Maea Abrudas

"'My son is the last Arterius. In his veins runs the blood of Aurelion, Markus, Pallix; the progenitors of a thousand primarchs. You are nothing. A desert waif, with no past and no future.' - Maea to Nihlus, upon learning of his impending marriage to Desolas"Maea Abrudas was the bonded wife of General Desolas Arterius I and mother to Desolas Arterius II. She was murdered during the Night of Martyrs on the orders of Astraea Mehrkuri, Primarch of Digeris. She was a direct descendant of both Aurelion Aurelos and Markus Abrudas, her house's founder.

Childhood
Born into House Abrudas, Maea was the only daughter and youngest child of Marcia Abrudas and Decimus Ursivus. She had one sibling - an older brother, named Markus, with whom she was very close. She spent her childhood on Palaven, growing up on her family's ancestral estate in Cipritine. Alongside her brother, her mother taught her how to shoot a gun and her father how to maintain one's gear to stave off equipment failure. This meticulous training provided her with an advantage when it came to Bootcamp, which she passed with a commendation from her commanding officer.

Marriage
Maea's marriage was arranged by her brother. Their house's lineage already secure, Markus chose to marry his younger sister off to a higher ranking suitor. The man he chose was Major Desolas Arterius, a career soldier from House Arterius who had presided over multiple military victories.

The couple were wed in Cipritine in 2149 CE. Maea was aged twenty-two, with Desolas eight years her senior. While the pair were acquainted with each other's families, they knew next to nothing about each other. Despite this, Maea remarked in correspondence with her brother that her new husband had been "a consummate gentleman, who show[ed] great kindness towards [her]" during their official courtship. As is Palavenian tradition, Maea was required to consummate her marriage with Desolas in the presence of her brother, who was her house's parriarch.

Pregnancy
Three years after her wedding, Maea was involved in a troop transport crash which killed half of her unit. For several weeks after the accident, she experienced symptoms of a mystery illness which required her to be hospitalised. She was diagnosed with eezo-poisoning. Further tests concluded that she was also with child.

Maea's pregnancy was a difficult one. In addition to the effects of chronic eezo-poisoning, she suffered from hyperemesis; prolonged episodes of vomiting which caused dehydration and dizziness. She also experienced painful cramps and bleeding during the first half of her pregnancy. She was later diagnosed with uterine cancer, which had been triggered by her accidental exposure to eezo. Terrified of losing her unborn child, Maea confined herself behind the walls of the Arterius family's estate, refusing medical treatment for her cancer as it would most likely kill her chick.

On the 28th of May 2152 CE, Maea was prematurely delivered of a son, whom she named in honour of his father. The boy, Desolas Arterius II, had inherited the pale gene from both his parents and bore a striking family resemblance to his paternal uncle. Following the birth of her son, Maea underwent an emergency hysterectomy to stop her cancer from spreading any further, which rendered her completely infertile. She was awarded a medal for her sacrifice by Primarch Fedorian himself.

The tragic circumstances surrounding Maea's pregnancy unwittingly threw the future of House Arterius into jeopardy. She could no longer have children and the son she had produced was pale. As pales are near infertile, the likelihood of her son siring children of his own in the future was minuscule at best. This left her husband with a fateful decision - divorce Maea and marry another woman with whom he could have more children, or stay with her and potentially condemn his bloodline to extinction. Unable to part from the woman he loved, Desolas chose to remain with his wife, marking her as his bondmate.

Widowhood
After her husband died, Maea tried her best to be strong for her son. She was supported by her brother and her sister-in-law, who helped her to raise him. For a time, it appeared Maea might recover from her sudden bereavement. But when her son was taken from her, Maea collapsed in on herself once again. Spouseless and now childless, she fell into a state of utter despair. Her brother worried about leaving her alone in such a state, fearing she would take her own life and thus moved in with her for a time to care for her.

Maea was unanimously ridiculed within her social strata, causing her to retire from public life. Markus tried to get her out more but she struggled to engage, eventually giving up altogether. She retired from the military and lived off her widow's pension behind closed doors, only letting her brother, sister-in-law and nephew see her. She notably kept her son's room pristine, leaving his childhood possessions exactly where he had left them on the day he was taken away. Maea never let anyone else into this room, not even her brother.

Due to the blackout of information regarding biotic individuals, Maea had no idea where her son was or whether he was even still alive. This affected her greatly. In her grief she latched onto her nephew, Gaius, trying to fill the void within her by mothering him. This caused friction between Markus and his wife, Sedia. Sedia believed Maea needed to be institutionalised but Markus was more tolerant of his sister's behaviour. Tensions grew until Sedia and Maea eventually came to blows, Sedia accusing Maea of trying to steal her son to replace her own. Markus tried to broker peace between the two women but Sedia refused to listen, instead choosing to sever any and all contact between her son and his grieving aunt. The rift between Sedia and Markus only widened as a result, the pair having already begun to drift apart under the stress of Maea's circumstances.

Things only got worse when Sedia suffered an ectopic pregnancy. Tearfully, she and Markus decided to remain friends within their marriage bonds and stop trying for more children. They instead focused on raising their son together as best they could. Markus had a few extramarital relations but they were short-lived and burned out quickly, purely physical in nature; he always returned to his wife in the end. Not knowing who else to turn to with such a sensitive matter, Sedia took a gamble by confiding in Maea about her husband's infidelity, telling her how she and Markus used to be happy together and that she missed those times. Maea told her that Markus too missed how close they used to be and that he was struggling to cope with their distance; in a misguided way, his affairs were an attempt to win Sedia back through jealousy. She helped Sedia to reconcile with Markus, after which Sedia forgave her and let her see little Gaius again. Maea and Sedia became closer as sisters-in-law and, with her friendship, Maea began to slowly heal by being a good aunt to Gaius.

Despite her progress, Maea would never forsake the memory of her lost husband and son. She continued to wear her marital hood, despite being a widow, as well as House Arterius' sigil and colours for the rest of her life. She also wore a hololocket engraved with a corivel clasping a broken chain in each set of talons, which contained holos of her husband and their son as a child.

Relationships
Maea shared a close relationship with her husband's younger brother. Saren viewed her as the mother-figure he'd never had, as his own mother had died in childbirth. Maea was also close to her brother's family, especially her nephew Gaius, with whom her own son would play.