Great Schism (Necros)

The Great Schism, also known as the Covenant Civil War, the War of VengeanceA term first coined by User:Specops306 and User:The All-knowing Sith'ari, used with permission, or the Breaking of the Covenant Empire, began on October 21st, 2552, and lasted until May 14th, 2559.
Initially, the Schism was a vast, internal civil war within the Covenant Empire, fought out between the Covenant Separatist and Covenant Loyalist factions, but it quickly spiraled outward and splintered the Covenant into dozens of factions, both major and minor. While the UNSC would ally themselves with the Separatists at the Battle of Installation 05 and the Siege of Earth, they would remain primarily outside of the conflict in the role of supplier and adviser after they concluded the Reclamation Campaigns, not entering heavy combat until 2557.
For many, the Great Schism would serve as an example of just how fragile the Covenant's alliances had been and how traitorous all their members could be when so inclined. 
==History==
===Betrayal (November 2552)===
The roots of the Great Schism began in mid 2552, as Truth began to plan the elimination of high-ranking Sangheili, substituting them with Jilrahanae instead. The reasons for this were simple: the Sangheili were beginning to question many of the San'Shyuum's orders, especially the righteousness of the Great War. So, the High Prophets, especially Truth, began to slowly change the Sangheili out for the much more reliable, dim-witted and easily manipulated Jiralhanae.
The earliest recorded treacheries that have enough supporting evidence were committed concurrent with the Battle of Installation 04 and directly after it. The Battle of Earth is a prime example, where all remaining Sangheili troops were murdered by the Jiralhanae as soon as the Prophet of Regret's carrier left Earth. Indeed, some theorize that the Prophet of Truth allowed Regret to be murdered by John-117 so that he could more easily eliminate the Sangheili, as Regret held a special interest in the warrior race that led to protectiveness over their well-being. In any case, once the Sangheili were ousted from their ages old place as the Prophets' Honor Guards, dissent arose, dissent only made greater when the Battle of Installation 05 unfolded further and many of the Sangheili Councilors were murdered on the Holy Ring.
High Charity was the first battleground, with the Sangheili Separatists and their allies warring with the Jiralhanae Loyalists and their own troops after a Sangheili Councilor arrived from the ring, having escaped after watching his brethren be murdered at the Prophet of Truth's orders. Even as John-117 chased after Truth through the city, the Great Schism had begun, with civil war erupting throughout every street in the space station. Once Rtas 'Vadum arrived with the captured CCS-class Battlecruiser Dark Dreams and rallied the already fighting Sangheili, the the Loyalist fleet began to fall back, until finally jumping to Earth in the wake of the Forerunner Keyship Ascension. The Sangheili fleet followed after them, but due to the much higher speeds of the Ascension, they would not arrive at Earth until quite some time after Truth's fleet.
However, the Great Schism would nevertheless begin to spread across the Holy Empire. On Balaho, Te, Decided Heart, Weeping Shadows of Sorrow, Metisette and others, the millenia old empire began to disintegrate, not only into the primary factions of the Loyalists and Separatists, but into smaller splinted factions such as the Covenant Revanchists, the Blood Covenant, the Unggoy Star Empire, and most notably the True Covenant. Factions would begin to spring up everywhere, sides chosen all across the Milky Way. In some cases, persons would choose sides and act differently than the overall ideals, as such ideals had yet to fully spread to the members: two prime examples are Xytan 'Jar Wattinree and Voro Nar 'Mantakree, two of the first prominent members of the Separatists, who were at the same time still were believers in the Great Journey and wished to continue the Holy War against the Humans. However, both of these individuals were killed shortly after their rise to power: Xytan would die with his fleet at Joyous Exultation when the NOVA Bomb was detonated, while Voro would pass during the Battle of Onyx.
===Sic Semper Tyrannus (November 2552)===
Once Rtas 'Vadum's transmission reached the Separtists in the vicinity of the Sol System, the Separatists immediately reacted to the orders and began to attempt an alliance with the Humans, albeit reluctantly. Once Separatists officially allied with the UNSC, they began to assist them in the Battle of the Sol System, fighting back against the Prophet of Truth's Loyalists and doing their best to drive him away from Earth and the New Mombasa relic. However, they failed in this endeavor: Truth managed to dock the Ascension and activate the portal, and then proceeded to enter it, taking himself and his fleet to the Ark.
