Characters: Antonia Claudia Thonnius

Physical Description: Antonia isn’t a petite young women. At 5’6” she’s of average height, at 150lbs Antonia is a little heavier than most women her size, but her figure is firm, and she is more muscular than most women because, well she isn’t like most women. She has a small scar on her cheek under her right eye from training accident in her youth. Antonia is a lady when her father demands it. She has fiery red hair with hints of blonde, which makes her green eyes seem all the more intense. She has some freckles on her cheeks brought out by the sunlight, a narrow nose and thin lips, that always seemed to be turned up on the corners, like she’s laughing at something or someone. And a small tattoo on her right inner wrist, a calling card of her time with pirates. (She usually covers it up)

Antonia is a bit cocky, surefire and doesn’t fit into any model meant for women of her time. Antonia is out to prove that her skills as a swordsman are equal to that of any man’s. She has a thick skin and is often hard to read, she doesn’t let people in and the few that she does trust know better than to break that bond with her. Antonia always has her cutlass with her, it’s not fancy but it was a gift from her grandfather.

Antonia owns dresses, at home, but on the seas, men’s clothes work just fine. She finds them more comfortable, less restrictive and easier to work in. Yes, work in

Once upon a time Antonia was everything the daughter of one of the founding families should be. Antonia was aware that as the first born she was expected to be perfect in every way, but as a woman she inherited nothing, no matter how perfect she was. Still she possessed every attribute a woman of class needed, she was proper, well dressed, graceful, and sophisticated, Antonia as a young teen was a picture of beauty and refinement. She had suitors, many of which her father approved of. She studied at home with tutors learning language, arithmetic, and geography.  Just before her 16th birthday Antonia’s mother died in childbirth leaving Antonia to be the woman of the house.

Her father and eldest brother were often away with the families shipping business. Away from the household of weeks and months at a time Antonia was left in charge to raise three younger siblings. There was a handful of servants in the house, and her father had entrusted his children’s safety to his best friend Septimus in his absence. What Ciuso could never have expected was that Septimus would teach Antonia swordsmanship in his absence. An open minded man with no children of his own, Septimus knew that he could not be with the family every hour of the day and saw no reason not to teach Antonia how to handle a knife and as her skills progressed he eventually taught her how to use a sword.

As time progressed Antonia saw herself becoming two different people. A proper dress wearing young lady when her father and brother were home and a pants wearing tomboy when Septimus was around, she struggled to understand which was her true identity. Until one night men broke into the family house and Antonia, without thinking grabbed the sword she hid under her bed and raced to protect her family. She fought off the bandits side by side with her brother and father much to their shock and dismay.

Despite his disgust with his daughters newly acquired skills Ciuso was not beyond reason. He knew why she had learned the sword, understood her eagerness to protect her family while he and her brother were away. Ciuso did what he thought was best for his family, he remarried. As the years passed Antonia improved her skills and showed she was better than many of the men Ciuso hired to protect his cargo and shipping ventures. So when Antonia turned 20 he gave her a role no woman in the family had ever been given, he placed her in charge of protecting his cargo ships. Her brother was offended that his sister had been given the job that he wanted and saw his inheritance slipping from his grasp, so in order to prove she was no better than any other women he hired pirates to raid one of his father’s ships. The raid ultimately caused the ship to sink and the cargo to be lost.

In the company of pirates Antonia learned the truth about her brother, and gained a deeper understanding of the world without privilege. When she returned home (3 years later), she finds a great many things have changed. Her father’s dear friend Septimus has been banished from the family home. She finds him in town running a combat school and her brother, now head of the family shipping trade, accused her of working with the pirates and stealing from the family. Despite the fact that the Antonia could prove her brother had hired the pirates and that she had been true to the family name her father could not support his now raggamuffin looking child.  Ciuso would not disown his daughter as Justus demanded, but he would not allow her to call the family house home anymore.

Ciuso sent Antonia to live with her (maternal) grandfather Magnus and ensured him that he would take care of any financial needs that his daughter had. Magnus only encouraged his granddaughter’s fiery, adventurous side and gave her free rein. It was with her grandfather that Antonia learned about her sister Gabriela’s love affair with Julian Aemilia, Gabriela believes that their brother paid Julian off and that he left her for money, completely unaware that Julian was a member of a rival family