Clan Varam

Rizan ’Varamee

* Oro 'Varamee

Clan Varam is a Sangheili clan formerly a noble house of renown before they faced hard times and since then are dwindling into oblivion.

## History

**Ancient Sangheilos**

 During the ancient years of Sangheilos, Clan Varam was not even a clan yet but originally made up of various outcasts and remnants from various clans that were defeated with no where to go. These individuals were seeking to find a safe haven and to make a home for those like them who were cast off or alone. They made their legendary stand of defiance against an arbiter who sought to either bring them into the fold of his clan or crush them them where they stood as they were all clanless with no real home or land to call their own. One of the Sangheili of this group known as Varam 'Muram won his duel against the arbiter, but chose not to kill hi opponent for he knew his people would lost without him as his would be as well, thus they were allowed to form their clan as they had earned to status of great warriors. They debated long and hard to name their clan as many had shown to be great leaders in their own right, but they all chose Varam’s name as the name of their clan out of respect and gratitude to his actions in defending them even though Varam himself felt unworthy of being a kaidon. Nevertheless he accepted this and thus their clan would be known as Clan Varam, but he chose to keep his name till his death so he may honor his former clan which was destroyed completely by other warring clans. Clan Varam made itself a strong reputation of making skilled warriors of the sword for a time and other clans would either seek their warriors out for aid or to learn of their skill. This was very evident during the Clan Battles of Sangheilos were several clans battled each other for several cycles. Clan Varam prided itself for being among the toughest yet honorable of the clans during this fight by ensuring that the conflicts they fought stayed far away from non-combatants. These battles and those who fought in them would be placed upon the Varam saga wall to always remember and honor those who fought and those who fell in battle.

**War of Beginnings**

When the San’Shyuum came into contact with the Sangheili and sparked the War of Beginnings, Varam was among the many to answer the call to arms. Clan Varam sent many warriors to fight for their people, but learned the a terrible lesson of war like the others. They were the first to feel the might of the San’Shyuum’s technological superiority as Varam’s skilled warriors were no match for their repurposed Forerunner weaponry which brought massive casualties to them and other clans. They continued to be slaughtered by the San’Shyuum refusing to fall back till the Arbiter at the time ordered them personally to tend to Sangheilos’s defenses fearing the dishonorable San’Shyuum would indeed come for them all at their homeworld and it came to pass as feared. Stories of he few victories the Sangheili made like of how Ussa 'Xellus held the line on the Planet of Red and Blue, but ultimately it came to an end when the Writ of Union was made and Clan Varam eager to stem the death total of their warriors agreed to this like the other clans swearing oaths of fealty to it and helped form the Covenant. This oath sworn by many clans would protect the San’Shyuum as they searched for Forerunner artifacts as part of their new faith known as the Great Journey.

**Rise of the Covenant**

Due to the legendary prowess of Varam’s warriors they were given a seat among the other Sangheili on the High Council to represent their clan in matters concerning their people and to know in detail the changes of the Covenant. Though they were on a traditional stance they were willing to hear out new ideas, but held a firm grip on trying to preserve what little of the Sangheili tradition and history was allowed to remain.

While it was just Sangheili and San’Shyuum Clan Varam was able to catch up and be part of the system of the Covenant till the day came when the Covenant encountered the Lekgolo on Te. Clan Varam’s warriors were among the first Sangheili soldiers to face the Lekgolo for their crimes of consuming Forerunner tech in their area such as the orbital that was there before it was shattered to peices by their hunger. Varam warriors had only been well known to fight against other Sangheili and San’Shyuum hence they held a strong place in the honor guard as well, yet when facing off against the Lekgolo in first contact the warriors were gripped with fear of a foe they never imagined fighting at all which now had them frozen in fear and more confused of it when the worms would fight them and then come apart on their own before reforming. They lost the fight on Te along with the others which was the very first battle they not only lost but willingly ran from as their remaining warriors were beaten and bloodly from the fight. Clan Varam as a result was ordered to remain out of this campaign even as an Arbiter was brought to handle the situation which was a foretelling of the fate of Clan Varam.

If the Taming of the Lekgolo was a disaster for Varam then the encounter of the Yanme’e proved to be very be living nightmare as they faced the largest casualties when they were called to fight their massive swarms on Palamok as Varam warriors were either torn apart or carried off by the numerous Yanme’e combatants for they never had to fight an enemy that could fly or maneuver in the air as they did. After negotiations with the Yanme’e concluded and they too joined the Covenant like the Lekgolo before them Clan Varam faced very harsh criticism of their great reputation as legendary warriors of old.

It would be a long time for them to regain their warrior status and the war against the Kig-Yar was that opportunity as ships and warriors under the command of Taso ’Varamee fought tooth and nail to defeat the Kig-Yar’s pirate and mercenary forces in both orbit and on the ground campaign when they had to take out their ships on the surface of asteroids. He personally fought against a Kig-Yar pirate captain known as Tuz Zed in order to have the eastern side of the Y'Deio system firmly in the grip of the Covenant. By the end of that battle Taso left with a handful of feathers, blood all over him, and returned to the Covenant military victorious in his fight. This helped to restore their place among the Covenant as great warriors as they helped to continue fighting the Kig-Yar till they accepted the Letters of Marque.

