Demigods: Main Characters (Percy Jackson) | Camp Half-Blood | Camp Jupiter
Gods: Major Gods | Minor Gods | Other Servants
Villains: Forces of Kronos | Forces of Gaia | Forces of Triumvirate Holdings
Others: Nature Spirits | Mortals | Monsters | Other | Demigods & Magicians
The history of Rome is well-known, including its emperors. Unknown to many, this memory and reverence allowed a trio of the most infamous emperors to extend their lives far beyond their natural limits. Now in the modern day, they seek to use the wealth and influence they have accrued over the centuries to create a new empire, an empire they would see built on the bones of the old gods. They serve as the Big Bad of the The Trials of Apollo series. This page details the Triumvirate and their various allies and employees. For a more thorough list of characters in the setting, see here.
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The Triumvirate
General
The corporate mastermind behind many events in the Camp's (and world's) history. The three heads of the company are also known as the imperators.
- Arc Welding: Apparently Triumvirate Holdings funded the Titans' attack on New York and the Giants' rise against Olympus.
- Big Bad: Apparently the biggest bad of the series, having backed Kronos and Gaia's schemes for their own benefit.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: The three emperors are obviously equals, but the group as a whole (specifically Nero) are in a partnership with Python.
- The Caligula: The heads of the Triumvirate seek their own advancement, even if it means funding a war on the streets of New York or leveling Long Island. Literally, in the case of Neos Helios, who is Caligula.
- Classic Villain: Represent Ambition and Pride. They are a group of Godhood Seekers (they already attained minor godhood, but they seek to become major deities) who manipulated events in the prior books of the series, and are each shown to be incredibly selfish (mirroring our hero Apollo who slowly learns a lesson in humility). Two out of three of them die at the hands of Apollo in a final battle (while Caligula is killed by Frank to avenge Jason). Nero particularly fits the bill here; having child spies in Camp Half-Blood that he manipulated, dressing in expensive purple clothes, and trying to burn down the home of the gods.
- Corporate Conspiracy: Triumvirate Holdings is actually composed of three Roman emperors — Nero, Commodus and Caligula — that have served as The Man Behind the Man for the previous antagonists and are determined to become part of the Olympian pantheon.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: A whole group of them - unlike previous villains, these men are threatening because of their absurd capital rather than their magical strength.
- Deity of Human Origin/God-Emperor: They were able to use the worship they recieved as Roman emperors to ascend to immortality. However, in the grand scheme of gods, they are very minor deities.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Twofold. Firstly, it's made clear from book 1 that Python was to be the final bosses fought after Apollo deals with the Triumvirate and regains his godhood. Secondly, Caligula and Commodus were annihilated, leaving Nero the final Emperor standing.
- Evil Counterpart: All of them have Apollo's characteristics: arrogance, fantastic oration, a need for worship, an ignorance to the plight of others and a massive case of It's All About Me. They love to rub it in his face. His Character Development is growing more human and distancing himself from these dark mirrors.
- Fiction 500: They've had quite some time to build their wealth and influence. Their company, Triumvirate Holdings, is perhaps the largest in the world. Caligula has a fleet of 50 pleasure yahcht which cost no less than 500 millions each.
- Godhood Seeker: A variation in that the Triumvirates themselves are de facto already minor gods, but they want to rise to the ranks of the Olympians, the highest gods of the pantheon.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: The three heads survived centuries after they should have died due to the exaggerated legends surrounding them and forcing their subject to worship them. This is notable because they are merely humans who claimed to be gods.
- Greater-Scope Villain: For the two preceding series, as they funded the previous demigod villains without involving themselves.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The heads of Triumvirate Holdings are genocidal conspirators plotting to take over the world, an evil way beyond the scale of the Roman Emperors.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: They are Deities of Human Origin, and stand out as being one of-if not the- most ruthless and cruel antagonists that Camp-Half Blood has faced, committing atrocities that Kronos and Gaea could not reach. In fact, Caligula does what not even Gaea, a Protogenos could do: kill one of the Seven.
