Exactly how a Roman soldier comes to be in this campaign depends on what time it is on Earth. If now is the Roman period, he just travelled here. If now is later than the Roman period, he travelled here but took his time. If now is earlier than the Roman period, Aurelius is not in the campaign. There will be someone similar, but his name will not be Septimus Aurelianus Aurelius.
[AD&D-Specific:] Septimus Aurelianus Aurelius, human male, Str 17 Dex 17 Con 16 Int 15 Wis 14 Cha 17 Align NG Hp 111. Height 6'4", Weight 217 lb. Age: Late thirties. Fighter, level 15. Bard (2nd edition), level 19.
Aurelius has the ability to alter self at will, adopting any humanoid form and maintaining it for up to one day per level (currently 19 days). This is related to, but not the same as, his psionic wild talent, metamorphosis, and is the result of a wild surge which happened while he was in Xenby. (For the record, that's ability to cast one spell of level 4d3-3 at will, the spell being the 6th-level spell improved alter self.)
Traits: Lucky (very lucky), Ambidextrous. Aurelius's acting skill is limited: he portrays stereotypes very convincingly, but has no talent for impersonation.
Aurelius carries Helios, a +2 Sun Blade spatha, INT 14 EGO 26. It is not particularly powerful if compared with some of the intelligent swords in this campaign, but he gets on well with it and would not wish to swap it for anything else.
When in melee, Aurelius fights two-handed where possible; his second weapon is a non-intelligent +4 defender gladius. His other second weapon is in reality more of a tool: an old and trusted +2 dagger, on which various spells (including continual light) have been cast.
There are those who think of Aurelius as a swashbuckler. They are applying the wrong stereotype. Septimus Aurelianus Aurelius is a Roman warrior of extraordinary good fortune.
Aurelius was born the seventh son of a freedman tailor, and would probably have gone into that profession himself had it not been that all the customers for miles around had been snapped up by his six elder brothers. Instead, he joined the army, volunteering for special missions. He believes in the traditional Roman virtues of Planning, Discipline and Cheating (whenever he can get away with it). He is a devotee of the Goddess Fortuna, and believes that She watches over him, and on the evidence of the dice he is right.
One day, Aurelius and colleague, Vladimir, went exploring the Palace of Tizun Thane (now known as the Mirror Mansion). Aurelius had learned the name of Tizun Thane and, finding Tizun Thane's body lying messily around the place, hid it away tidily, as any good Roman would (Aurelius understands the value of information, and in particular the value of concealing it from others). Later, finding himself outnumbered twenty to two, he called out to his opponents that he was really Tizun Thane, and had disguised himself using a spell. The leader of the opponents made the worst critical failure roll ever seen on a leadership check, and Aurelius found himself owning the palace. He retired from active adventuring at that point in order to concentrate on his new responsibilities.
Since these responsibilities include clearing the surrounding region of monsters, Aurelius continued to rise in level reasonably quickly.
Aurelius's favourite off-duty hobbies are casual sex and gambling, and he is very good at both. He is neither properly lawful nor properly chaotic - his liking for military discipline and command structure balances his libertarian religion and private life - and he likes to help those around him and regards it as necessary to fight evil when the opportunity presents itself, so his alignment works out as neutral good.
As a respectable Roman soldier, Aurelius does not much care for paladins, rangers or (old-style) bards, or any other fancy types who pretend to be fighting men but do not put their heart into it. (Dual-classing as a new-style bard does not count, of course. It is entirely in order for retired warriors to take up a second profession, and oratory is a respected Roman tradition. Aurelius's verbal spell components are recited Latin verses, not songs.)
Another thing which everyone wrongly assumes is that Aurelius and Vladimir are close friends. In fact, they do not really like one another all that much, but they know that they work well together as a team. Aurelius's quick but rather stereotyped reactions counterbalance Vladimir's slower out-of-the-box ideas.
The nickname "Aurelius" can be interpreted in a number of ways. It might translate "Golden Boy", referring ironically to the way Aurelius sought (and achieved) rapid promotion from the ranks of the Roman Army. One might also recall that an aurelius was a small coin, and "Aurelius" refers to his habit of turning up "like a bad penny".
N.B. as a lucky Roman, Aurelius gets +1 or -1 (whichever is more beneficial) on any roll of d10. This is in place of any "kit" benefits. This includes +2 on reaction rolls (2d10), which stacks with his charisma bonus.
N.B. as a Roman warrior of high level, Aurelius can raise and train an army at short notice.
Sabrina is a very close friend of Aurelius, Vladimir and Dalinda.
Aurelius is one of Pamina's numerous lovers.
Anulinus Pulcher is Aurelius's friend and also nominally his commanding officer. They now go their separate ways, but their paths cross from time to time.
