Desola Arterius

Desola Arterius Corinthina is the daughter and eldest child of Desolas Arterius III and his late bonded wife, Achaea Corinthus. She was named by her father in honour of her paternal great-great-grandfather, Desolas Arterius II. She has three younger full-blood siblings - Fidellion Arterius, Selena Arterius and Achaea Arterius - and a younger half-blood sibling - Solaeus Arterius. Desola is the current head of the Palavenian branch of House Arterius, having superseded her paternal grandfather, Sairus Arterius, when she inherited the Aurelian Throne from his father, *Primarch* Fidellion Victus of Palaven. Her current heir presumptive is her younger brother, Fidellion.

As part of a political pact to bring Thracia back into the imperial fold, Desola was wed to Pireius Lokarion, the son of a prestigious Thracian old military family. The pair were initially resentful of each other but, over time, slowly grew to foster mutual respect and, eventually, a strong, unconditional friendship. In later life, Pireius would fall in love with her. Desola tried to reciprocate his feelings but found that she could not match them; while she cared deeply about him as a friend and the pair shared a healthy sexual relationship, she felt little desire for a romantic relationship with him. Despite this, the pair still chose to bond with one another, mating for life. In Desola's eyes, her lack of romantic attraction to her husband isn't a dealbreaker; they still live together, sleep together and are devoted friends who would do anything for one another.

When the pair lost their first child, Pireius helped Desola through her grief by encouraging the pair of them to cathartically vent their pain to one another. Pireius' intervention ensured that Desola could remain in the Imperial Air Force, as her volatile behaviour was threatening her position within its ranks. The pair would later try to conceive another child but each attempt tragically ended in miscarriage.

After the loss of their third child, Pireius' parents attempted to have his marriage to Desola dissolved but Pireius resisted, reaffirming his commitment to his wife by refusing to further communicate with them. It was suspected that the cause of Desola's miscarriages was genetic and stemmed from a faulty gene she had inherited from her paternal grandmother, Selena Quentius. While the revelation of her infertility initially pained her, Desola took great comfort in her husband's continued support of her and commitment to their relationship; in a society where infertility of any kind is frowned upon, his defiance of the status quo was unprecedented and a clear display of emotional devotion towards his wife. Pireius is reported to have said to her:

> *"You are the only person who has ever shown me any genuine care, even when I did not deserve it. When I was younger man, I thought I had it all figured out. I thought being forced to marry you was a punishment, but...it took you to show me that I was little more than a pawn, being played in someone else's game. Well, I refuse to be anyone's toy. They seek to control our fate? Let's scatter their game board and make our own. We are House Arterius; we bow to no one."*
>
>

After serving in the Imperial Airforce for the majority of her life and later as the *Duarch Caelum* of Palaven, Desola ascended to the Aurelian Throne upon the death of her paternal great-grandfather, *Primarch* Fidellion Victus, in 2337 CE at the age of 78. She was the first Arterius to sit the throne since the unlawful deposition of Desolas Arterius II. She continued her great-grandfather's work, further strengthening his legal reforms, while also championing greater political representation for biotic individuals, just as Desolas had during his reign.

Most notably, Desola expanded upon Fidellion's structural reformation of the Cabals, which had permitted the *Kabalim Primus* of Palaven to sit in the *Radiatum* alongside the other heads of the military, to create a new, fourth duarchy - the *Duarch Mutarius* - which was to be occupied specifically by the Kabalim Primus. This effectively gave biotics equal opportunity to earn the Aurelian Throne by merit and atoned for centuries of institutionalised prejudice and repression.

## Biography

Desola was born in Cipritine, Palaven, in the twenty-third year of her great-grandfather's reign as *Primarch* of Palaven. As the great-granddaughter of Fidellion Victus, she was entitled to wear purple from birth but only did so on formal occasions.

Her mother died in childbirth when she was twelve years old. As the eldest child, Desola naturally took it upon herself to care for her younger siblings. She would also help her father raise her infant sister, Achaea, as he struggled through his grief. Desola and her father share a very close bond and she is extremely protective of him. He is her one true best friend.

Unlike her siblings, who all joined the army and navy respectively, Desola chose to follow in the footsteps of her paternal great-great-grandfather, Cadmus Quentius, and her great-great-great-great-grandfather, Isaeus Strabo, by becoming a fighter pilot in the Imperial Air Force. She earned her wings at the age of 18, learning to fly the CA-80 *Raptare*; a single-seat, twin-engine, space-compatible, stealth tactical fighter aircraft. Only in the cockpit of a fighter does she feel truly free and at peace with herself.

Desola is a veteran of the Invictus and Triginta Petra campaigns. She was shot down during the latter, after placing her aircraft between that of an enemy and her half-brother, buying him and the rest of their flight unit the time they needed to evade and retreat. Having ejected from her fighter before it went up in flames, she was forced to survive alone in hostile territory, armed with nothing but a pistol, until she managed to make it back to imperial territory two weeks later. She was awarded a medal for valour and a promotion to squadron leader. She then returned to active duty, leading her new squadron to victory at the Battle of Licitron. From that battle onwards, she always requested Solaeus as her wingman, knowing that she could trust him with her life and vice versa.

## Trivia

### Character colour palette

* **Plate colour**: Two-toned; Otter Brown (#67411E) and Pink Swan (#BAB7BF)
* **Skin colour**: Brown Bear (#815632)
* **Eye colour**: Flat Green (#739D41)
* **Markings colour**: Muted Blue (#4968A5)