[center][h3]Priscian[/h3]

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It is easy to see how a culture as decadent the Imperium could have bred such a person as Kaeso Pricisan. Every person of importance on Juno is totally concerned with status and their own perceived beauty, sacrificing everything for the latest fashion, the newest gadget and breakthrough rejuvenation therapies. Priscian had witnesses the most affluent spend their fortunes, squandering their estates and end up losing their entire wealth in their desperate hunt of the fountain of youth. On the bright side, Priscian supposed they made for beautiful homeless.

In Priscian's grand solar, the Consul of the Juno Protectorate studied himself in a hand mirror as he sat at his desk, flanked by golden statutes of himself. No one looked half as good as Priscian. His body was immaculately cleansed, his skin smooth and clean, void of any unsightly body hair and age line. 

"You are beautiful," said his smiling reflection.

"You really think so?" Priscian questioned with delight.

"Yes, of course I do. You made a good decision leaving those drab senators and courtiers of New Rome," returned the handsome reflection.

The consul tittered happily. "I am so glad to hear you say that!"

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

Priscian set the mirror down gently on the desk, turning around in his magnetic swivel chair to view the large terrace behind him. The balcony gave way to an expansive cityscape, disappearing to the horizon. Thousands of silver towers jut out into the air like sparkling knives. Ships careened through the shipping lanes. His city was quickly growing to cover all the habitable equatorial strip of the continent Jupra.

When Juno was first colonized centuries ago, it's dense atmosphere posed a serious challenge to environmental engineers. After many setbacks, the atmospheric evaporators managed to thin out the dense ozone and smothered stratosphere, and allowed the sun to penetrate the frozen planet. The sprawling ice caps receded, and water flooded the recesses of the planet, forming great oceans. Imported seeds began to sprout and over the centuries, forests spread along the equator, and the colony prospered.

Priscian walked out on the terrace where a stratagist board lay neglected. Its beautifully carved pieces seemed to scream for attention. Priscian's happy face melted away, and he became dour, lost in a memory. He recalled when one of his children defeated him at the game last year. He had been so enraged that he threw him from the balcony, falling eighty-seven stories to his death. The game had been ignored by him ever since, which was a shame. It had been a gift from the late Emperor Nazarirus. Though he wouldn't admit it, Priscian did miss sharp Paulus, though if he had been so sharp, he would have let Priscian win - he should have known better.

Paulus had been among his favourite clones, the product of astounding success in Juno's cloning sector, given that much of the technology was lost following the fracturing of the Imperium. Priscian willed the pang of loss to subside, as well as other unsettling feelings, mainly the implications of a clone defeating him at one of his favourite games.

Pushing the thoughts from his mind, the consul's smile returned as he surveyed the horizon, where shuttles lifted off from a distant hanger, and disappeared in the sky, taking the form of dozens of twinkling lights. Overhead, seeming to be a construct of the clouds as it rested in low orbit, was an immense warship, the bright white sun shining of it's metallic hull. Pride swelled in Priscian as he watched all his busy little bees hard at work, fluttering along to do his bidding. Only a few more days, and the ship would be ready to depart, to squash the last of the Caprica resistance and finally make the Juno Protectorate whole. 

Where the last age belonged to the Imperium, Horation was intent on forging an age devoted to his majesty, his magnificence, his utter beauty. Others jostled over the ashes of the former empire, but Priscian would out smart them all... He knows it is his destiny. Priscian beamed happily as he thought of coming into his power.

A chime within his solar took him from his thoughts. "Ah! Dinner!" Priscian clapped his hands excitedly and returned from the balcony. 

"Greetings your beautifulness," said one of his children, approaching the consul's desk, a tray in hand. "Dinner is served." He set the tray down atop the desk, whisking away the silver cover to reveal the food within. Priscian breathed deep. "Ahh Ika lichen, one of my favourites!" 

Priscian turned from his dinner to take a moment to admire the beauty of his clone, his exact likeness save for the tattoo of a bar=code over his right eye. "You are beautiful."

"Thank you, Your Excellency. I take after my father."

Priscian laughed. "Wait for me at my bedchamber." Ika lichen made for a potent aphrodisiac as well as a delicacy. 

While he ate, the consul contemplated his future, and the obstacles before him. The times ahead would be a challenge, and once the dissidents in Protectorate space were dealt with, the next major opponent brewed outer sectors, toward Earth and beyond. He took a spoonful of lichen, swallowing the steamed flora before uttering a word in a contemplative tone...

"The Dominion."