- Man Behind the Man: While they can't claim responsibility for the actions of the previous Big Bads, they did make the situation noticeably worse. It was through their actions that Luke gained his cruise/warship and their intermediaries sold the onagers to Octavian.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Well no honor among co-conspirators for world/celestial domination, but close enough. As of now, the emperors all have plans to betray each other or at least become the superior member. Python is heavily implied to be using them all as pawns in his own scheme as well, whatever that turns out to be. And then we have people planning to use the Triumvirate Holdings to further their own goals, like Incitatus.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted, naturally. The Roman imperial family weren't a very creative folk when it came to naming people.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While allied, there is no love lost between the three emperors. With Commodus it is a temporal thing (he was born four generations after Nero), but Caligula and Nero are uncle and nephew. Then again, this is the Roman imperial family we're talking about.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Each of the emperors manages to escape the heroes after being defeated in the book where they are introduced, setting up a Sequel Hook each time.
Nero
Regnal name Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the first named member of the Triumvirate, and the main antagonist of The Hidden Oracle. Also known as the Beast.
- The Antichrist: The Antichrist in scripture is widely believed to have been written with the real Nero in mind. In the series, Nero's nickname is "The Beast", another name for the Antichrist, and his crime of burning Christians alive is a plot point in The Hidden Oracle.
- A Beast in Name and Nature: Often referred to as the Beast - and he surely lives up to such a name.
- Abusive Parents: To Meg, after killing her real father. To every other member of his imperial household as well. Apollo directly compare him to Kronos, the all powerful father who could make or devour his children on a whim.
- All Your Powers Combined: Though he doesn't get all the forces Commodus and Caligula used, destroying them apparently focused the power they had gathered into Nero.
- Big Bad: Of The Hidden Oracle.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With the other two emperors and Python for the series as a whole. By the time of The Tower of Nero it's just him and Python left.
- Big Bad Wannabe: At the end of the day, Nero is nothing more than a pawn for Python. Once he's finally killed and his power is absorbed by his "partner," all he can do is express horror at the prospect of the serpent victorious.
- Crazy-Prepared: His backup plan for destroying New York (the original plan being mass arson via Greek fire) is by using Sassanid gas to kill everyone in his Tower, i.e. all of the Camp Half-Blood reinforcements.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The perfect trap he set to protect his fasces is based on the assumption that no one, not least Apollo is selfless enough to give up their own immortality to defeat him.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Apollo finds in The Tower of Nero a fiddle in his tower presumably to play as he burns all of New York to the ground as a reference to the old rumor that he fiddled while Rome burned as a personal joke.
- Evil Mentor: To a dozen half-bloods, including none other than Meg McCaffrey. He raised them before Camp Half-Blood could find them with the intention of aiding his plot against Olympus.
- Fatal Flaw: His Evil Cannot Comprehend Good mindset above and his Flunky Boss tendencies below both contributed directly to his demise. His sadistic impulse also opens up numerous openings for Apollo to exploit.
- Flunky Boss: The Beast prefers to be flanked by his Germani and servants rather than fight alone. A mistake in his part, as having the constitution of a minor god, he is much stronger than his servants and perfectly capable of taking on Apollo's entire team at once.
- The Heavy: The more personal enemy to Meg and Apollo and the longest-lasting emperor, though Python is the greater threat.
- Hidden Villain: The Beast remains in the shadows for most of The Hidden Oracle and its only in the final chapters of the book is his identity revealed; The Beast is Emperor Nero.
- Jekyll & Hyde: He pretends to suffer from this so he can keep Meg compliant by making it seem like it's her fault whenever he gets angry and abusive.
- Kick the Dog: Ordering the 8-year-old Cassius to chop off both of Luguselwa's hands while she was already broken both her legs in front of Meg. Later he offered to punish Cassius for the act to make Meg feel better. Yeah, the guy's a dick.
- Manipulative Bastard: The Beast intentionally endangers Apollo's children to manipulate the former god. He also tricks Meg into thinking that he and "The Beast" are split-personalities, and that the latter only emerges if Meg makes "him" angry, and therefore the resulting abuse is her fault.
- The Mole: The Beast has managed to plant a demigod in Camp Half-Blood who answers to him. It turns out to be Meg.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "The Beast" is a title of the Devil in Christian faith. And that's before you find out what he did to earn that appellation...
- Never My Fault: On top of the other tropes noted here, he never admits to inflicting suffering on anyone, blaming someone else for bringing it about.
- Purple Is Powerful: He wears purple woolen suits.
- Pyromaniac: The Beast first appears in a volcano, and seems to use arson as his signature weapon.
