Sangheili

The Sangheili are an alien race that features in Halo.

History

The Sangheili (Elite) were an alien race that came from the planet Sanghelios. Long ago, they were one of the races that arose in the galaxy that was ruled by the Forerunners. However, during the conflict with the Flood, the Forerunners activated the Halos to scourge life from the galaxy in order to eliminate the parasite. In the aftermath, the Sangheili were one of the races that were re-planted by the Forerunners efforts. Their civilization was reborn on their homeworld and continued on its path to development with it having created sites to their beliefs before mankind had built the pyramids. Centuries ago, a tyrannical Arbiter judge-king came to power who ruled the continent of Qivro until a sword brother of Kaideons arose to form the Swords of Sangelios who overthrew him in a time before their race became a spacefaring species. Several hundred years ago, their kind developed slipspace technology and established a dozen independent colonies whilst Sanghelios remained central to government as well as culture. The early interstellar period of the Sangheili was noted for being volatile. It was during this time that they encountered the San'Shyuum with the two engaging in a long and bloody war. In time, a truce was formed between the two species that together formed a union that became a galactic empire known as the Covenant. Within the Covenant, the two races were united in the worship of the long dead Forerunners and were dedicated in achieving transcendence through the Great Journey. As part of the Covenant, the San'Shyuum slowly began to insinuate themselves into Sangheili culture where they began to replace the scientific and industrial capabilities of their race. At the same time, they began supporting the Sangheili's warlord ambitions with the race beginning to focus purely on martial matters. As the Covenant grew with new races, menial labor and tasks were taken over by the other species whilst the entirety of Sangheili culture was dedicated to conducting holy warfare whilst acquiring sacred Forerunner relics for the San'Shyuum Prophets.

During their membership in the Covenant, the Sangheili were simply put, technological and societal equals of the San'Shyuum. However, for a significant period, they found themselves as the dominant military muscle for the entire Covenant structure - hardly surprising given the warlike, feudal nature of their homeworld. What was surprising was the cyclical stability this feudal society was able to offer. Technological and medical advancement prospered, and the intelligent, aggressive Sangheili were peerless until they encountered the San'Shyuum. With exchange of goods and ideas, the Sangheili adapted to and eventually embraced the Covenant religion, grafting its tenets to their own belief system. When the Prophets declared war on a previously unknown species called humans, the Sangheili followed their lead without question. After a period of time, however, even though the Prophets insisted that the humans were 'unclean beings' that must be eliminated from the galaxy, some seasoned Sangheili veterans began to question the refusal of the Prophets to even consider accepting the humans into the Covenant. They seem to believe that humans, although physically weak, at least compared to themselves, are brave and even honorable. As such, these few Sangheili believed that humans should be offered admittance to the Covenant due their ability to put up a fight on the ground. From that point on, the Covenant continued to attack and destroy the humans wherever they were found, using their Luminaries to find human worlds. Though the UNSC forces fought bravely, their inferior technology and numbers meant that even a close victory was far from guaranteed. The Covenant, fighting a war of extermination, did not need to commit to full ground invasions except in special circumstances; their ships simply needed to destroy space-borne defenses and any other threats around the planet. They would then reduce the planet's surface to glass with orbital plasma bombardment.

Following the collapse of the Covenant, the San'Shyuum led Ministries that managed the various races needs were destroyed leading to Sangheili society falling apart. As a result, their colonies began to slide into violent internecine conflict over resources, politics and influence. Furthermore, the Elites were struggling over their Forerunner beliefs in relation to their war against humanity leading to further splintering into a number of factions. No single leader had emerged that could unite their kind but the various factions varied in power among one another.

An Elite by the name of Jul 'Mdama came to form one faction that he formed into a new Covenant.

The onset of the Blooding Years in the immediate wake of the Covenant War’s end saw chaos erupt across Sanghelios. An uprising by enslaved Jiralhanae in the city-state of Ontom served as a signal flare for the fundamentalist group known as the Servants of the Abiding Truth to launch their own attack on Vadam Keep. ONI’s then-commander-in-chief Margaret Parangosky sought to keep alien eyes off humanity by ensuring that the Sangheili remained locked in a civil war, enabling the UNSC to focus on recovery. The Kilo-Five black-ops team was deployed to arm dissident Sangheili factions and even aided in the destruction of several of the Arbiter’s own ships, with broader contingencies on the table to provide the option of committing genocide against the Sangheili through experiments with crop-induced famine, wiping out the Sangheili population to ultimately enable colonization of Sanghelios.

The Arbiter came to unite the keeps on Sanghelios and formed a faction known as the Swords of Sanghelios.

Overview

In appearance, the Sangheili (Latin: Macto Cognatus) were a bipedal race of large saurian that had tall muscular bodies and elongated heads that bore four mandibles. These mandibles were laced with rows of sharp teeth with adults possessing mandibles of varying shapes, sizes, range, and dexterity with it being as distinctive as a fingerprint. Elites had long arms that ended in zygodactyly hands that had impressively dexterous fingers.

