Desolas Arterius III (Victus)

"My little girl, all grown up and sitting the imperial throne... Your mother would be so proud." - Desolas to his eldest child, Desola, upon her anointing as Primarch of Palaven Desolas Arterius III Victianus Quentinus (born 'Desolas Victus Quentinus'), named after his great-grandfather Desolas Arterius II, is the son of Sairus Arterius and Selena Quentius. Due to his mother's infertility, Desolas was conceived in-vitro using genetic material from both his father and maternal uncle, Solaeus Quentius, before being implanted into his mother's womb as an embryo. Selena gave birth to him eleven months later, while seeking political asylum in the Arterius family's ancestral crypt. In his father's absence, Desolas would forge a career as a soldier of the Hierarchy, earning a reputation for being somewhat of a maverick. 
Desolas would live to see his eldest child, Desola, ascend the Aurelian Throne as Primarch of Palaven, following the death of her great-grandfather, Primarch Fidellion Victus. As her father, he bore the title Pater Primarchi ("Father of the Primarch") and held a senior position in her court, serving as her unofficial advisor. Myriad suitors would proposition Desolas for the rest of his life, but he politely refused every one of them, stating that his late bondmate would forever have his heart. 
Desolas and his children were openly venerated by the Cultus Desolae, whose heretical teachings proclaimed that Desolas Arterius II had been the reincarnation of Aurelion Imperator and his descendants were His Chosen. While he did not share the cult's beliefs, Desolas recognised the political potential of their zealotry and encouraged his daughter to not outright denounce them. His indirect endorsement allowed the cult's influence to spread across the empire in the coming centuries and made House Arterius a force to be reckoned with - those who dared to cross the so-called "Blessed Dynasty" risked incurring the wrath of the faithful. 
== Biography ==
=== Parentage and birth ===
Before his birth, Desolas' father had been the last living heir to the Arterius bloodline left in the Milky Way, after his maternal family had fled to Andromeda as political refugees following Antraxes Partinax's coup d'état. As such, Sairus had been under immense pressure to continue his family line, lest House Arterius go extinct forever. When he turned fifteen, his father, Fidellion Victus, negotiated a secret betrothal between him and Selena Quentius, the daughter of a prominent family which had been loyal to Sairus' grandfathers. Fidellion's goal was to ensure his son could continue his endangered bloodline while also giving him a chance for freedom with a powerful military family who could protect him from Antraxes, who was now the boy's stepfather.
However, on the day of his sixteenth birthday, before Sairus could be wed to his intended, he was forbidden from taking his Arterius markings by his step-father. This denial of his rights lead to an explosive argument, which resulted in Sairus escaping his political confinement. He sought refuge with Selena, who hid him from Antraxes as best she could. When Antraxes' men finally tracked him down, Sairus had no choice but to go underground to avoid capture. Before he left her household, Sairus entrusted Selena with a frozen vial of his genetic material; in the eventuality that Antraxes captured and killed him, Selena was to use it to preserve Sairus' Arterius bloodline.
Selena complied with Sairus' request, although soon discovered that she was infertile, making it impossible for her to conceive a child of Sairus' blood. She confided in her brother, Solaeus, who provided her with a sample of his genetic material. Using his and Sairus' samples, along with an anonymous donor's egg cell, they artificially conceived an embryo in-vitro, which was then implanted into Selena's uterus. In biological terms, this made Selena the child's aunt, rather than its mother. 
Selena was forced to flee Antraxes' wrath after Sairus killed his daughter, Erinya, in cold blood. She sought asylum in the vault of House Arterius, located within the sacred grounds of the Cipritine Necropolis. She remained there for over a year, hiding amongst the tombs of Sairus' forebears and relying on the charity of the spirit priests to keep her alive. It was here that she gave birth to Sairus' only child; Desolas, whom she named in honour of his exiled great-grandfather. Desolas spent the first months of his life living in darkness amongst his paternal family's honoured dead. Only when his grandfather had slain Antraxes in a lawful duel to the death did he and his mother safely emerge from their hiding place. Selena then presented Sairus with his newborn son.
To protect his grandson from any sociopolitical backlash, Fidellion fabricated the story that Sairus and Selena had secretly wed before Desolas’ birth. He also secretly signed an executive order regarding Desolas’ parentage, elevating the boy from the position of bastard to legitimised bastard, in light of the tough decisions his father had been forced to make regarding the future of his bloodline. In the same fashion, he also stated that Selena was the biological mother of Desolas when, in actuality, she was his aunt and surrogate mother. 