- Satanic Archetype: Aside from the whole "literally being The Antichrist of the Book of Revelation" part, Nero is a prideful lesser deity who seeks to overthrow the Olympian gods and rule in their stead, all the while manipulating the children of the gods to aid him.
- Spell My Name with a "The": The Beast, mostly because it's a title rather than his actual name.
- Trumplica: Nero gains many of Trump's characteristics in the final book: fat, lives in a tower in Manhattan with his name on it, decorates it mainly with gaudy gold, is a populist hard liner who did horrible things to immigrants for "undermining traditional Roman values".Of course [the Christian-burning stories] were true. The Christians were terrorists, out to undermine traditional Roman values. Oh, they claimed to be a religion of peace, but they fooled no one.
- While Rome Burns: Discussed Trope, concerning the Trope Namer no less, just as the Beast unveils his plans, he points out that he never fiddled while Rome burned and tried to stop the fire, but Apollo notes he used the opportunity to built a palace atop the burned neighborhoods.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Makes Meg believe that there is a difference between her stepfather and "the Beast," and the Beast only comes out to harm her when she displeases him, thus making her believe it's her fault.
Commodus
Regnal name Imperator Caesar Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus, the second named member of the Triumvirate, and the main antagonist of The Dark Prophecy. Also known as the New Hercules.
- 0% Approval Rating: Obviously, it's very hard for anyone to like a tyrant who kills anyone near him for the smallest of slights. He'd even kill his servants just to run off some steam, not because of anything they did directly.
- Bad Boss: See You Have Failed Me. Unfortunately for him, The Dog Bites Back.
- Berserk Button: Apollo. To the point where he refuses to call him anything but "Lester" for most of the book, only letting slip when truly enraged.
- Big Bad: Of The Dark Prophecy.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Caligula and Tarquin in The Tyrant's Tomb.
- Blood Knight: Guy loves to kill things- animals, his allies, his enemies, etc.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: As a mortal he was incredibly strong and powerful from pure training and combat expertise, though see Historical Badass Upgrade.
- Dartboard of Hate: Has one for throwing knives with Lester Papadopoulos's face on it.
- Dirty Coward: Downplayed, since he butchers dangerous animals with his bare hands with no hesitation, but the climax of The Dark Prophecy is when Apollo realizes that he doesn't go into the Cave of Trophonius, only sending henchmen, because he's too afraid the Cave will reveal to him his darkest fears. Behind all that bravado and glamour, Commodus is at his core a pathetic blowhard who intends to live an eternal life of no substance and actual meaning to escape death.
- Egopolis: To exaggerated levels. Given half a chance, this guy will try to rename everything after his glorious self. From entire cities, down to restrooms. Given his name is very similar to the old word for "toilet", no one subjected to this ever liked it, which was part of what led to his 0% Approval Rating in the old days.
- Evil Former Friend: He was both a close friend and lover to Apollo, before his egomania drove him evil.
- Eye Scream: Apollo blinds him (possibly permanently) with a brief but intense blast of light.Commodus: MY EYES!
- Handicapped Badass: Even after being effectively blinded by Apollo, in The Tyrant's Tomb he is still able to swat his arrows out of the air, and is handing him his ass in single combat until Frank's backup plan goes into effect.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: The original emperor was known as a coward who only fought when his victory was assured and avoided real combat. This version is/was a genuinely powerful warrior who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: Slightly. The original version was known for his cruelty as a child, and showed signs of madness long before he took the throne. According to Apollo, this one used to be a somewhat decent person who got Drunk with Power after becoming emperor of Rome.
- Hunk: According to Apollo and Meg, he's pretty easy on the eyes.
- Ironic Echo: Commodus repeats some of the things Apollo said to him when he was an emperor back at Apollo.
- It's Personal: With him and Apollo, it's very personal. As in, "you killed me for being too psychotic so I'll kill you now that you're mortal" personal.
- Large Ham: The guy calls himself "The New Hercules" and adores gladiator sport. He's pretty much always using his stage persona.
- Leeroy Jenkins: As part of his Historical Badass Upgrade, he's brave almost to the point of stupidity.
