House Arterius

House Arterius is one of the Familiae Martiales, the Turian Hierarchy's military elite. They are one of the older of Palaven's military families, rising to prominence in 305 BCE. Branded as pariahs for the treason of their founder's mother and identical twin brother, House Arterius is often viewed with scepticism by their peers, despite their continued loyalty to the Hierarchy for the past 2,500 years. Their sigil is a black corivel on a blue field. Notable family members include Kabalim Quinteia Arterius, twins Castus and Pallix Arterius, Legatus Desolas Arterius I, and his son Desolas Arterius II. 
House Arterius has continually flirted with extinction over the centuries. In 2183 CE, the only surviving blood member of the dynasty was Desolas Arterius II. Both his father and uncle had been killed in reaper-related incidences, leaving him as parriarch. Desolas' controversial marriage to Nihlus Kryik successfully produced two healthy children - Janus and Sarena - which secured the succession for a time. Two more children - Cassian and Alasius - would follow in the years to come.  
Later, in 2230 CE, Desolas' grandson, Sairus, was the last heir to the Arterius bloodline left in the Milky Way galaxy, after the remainder of his maternal family migrated to neighbouring Andromeda to escape political assassination. Sairus would go on to produce a son - Desolas Arterius III - securing the future of his house. Both Sairus and Desolas were born Victuses but they were released from this familial duty by Sairus' father, Fidellion Victus, in order to reestablish House Arterius.
==History==
=== Founding ===
=== Desolian Succession Crisis ===
In the mid-22nd Century, House Arterius was but a shadow of its former glory. Gaius Arterius, the house's parriarch, had been driven to madness over the loss of his beloved wife and bondmate, Malaena Praeton.
Malaena had suffered several miscarriages and stillbirths over the course of her marriage to Gaius, her body growing increasingly frail with every child that she lost. Out of a total of six pregnancies, only one of her children had survived and grown to maturity; her firstborn son, Desolas.
Malaena had died in childbirth with her husband's second son, Saren Arterius. Saren was raised by his older brother after their father disowned the boy in his grief. Gaius died not long after his wife, wretched and heartbroken. The weighty position of parriarch then fell to Desolas
A fresco painted of House Arterius' members from this time on the wall of their estate shows only three people; Desolas, his wife Maea and younger brother Saren. Maea is visibly pregnant with her husband's child in the painting. A few months after the painting was completed, Maea was delivered of a son, whom she named in honour of his father. The boy, Desolas Arterius II, had inherited the pale gene from both his parents. Following the birth of her son, Maea underwent an emergency hysterectomy to remove her womb, rendering her completely infertile. She was awarded a medal for her sacrifice by Primarch Fedorian himself.
=== Sairian Succession Crisis ===
After the entirety of House Arterius had been forced into exile, following Antraxes Mehrkuri's coup d'état, the house was pronounced extinct in the Milky Way. The only remaining heir to the Arterius bloodline was the young son of Fidellion Victus and his late wife, Sarena Arterius. As his father was the more senior of his parents, Sairus was born a Victus and would legally carry his father's house name until his late twenties. During this time, Sairus married Selena Quentius and sired a son, Desolas Victus, to keep his bloodline alive. 
As turian custom dictates, when a house goes extinct, one of the children of the next available heir will be granted the extinct house's name, and be permitted to reestablish it by their former house's parriarch. This was the expectation with Sairus' children; his eldest child would remain a Victus, while his youngest child would be an Arterius. However, Sairus only ever produced one child with his wife, a son named Desolas Victus. Selena would later divorce Sairus, citing emotional neglect of both herself and their son, which triggered yet another Arterian succession crisis. Sairus asked his father to release him from House Victus and allow him to reestablish House Arterius, so that the house could continue through his son, but Fidellion refused. As he was not the parriarch of house Victus, it was not within Fidellion's power to release his son and, even if it had been, he desired for his Victus line to continue through his son in order to preserve the bloodline of his grandfather, Adrien Victus. Fidellion instead tried to convince his son to remarry and sire more children and began searching for a suitable match for him. As House Victus' parriarch, it was Fidellion's duty to preserve the Victus bloodline first, an obligation which he took very seriously. 