Fidellion erased any mention of Solaeus as one of Desolas' biological fathers from the records. Desolas was raised to believe he was as legitimate as any other turian child, and that he was the biological offspring of both his parents. It was only later in his adult life that he was told the truth by Selena. Despite this, he would continue to call her his mother and would remain extremely close to her for the rest of his life. To the same extent, he would continue to call Solaeus his uncle rather than his father, though in moments of anger towards Sairus he would often say that Solaeus had been more of a father to him than Sairus could ever hope to be. 
=== First marriage ===
Desolas developed a special fondness for Achaea after the birth of their daughter, Desola. While he had always been sexually attracted to his wife and considered her a friend with benefits before their wedding, he had never felt true love for her. The birth of their son, Fidellion, cemented this deep connection in his heart and brought with it the revelation that she was indeed his intended life partner. Overcome by this epiphany, Desolas romantically confessed his love for her and his desire to be with her always. Achaea, moved by his words, embraced him and told him that she too had realised that she loved him as more than just a friend. Going forward, their marriage became one of great devotion to one another, building upon their preexisting friendship to become something much deeper and spiritually intimate. When Achaea told Desolas that she was pregnant again with their third child, the pair chose to bond with one another, mating for life and intertwining their spirits for eternity. 
When Achaea died in childbirth with their fourth child, Desolas was left utterly broken, his world shattered by her absence. Desolas named his newborn daughter after Achaea as an act of remembrance. In the following days and weeks, he struggled to cope with his emotions, seeking counsel from his paternal grandfather, Fidellion Victus, who had lost his own mate to death. Despite the loneliness that now fills his heart, Desolas tries his hardest to be there for his children, all of whom he loves so dearly. He receives much needed support from both his and his late wife’s family with raising the children, but still often neglects his own health by spreading himself too thin. While the pain of Achaea's loss has never truly faded, Desolas has learned to live in the moment by living for their children, all the while holding onto the belief he will one day be reunited with his love in death.
==== Aethus ====
Like her mother and grandfather before her, Achaea was a shatha rider. She rode a male shatha named Aethus, who was a descendant of her grandfather's prized mount, Aethon. When Achaea died in childbirth, Aethus became inconsolable, refusing to eat, thrashing around in an attempt to hurt himself and bellowing mournfully for her each dawn. Seeing himself reflected in the broken creature's grief, Desolas spent a lot of time with him to try to coax him into eating. When it became clear that Aethus' refusal to eat was endangering his health, Desolas sought immediate veterinary intervention. Aethus was taken to the vet and put on intravenous fluids and an energy intensive liquid diet but, despite their best efforts, quickly started to deteriorate. Knowing that he would not recover, Desolas made the hard decision to have Aethus humanely euthanised. However, rather than let the vet do the deed, Desolas chose to do it himself, taking Aethus home so that he could die peacefully in the familiar surroundings of his stable, out of respect for his late wife.
==== Suicide attempt ====
Aethus' death was a trigger point for Desolas. Like him, he wished that he too could be reunited with Achaea in death. So great was his grief that he began to contemplate suicide, planning out how he might do it. He convinced himself that he was a burden on his children and that his death would spare them the pain of growing up with an emotionally absent father. He was terrified of becoming his father who, driven to the brink of madness by the loss of his maternal family and years of abuse at the hands of Antraxes, had been unable to be the father figure and husband that Desolas and his mother had needed him to be; Desolas had always promised himself that he would be a better father than his father had been to him. This fear drove him to believe that his children being raised by a collective of their paternal and maternal relatives would be better for their emotional well-being, by ensuring they would be properly cared for by people who were emotionally available to them at all times.