- The Lost Lenore: Not in the story itself, but between his mortal death and divine resurrection he was one for Apollo.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Apollo's reason for killing him the first time around is summed up as being unable to stand the idea of anyone else killing him as Apollo originally liked him that much. And given the reputation he had at the time, someone killing him was an inevitability.
- Puppet State: Character-example. He was chosen as the third emperor because the other two need each others help, but know that if they're neighbors they'll just turn against each other. Commodus is weak enough that the other two can give him the lands between them and set him up as the ruler of a buffer state.
- Psycho Ex-Boyfriend: Downplayed. He was already very crazy before Apollo "broke up with him", but now that he has a chance to rise again, he's even more ruthless and bloodthirsty, and is especially so to Apollo.
- Rasputinian Death: Already blinded by Apollo two books earlier, in the climax of The Tyrant's Tomb Commodus has his knees slashed before being caught in the explosion of the tunnel he was in. He manages to crawl away and order a final attack on Camp Jupiter before being strangled and finally reduced to ash by Apollo's powers.
- You Have Failed Me: Any failure, no matter how slight, results in the death of the underling. Truth in Television for the real-life emperor.
Caligula
Regnal name Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the "Emperor of the West" is the last named member of the Triumvirate and the main antagonist of The Burning Maze. He is Nero's maternal uncle. Also known as the Neos Helios (New Sun).
- Big Bad: Of The Burning Maze, with Medea as The Heavy.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Commodus and Tarquin in The Tyrant's Tomb.
- Brother–Sister Incest: He was very close to his sister, Julia Drusilla. Very close.
- The Caligula: Actually averted. Caligula's weakness and lunacy are just for show, as he is extremely calculating and perfectionist in private.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He's set up as the most competent and dangerous of the Triumvirate: Nero is afraid of him, Commodus is in his pocket, he has no intention of rolling over for Python like his nephew and kills Jason. In the penultimate book, he's the first of them to die, Commodus following almost immediately after.
- Embarrassing Nickname: The legionnaires thought he was just so adorable as a kid in his little miniature legionnaire costume. So they nicknamed him "Caligula", after a legionnaire's caligae (army boots). Needless to say, he doesn't much like the name.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He loved his departed sister badly. He even named all fifty cruise ships docking near Santa Barbara after her.
- Evil Nephew: He ordered his great uncle, Tiberius' assassination, just to make sure that he died if not from old age.
- Exact Words: Fond of using this against people. You pledge him your life, he takes it. A follower pledges his heart and those of his men. Guess what he does next...
- Faux Affably Evil: He's almost always seen acting downright chummy with everyone he interacts with. It is all a front however, for in reality he's nothing but a cold, vicious, sociopath who will order the torture, humiliation or death of anyone who gets in his way, all with a smile on his face.
- Fluffy the Terrible: "Caligula" roughly translates as "Baby Boots".
- Freudian Excuse: Hinted by his brief rant about Tiberius to Apollo. Apparently, growing up as a hostage of his paranoid uncle who assassinated most of his family shaped him into the man he would eventually become.Caligula: "You think you’ve had it bad? I grew up as a hostage in my Uncle Tiberius’s palace. Do you have any idea how evil that man was? I woke up every day expecting to be assassinated, just like the rest of my family. I became a consummate actor. Whatever Tiberius needed me to be, I was. And I survived. But you? Your life has been golden from start to finish. You don’t have the stamina to be mortal."
- Godhood Seeker: Takes it a step further than the other emperors. He planned to absorb what's left of Helios and Apollo to become a new Sun God.
- Hero Killer: He kills Jason Grace, one of the main characters of the previous series and one of the most powerful demigods in the world.. He's the first antagonist to permanently kill a main character in the Riordanverse, as all other deaths were either temporary (in the case of Magnus Chase and Leo Valdez), or of secondary characters.
- Horrifying the Horror: When he was still a god, Apollo had one interaction with Caligula. He found the experience so unsettling that he steered clear of the Roman empire for decades.
- Karmic Death: The last word he hears before being incinerated is "Jason".
- Knight of Cerebus: Book 3 is much darker and he's the reason. Not only is he The Dreaded to other emperors but to Apollo himself. He also killed Jason in cold blood.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Apollo argued that this is his defining feature and what make him so dangerous. He used theatrics to unbalance his opponent but he knows exactly what he's doing. Unlike Commodus, who's more interested in putting on a good show, Caligula went for the kill, as poor Jason found out.