Once followed by the Separatist fleet, led by Rtas 'Vadum and the Shadow of Intent, the Battle of Installation 00 began, with the battle raging both in space around the Ark, as well as on the surface of the installation. The Loyalists had already managed to set up many bases across the Ark, and the Separatists divided their forces to lead strikes on all of them, drawing ever nearer to the center of the installation until the battle culminated in the Battle of the Citadel. After managing to defeat the forces guarding the Citadel, including two Type-47 Scarabs, John-117 and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam entered the structure and proceeded to kill the Prophet of Truth before he could activate the Halo Array.
However, the duo's just-gained ally, the Gravemind and his legions of Flood, turned on them as soon as the Array's threat was neutralized. With the revelation that a replacement Installation 04 was being made on the Ark, the Arbiter and John agreed with 343 Guilty Spark to activate it and destroy the Flood. The two soldiers proceeded to first battle through the Flood-infested High Charity to retrieve Cortana and the Index she possessed before moving to the Halo itself, battling a rampant Spark in order to prematurely detonate the Ring. The mission was successful, though at the cost of many lives, and John, Cortana, and the rear of the UNSC Forward unto Dawn were lost during the collapse of the Ark Portal.
===The Long Siege (November 2552)===
===Tearing Seams (November 2552 - January 2553)===
Ballast had been the site of a minor battle in the latter stages of the Great War, and even though the battle was highly publicized as a major UNSC win, the planet itself had suffered major damage. The ground battles left the cities ruined and the forests burned, and even the space battle left its' marks, with explosions from space weaponry poisoning the planet and large swathes of the planet being glassed in attempts to eliminate UNSC forces. The damage was too much for the UNSC to work with, and the planet was abandoned as a lost world.
During the early stages of the Great Schism, Ballast served host to yet another battle, this time between Separatist and Loyalist forces.
===Reclamation Campaigns (January - May 2553)===
As soon as the Siege of Earth was broken by the arrival of Alliance reinforcements, the UNSC pushed outward from the Sol System, fighting back the breaking and fracturing Covenant Empire with the aid of their Covenant Separatist allies, though the allied battles were few and far between with Sangheili dealing with their own foes and homefront problems.
The first mission of the Reclamation Campaign, the Battle of Crystal was a stunning show of the tactical superiority of the UNSC over the Covenant Loyalists. The small UNSC fleet that was sent to take the planet was seemingly outmatched by the large and recently arrived Loyalist defensive fleet: however, after suffering casualties in an extended period of space warfare, the order was given to land troops on the planet and take enemy positions, with the hopes of either distracting the Loyalist fleet or finding a way to best them.
Among the soldiers present was Master Chief Petty Officer Riker-012, who was dispatched with two platoons of ODST's to a Covenant forward base directly under the orbiting fleet. Landing, Riker-012 and the soldiers managed to gain control of the Covenant intelligence base and jam the orbiting fleet's missiles and transmissions for a while, as well as direct many to fire on their own forces. While this was enough for the UNSC fleet to begin to gain victory, the group was soon forced to retreat as the fleet began glassing the area around the intelligence base they were in, narrowly making it out alive. However, the UNSC gained the upper hand and began to eliminate the Loyalist fleet, with the ground forces aiding in the attack by commandeering a large amount of Loyalist aircraft and assaulting the now in-atmosphere fleet. Within the hour, the Loyalists were eliminated and Crystal was retaken.
Second Battle of Susano (January 2553)
Operation: TRIDENT (February 2553)
Battle of Tantalus (March 2553)
Fifth Battle of Harvest (March 2553)
Battle of Cyrus VII (April 2553)
The Battle of the Epsilon Eridani System, comprised of the separate Battles of Beta Gabriel, Circumstance, and Tribute, took place in May 2553, all three battles beginning on May 3rd and the last one, Tribute, being taken on the 12th only an hour and a half earlier than when the UNSC flag was raised over Doisac.
