PERFIDITAS and SUCCESSIO) here: https://books2read.com/CARINAOMNIBUS
Buy the Aurelia Omnibus (AURELIA, NEXUS, INSURRECTIO, RETALIO) here: https://books2read.com/AURELIAOMNIBUS
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
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