- The Sociopath: Described as such by Apollo, and he lives up to it.
- This Is Unforgivable!: He considers any Roman demigod who defies him as committing high treason. He invades Camp Jupiter for this very reason. He also kills Jason partly because of this.
- Wealthy Yacht Owner: His base is a fleet of superyachts, including one that’s only for storing his shoes.
Demigods
With fragments of divine power, as well as generally poor relationships with their godly parents, demigods make excellent pawns for the Roman emperors. The Beast's Spy
Meg McCaffrey
Adoptive daughter of The Beast after he killed her father, the Spy serves as his tool to manipulate the fallen god Apollo. For related tropes, see here.
Cassius — unmarked spoilers
An eight-year-old demigod of unknown descent, who was taken under Nero's tutelage.
- Affectionate Nickname: Meg calls him "Cass".
- An Arm and a Leg: Nero forces him to do this to Luguselwa, in front of his sister Meg. Lu also happens to be Meg's legal guardian. It's painful to witness for all parties other than Nero, being the sadistic asshole that he is.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has blond hair and cares a lot about his adopted sister, Meg.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Has blue eyes and was manipulated as Nero's step-son to do terrible deeds, but is ultimately a victim and is a good person at heart.
- Wicked Stepfather: He has Nero as a step-father.
- You Remind Me of X: Downplayed. Apollo notes in his narration that he greatly resembles a young Jason Grace.
Mortal Servants
After spending so many years building their power, the Triumvirate has no shortage of mortal followers. Germani
Warriors from the tribes north of Rome. A number of them now serve their former enemies.
- Back from the Dead: Escaped through the Doors of Death.
- Badass Normal: They escaped through the Doors of Death without the aid of Gaea.
- Praetorian Guard: Two of them serve as bodyguards to The Beast. They also protect Commodus and serve as his Elite Mooks.
- Undying Loyalty: Literally. They escaped the underworld after they died so that they could return to their masters.
Macro
Full name Quintus Naevius Cordus Sutorius Macro, he is a prefect of the Praetorian Guard and Caligula's personal bodyguard.
- Back from the Dead: He agreed to serve Caligula again because the latter allowed him to escape through the Doors of Death. Bear in mind that it was essentially Caligula who caused Macro's death. Apollo questions what kind of loyalty this is.
- Bald of Evil: Possesses an impressive balding head.
- Driven to Suicide: In his first life, he committed suicide after a falling out with Caligula.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He is killed by his own automatons.
- Killed Off for Real: Caught in the blast of the automatons' self-destruct mechanism.
- The Kingslayer: Personally assassinated Tiberius on Caligula's orders. He still possesses the scars Tiberius inflicted on his hands while he was smothered.
Medea
Princess of Colchis, department store manager.
- Ascended Extra: Like Lityerses, Medea is a much more prominent antagonist in The Trials of Apollo than she was in The Lost Hero.
- Ax-Crazy: Piper accurately describes Medea as "crazy and bloodthirsty". It could even be argued that this is the real reason why the original Jason wanted to leave her in the first place. She even murdered her own children in the past solely because Jason was their father.
- Compelling Voice: She has the power of charmspeaking.
- Deader than Dead: Seems to be the implications of her fate in The Burning Maze. After getting stabbed by Piper, her body is pushed into the essence of Helios, who Apollo then urges to move on and rest in Chaos, which he does. Being her essence was mixed in with his, it's implied that if she's not gone permanently, then it'll take a few centuries for her to come back.
- The Dragon: To Caligula in The Burning Maze.
- The Heavy: The plot of The Burning Maze hinges almost entirely on her, rather than on Caligula himself.
- Karmic Death] Piper kills her in revenge for Jason's death.
- Offing the Offspring: In the myths, she murdered her own children in cold blood simply because they were also Jason's kids.
- Woman Scorned: So crazy she tries to kill Jason just for having the name 'Jason'.
- Villain Has a Point: When Apollo calls her out on her plan to kill her own grandfather Helios by infusing his essence into Caligula along with Apollo's to make him the new sun god, she points out how the Olympians are family and try to kill each other all the time. Apollo hates to admit that she has a point.
- Yandere: Ur-Example from Greek Mythology itself.
Luguselwa
A Gaul under the service of Nero and also Meg's legal guardian. See her folder here.