===Battle of Doisac (May 2553)===
Codenamed Operation: TACK HAMMEROperation: TACK HAMMER is a creation of SpecOps and Sith'ari's, upon which this battle is based
===Culling the Weak (2553-2555)===
====End of the Unggoy Star Empire (2553)====
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====Whispers of Devotion (2553)====
====Lost Sanctuary (2554)====
===Unholy Alliances (2554)===
===Consolidation (2555)===
====Sacred Brotherhood====
====Honor Crusaders====
===Calm Before The Storm (2555)===
===Return of the Loyalists (2557)===
====Hitting Home====
====Defense of Sangheilios====
====Battle of Installation 06====
===Disloyalty (2557)===
====Operation: ANARCHY (July 2557)====
====Deliverance (July 2557)====
====The Pirate Lord's Rebellion (July - August 2557)====
====Blood For Blood (September 2557)====
===The Neutralists (November 2557)===
===Battle of the Far Perseus Arm (March 2558)===
====The Lesser Schism (March 2558)====
====The Triad and Nurac-Teroc (May 2558)====
===The Fatal Wound (September-December 2558)===
==="Et tu, Brute?" (2559)===
====Beautiful, Scandalous Night (February 2559)====
In February 2559, there came the night that would mark the last segment of the Great Schism. This night would come to be known by many names, such as the Night of Traitors, the Darkest Night, the Schism's Return, and, most commonly, the Beautiful, Scandalous NightA reference to a song of the same name by the Robby Seay Band
====Operation: WHOM THE GODS DESTROY (May 2559)====
===Aftermath===
==Timeline==
*2552
**October
***21st: War begins with the Jiralhanae replacing the Sangheili as the guards of the Prophets, and the High Prophets ordering the murder of the Sangheili High Council shortly afterwards
**November
***Installation 05, High Charity and the Ark
***Battle of Onyx
***Second Battle of Ballast
**December
***Second Battle of Miridem
***Battle of Beta Centauri
*2553
**January
***Destruction of the Devout Legacy
***Reclamation Campaigns begin with the Battle of Crystal
**May
***14th: Signing of the Doisac Accords, forming of the Galactic Union, predecessor to the Alliance of United Races
*2554
**Signing of the Unmoving Virtue Treaty
*2555
**
*2556
**
*2557
**
*2558
**
*2559
**May
***14th: The True Covenant is officially declared non-existant, the broken and disorganized territories and forces remaining being absorbed by the USR
==Factions==
===AUR===
AUR
:The governing, United Nations-like government of the Milky Way Galaxy, it was formed in the wake of the Human-Covenant War and has ruled ever since
:*UNSC
::The government of Earth and all her colonies, the UNSC was allied to the Separatists and the subsequent USR: however, once the Reclamation Campaigns within Human territories were completed and the Remnants forced from AUR space, the USR forbade the UNSC from aiding them in deal with the other dissidents, stating that they would not have the Humans embroiled in another war
:*Covenant Separatists/USR
::The Covenant Separatists and the subsequent government of the USR was led by the Sangheili, and was one of the two major factions caused in the Great Schism. They were betrayed by the High Prophets of Truth and Mercy, and led the Mgalekgolo, Unggoy and some dissident Jiralhanae, Yanme'e, Kig-Yar and Huragok against the Prophets, facing off against the majority of the Jiralhanae, Yanme'e, Kig-Yar and some Unggoy and Mgalekgolo (the Huragok remained loyal to the Prophets, but were mainly uninvolved and uninterested within the war)
::*True Covenant
:::The first and largest non-Sangheili group to emerge from the chaotic period as the Covenant collapsed, the True Covenant would form itself around a new trio of Prophet Hierarchs known as Objection, Protestation and Devotion: many changes in the internal structuring of their faction were made, seeking to make better use of each of their member-races' talents - Yanme'e were elevated to the Warrior Caste, with Huragok taking their former technical roles, while Unggoy were removed from the military totally, relegated to civilian roles to build up the True Covenant economy. The True Covenant merged with the Holy Covenant soon after the war's start, and soon after allied with the UNSC and USR: they were later destroyed/absorbed by the USR when they attempted to betray them for their own ends.