**War of Two Councils**

Clan Varam would continue to keep serving faithfully as they resumed on their sworn mission to find and recover Forerunner relics while traversing on the path of the Great Journey which would soon come to face their greatest obstacle for this contact wasn’t a single species that they could crush with their numbers or weapons, this was a unified alliance of aliens standing together as one and they called themselves the Citadel Council.

**Questions in the Shadows**

The effects of the War of Two Councils was still being felt by many in the Covenant but especially more in Clan Varam who thanks to the shameful defeat and death of the Red Blade it had cast a shadow doubt upon Clan Varam. Despite this the clan continued to preform their duty hoping that if their actions are successful and bear fruit for the Covenant then perhaps they would be forgiven and this debacle would end. Unfortunately it would change when they joined the fleet that first encountered the Unggoy on their homeworld of Bahalo for the moment they landed the entire populace almost immediately surrendered without a fight in absolute terror of them. While others of the Covenant were either disappointed or impressed at the awe of power over others they had, those of Varam were saw this as something else entirely in which they were not noble warriors on a quest to paradise but as what the Citadel had always branded them as......brutal heartless conquers whose only goal in the galaxy is power and domination of the whole galaxy at large.

Cause of this Varam questioned the integrity of the Covenant, yet it was only during the fall of Fal ’Chavamee did they speak up against the Covenant. They learned of Fal’s protests and being an Arbiter they immediately leant their ears to heed his words when he also addressed the same fears they had too. The Covenant had changed from what they originally were and became more about power than pursuing an honorable path as was promised long ago and for this Varam’s clansmen agreed. The only thing they questioned with Fal was that the Great Journey was a lie for they too were firm believers in this faith, yet they agreed that their people were forgetting what the true meaning of honor was. High Councilor Orbos ’Varamee was getting ready to host a mighty debate in the High Council along with few of the other clans who agreed with them when first news of Fal’s wife and friend’s murder was known and much later the death of Fal himself by a Sangheili named Haka who also died too. The San’Shyuum hierarchs hence forth they proclaimed that cause of his heretical and shameful actions of protesting against the Great Journey the badge of Arbiter would become a mark of shame and bestowed to the most spectacularly failed warriors as punishment.

This enraged Orbos so much that he let loose a loud and fiery speech of honor and the long dedicated history of the arbiters including the concerns they had with the corruption happening within the Covenant itself. Before the honor guards were able to drag Orbos from the council chamber he threw down his helmet at the feet of the prophets as he declared his resignation and stepped out of the council room. His twin brother Rizan kept his position as a councilor and managed to convince the council that his brother’s actions didn’t represent his clan nor any who were with them hoping to spare his people and others the wrath of the already enraged council. He learned later that Orbos was executed in public for the charge of himself being corrupted by the twisted lies of Fal ’Chavamee and served as an example for all to abandon his words and not to defy the word of the Hierarchs. Clan Varam was spared by the loyalty of Rizan but none in the clan would forgive him for his betrayal in the council room and would be known as Rizan the Beggar.

**Age of Doubt**

Things would become even more worse as Clan Varam saw the feud between the Kig-Yar and Unggoy grow higher and higher as the population for the Unggoy increased while the Kig-Yar’s were facing a rise in mortality rates for their young. Varam was never comfortable with Unggoy brought in truly by force for while technically they did the same to the other three members of the Covenant they were brought in completely by either faith or mutual benefits for such an alliance. Since the outburst of Orbos the words Varam high councilor at the time fell on deaf ears or scoffed that they shouldn’t care too much in the affairs of the two lowest members of their empire. Varam’s clansmen worried that one incident would escalate into disaster with only a few sparks being required to ignite it. Their fears came true when not only the “Infusion Incident” caused by Kig-Yar saboteurs on the Unggoy infusion resources. Their attempts to try and avert disaster lead to the expulsion of Varam’s last high councilor from the High Council completely and then once rageof the Unggoy became too unbearable to contain the Unggoy Rebellion had begun.

Clan Varam answered the call to arms despite great temptation to let other Sangheili warriors have at this mess but the whole of High Charity was at risk. While Varam’s warriors have fought against overwhelming numbers before in the past the Unggoy were different for not only they were using their own weapons against them but had a great unrestrained fury making them a very formidable foe to fight and all over the station the lower districts were in flames with the conflict growing out of control. Eventually an Arbiter was chosen to end the rebellion but did the most questionable of actions by partially glassing the Unggoy’s homeworld. As the Unggoy with sadden hearts and shattered wills surrendered, while the Sangheili warriors cheered for victory Clan Varam also shared the Unggoy’s shock of disbelief at this most dishonorable of actions for a whole planet of innocents were burned for the actions of others.

