What’s the status of the Arbiter’s faction post war? In Halo: Escalation it’s said that he’s had a lot of post-war fortunes yet it doesn’t mention anything about his conflict with the Servants of Abiding Truth or the Sangheili Civil War, does that mean that the civil war is over? I’m also curious about the strength of his faction considering he had a fleet of Assault Carriers, CCS-class battlecruisers, and destroyers during the Battle of Ealen IV and his Sangheili troops look well armored compared to the Covenant Remnant’s. Finally, does the Arbiter only have Sangheili in his faction? I remember that in Halo 2 he had Hunters and Grunts fight along side him yet that was the only time we saw them.
I might be wrong but I do believe the civil war is still on going. The rebel faction has just gone into hiding to prepare their next move against the arbiter.
Also I do think some grunts, hunters and even some brutes follow the elites mostly out of respect.
Again I might be wrong. anyone who reads this, feel free to correct me.
Honestly I have no idea what the rest of the Covenant races are doing.
It seems like the Grunts and Engineers are reveling in their freedom and staying as far away from any conflict as possible.
Which sucks because the Arbiter could really use some Engineers to fix his fleet of tech the Elites have no idea how to fix.
The Jackals probably went straight back to pirating and lucrative trading (they get along pretty well with the equally materialistic humans).
God knows what the Hunters do in their free time. Eat dirt and sing poetry?
I think most Brutes still hate the Elites and are squatting on some resource rich planets that they don’t want to share.
Basically I think his greatest and perhaps only definite ally is humanity.
> God knows what the Hunters do in their free time. Eat dirt and sing poetry?
>
> I think most Brutes still hate the Elites and are squatting on some resource rich planets that they don’t want to share.
>
> Basically I think his greatest and perhaps only definite ally is humanity.
The hunters are most likely having a very well deserved meal of forerunner metal’s from the artefacts on there home world.
Some brutes allied with the elites but most of them are fighting among themselves for leadership since the prophet race went into hiding.
And yes humanity is his best ally but ONI are been crafty buggers about it.
Well according to Escalation the Arbiter seems to have amassed a great deal of power within the galaxy considering that he managed to persuade most of the Covenant species to leave humanity alone and that he’s had post-war fortunes according to Hood.
> Well according to Escalation the Arbiter seems to have amassed a great deal of power within the galaxy considering that he managed to persuade most of the Covenant species to leave humanity alone and that he’s had post-war fortunes according to Hood.
Are the Covenant client races really leaving us alone because of the Arbiter? I don’t think so. He doesn’t have that much authority.
> > Well according to Escalation the Arbiter seems to have amassed a great deal of power within the galaxy considering that he managed to persuade most of the Covenant species to leave humanity alone and that he’s had post-war fortunes according to Hood.
>
> Are the Covenant client races really leaving us alone because of the Arbiter? I don’t think so. He doesn’t have that much authority.
Well the only faction of Covenant that are hostile to the humans are the Covenant Remnant and Jiralhanae. Both of these factions are out of the Arbiter’s reach. Also, its stated in Escalation that the old Covenant races would have gone after humanity if the Arbiter hadn’t insisted that they were important to their survival.
I haven’t read the Escalation comics yet however I’ve got a pretty good idea of the general events and plot of the story from reading other post and Halopedia.
One point of interest is that the Arbiter faction seems to have retained their industrial and capability and technological understanding.
Kilo-5 tried to make out that with the dissolution of the Covenant and the mysterious (or more accurately absurd) mass disappearance of the Huragok had left the Sangheili at a loss technologically, as they lacked the technical understanding to maintain or build their own warships and weapons.
Thankfully Escalation seems to have reversed this notion. As I understand the general story (and please correct me if I’m wrong), the main purpose of the peace talks was for the Jiralhanae to provide the Arbiter’s Sangheili faction with raw materials in order for them to manufacture warships and weapons for their ongoing conflict with the Covenant Remnant faction. In exchange the Arbiter’s Sangheili faction would provide the Jiralhanae with processed consumable goods such as food and medicine in order to prevent them sliding into famine and possibly attacking the Sangheili to take what they needed by force.
This would suggest to me that far from the invalids Kilo-5 portrayed them as, the Arbiter’s Sangheili faction are capable of understanding and repairing their own tier 2 level technology, as well as processing and refining raw materials which would explain why the Sangheili escorting the Arbiter appeared relatively well equipped.
> I haven’t read the Escalation comics yet however I’ve got a pretty good idea of the general events and plot of the story from reading other post and Halopedia.
>
> One point of interest is that the Arbiter faction seems to have retained their industrial and capability and technological understanding.