Despite their intelligence, the Sangheili often allow their obsession with honor to cloud their better judgement. The Sangheili usually employ complex strategy only if it either improves success in battle, allows them to inflict more casualties on their enemies, or if it conforms to their code of honor. Otherwise, in both tactical and strategic combat, Sangheili generally charge their enemies with reckless aggression, regardless of any damage they sustain. Only very seldom do they admit temporary defeat. While lower-ranked Sangheili might make numerous tactical mistakes, especially the Minors, such as standing in the open rather than taking cover, more experienced Sangheili tend to lure their enemies into traps and quickly dispatch them in close combat. Sangheili often sustain heavy casualties in the fervor to kill, though they use their client races to screen and protect themselves.

They was divided into clans that were composed of tightly-knit families. These in terms formed the basis of their society that historically operated as a type of feudal manorialism. This saw multiple clans that were led by a kaidon who controlled a fortified keep along with its surrounding territory. Such a system evolved and survived into the modern age with major keeps developing into city-states that were led by alliances of lesser kaidons. On smaller colonies, a handful of keeps were responsible for controlling the entirety of resources. In contrast, more developed worlds such as Sangheilios there were hundreds of keeps each of whom vied for power and influence through the use of either political or military force.

A game played by the Sangeili was rwr'u a'uamr'ep (Sangheili: 'cube gambit') that was a sport of chance requiring players to detect the deception of their opponents.

One ancient order among their people were the Ascetics that were religiously minded Sangheili with ties to ancient beliefs preading the Covenant. They had been dissolved following the formation of the Covenant but Ascetic priests secretly initiated worthy Sangheili warriors into their ranks. Thus, they managed to keep the ideals of their martial order alive over the ages.

Traditionally, war was seen as an occupation for males though in latter years females were accepted into the ranks of warriors.

A Sangheili burial prayer spoken for the dead was, A warrior at birth, a warrior in death.

Technologically, they were rated as a Tier 2 ranked civilization.

Members

• Thel ‘Vadam :
• Rho 'Barutamee : a male Elite who operated as the the Covenant Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Valiant Prudence that were specifically focused on archaeological research and artifact retrieval. While possessing a sizeable military complement to repel any enemy forces, ‘Barutamee’s charge was more concerned with reconnaissance, analysis, and security. ‘Barutamee elevated select high-ranking members of the Zealot order to a specialized scout unit known as the Devoted Sentries—a name that has existed for hundreds of years in the far-reaching history of the Covenant. Their divinely ordained mission was to discover, acquire, and secure holy relics, delivering their bounties to the studious scrutiny of the San’Shyuum on High Charity. ‘Barutamee notably made many enemies owing to his ambition, his disregard for the War of Annihilation against humanity, and his deep personal interest in the Forerunner artifacts recovered by his fleet. 'Balance' within the Covenant relied on the San’Shyuum maintaining firm control over the study, incorporation, and dissemination of the Forerunners’ technology—a sphere of influence that ‘Barutamee encroached upon throughout his distinguished service. ‘Barutamee’s grand aspiration was to find Maethrillian, the fabled capital of the Forerunner ecumene, and he believed that the relics on Reach—known to the Covenant as Sovolanu—held the key to discovering its location.
• Orsu Lar ‘Ahtalee : a male Elite bearing the honorific of 'Lar' that denoted his status as holding the rank of Field Marshal. He was served as commander of the Fleet of Valiant Prudence’s Devoted Sentries. He was encountered by Noble Team on multiple occasions throughout the battle of Reach—from Visegrád to New Alexandria—before ultimately meeting his end in the ship-breaking yards of Asźod.
• Thel 'Lodamee :
• Alsu ‘Ahcuree : a male Elite who operated as an Elite among the ranks of thee Devoted Sentries.
• Gek ‘Lhar :
• N’tho ‘Sraom : a male Elite who was a warrior in the Special Operations Sangheili of the Fleet of Retribution's Special Warfare Group until the Great Schism where he sided with his people against the Covenant.
• Sesa ‘Refumee :
• Usze ‘Taham : a male Elite who was a warrior in the Fleet of Retribution's Special Warfare Group where he served as a deadly commando until the Great Schism at which point he sided with his people against the Covenant.
• Toda ‘Murajai : an Elite holding the rank of Stationmaster who served as joint commander of Anvil Station alongside his UNSC counterpart. Not much was known of him though the saga of his clan was engraved on a series of stone tablets in his personal quarters.
• Jul ‘Mdama :
• Let 'Volir : a male Elite Shipmaster of the CAS-class assault carrier Enduring Conviction until the collapse of the Covenant whereupon he became a mercenary that hired his along with his ships services to the Banished.

Notes

• The Elites were created by Bungie Studios where they featured in the setting of the Halo universe.
• Concept artist Shi Kai Wang noted that project lead Jason Jones had, at one point, been insistent on giving the Elites a tail. While Wang thought it made the aliens look too animalistic, the idea was eventually dropped due to practical considerations, including where the tail would go when the Elites were driving vehicles. "At one point, we considered just having the Elites tuck their tails forward, between their legs," Wang noted, "But [we] abandoned that... for obvious reasons." According to Paul Russel, when Bungie was bought by Microsoft and Halo was turned into an Xbox launch title, Microsoft took issue with the design of the Elites, as they felt that the Elites had a resemblance to cats that might alienate Japanese consumers.

Appearances

• Halo: Combat Evolved:
• Halo 2:
• Halo 3:
• Halo Wars:
• Halo: Reach:
• Halo 4:
• Halo 5: Guardians:
• Halo Wars 2:

External Links

• Halo Waypoint Entry
• Halopedia Entry

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