Mythological beings
The Triumvirate isn't above associating with the foul spawn of the pit if it furthers their goals. Python
- Arch-Enemy: Apollo's, to the point he had nightmares for many years about the monster. Confronting and trying to defeat him for good this time is his path to redemption and the crux of his character arc.
- Ascended Extra: He's had minor mentions before in the context of the Delphic oracle, but never actually appeared. Here he's one of the main antagonists.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: He seems to be partners with the Triumvirate, and speaks to The Beast without any (immediate) signs of subservience on either's part.
- Cessation of Existence: His final fate after being thrown down into Chaos.
- Deadpan Snarker: According to Apollo he's quite sarcastic, though few can tell the difference in tone between sincerity and snark.
- Draconic Abomination: Rather than a simple dragon, he resembles a gargantuan serpent with a multitude of claws, vestigial wings, and heads that constantly bubble forth and dissipate in wisps of fog along the length of his body.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Being a gigantic monster helps.
- Final Boss: Absorbs the Triumvirate's power in the final book, with Apollo confronting his Arch-Enemy becoming the final conflict of The Trials of Apollo.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He blocks Delphi, making communication between the Olympians, the demigods, and other mythological beings impossible and starting the heroes' search for the other oracles, and briefly communicates with Apollo through a dream in book 4. He only appears physically in the finale as the Final Boss.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: Interestingly inverted in-story. Apollo made sure to spread the tales of how he easily killed Python with a single arrow, which became the well-known "legend". However, the reality is that Python is a lot more dangerous and even with his godly powers Apollo implies he only barely got by with a victory, which is why he had nightmares about him centuries after the fight.
- Nightmare Fuel: In-Universe. Apollo had nightmares of him for centuries after their battle.
- Orcus on His Throne: He chose not to take part in Gaea's war, biding his time until the Triumvirate's bid for power.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Very snake-like and very sinister.
- The Starscream: Hints of it, which become more apparent in Book 3 as the Triumvirate's plans continue to be foiled/stalled. At the very least, he doesn't have much faith in The Beast as a leader. As it turns out, the Triumvirate were dancing to his tune the whole time as a bid to make Python the ultimate arbiter of the future by absorbing their power once they were defeated. Nero at least apparently knew this was Python's plan the whole time and all his efforts against Apollo were to pull this on Python first.
Nosoi
The nosoi (singular nosos) are plague spirits that appear as shimmering clouds or bloated corpses.
- It's Personal: They hate Apollo for taking their job as plague spreaders.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: The "Made of Air" variant. Any blow just causes the targeted area to dissolve into mist before reforming.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Not actually zombies, but their corpse-like appearance helps them look the part.
- The Plague: They're the physical embodiments of all plagues.
- Super Smoke: They can transform into shimmering clouds for better speed and maneuverability.
Blemmyae
Extremely uncreative monsters that have their faces on their chests and are very hard to kill. They're on Commodus's pay roll.
- Affably Evil: They take politeness to the extreme, to the point where it's extremely easy to fool them if you just do it under the guise of good manners.
- Creative Sterility: The entire species as a whole.
- The Ditz: They aren't very bright, owing to their extreme incapability of thinking outside the box. For example, they get confused over the design of a rudimentary bomb with literally only two wires, they also get confused over Commodus's simple instructions, they believe Apollo's word that a bomb timer doubles underwater, and they fall for the "Look Behind You" trick, which is not only the oldest trick in the book, it's older than the invention of books.
- The Dreaded: Apollo has a massive Oh, Crap! moment when he realizes they're dealing with blemmyae.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: How they speak. After all, they wouldn't want to be impolite.
- Ideal Illness Immunity: On top of their extreme toughness, Apollo also notes that they're highly resistant to most diseases, rendering both normal arrows and plague arrows ineffective.
- Look Behind You: Apollo successfully pulls off this trick on them, due to the fact that a) they cannot glance, due to their peripheral vision being blocked off by their armpits, and b) they take several seconds to turn around, which is used to his advantage.
- Made of Iron: They're pretty tough. When Calypso tries to kick one in the face, she breaks her ankle, and no damage is done to the monster.
Pandai
A tribe of men with giant ears, eight fingers and toes, and fur that starts out white and turns to black over time. They wield khandas, swords associated with Sikhism. They used to serve the kings of India.
