The Right of Blood

The Right of Blood was an ancient turian custom that was the foundation of inheritance laws in the empire. Most notably, it dictated who would inherit the Imperial Throne upon the death of the reigning *Imperator*/*Imperatrix* and defined the line of succession for the wider Imperial Family. It can be described as a system of primogeniture, under which the firstborn legitimate child was first in line to inherit the throne from their ruling parent.

## Absolute primogeniture

Unlike other forms of primogeniture seen in alien cultures, which were either agnatic (allowing only males to inherit), male-preference (allowing females to inherit only after only if they had no living brothers and no deceased brothers who left surviving legitimate descendants) or matrilineal (allowing only females to inherit), turians practised absolute primogeniture. Under absolute primogeniture sex is irrelevant for inheritance; the oldest surviving child always inherits the throne, regardless of whether they are male or female.

## Legitimacy vs. Illegitimacy

The Right of Blood had strict rules about the status of illegitimate children. An illegitimate child could inherit the throne but only if all possible legitimate heirs predeceased their ruler. Because of these strict rules, it was extremely rare for illegitimate children to even get close enough in the line of succession to be able to inherit the throne. But, while it was rare, it did occasionally happen. Such was the case with Rea Aurix, the illegitimate daughter of Aurelion Aurelos.

### The Case of Rea Aurix

Two years after Rea's birth, the Regicide of Glabius *Imperator* and the Massacre of the *Heredi* occurred, resulting in the deaths of the entire Imperial Family, save for Aurelion and his wife, Septonia Halabrian. As she was her father's only child at this time, Rea was automatically elevated to the status of heir to the throne. She remained heir for a year, until the birth of her true-born half-sister, Trebia Aurelos, who was Aurelion's first and only legitimate child by his wife. Trebia's claim to the throne as a legitimate child naturally superseded Rea's illegitimate one, thus Trebia became the new heir.

Rea would remain second in line even after the birth of Trebia's son, Aurelion "Auri" Abrudas, by her husband Markus Abrudas, in 312 BCE. Had Trebia survived Auri's birth, this would have pushed Rea down the line of succession yet again to third in line. However, as Trebia sadly died giving birth to her son, Rea retained her status as second in line behind her newborn half-nephew. She would remain Auri's heir until 294 BCE when her father finally abolished the Right of Blood and replaced it with the Right of Merit. The Right of Merit would become the cornerstone of the modern turian hierarchy and its rules of succession for *primarchs*.

This can be contrasted with the case of Rea's half-brother, Orian Aurix. Like her, he was also an illegitimate child of Aurelion. By the time of Auri's birth, Orian was fourth in line to the throne, behind Auri, Rea, and his twin sister, Flavia, who had been born seven minutes before him. Under the Right of Blood, it would have been highly improbable for Orian to inherit the throne, as he was too far down the line of succession to be in with a reasonable chance. But under the new Right of Merit laws, which disregard legitimacy as irrelevant, he was able to inherit the throne on the basis of being the most senior general in the empire at the time of *Primarch* Pallix Arterius' death.

This technicality made a bastard child, of a previous *imperator*, the ruler of the empire and did much to destigmatise illegitimate individuals. Illegitimate people now have full and equal rights under turian law but, due to centuries of being treated as second-class citizens, many are still subject to cultural disdain and ostracisation from their families.

## Legacy

While the Right of Blood no longer holds any legal precedent its influence on turian culture still remains. The most obvious example of its continued cultural presence can be observed in the structure of turian families. Each turian family, or "house", is led by a *parriarch*. A *parriarch* is the most senior member of the family in terms of hierarchical rank and obtains their position through the Right of Merit. However, the children of *parriarchs* are often treated as senior to the children of other family members. As such, they are invested in more than their relatives to give them a head start in climbing up the hierarchy ranks, in the hopes that they will one day inherit the position of *parriarch* from their parent.