Sairus was furious and rallied against the idea of remarriage. He was already bonded to his ex-wife and loved her with all his spirit, and viewed remarriage as a betrayal of that sacred love. He adamantly insisted that he would never remarry and that Desolas would always be his only child. Fidellion turned to Sairus' ex-wife, Selena, in the hopes she could convince his son to remarry. She did as she was bid but even she could not convince her ex-husband. In his frustration, Sairus began styling himself as Sairus Arterius and his son as Desolas Arterius III, much to his family's chagrin, although these names had no legal standing and they were still considered to be Victuses on paper. As an act of defiance against his father, Sairus had his facial plating tattooed with the markings of House Arterius, an offence that carried the penalty of disownment from his house of birth. Despite this, Fidellion chose not to disown his son, for he loved him so dearly and instead showed a blind eye to his son's behaviour, something for which he was ridiculed by other families.
Knowing that he could never change his rebellious son, Fidellion chose to take up the burden of remarriage himself, in order to produce more Victus children. This would enable him to release Sairus and Desolas, as his son had always desired. He considered this to be both a noble sacrifice and a gift of love towards his son. However, rather than being happy with this arrangement, Sairus was instead outraged that his father would replace his deceased mother with another woman. He raged at Fidellion, calling him a traitor to his mother's memory and a "...hierarchy dog..." (an insult he had picked up from his exiled grandfather, Desolas Arterius II), and calling his step-mother a "...grasping whore, who prostitut[ed] [herself] for the sake of power." 
This explosive row saw a further deterioration of Sairus' mental health and only widened the rift between father and son, much to Fidellion's sorrow. Things only grew worse after the birth of Keirix Victus, the first of Sairus' new half-siblings, whom Sairus fantasised about killing in his darker moments of emotional turmoil. Fearing for her newborn son's life, Marcia forced Fidellion to remove Sairus from the imperial household. Fidellion unwilling confining Sairus to House Victus' Cipritine estate, telling him that he would be welcomed home if they could both forgive each other and move forward. Sairus refused and managed to escape his confinement, fleeing to Bostra where he fell off the grid. 
A year later, Fidellion sent a message to Sairus, asking if they could meet on Bostra, at House Victus' ancestral estate. Sairus did not reply but Fidellion chose to journey to his ancestral homeworld anyway, in the hopes that his son might show up. His perseverance paid off; Sairus materialised from the shadows and asked what he wanted. Fidellion attempted to explain his case - how he truly believed that in choosing to sacrifice his own happiness to give Sairus freedom, he was doing what was best for his son. Sairus confessed that, deep down, he understood this, but that the idea of replacing his mother hurt to much to bear. Fidellion tearfully stated: "No one could ever replace your mother, Sai. Not in my heart, not in yours. I married your mother for love. I have always loved her and I always will, in this life and the next. She is a part of me, now and forever. The best of her lives on in you. You're all I have left of her and it pains me to see you so troubled, so hurt, when I swore to her that I would protect you. I failed in my duty to you and to her, and for that I am sorry. I can't undo what has happened, no matter how much I wish that I could. I can't bring her back to us...but I can give you her name." Fidellion then gestured to the door, where his cousin, Justinien Victus, who had been waiting in the antechamber, appeared, holding an ancient tome in his talons. This tome was the genealogical record of House Victus, into which all of their names had been inscribed at birth. Justinien placed the tome down upon the table and turned to the page where Sairus' name was written, alongside Desolas' name. He took a pen and ceremoniously crossed out Sairus and Desolas' names, proclaiming aloud that Sairus and his son were being released from House Victus, in order to reestablish the extinct House Arterius. Fidellion turned to Sairus and tearfully whispered: "Everything I did, I did for you. I can only hope that this might begin to heal the wounds you have endured, so that we might be friends again." 
