Quintus Arterius

Quintus Arterius Kandrinus is the son of Castus Arterius and Teresa Kandros. Through his father, he is the grandson of Quinteia Arterius, the infamous rebel biotic who became the first cabalist. Through his mother, he is the grandson of Teres Kandros, the first Primarch of Thracia, who fought at Aurelion's side during the Unification War. His father was killed by Aurelion when he was two years old and he has very few memories of him. His mother raised him on Thracia, in the household of her father. Quintus lived the typical life of provincial nobility, never wanting for anything and receiving the best education.

When he was sixteen he was summoned to Palaven by Aurelion. Obeying his Imperator's command, Quintus and his mother journeyed to Cipritine and stood before his adoptive grandfather. Aurelion embraced Quintus and called him grandson, before handing him an imperial decree that granted him the right to wear Tyrian Purple, an act of formal acknowledgement of his imperial status. This was a great honour for Quintus and he cherished it dearly, always wearing purple on his person in some capacity from that day forth.

Aurelion briefly considered a match between Quintus and Cressida Aurix, one of his granddaughters through his illegitimate daughter, Flavia, but ultimately decided against it due to Quintus's marriage being a potentially volatile political issue. Unable to keep Quintus in the family or choose a colonial match without being accused of favouritism, he instead decreed that his grandson was free to marry whomever he desired, removing himself from the matter entirely to appear unbiased. Quintus chose to marry a Thracian woman named Typhaena Cikos**,** who was the daughter of one of his grandfather's duarchs. They had two children together; a son named Teres Arterius and a daughter named Typha Arterius, Quintus and Typhaena's marriage was a love match, the pair choosing to mate for life after the birth of their son. They affectionately called each another 'Quint' and 'Phei' and were utterly devoted to one another.

In his youth, Quintus served in the Imperial Navy as a commissioned officer, a vocation which enabled him to travel around the empire on extended tours of duty. While he was initially given some stick for having lived the cushy life of a provincial noble, not to mention his matrilineal relation to the infamous Quinteia Arterius, he soon proved his capabilities as an officer and earned himself the respect and loyalty of his subordinates. Quintus readily devoted himself to the protection of his adoptive grandfather's great empire, which he believed was his great calling in life. In dedicating his life to the service of his imperial grandfather, he would eventually reach the rank of *Duarch Classis* of Thracia, making him the most senior admiral in the Thracian Colonial Navy.

When Quintus was 38 years of age, his beloved adoptive grandfather died peacefully in his sleep in Cipritine, Palaven. He brought his family - his wife, son and daughter, and his mother, to Palaven so that they could pay their respects. Quintus took part in the mourning procession for his grandfather, walking behind his bier as it was paraded through the streets of Cipritine towards the Grand Necropolis. He wore the white mourning variant of his military uniform with his military medals pinned upon his chest. As a minor member of the Imperial Family, he was relegated to the third row of mourners walking behind Aurelion's bier, sharing this row with his wife and the members of House Abrudas - Markus Abrudas, Auri and Elissa Abrudas, Septonian and Drusilla Abrudas (formerly Drusilla Arterius before her marriage, Quintus' paternal first-cousin-once-removed), Aurelia Abrudas (Quintus' paternal first-cousin-twice-removed), and Trebia Abrudas.

As a gift to his grandfather, Quintus had a traditional Thracian hunting spear crafted in his honour, carved from the dark hardwood of Thracia's forests and decorated with intricate inlays in the shapes of corivels, mountains and Aurelian sunbursts. He placed this gift upon Aurelion's bier before he was lowered into his tomb. Out of love for his nephew, Aurelion's successor, Pallix Arterius, upheld Aurelion's imperial decree that had granted Quintus the right to wear Tyrian purple as a member of the Imperial Family, despite Aurelion's new laws prohibiting such things. Quintus would wear purple for the rest of his life in honour of both his grandfather and his uncle.

Decades after Aurelion's death, Quintus would become the Primarch of Thracia, following in his maternal grandfather's footsteps. As a man who was viewed as simultaneously Thracian by birth and Aurelian by upbringing, Quintus acted as a symbolic bridge between imperial and colonial culture, one which helped to foster a greater sense of understanding and acceptance between both groups. He worked tirelessly to bring Thracian concerns to the attention of Palaven's leadership, helping to heal much of the scarring left behind by the Unification War. Regarding his paternal grandmother and namesake, Quinteia Arterius, Quintus spoke very little of her. What little he did say echoed his beliefs that his grandmother had been led astray by a visceral fear of the unknown, which had empowered her to commit atrocities in the name of freedom, potentially suggesting that she had been mentally unstable. Despite this more understanding outlook, Quintus always condemned her use of biotics as a weapon of terror and supported the Cabals as an institution of mercy.

Quintus was born a member of the Aurelian Imperial Family, as the adoptive grandson of Aurelion. Upon his uncle's ascension to the throne, Quintus lost his imperial status, as per the laws surrounding imperial family membership. Despite this, Pallix granted his nephew special dispensation to continue wearing purple, citing the fact that Aurelion had personally granted Quintus the right to wear purple and that he would uphold that honour as a tribute to Aurelion's memory. As this special dispensation was a personal gift from an uncle to a nephew, the same rights were not extended to Quintus' wife and heirs.