Note for DMs:
The Mirror Mansion is where it is for a number of reasons. It has to have an owner, and if that owner is not Septimus Aurelianus Aurelius it is someone very much like him. Someone has to own it, and everyone concerned agrees that it is best that that someone is someone reasonably benevolent and with no particular political ambitions (i.e. someone who will not abuse the power of the Mirror Mansion) and someone who is both reasonably powerful himself and able to call on numerous equally-powerful friends (i.e. someone from whom it will not be possible for bad guys to displace from the Mirror Mansion).
If the player characters start getting ideas above their station and covet the Mirror Mansion, point out that they do not stand a chance. If one adds together all of Aurelius's henchmen and friends and everyone who owes him a favour, one ends up with a very large and very powerful party.
Aurelius also has contacts with the spying profession. If the player characters need to know something, Aurelius will probably not know it himself but will certainly know someone who does. Again, someone has to be the centre of a spy ring, and for reasons already given, everyone concerned agrees that it should be someone like Aurelius.
If the player characters need to meet Aurelius, get them to Megalopolis somehow or other and introduce them to Stisje Erlernia.
Here is a mildly amusing story which again illustrates Aurelius's luck.
Once upon a time, Aurelius decided he would like to visit Atlantis. So Aurelia (his niece) scried what appeared to be a safe place in the City Centre, and moved one of the Mirrors so that people could emerge from an alley wall. There was only one building from which this wall could be seen, and it appeared to Aurelia to be a rather boring office block.
The building was, in point of fact, the headquarters of the Atlantean Secret Police.
The secret police, noting someone appearing and disappearing through a solid wall, sent someone to investigate. The spy they sent tagged onto Aurelius in Omnatia, and established herself as one of his henchpeople. She sent a truthful report back to her bosses in Atlantis, saying that Aurelius was simply someone who liked to travel inconspicuously and presented no threat to the city.
Her bosses assumed that he had charmed her and sent another spy.
Then spies from other cities started to notice how many people were spying on Aurelius. Spies generally spy on one another, so the other spies assumed that Aurelius was a spy too, and spied on him to see what he was spying on.
Over the course of time, most of these spies (especially the glamorous female ones) defected to become Aurelius's henchpeople. The Mirror Mansion is now full of glamorous female spies working for Aurelius.
Aurelia, Aurelius's niece, is also devoted to Fortuna. I shall get around to describing her in due course.
The important facts to note are that Aurelia is chaotic neutral in alignment, her main interest in life outside her religion is casual sex, and that she is a breathtakingly beautiful blonde with a ridiculously high charisma/appearance stat.
It is generally believed that Aurelia's father was Anulinus Pulcher.
Septima, a danseuse and juggler who is sometimes to be found in the theatres of the Ligaean Peninsula and sometimes in Omnatia, is a young lady who looks rather like Aurelia's identical twin sister but detects as neutral good. Unlike Aurelia, Septima is not into casual sex; she has a steady boyfriend, a swashbuckler in Rajeya.
Actually, Septima is really Aurelius in disguise, using his alter self ability.
[AD&D-Specific:] Septima Aureliana, human female, Str 17 Dex 17 Con 16 Int 15 Wis 14 Cha 17 Align NG Hp 111. Height 5'3", Weight 110 lb. Age: Early twenties. Fighter, level 15. Bard (2nd edition), level 19.
Septima appeared shortly after Aurelius switched from fighter to bard. Aurelius wanted to spy on Xukry, suspecting that the travelling illusionist was a demon in disguise, and disguising himself as a dancing-girl seemed to be the best way of watching Xukry undetected. Things just got rather out of hand.
Xukry and Septima are now friends, and Septima sometimes appears in Xukry's show when other commitments permit.
Whenever Aurelius visits Omnatia, it is Septima who goes. Aurelius has won far too much money in the gambling-houses to be welcome in the city.
Septima has a few skills which Aurelius does not, things she picked up while part of Xukry's show. The only ones with any game effect are that Septima has weapon proficiency in boomerang and non-weapon proficiency in tightrope-walking.
Aurelius uses a second female identity, "Dalinda d'Hapelle", when he wants to visit Atlantis incognito (Aurelius is known in Atlantis and regarded there as a potential troublemaker, and Septima would also be recognised). Dalinda dresses and acts as if she were the daughter of a minor aristocrat (in Atlantis, this is a very easy stereotype to portray convincingly; son of a minor aristocrat would be even easier, but young aristocratic Atlantean men are forever getting themselves into trouble, and Aurelius has more sense than to involve himself in that scene). There is an aristocratic family with the surname d'Hapelle: they rule the isolated city of Vaatjan, about which most Atlanteans know nothing at all.
[AD&D-Specific:] Dalinda d'Hapelle, human female, Str 17 Dex 17 Con 16 Int 15 Wis 14 Cha 17 Align NG Hp 111. Height 5'9", Weight 134 lb. Age: Mid twenties. Fighter, level 15. Bard (2nd edition), level 19.
Sabrina is a very close friend of Aurelius, Vladimir and "Dalinda".