- Master Swordsman: Very agile with the khanda.
- Super-Senses: Because of their gigantic ears, they can hear even the slightest bit of sound.
- Unusual Ears: Their ears are so large that they could cover their whole body. Apollo mistakes them to be keffiyeh, at first.
Other
The Colossus Neronis
A titanic statue of Emperor Nero, constructed as a monument to his ego. After the fall of Rome the Triumvirate retrieved the statue and converted it into a titanic automaton.
- Annoying Arrows: It's giant and made of metal, both things that make arrows little more than annoyances.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: It's an eighty foot tall Magitek robot.
- BFS: By virtue of being a sword designed for a giant robot.
- Full-Frontal Assault: It's noted to depict Nero completely nude. Apollo's haiku at the beginning of the chapter even asks where its underwear is.
- Humongous Mecha: It's a giant automaton.
- Off with His Head!: A combination of damage and a plague arrow makes it sneeze its head off.
Incitatus
Caligula's well-known horse. It's not so well known that he is actually fully capable of speech.
- Bright Is Not Good: He has a white and gold coloration.
- Caligula's Horse: The Trope Namer but he actually subverts the spirit of the trope, since he's actually very capable of just about any task Caligula might give him.
- Dragon with an Agenda: A parody of this trope. He speaks openly about him being Caligula's loyal friend. However, he quickly reveals his true goal: An uprising of horses against humanity once Caligula has succeeded in his plans. Then he gets killed before he can pull it off.
- Enigmatic Minion: Nobody knows where he came from or how he can speak English. All of which give off a mysterious vibe.
- Intellectual Animal: He's well-aware that Caligula is using him, and Caligula knows the horse is using him.
- Killed Off for Real: Gets curbstomped by the Meliai.
- Riddle for the Ages: Even Apollo has no idea how or why he can speak, but he can.
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: He acts as Caligula's main subordinate just as much as his steed.
- Smug Snake: Very arrogant and over-confident, referring to Caligula as "pal" and "my boy", as if he owns the Emperor, not the other way around. That being said however, he's not immune to charmspeak and he's killed by the meliai in an instant.
- Talking Animal: A fact that isn't so well-known to the world.
- White Stallion: Of course he belongs to Caligula.
Tarquin
Tarquin the Proud
The seventh and final King of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was so reviled by his people that he was overthrown and exiled. Unbeknownst to the Romans or even the gods, Tarquin survived throughout the millennia, gathering an army of undead servants and waiting for the day he could finally strike back at Rome. The rise of the Triumvirate gave him that chance, and he allied with the Emperors to attack New Rome and reclaim the Sibylline Books.
- Arc Villain: Of The Tyrant's Tomb.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Similar to Python; he's allied with the Triumvirate, but outside their power structure and with his own goals.
- The Caligula: A singularly arrogant, bad-tempered tyrant who seized power and ruled through violence, attended by a powerless, captive senate, with a harem of enslaved women around his throne at all times.
- Dem Bones: After thousands of years, all that's left of his body is an ambulatory skeleton.
- Determinator: It's never said how Tarquin managed to survive the centuries, but Apollo speculates that his hatred and ambition gave him the will to live on even after his body's death.
- Dragon Their Feet: While he's not technically subservient to Commodus and Caligula, he is less of an overarching threat but survives longer than they do.
- Mind over Matter: He can attack by throwing people around with an unseen force.
- Mugging the Monster: It took Tarquin way too long to realize that the Cumaean Sibyl was not to be trifled with. Six of the Sibylline Books were lost forever before he finally got the point.
- Necromancer: Commands an army of several different varieties of undead monsters.
- Our Liches Are Different: His exact nature is never explained, but he's a magically powerful undead.
- The Power of Hate: Apollo theorizes that the sheer hatred along with ambition he held while alive is what allowed him to exist as a skeleton in the modern day.
- Predecessor Villain: Tarquin was the Roman arch-villain, a tyrant whose rule was so unbearable that the very idea of kingship would be ununthinkable in Rome for centuries after he was deposed, even well into the time of the Empire, making him this to The Triumvirate.
- Pride: He was known as Tarquin the Proud for a reason, and never, ever stopped trying to take back "his" city.
- Zombie Apocalypse: His intention is to kill everyone in New Rome and add them to his undead army.
