Janus Arterius

"Still can't believe he's my son; I dunno where he got that brain of his from but it certainly wasn't from me!" - Desolas Arterius II about his son, Janus ArteriusJanus Arterius Kryinus (High Cipritine: [ˈjaːnʊs aːrtʰɛrˈiː.ʊs]) is the eldest son of Desolas Arterius II and Nihlus Kryik. He is the husband and bondmate of Concordia Coronati, the youngest daughter of Admiral Irix Coronati, with whom he has two children named Decian and Sarenilla Arterius. Janus is the eldest of four children, his younger siblings being Sarena, Cassian and Alasius Arterius. Like his siblings, Janus was artificially conceived and grown in vitro, using genetic material from both his fathers and Eulia Cailus, one of Desolas' closest childhood friends, who had volunteered to be the couple's female donor. 
Janus also has three half-siblings; Alasius Cailus, a stillborn boy born to his biological mother and her childhood sweetheart, Marion Cailus; Desa Cailus, also fathered by Marion; and Arteria T'Soni, the secret daughter of Liara T'Soni and Desolas, who is wholly unaware of her existence. As a child, Janus spent a lot of time with Desa, the pair becoming fast friends. During the Night of Martyrs, Janus managed to get a message to her about his attempted assassination, which granted her just enough warning to get her family to safety. Desa would later name her daughter, Jana Cailus, after him, in honour of how his actions had saved her and her parents' lives. 
Desolas named his firstborn in memory of his late lover, Jane Shepard, who had been killed by an indoctrinated Saren Arterius on Eden Prime; Janus' name consists of the root of Jane - "Jan-" - combined with the High Cipritine male suffix "-us". In addition to the name being a turianised male version of Jane's name, it can coincidentally be translated from High Cipritine to mean "new journey/gateway to the future", which Nihlus believed to be thematically appropriate in the post-Reaper War galaxy.
Janus largely took after Desolas in appearance but did inherit a few features from Nihlus, most noticeably the russet colouration of his dermal plating and the shape of his nose and brow plates. Desolas and Nihlus doted upon their newborn son, as did the boy's paternal grandmother, Maea Arterius, and cousin, Gaius Abrudas. Janus was also close with his biological mother and her husband, Marion Cailus, who was Desolas' best friend. In his will, Desolas decreed that, should a situation arise where he, Nihlus, and his mother were simultaneously dead while Janus was still a minor, custody of his son was to be given to Marion and Eulia. 
He proved to be a gifted child who excelled in his schooling and partook in several extracurricular activities, including learning to play the piano. His parents decided to enrol him in a multicultural school on the Citadel, wanting their son to develop a healthy understanding of alien cultures. 
By the end of his education, Janus possessed a master’s degree in interspecies relations from the prestigious Janiris University on the Citadel and had become a certified Grade 8 pianist. He was originally encouraged to learn the piano by Nihlus, who sought to make use of the instrument that had been left to them with the apartment by its original owner, David Anderson. On his 15th birthday, Liara T'Soni gifted Janus with a portable keyboard which had once belonged to a former colleague, Dr Olena, so that he could continue to practice while away at Bootcamp, challenging him to learn the song that Olena had once taught her. By 18, Janus had achieved his Grade 8, specialising in base-6 due to only having three digits on each hand. At 22, as a part of the celebrations for his parents' second wedding, he played an embellished version of the song that Liara had challenged him to learn several years previously. 
In adulthood, Janus served as the elected Superintendent of Kithoi Ward for many years before joining the Hierarchy's Diplomatic Corps to serve as an ambassador to the Citadel. In recognition of his service and dedication to the preservation of galactic peace, he was promoted to the office of Turian Councillor during the reign of Primarch Adrien Victus. 
As a teenager, Janus defied both of his parents by enrolling in Bootcamp behind their backs after they had expressly forbidden it. While he had no interest in becoming a soldier, as his younger sister did, he wanted to use his academic intellect to modernise the Turian Empire from within and, to achieve this goal, he first needed to obtain turian citizenship. Desolas in particular felt betrayed by his son, seeing Janus' pursuit of citizenship as an endorsement of all the abuse he had suffered in the Cabals. When he confronted him about it, Janus retorted "I'm doing this because of you!", stating that he sought to undo the injustice of his father's stolen childhood by ensuring that future generations of biotics grew up with the same rights and freedoms that he had been robbed of. While Desolas would never 100% approve of his son's methodology he would eventually foster a sense of respect for his political convictions, albeit with Nihlus' help. 
Janus was exceedingly popular with political representatives from the Vol Protectorate, Human Systems Alliance, and Quarian-Geth Coalition, earning him the reputation of a proactive peacemaker among non-turians. Despite this, he was often viewed as a spineless apologist by the more traditional spheres of turian society. After Antraxes Partinax's successful coup d'état, Janus attempted to have him tried by the Citadel Council for the illegal deposition of a head of state. 