=== Reestablishment ===
==Aurelian Era==
* Quinteia Arterius
**Pallix Arterius and Rea Aurix
***Elia Arterius (illegitimate daughter of Castus, passed off as Pallix's legitimate daughter by her mother)
*** Nereia Arterius
**** Drusilla Arterius
***Castian Arterius
** Castus Arterius and Teresa Kandros
***Quintus Arterius
**** Teres Arterius
**** Tyra Arterius
== Desolas Arterius II and his descendants ==
* Desolas Arterius II and Nihlus Kryik 
** Janus Arterius and Concordia Coronati
*** Decian Arterius
** Sarena Arterius and Fidellion Victus
*** Sairus Arterius (Victus) and Selena Quentius
**** Desolas Arterius III and Achaea Corinthus
***** Desola Arterius
***** Fidellion Arterius
***** Selena Arterius
***** Achaea Arterius
**** Desolas Arterius III and Senestra Pavoninus
***** Solaeus Arterius
** Cassian Arterius
*** Nihla Arterius
** Alasius Arterius and Nova Barro
== Imperial Family ==
=== Imperial Family of Desolas Arterius II ===
The Imperial Family under Desolas, before the time of his deposition.
* Desolas Arterius II and his husband, Nihlus Kryik
** Janus Arterius and his wife, Concordia Coronati (Desolas' son and daughter-in-law)
*** Decian Arterius (Desolas' grandson)
** Sarena Arterius and her husband, Fidellion Victus (Desolas' daughter and son-in-law)
*** Sairus Arterius (Victus) (Desolas' grandson)
** Cassian Arterius (Desolas' son)
* Maea Abrudas (Desolas' mother)
== Known members ==
Key: Parriachs / Bloodline Members / Matrimonial Members (note that all parriarchs are also bloodline members of the house)
* Quinteia Arterius
* Pallix Arterius
* Rea Arterius Auriana (formerly of House Aurix)
* Elia Arterius Aurina
* Nereia Arterius Aurina
* Drusilla Arterius
* Castian Arterius Aurinus
* Castus Arterius
* Teresa Arterius Kandriana (formerly of House Kandros; left House Arterius after her husband divorced her)
* Quintus Arterius Kandrinus
* Typhaena Arterius Cikiana (formerly of House Cikos)
* Teres Arterius Cikinus
* Typha Arterius Cikina
* Decima Arterius
* Paetus Arterius
* Veneria Arterius
* Gaius Arterius
* Malaena Arterius Praetiana (formerly of House Praeton)
* Desolas Arterius I Praetinus
* Maea Arterius Abrudiana (formerly of House Abrudas)
* Saren Arterius Praetinus
* Desolas Arterius II Abrudinus
* Nihlus Arterius Kryianus Strabinus (formerly of House Kryik. Left House Arterius after his husband divorced him; rejoined after remarrying his ex-husband)
* Janus Arterius Kryinus
* Concordia Arterius Coronatiana (formerly of House Coronati)
* Decian Arterius Coronatinus
* Sarena Victus Arteriana Kryina (left House Arterius to marry Fidellion Victus Parvinus of House Victus)
* Cassian Arterius Kryinus
* Nihla Arterius Kryina
* Alasius Arterius Kryinus
* Nova Arterius Barriana Rixina (formerly of House Barro)
* Sarius Arterius Victinus (formerly of House Victus, born 'Sairus Victus Arterinus'; joined House Arterius after he re-founded it)
* Selena Arterius Quentiana (formerly of House Quentius. Left House Arterius after divorcing her husband)
* Desolas Arterius III Quentinus (formerly of House Victus, born 'Desolas Victus Quentinus'; joined House Arterius after his father re-founded it)
* Achaea Arterius Corinthiana (formerly of House Corinthus)
* Desola Arterius Corinthina
* Fidellion Arterius Corinthinus
* Selena Arterius Corinthina
* Achaea Arterius Corinthina
* Solaeus Arterius Pavonininus
== Sigils ==
File:The Sigil of Rea Aurix.png|Pallix Arterius and Rea Aurix
File:Teresa Castus sigil.png|Castus Arterius and Teresa Kandros
Category:Turian Houses