Septonian Abrudas

Septonian Abrudas was the son of Aurelion "Auri" Abrudas and his bonded wife, Elissa Miras. He was the older brother of Trebia Abrudas. He was named in honour of his great-grandmother, Septonia Halabrian, the consort of Aurelion Aurelos and the last Imperatrix. He was the grandson of Markus Abrudas and the great-grandson of Aurelion Aurelos.

Septonian would marry his second cousin, Drusilla Arterius, in a bid to bolster the Aurelian genetics in House Abrudas' bloodline. Their union would usher in a period of incestuous intermarriage between Houses Abrudas, Arterius and Aurelos, which would last for several centuries. It was this practice of historical inbreeding which has led to a loss of genetic diversity, resulting in a higher concentration of the pale gene within the gene pools of these three great houses.

Septonian was a firm believer in Aurelion’s vision but had doubts about the ability of the new Primarchs of Palaven to safeguard it. Regarding Aurelion’s succession act, Septonian agreed that merit should be the sole determiner of social mobility but felt his great-grandfather had placed too much faith in the goodness of people’s hearts when it came to leadership. He believed that the empire needed to be ruled by the descendant of Aurelion in order to preserve his legacy and guide his people to enlightenment. Thus, the Imperial Throne should have kept the original blood succession laws.

In Septonian's mind, his father, Aurelion Abrudas, was the rightful Imperator and thus he was the rightful heir to the throne as his son. In private he referred to himself as Heredus, a title translating as “prince” and, likewise, called his daughter Hereda, or “Princess”. Using his power as Primarch of Carthaan, Septonian would successfully place his daughter on the Imperial Throne of Palaven by ensuring she was born there, becoming one of the first to bend Aurelion’s laws about colonial birthrights.

Primarch Aurelia would later be assassinated after trying to alter Aurelion’s succession laws, as ordered to by her father, demonstrating to Septonian that too much time had passed since Aurelion’s reign to be able to change his laws so easily; the people would no longer accept Aurelion’s descendants as rulers unless they had legitimately earned the throne through merit. His ambition cost him his only child and sent him into a deep depression. He would later commit ritual suicide to absolve his family of his perceived avarice.

A song known as The Lament of Septonian documents this historical event and acts as a cautionary tale to those who would seek to undermine Aurelion’s sacred meritocracy.