However, Antraxes was one step ahead of the young Arterius. By covertly promising to lift the economic sanctions on the Asari Republics and greenlight the development of a second genophage virus with the Salarian Union, Antraxes successfully split the council in two, ensuring Janus lost the motion when it was put to a vote. He then used the executive power of Primarch of Palaven to have Janus forcefully dismissed from office, throwing him out of the Diplomatic Corps and replacing him with his sister-in-law, Caeistia Mehrkuri. Janus was forced into exile with his wife and son, fleeing to Illium. When the opportunity of political asylum in Andromeda presented itself, Janus joined his parents on the 600-year voyage across dark space, leaving the Milky Way behind forever. Janus was posthumously pardoned by his brother-in-law, Fidellion Victus, after he restored the line of succession by defeating Antraxes in a sanctioned duel to the death. 
As Desolas' highest-ranking child, Janus is the heir presumptive to the parriarchia of House Arterius in Andromeda - a role for which he was rigorously prepared by his grandmother, Maea. It is expected that Janus' own heir will be his younger brother, Cassian, who had served under him as a Council Spectre before their family's exile. As there is no clearly established hierarchy in Andromeda as of yet, it is unclear how the succession of House Arterius will progress from there.
=== Concordia ===
Like many young turians, Janus was rather promiscuous during his youth. He soon garnered a reputation as a bit of a stud, having slept with many debutantes from prominent turian families - something Nihlus vehemently disapproved of - but this behaviour soon changed when he met his future wife, Concordia Coronati. As the daughter of Fleet Admiral Irix Coronati - the man who was then second in line to the Imperial Throne - Concordia was one of the most eligible bachelorettes in turian high society. While she knew it was her duty to marry in service to her family, Concordia found it difficult to connect with any of the men who were put in her path, knowing that they only wanted her for her name and close kinship to a potential future primarch. Janus, in contrast, genuinely desired her as a person as opposed to a status symbol; this, combined with his dashing good looks, greatly attracted her to him. 
Janus and Concordia soon began a relationship in secret, all while Concordia was still being courted by her many suitors. As time went on, the pair began to realise that their connection went far deeper than mere physical and emotional attraction; the bond they shared was deeply spiritual and implied that they were each other's designated life partners. Rather than succumb to their shared, primal instinct to claim each other, Janus forced himself to break the relationship off, knowing that it would be cruel to mark her when they could never be together. Concordia, heartbroken but empathetic, resigned herself to the fate of a loveless marriage and a lifetime of being riven from the other half of herself. Unaware of his daughter's plight, Irix picked out a suitable husband for her from her list of potential suitors - a young man named Palexus Natanus, the son of the Duarch Classis of Digeris. 
Janus too was heartbroken. He confided in his grandmother about his feelings. Maea, knowing that a good match was essential to the continued survival of their house, encouraged Janus to stand up for himself and fight for what he wanted: "If you stand aside now, you will regret your inaction for the rest of your days. You are Janus Arterius, son of Desolas Arterius II; what is that Natanus boy, compared to you?" 
Acting on his grandmother's words, Janus gatecrashed Palexus and Concordia's betrothal ceremony to announce that he should be the one to take her as his wife. Irix. insulted by the boy's impertinence, demanded that he leave. But Janus refused to back down. Instead, he proclaimed that he was a far better match for Concordia than Palexus, listing off three main political arguments to support his case: 
# His father, Desolas Arterius II, technically superseded Irix in the line of succession and might one day inherit the Imperial Throne, which would make Concordia a member of the Imperial Family. If she instead married the son of the Duarch Classis of Digeris, the best she could hope for was to become a member of the Digerian Primatial Family - a significantly weaker position. While the Primarch of Digeris is responsible for the largest fleet in the empire, the Primarch of Palaven's authority still superseded theirs and they collectively controlled a greater number of military assets. 
# As his father's heir presumptive, he could use his influence to forge an alliance with House Coronati that would endure far into the future. It also meant that Concordia would be the wife of a parriarch, rather than a mere blood relative of one. Palexus, while gifted, was not his father's heir and thus offered Concordia far less political power and security. Additionally, House Coronati already possessed marriage ties to House Nanatus; they would gain nothing new by marrying Concordia into their ranks. 
# Any children he fathered on Concordia would be descended from three of the most important people in turian history - Pallix Arterius, Markus Abrudas and Aurelion Imperator himself. While Palexus' ancestor, Palex Natanus, was a Living Spirit of the state religion and worthy of great reverence, Aurelion was considered the chief of all Living Spirits and his bloodline was far more prestigious. 
Lastly, while not a political argument, Janus added that he and Concordia were deeply in love and believed they had been born with a shared spirit. 
Irix, now begrudgingly impressed by Janus' astute political mind and oratorial abilities, turned to his daughter to ask if the young Arterius spoke the truth. Moved by her lover’s devotion to her, Concordia corroborated everything Janus had said, including her deep romantic feelings for him. She also spoke of how Janus had selflessly placed her honour and happiness above his desires, refusing to mark her when he knew that such a thing would have likely destroyed her. Perhaps most poignantly, she told her father: "I am the other half of him, and he is the other half of me." 
Category:Characters
Category:Turians
Category:Males
Category:House Arterius
Category:Citadel Councillors
Category:Tria nomina
Category:Initiative Members
Category:Imperial Family of Desolas Arterius II