Astraeus Mehrkuri

> ***"It is by your grace alone that I am more than those that made me."*** *- Astraeus to his wife, Valexa*
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Astraeus Mehrkuri Partininus is the son of Astraea Mehrkuri and her bonded husband, Antraxes Partinax. Alongside his maternal aunt, Caeistia Mehrkuri, he was one of only two members of House Mehrkuri to survive his father's tumultuous reign and the subsequent near extinction of his house. Vilified for his parentage, Astraeus spent the majority of his life trying to redeem his family's tainted honour and prove that he could be trusted by his fellow turians. His diligence and determination would eventually elevate him to the rank of *Primarch* of Digeris, a position once held by his late mother. Astraeus' reign would do much to restore his people's faith in House Mehrkuri and further strengthen the relationship between Digeris and Palaven.

Astraeus is in an arranged married with Valexa Victus, the paternal second-cousin-once-removed of Fidellion Victus. Together they have two children; a daughter named Fideia, and a son named Fidericus. While they originally married for political purposes and not for love, each would come to find their soulmate within one another and mate for life.

## Lineage and Relations

### Lineage

#### Notable ancestors

##### Valeria Mehrkuri

Astraeus is descended from Valeria Mehrkuri, the founder of House Mehrkuri. One of the Seven Spears during the Unification War, she served as both the Admiral of the Imperial Fleet and Aurelion Imperator's official stellar cartographer. As a reward for her loyalty and service, Aurelion invested her as the first *Primarch* of Digeris after the war ended. She reigned over Digeris in Aurelion's name for the rest of her life. After her death, her body was ritually interred in the Mehrkuri family vault in the Apparitan Necropolis, where it remains to this day.

In Markus Abrudas' *A Song of Seven Colonies*, he remarks that Valeria and Aurelion were close friends and that she was *"...a soldier with the heart of an explorer."* Valeria herself kept journals about her time on campaign. However, unlike Markus, who wrote largely about Aurelion himself, she instead wrote of the foreign cultures and natural beauty of the places they visited, which she illustrated herself.Valeria was also a keen cartographer. In celebration of his silver jubilee, she presented Aurelion with a collection of hand-drawn maps and star charts of his reunified empire, including a highly detailed map of Digeris which is on display in the Museum of Imperial History in Cipritine, Palaven.

Both of Astraeus' parents were descended from Valeria Mehrkuri, making them distantly related; Astraea was the fourth cousin of Antraxes, on her father's side of the family.

##### Fidericus Mehrkuri

Astraeus is also descended from the legendary Fidericus Mehrkuri, the *Duarch Classium* of Palaven during the Krogan Rebellions. Fidericus was responsible for lifting the naval siege of Digeris on what was once the bloodiest day in turian history. The krogan warlord, Graken Dhal, had taken the fight to Palaven's home cluster, bombarding the modestly defended Digeris with his dreadnoughts. Despite being ordered to hold the line at Palaven, Fidericus broke rank and ordered his ships to Digeris to defend his homeworld. When Fidericus' reinforcements dropped out of FTL to intercept him, Dhal ordered his navy to turn their rear to Digeris so that any stray shots from the turian ships would hit the planet, which would result in a deadly case of friendly fire. Fidericus won the battle despite this severe handicap, opting to use countless fighters and cruisers to take down the krogan dreadnoughts, earning him the eternal reverence of the Digerian people. He was later pardoned for disobeying direct orders and awarded the Nova Cluster 1st Class for outstanding gallantry.

Despite his numerous naval victories over the krogan during the Krogan Rebellions, rumour has it that Fidericus disagreed with the deployment of the genophage. After the war ended, he declared his immediate retirement from the navy and then disappeared into what was then uncharted space. It was only two hundred years ago, in 1983 CE, that his ship was found on the surface of Pressha's largest moon. It had landed gently and been deliberately shut down. Of the admiral, however, no trace was ever found. In recognition of the role which he played in defending the turian race from extinction, the Council of Hierarchs voted to have Fidericus made a Living Spirit, the highest and most revered honour a turian can ever achieve. Every century or so House Mehrkuri will fund an expedition to Pressha to try and locate the body of their lost ancestor for recovery but have so far met with no success.

#### Relations

##### Maternal relations

Astraeus' mother was Astraea Mehrkuri, the late *Primarch* of Digeris. Before ascending to the position of *primarch*, she served both as a distinguished admiral in the Digerian navy and the *Duarch Classium* of Digeris. She was publicly executed by Desolas Arterius II after leading a rebellion against him and having several members of his family assassinated. Astraeus had one living sibling, Erinia Mehrkuri, who was killed in a duel to the death by Sairus Arterius, his one-time step-brother. His other siblings, Valerio and Lidia, were stillborn children.

On his mother's side, Astraeus had an aunt and uncle. His uncle, Maxim Mehrekuri, was killed in action during the Relay 314 Incident before he was born, although not before siring a daughter, Melaira. Melaira was the wife of *Primarch* Regnaltus Fedorian I of Palaven, with whom she had a son called Regnaltus Fedorian II. She later married Achaeus Corinthus, with whom she had another son called Tarquin Corinthus and a daughter named Menaia Corinthus. Astraeus' aunt, Caeistia Mehrkuri, adopted him after the deaths of his parents, as she had no children of her own. She had previously been married to a man named Stephanus Kindrax but he had been killed in action during the Reaper War before Astraeus' birth.

##### Paternal relations

Astraeus' father was Antraxes Partinax, a former Blackwatch agent and Council Spectre, who became universally reviled for usurping the imperial throne from Desolas Arterius II and illegally declaring himself Primarch of Palaven. He was killed in a duel to the death by Fidellion Victus, Astraeus' one-time step-father.

On his father's side, Astraeus an had uncle named Valerio Partinax, the infamous general who had personally lead imperial forces during The War on Taetrus. He too was killed during the Reaper War, trying to hold Taetrus against invading reaper forces. Valerio had two children; a daughter named Valeria Partinax, who married Regnaltus Fedorian II, and a son named Caherix Partinax. Valeria and Regnaltus have one child together, a daughter named Melaira Fedorian. As he is related to both of her parents (Valeria is his paternal first cousin; Regnaltus is his maternal first cousin once removed), Melaira is both Astraeus' paternal first cousin once removed and his maternal first cousin twice removed.

## Trivia

### Character colour palette

* **Plate colour**: Two toned; Grey Brown #7F7053 and Cotton Seed #C2BDB6
* **Skin colour**: Pale Oyster #988D77
* **Eye colour**: Onion Green #6AA121
* **Markings colour**: Oasis #FEEFCE