House Aventen

House Aventen is one of the Familiae Martiales, the Aurelian Empire's military elite. They are one of the oldest of the empire's military families, rising to prominence during the Unification War of 336 BCE, but being able to trace their ancestry back to the ancient Palavenian tactician-philosopher, Tarcus Aventen. Aside from him, notable family members include Primarch Saira Aventen, the first Primarch of Parthia and friend of Aurelion Imperator; Primarch Nasira Aventen, the ruler of Parthia during the reign of Primarch Fidellion Victus of Palaven; and Leila Aventen, the estranged wife of Keirix Victus, the second son of Primarch Fidellion Victus. They are one of the Semper et Unus, the eight great houses of the empire.
== History ==
=== Tarcus Aventen ===
Although their house's official founder is Saira Aventen, who rode into battle alongside Aurelion Imperator as one of his seven generals, House Aventen can trace its lineage back to the Classical Era of Palavenian history. Every blood member and relative of House Aventen alive today is descended from the ancient Palavenian tactician-philosopher, Tarcus Aventen, who predated the Unification War by approximately 1800 years. In his memoirs, Aurelion mentions how he was inspired by Aventen's literary works when creating his new empire, specifically his emphasis on moral purity, self-control and reason, and the condemnation of immoral behaviour which, he believed, begat gross abuses of power (sins which had been prevalent in the Imperial Court of Aurelion's ancestors and had led to their bloody deposition, at the hands of an abused populace). 
Living during the 22nd Century BCE, at the height of the turian Bronze Age, Tarcus Aventen wrote a great number of philosophical works, many of which have survived into the modern age and continue to influence the culture of the Aurelian Empire today. He served as a popular general of the city-state of Albion, the ancient rival of Cipritine, and used his lived experiences of warfare to write about the topics of leadership and morality. His most famous work, simply entitled Ducatus ("Leadership"), documents the lives of an eclectic mixture of prominent historical figures, both ancient and contemporary, using them as a template to analyse and critique their leadership capacity. The core message that Tarcus conveys in Ducatus is one of ethics; good leadership, he argues, is inextricably linked to a leader's morality and demands that power only be pursued and exercised in the name of the many, whereas bad leadership is conversely rooted in impulsive behaviour and the love of power for power's sake, and actively harms the many. His work is comparable to that of ancient human philosophers Plutarch and Sun Tzu and is a staple of the turian education system, known by every turian youth who pays attention in class. 
Tarcus was eventually captured by Cipritine after his forces were ambushed during yet another vicious border war between Cipritine and Albion, instigated by Cipritine's bloody annexation of a large swath of their southernmost territory during the Nialin Expansion. Despite being grievously wounded in the attack, he defiantly proclaimed that he would only surrender on the condition that the lives of his troops be spared, stating that it was his duty as their general to ensure their safe passage home. So respected was he as an adversary that his Cipritine counterpart chose to spare his life, a lesson he had learned from reading Tarcus' works. True to his word, he allowed Tarcus' wounded troops to return to Albion unmolested but not before shipping Tarcus off to Cipritine as a war trophy for the Imperatrix Cipritines ("Empress of Cipritine"). Tarcus spent the next ten years living as a prisoner of war, albeit a well-cared-for one, writing yet more philosophical works during his confinement. He eventually formed a close friendship with the Imperatrix Cipritines, a woman named Atrin Impera, the pair discussing philosophy together late into the night and ruminating over the events that led to their cities' ancient blood feud. 
While still political enemies - Tarcus outright refused to compromise his people's ability to defend themselves during all of their discussions - they shared a passion for the art of warfare, fought with both sword and spoken word. He frequently questioned Atrin about her expansionist agenda, forewarning her that the poison of personal ambition would doom her new empire to failure. Ironically, it was Tarcus' advice that enabled Atrin to reinvent not only herself but the socio-political structure of the state; she implemented what was the first documented use of a meritocratic hierarchy, which replaced the caste system the turians had lived under for millennia. This system allowed for greater social mobility and ensured leadership positions were given to those who displayed the desired aptitude. Guided by Tarcus' wisdom and surrounded by capable statesmen, Atrin successfully unified Cipritine with its surrounding city-states (with the exception of Albion), founding a continent-spanning empire that would later be known as the Nialin Empire, which she and her descendants ruled over for the next 300 years. While her empire would ultimately fracture under the weight of political infighting and the gratuitous excesses of her descendants, just as Tarcus had cautioned her, her methodology would later inspire Aurelion Imperator to revive the meritocracy that she had first created, albeit with one key difference: the imperial family would no longer be exempt from the meritocratic laws that governed the rest of the populace. 
The unlikely friendship between Atrin and Tarcus culminated in the signing of a peace treaty between Cipritine and Albion, cemented by the release of Tarcus and the political marriage of himself and Atrin's eldest daughter, Lavinia. Tarcus returned to Albion with his new bride to be greeted with rapturous celebration by his people, who had overthrown their former ruler to proclaim him their new Dux ("Leader"). Tarcus ruled over Albion for the next several decades, overseeing the expansion of its northern territory and facilitating the resulting cultural renaissance of its people. He and his wife were very happy together and, although their marriage was a political union and Lavinia was 20 years his junior, they were deeply in love. They had several children together, whose descendants ruled Albion for the next two centuries. Whilst she lived, Atrin honoured her promise not to incorporate Albion into the Nialin Empire. However, her descendants later turned back on the peace treaty, violently conquering Albion and installing puppet rulers to maintain order. This betrayal marked the beginning of the end for the Nialin Empire. 
When the turian space age arrived millennia later, several of Tarcus' descendants emigrated from Palaven and travelled to the planet Parthia to help found the new colony of Nisus, eventually becoming its first primatial rulers. So influential were Tarcus' contributions to history that, after his death, his home city of Albion was renamed Aventinus in his memory. The first planet from the star Trebia - a small, hot rock planet surrounded by a haze of methane and helium - was also named Aventen in his honour. The minerals mined from the planet were used to fuel the turian space age, which would see his family rise to greatness among the stars.