===Loyalist Splinters===
*Covenant Loyalists
:The second of the two major factions caused by the Great Schism, it was led by the High Prophets of Truth and Mercy, and then Truth alone upon Mercy's death. The faction consisted mainly of Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar and Yanme'e, as well as some of the other species minus Sangheili, and upon its' official dissolution the species separated: many joined the USR, while half the Kig-Yar formed the Kig-Yar Pirates, and some Jiralhanae and San'Shyuum formed the Covenant Remnants
:*Kig-Yar Pirates
::While most of the Kig-Yar allied with the USR and formed the Kig-Yar Union, some retreated to the outer rim of AUR territory like the Covenant Remnants and reverting to their ancient pirating society, being used as mercenaries, assassins and black market dealers by the Remnants and unsavory members of the AUR.
:*Covenant Remnants
::Led by the Prophet of Deliverance, the Covenant Remnants (or "New Covenant") were composed primarily of Jiralhanae warriors that fled from the Battle of Doisac when Gauius and Marius turned on the remaining Loyalists. Hiding in the outer rim, they allied with the Kig-Yar Pirates and slowly built up their forces their JA kidnappings and defections, as well as stealing technology from the JA and the USR. Suffering very little from battles or internal struggles, they were ignored mostly by the AUR until the late 2580's, when they began attacks on the AUR that continued until their destruction in 2615.
::*Blood Covenant
:::A faction almost rivaling the Covenant Remnants in size, the Blood Covenant was a Jiralhanae-led faction ruled by Alpha Chieftain Hephaestus. Ruling over thirteen former Covenant colonies and based out on Glorious Ascension, the Blood Covenant holds much less territory than the Remnants, less than 47%, but when the Covenant broke apart Hephaestus managed to bring together a significant number of ships and warriors under his sway, and maintained the larger military threat to the Sangheili, against whom all the Jiralhanae in the Blood Covenant have sworn eternal, undying vengeance against for the murder of former Alpha Chieftain Tartarus at the hands of the Arbiter. Hephaestus, in the end, was challenged to battle by Cassius, the Prophet of Deliverance's right-hand Jiralhanae Chieftain: Hephaestus was killed by the younger Jiralhanae, and all of the Blood Covenant was forced to join the Covenant Remnants.
===Others===
*Covenant Extremists
:A Covenant group wishing for humanity to be accepted into the Covenant and for the caste system to be abolished. They use everything from propaganda to terrorist actions in their attempt to fight. At the start of the civil war, they claimed control of some ships and fought the Loyalists. After the Loyalists' defeat, they joined back with their respective races headed by the USR.
*Covenant Conclave
:A Covenant group believing the Prophets alone should lead the Covenant. Headed by Prophets and consisting mostly of religious Kig-yar shipmasters/shipmistresses, Yanme'e Queens and Unggoy Deacons.
*Covenant Revanchists
:
*Covenant Triad
:
*Covenant of Nurac-Teroc
:A Brute-led Covenant splinter faction trying to establish an empire in the Nurac-Teroc Cluster, though was next to always suffering from internal conflict.
*Covenant of the Silent Whispers
:A sect consisting primarily of elites, they believe in the teachings of their prophet, Kaidon Mrak 'Nvraree, who claims to receive visions from the gods and also about other ways to go on the great journey. To counter their low numbers, they attempted to create an army focusing on assymetrical warfare, aka, assassinate enemy leaders to stop a war before it occurs.
*Unggoy Star Empire
:
*Acolytes of Devotion
:
*Covenant Neutralists
:
*Imperial Covenant
:
*Covenant of Librae
:
*Eternal Covenant
:
*Deep Falls Dissidents
:
*Invincible Legion
:
*Warriors of the Gods
:
*The Tribes of the Faithful
:
*Sacred Brotherhood
:
*Honor Crusaders
:
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*This article was inspired by LieutenantDavie's own version of the Great Schism, as well as additions from SpecOps306's Covenant Remnant Factions/War of Vengeance, and The parkster's Covenant Neutralists. The main point was to show that the Covenant did not split so two-sidedly, nor did the war end in a matter of several months.
*Shortly after the creation of this article, the book Halo: Evolutions came out, revealing that the Schism was a devastating thing and lasted until 2559; such was very similar to this article and SpecOps/Sith'ari's own
==Notes==