Convinced that his actions would be in his children's best interest, Desolas secretly planned to take his own life when they were away from home. He persuaded his twelve-year-old daughter, Desola, to take her younger siblings to visit their paternal great-grandfather, Fidellion Victus, for the day. Desola initially protested, stating that she did not want to leave him on his own for fear he would be lonely. Desolas, touched by her concern for him, told her that he would rather she and her siblings spend time with someone who could distract them from the loss of their mother, telling her:"Your mother's loss has hurt us all so deeply. But Fi, Lena, Chaea...they don't understand it like you and I do; they're too young. They're surrounded by all this sorrow, yet can't truly understand it. I want them to get away from it all. And I want you to remember what it's like to be a child again, to not have to carry my grief for me. Can you do that, Desa? Could you do that for them...for me?"Still worried for her father but trusting in his words, Desola agreed to his request, taking all of her siblings, including her newborn sister, over to the Primacy Palace to spend time with their paternal family. Desolas' absence from their group immediately set alarm bells ringing in Fidellion's head and he began to fear that his grandson was making a terrible mistake. He left his great-grandchildren in his wife's care before taking Sairus, Desolas' father, with him to House Arterius' estate. When they arrived, Fidellion and Sairus found Desolas sitting on his bed with a gun to his head, safety off. Fidellion, panicking, attempted to talk his grandson out of it by telling him that Achaea would not want him to kill himself. Desolas refused to listen to him, telling him that his children would be better off without him anyway. Sairus tried a much different approach; the pair of them had never seen eye-to-eye due to his absence from Desolas' childhood and the breakup of his marriage to Desolas' mother, but he was determined to redeem himself by being there when his son needed him the most. Slowly advancing towards him, Sairus began to speak:"Des...if you do this, then you will be taking the coward's way out."Fidellion and Desolas both began to protest but Sairus sharply cut them off."You blame me for abandoning you and your mother when you needed me most. You tell everyone that you want to be the better man, to be the father that I was not. But how is this 'better'? I'll say it plain: Des, if you shoot yourself in the head, you'll be doing to your children exactly what I did to you; abandoning them. Do you think they'll understand your reasoning when they find you with a hole in your head and your brains spattered on the wall? Do you think they'll forgive you when they're standing around their mother's tomb, watching you being lowered into it beside her? Do you think they'll heal from the trauma of being orphaned by your actions when they have to go through every milestone of their lives without you - you! - the person they thought they could rely on to always be there for them? I don't need to tell you the answer. You already live it."Desolas remained silent, not answering back this time. Tears were running down his facial plates and his hands were beginning to shake."You don't get to stand on that moral high ground of yours when you are walking willingly in my footsteps. Don't make the same mistakes I did. Don't let your pain twist you into the antithesis of yourself... So, what's it to be? Will you play the hypocrite? Or will you step up and become the man your kids need you to be?"After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Desolas finally let out a roar of frustrated agony before throwing his pistol across the room. It came skittering to a halt at Sairus' feet, who quickly grabbed it and turned the safety on, holstering it on his hip. With the danger passed, Fidellion rushed to Desolas' side and wrapped his grandson up in his embrace, letting Desolas wail into his chest. 
=== Second marriage ===
In an effort to cope with his loneliness, Desolas sought physical relief with a multitude of sexual partners, something which he used to do frequently before his marriage. One of these unions results in a child. Not wanting his son to grow up without a father or live with the shame of being a bastard, Desolas does the chivalrous thing and marries his one-night stand. The marriage is sudden and confuses his family; Desolas confides in his grandfather about the truth. Fidellion commends Desolas’ dedication to his son and promises to support him, however possible. His new wife feels nothing for him and is jealous of Desolas’ other children. She capitalises on Desolas’ family name and wealth, bleeding him dry. Desola in particular has a tumultuous relationship with her stepmother, whom she considers an opportunistic social climber who preyed upon her father in his time of emotional vulnerability, with the express purpose of leeching off of him. She begins to doubt whether her youngest brother is even their father’s son. She convinces her father to seek a divorce, which gets tied up in the courts. Solaeus turns out to be Desolas’ biological son, giving Desolas automatic custody of him as his parriarch. His wife plays dirty, however, by claiming that Desolas was abusive towards her and forced her to marry him, even suggesting that he raped her. The publicity surrounding this damages Desolas a lot.
== Relationships ==
=== Fidellion ===
Due to his father's emotional instability and penchant for falling off the grid, Desolas was raised by his mother and paternal grandfather. Fidellion was a much-needed source of stability for the young turian, who would grow to become extremely close with him in his father's absence. This caused friction between Fidellion and Sairus, who misinterpreted his father's influence on Desolas as a calculated plot to turn his son against him. 
Despite his demanding responsibilities as Primarch of Palaven, Fidellion always strived to make time for his grandson. He taught Desolas how to duel in the Bostran style - a House Victus family tradition - how to shoot, drive land vehicles and pilot skycars. Another core component of their relationship was the teaching of Desolas' storied lineage. He would often speak of the triumphs of Desolas' namesake during the Reaper War, as well as House Arterius' history as loyal servants of the empire. 
In Fidellion, Desolas found a role model and confidant; someone who would never abandon him or place personal vengeance before familial duty. Angry and resentful towards his father, he found himself wishing that he had instead been born the son of his grandfather. He would eventually come to ask his grandfather to adopt him formally as his son, a request which Fidellion gently declined out of love for Sairus. While initially deeply hurt by this rejection, Desolas come to understand the reasoning behind it in later life. 
When his grandfather passed away at the age of 151, Desolas was distraught. As per his grandfather's request, Desolas walked behind his bier while holding aloft the flag of Palaven. He walked alongside his half-uncle, Keirix, who carried the flag of Bostra. He publicly wept at the foot of Fidellion's tomb following his interment, inconsolable in his grief. Desolas remained close with his grandfather's family following his death. Keirix in particular was a source of comfort, the pair mourning Fidellion together as if they were brothers. 
Category:Turians
Category:Male
Category:Characters
Category:House Arterius
Category:House Victus
Category:Males
Category:Tria nomina