They too would’ve rebelled but they saw that the Arbiter and other Sangheilli defended the Unggoy while the San’Shyuum called for their heads for they had proven themselves as worthy warriors to fight alongside the Sangheili. Varam’s warriors supported this decision but never forgetting the questionable action of the Arbiter. This however destabilized the Covenant for about ten long years and would be known as the Age of Doubt and Clan Varam was put to work restoring order to the Empire. They faced many obstacles as their own doubts grew such as when the Jiralhanae were admitted into the Covenant as full members too despite them being a very young race that had destroyed their own civilization by civil war. Varam’s clansmen did their best to try and keep an open mind, but the wild savagery of the Jiralhanae put many questions as to why they were added and if they could be trusted as Varam warriors worked to help secure the defeat on any resistance among the species seeing beforehand the brutality by their hands. Nevertheless the Jiralhanae was handled by the decision of the Hierarchs and the concerns of Clan Varam faded for a time. As the years passed Clan Varam worked hard to help the Covenant remain intact, but they failed to notice their positon fading away as other clans would either disrespect them or make jokes of Clan Varam when none was around.

**Human-Covenant War**

The Age of Doubt would come to a close when a new leadership and a war would take place but by then Clan Varam was tipping over the edge of losing their place in Sangheili society. They pondered why the call of extermination against the humans was called for but they followed this order with no protests in the beginning till a new Arbiter was called forth and what brought the most outrage was the chosen one being Ripa ’Moramee. Clan Varam had heard of Ripa’s many missions such as the suppression of the Sixteenth Unggoy Disobedience and ending the heretical reign of a Kig-Yar "pirate prince" named Krith which while they questioned his brutal methods too they never imagined that he attempted a coup within his clan on Malurok. Despite the coup failing and he was imprisoned to the Weeping Shadows of Sorrow penitentiary on the day of his execution for another failed attempt to escape he was spared by the Prophet of Regret himself to be made an Arbiter for his impressive combat record.

This creation of a new Arbiter created a split within the Covenant leading to an ever-growing faction of Sangheili who were opposed to the new Prophets to seize control of several Forerunner relics, including remnants of a massive Forerunner space installation. Clan Varam heard of how Ripa was sent by the Hierarchs to end this rebellion, resulting in a vicious battle that raged for days which ended with the destruction of many heretics. Though the rebellion was silenced Clan Varam’s larger concern was of Ripa himself as an Arbiter and even before he had an uncharacteristic, blantant disregard for Sangheili traditional values such as honor, arrogantly underestimated his foes, ignoring the advice of his subordinates and to not just them but to many was viewed as an extremely brutal and ruthless commander. Clan Varam could no longer keep themselves restrained as three Varam commanders walked up to Ripa to critize him for bringing shame to the title of Arbiter. Ripa at first didn’t even give them any form of attention and explained that useless forgotten relics like them have no place on the Great Journey or anywhere among the greatest of Sangheili society period. Ripa expressed his disgust with the ideals of honor and how the whole Clan of Varam were all weak old fools for following such beliefs. The three then drew their swords along with a few of their warriors demanding Ripa’s life proclaiming it was a mistake to make him an Arbiter and they would end it there and then. Ripa’s wrath was loosened upon them and left no survivors while making their deaths very cruel and later sent the two bags full of chopped up pieces of those who sought to kill him to both Varam Keep and the High Council. Clan Varam was enraged but this meant the end for them as the High Council stripped them of much the prestige they had and punished a great number of their warriors while stripping the many records of their accomplishments from the records.

Clan Varam remained as a both a living example not to question the hierarchs when deciding an Arbiter and as how merciful they could be by not exterminating the whole clan for they had a common enemy to fight which were the humans. The reason for this mercy was them swearing upon another oath of loyalty but this time they had to surrender much of their state, their higher tech weapons, and the great knowledge of the past plus their fighting style to the will of the prophets. They even took pieces of the records and armor of the Red Blade as further punishment while kicking out any Varam honor guards tha remained in service. This left Clan Varam weak and broken with many crying in shame of their fall from grace with now more and more Varam warriors flung into the war and willingly died without care for themselves long as it restored the very honor and prestige that was lost to their clan. Even when word of Ripa’s death reached them it brought no joy to them and worse they placed themselves in further debt to the larger clans by secretly sharing their most powerful fighting skills and swords just to stay alive bringing more shame to the clan as they were now restorted to begging like an Unggoy for survival. By the time Oro came to be chosen as a Zealot he was driven to save his clan as they were gripped with both despair and a fading hope that they would ever regain their honor.

Throughout the Human-Covenant War Varam warriors had been tossing themselves into every battle or skirmish they could find hoping that by their actions or having an honorable death they may redeem Clan Varam of its shame for constantly questioning the Covenant and acting too boldly out of pride. Few other Sangheili clans such as Vadam sought to help Varam in their plight but there was little they could do for many of the other plans and the Covenant had little interest of helping Varam or supporting their goal to regain what they lost.

## Members

**Oro ’Varamee**

**Taso ’Varamee**

**Orbos ’Varamee**

**Rizan ’Varamee**

## Trivia

Clan Varam was made as part of the origin to Oro ’Varamee as a Sangheili Commander of the Covenant.