Doomed Penance

The , originally christened the Invincible Viceroy, was a legendary battle station and habitat that originally began construction decades before the . Formerly constructed to act as a more permanent home for the fleeing , the Penance would eventually be retooled into a weapon to break through the defensive lines of the core worlds such as their homeworld of itself. Retrofitted with secretive and powerful artefacts, the Penance would never participate in the war as extensively as planned, as the conflict ended before it could finish construction.
Brought into the fold as one of the early Covenant's most powerful assets, the Penance would have its operations and building processes ceased over the early Covenant's temporary capital of Sanghelios while the newly-formed argued about what to do with it. In this vulnerable state, the station was attacked by Sangheili loyalists and saboteurs, who managed to force the station to flee into uncharted territory. Disappearing for millennia, the station would fade into legend under the name Doomed Penance, becoming the ultimate prize for treasure hunters and scavengers.
== Operational History ==
=== Initial Construction ===
The Doomed Penance, then known as the Invincible Viceroy, had its origins drawn up during the . Banished from their homeworld of , the were forced to combat the challenges of living in space. With their population required to remain small to prevent their dwindling flood supplies from being overstretched, their primary source of manpower came from the complement of and . Learning how to make their own imitations throughout the years, the exiles used their inherited creations to mine for large amounts of space minerals, hoping for one day to leave the Dreadnought for a home built by their own hands.
Finally, by , the San'Shyuum's technological skill and material storage, not to mention refinement of the plans for the starbase, allowed them to begin building their habitat. Using a massive modular platform created to service the Dreadnought, the Viceroy had begun construction around the dead world of Ordained Destiny under the careful watch of Darc Punsta, also known as the Architect of Cautious Curiosity. He was donated the primary refinery and almost half of all sentinels created at that point, along with a foundry god-machine to build more. However, Curiosity would consider this assignment an exile from his race, as did the six other executives that assisted. Nevertheless, they would work day and night on the station, hoping to complete to reunite with their brethren on the Dreadnought.
Curiosity would commit suicide before even a quarter of the station was completed, with Ort Honcta being chosen to take over. A much more rational realist than the zealous Curiosity, Honcta was an engineering genius who served as one of Curiosity's pupils. It was said that he volunteered to lead the construction on the station, which had been gaining a reputation as an increasingly dangerous affair. He completely revamped its construction schedule; where Curiosity was lax for religious and for 'inspiring art,' Honcta ran it far tighter and harder to meet the deadlines. He routinely exceeded Curiosity's deadlines in half the time, but at the cost it made him enemies with the executives below him. They agreed to begin setting traps and reprogramming drones to attack their overseer. He may have very well been assassinated had the not began. While he knew that he could probably accelerate its construction further by marketing the station as a trump card, he needed to formulate a plan against his willing opponents.
=== War of Beginnings ===
Honcta's first stage was producing sufficient fear among his executives to keep them squabbling amongst each other.
=== Disappearance ===
=== Xytan's Expedition ===
Category:Covenant
Category:Space Stations