The Emperor Once Known as Julius
To the Roman citizenry of Salona, Julius Nepos was still the official Western Roman Emperor. In the eyes of the world, for a man of his prestigious title, he controlled a territory that compromised the former imperial province of Dalmatia and was otherwise ignored by his de jure equal in Constantinople. It wasn't that he minded being here: the land was a natural beauty to behold and its people were loyal, simple-minded and hard-working men and women; unlike the do-nothings in Ravenna who stood by and allowed the half-barbarian Orestes to seize the throne and place his brat Romulus in his place. Yet it pained the deposed emperor to have lost all but this land.
He came to Dalmatia a sad and broken man. He had expected his marriage to the late Eastern Emperor Leo's niece to be an advantage that he could use to reconquer Italy from Orestes and his horde of foederati. No such help arrived; his son-in-law and successor Zeno seemed to have other priorities in mind. The imperial court of Constantinople of course continued to officially recognize him as the Emperor of the West yet for Nepos, it meant nothing. He was quoted to have stated in his anguish: "For what good is the title of Augustus if it holds no meaning?" He would spend his days cursing the name Orestes.
Nepos had tears of joy when he received news from his spies that Orestes' merry band of barbarians had turned on him and his brat son: they demanded Italian soil for them and their families to permanently settle in exchange for the years of military service they've made to the Empire. Orestes refused and thus the barbarians, led by Odoacer, had turned to rebellion. Orestes was killed and his brother Paulus soon joined him outside Ravenna's walls; the city fell to the barbarians. His face soured when he heard that Odoacer took a liking to Romulus that he spared his life and sent the brat off to his relatives Campania to grow fat for the remainder of his days: at least there stood a small if minuscule chance of one day reconquering the Italian peninsula for himself.
He soon grew to dislike Odoacer as well, more so than Orestes or his brat Romulus. Instead of urging the Senate to send representatives to Salona bestow his persons the imperial insignia, Odoacer sent them to Constantinople with the intention that there was no need for a Western emperor: Zeno was the one and true undisputed ruler of the Roman world. Zeno refused and urged Odoacer to receive Nepos as the official Western Emperor in exchange for having an official title and mandate to rule Italy as its de facto ruler: Odoacer accepted all terms but barred Nepos entry to Ravenna, no less Italy. Of course it was done in such a manner that Zeno wouldn't care enough to get involved. So Nepos would have to wait.
Odoacer's sudden death came at a surprise to the Emperor who was beginning to recognize his admittedly weak position in the world. Odoacer's relations were now busy fighting amongst themselves; each demanding to be the one on top. After hearing of the Senate's massacre by Odoacer's sons, he was urged by his wife to be confident and use this opportunity to assert himself as the true Emperor in the west and purge the Italian peninsula of the barbarian menace. He prepared his army, a well-equipped and disciplined force of several thousand troops, to be ready for war. There was one of course, one more matter to tend to before making war on Odoacer's spawn.
His predecessor Flavius Glycerius still lived in Dalmatia. He served a religious life as the Bishop of Salona but there was much suspicion that the clergymen harbored his own imperial ambitions and planned to have Nepos assassinated by his own soldiers. Nepos' second-in-command Ovida devised a plan to bring the bishop and the other co-conspirators out in the open: the latter wrote letters to Glycerius urging him and the others to seek an audience with the Emperor in the palatial gardens. He would have troops loyal to Glycerius' cause that would trap the Emperor and let Glycerius and his men kill him. Ovida in turn promised to have soldiers loyal to Nepos to keep him safe.
It was Ovida who would become the ultimate traitor, playing both sides against each other and sent his troops to murder both Glycerius and the Emperor Nepos. He then commanded them to murder Nepos' wife and servants; the imperial palace was set ablaze. The commander Ovida sent messengers to the eastern imperial court in Constantinople, claiming that the fire was caused by mutinous soldiers who were acting on behalf of Tufa, Odoacer's brother and the de facto ruler of Latium. Zeno had his suspicions about Ovida but with Glycerius and Nepos dead, he had no more rivals. Zeno relinquished the co-emperorship.
As imperial troops approached Dalmatia, Ovida met the Roman commander outside Salona's walls and relinquished control. Nepos' realm was a substantial addition to the Eastern Empire's resources. His army was small but disciplined and well equipped compared to those of the Germanic kingdoms. The traditional recruiting grounds in the interior brought tens of thousands to join the Eastern Empire and Nepos, through his familial ties to Marcellinus, had a loyal contingent of pseudo-Romanized Huns. The naval arsenal at Salona had a few dozen warships which would be crucial to the Roman's war to reclaim Italy.
As for Ovida himself? Zeno was impressed with Ovida that he granted the Gothic commander an estate in distant Egypt. He lived a life of luxury and would dedicate his long life to writing multiple treatises on military strategy and applying the regimens on the battlefield to remaining on the good side of the imperial court. He married the daughter of an Arab chieftain, whose name is unknown, and had several sons and daughters who married into prominent Egyptian-Roman aristocratic families.