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 Arterius*
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Janus Arterius Kryinus (High Cipirtine: [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 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. Like his siblings, Janus was artificially conceived and grown *in vitro*.

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 Desolas had 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.

Janus possesses a master’s degree in interspecies relations from the prestigious Janiris University on the Citadel. He is also a certified Grade 8 pianist, who plays base-6 due to only having three digits on each hand.