Idus Valen

In the aftermath of the Vallum Blast, Idus Valen, the Taetrian Minister of Agriculture, became *Primarch* of Taetrus by turian laws of succession. His promotion to the rank of *primarch* came as a shock. Several vastly more experienced military leaders had outranked him before Facinus' terrorist attack - including Taetrus' three *duarchs* - all of whom had been killed in the blast, leaving the comparatively lowly Idus as their highest-ranking successor.

Hopelessly out of his depth in his new posting, Idus came to rely heavily on his newly appointed government ministers, staff and, in particular, General Valerio Partinax, the imperial representative whom *Primarch* Fedorian of Palaven had sent to Taetrus to coordinate the war effort. This led many Taetrians, Diluvians especially, to become highly critical of him, earning him a reputation for weakness; some even accused him of being little more than a mouthpiece for the general's imperial propaganda, especially when a group of human investigative journalists leaked information which alleged Valerio had been doctoring Idus' daily press releases.

Desperate to distance his premiership from Valerio's increasingly bloody campaign, Idus formed a political alliance with the Taetrian general Timus Aurelos, who also served on the Taetrian war council during the conflict. Together, they endeavoured to minimise civilian casualties and provide essential aid to all non-combatants, including those who had formally taken up arms against them before surrendering - it was their idea to open the safe camps to spare their people from Valerio's wrath. Idus also stopped reading from Valerio's scripted speeches, resulting in an increased number of contradictory statements in their press releases, infuriating his Palavenian counterpart.

After Valerio declared an end to major combat operations on Taetrus but refused to return to Palaven, choosing to place Taetrus under martial law in the interest of "security", Idus doubled down on wrestling back his political authority. Relations between the two men quickly soured, sparking an intense cold war between their opposing imperial and colonial camps. Where Valerio focused on purging Separatism - violent or otherwise - from the minds of the populace, Idus instead funded public works programs to reconstruct the cities that had been devastated by the war, providing his citizens with both financial security and a unifying national goal. Despite Valerio's efforts, separatist sentiments only grew in fervour from this point onwards, emboldened by Idus' public resistance to imperial inference in the workings of the Taetrian government.

## Trivia

### Quotes

* *"The Vallum Blast was an act of war."*
* *"Our enemies will not escape the long talons of justice. Their dreams of anarchy and unaccountability have given birth to a mass murder that marks them as criminals, not heads of state. We call upon their neighbours in an ultimatum: deliver them to us, or share their graves."*
* *"Justice neither trembles nor runs in the face of evil. We will execute our plans, no matter the threat."*
* *"Over one week ago I gave clear and specific demands to produce the leaders of Facinus and renounce Separatism. These demands were not met, and the Diluvians will now pay the price."*
* *"I'd rather not broadcast an instruction manual on what Facinus has learned.”*
* *"These weaponised FTL plotters are symbols of a type of war no civilised galaxy wants and no civilised galaxy should suffer."*