>
> Kilo-5 tried to make out that with the dissolution of the Covenant and the mysterious (or more accurately absurd) mass disappearance of the Huragok had left the Sangheili at a loss technologically, as they lacked the technical understanding to maintain or build their own warships and weapons.
>
> Thankfully Escalation seems to have reversed this notion. As I understand the general story (and please correct me if I’m wrong), the main purpose of the peace talks was for the Jiralhanae to provide the Arbiter’s Sangheili faction with raw materials in order for them to manufacture warships and weapons for their ongoing conflict with the Covenant Remnant faction. In exchange the Arbiter’s Sangheili faction would provide the Jiralhanae with processed consumable goods such as food and medicine in order to prevent them sliding into famine and possibly attacking the Sangheili to take what they needed by force.
>
> This would suggest to me that far from the invalids Kilo-5 portrayed them as, the Arbiter’s Sangheili faction are capable of understanding and repairing their own tier 2 level technology, as well as processing and refining raw materials which would explain why the Sangheili escorting the Arbiter appeared relatively well equipped.
The resources were for both the Arbiter’s faction and the UNSC. Also, the materials weren’t for the conflict specifically, it was just said that gaining access to those materials were in the best interests of both factions. The diplomatic goal was to pacify the Jiralhanae by placing Lydus as leader of all the clans since he was the most reasonable of them all. They explained to him that the Jiralhanae were near to a species-wide famine and if they didn’t find a reasonable leader, their attacks on Sangheili colonies would not be enough to supply them with resources which would lead to infighting between Jiralhanae clans. But yes, you do understand the overall plot.
> The resources were for both the Arbiter’s faction and the UNSC. Also, the materials weren’t for the conflict specifically, it was just said that gaining access to those materials were in the best interests of both factions. The diplomatic goal was to pacify the Jiralhanae by placing Lydus as leader of all the clans since he was the most reasonable of them all. They explained to him that the Jiralhanae were near to a species-wide famine and if they didn’t find a reasonable leader, their attacks on Sangheili colonies would not be enough to supply them with resources which would lead to infighting between Jiralhanae clans. But yes, you do understand the overall plot.
As I’ve said my knowledge of Escalations isn’t perfect. As a general rule I don’t normally read comics, through this one has got me interested and I’ll probably get it when it comes out in a single collated volume. It’s probably the best literature we’ve had from 343 to date.
Regardless of what the resources were intended for, the point I was trying to make is that the Arbiter’s faction are clearly in a position now where they can refine raw materials into usable products. From an economical and technological point of view, its sounds like they’re in a lot better position than they were by the end of Kilo-5, in that with the exception of access to raw materials they’re self sufficient.
> > The resources were for both the Arbiter’s faction and the UNSC. Also, the materials weren’t for the conflict specifically, it was just said that gaining access to those materials were in the best interests of both factions. The diplomatic goal was to pacify the Jiralhanae by placing Lydus as leader of all the clans since he was the most reasonable of them all. They explained to him that the Jiralhanae were near to a species-wide famine and if they didn’t find a reasonable leader, their attacks on Sangheili colonies would not be enough to supply them with resources which would lead to infighting between Jiralhanae clans. But yes, you do understand the overall plot.
>
> As I’ve said my knowledge of Escalations isn’t perfect. As a general rule I don’t normally read comics, through this one has got me interested and I’ll probably get it when it comes out in a single collated volume. It’s probably the best literature we’ve had from 343 to date.
>
> Regardless of what the resources were intended for, the point I was trying to make is that the Arbiter’s faction are clearly in a position now where they can refine raw materials into usable products. From an economical and technological point of view, its sounds like they’re in a lot better position than they were by the end of Kilo-5, in that with the exception of access to raw materials they’re self sufficient.
Ah, yes I see and my apologies if I sounded a bit rude there. I also do find myself relieved that the Arbiter’s faction is self sufficient since their honestly my favorite faction. Though I am curious, how is their status compared to the UNSC and Covenant Remnant in a political and or military standpoint?
> Ah, yes I see and my apologies if I sounded a bit rude there. I also do find myself relieved that the Arbiter’s faction is self sufficient since their honestly my favorite faction. Though I am curious, how is their status compared to the UNSC and Covenant Remnant in a political and or military standpoint?
Not at all mate…not at all.
Trust me I’ve both seen and been the recipient of rude responses, some of which verge on pure arrogance.
The point I was making was that I was happy to defer to your judgement as having read Escalations yourself you’re in a better position to make said judgements.
I agree with you about the Arbiter’s Sangheili and I hope 343 will give us a greater insight into them in the future. Personally I think there in stronger position then the UNSC post-war if the end of Halo 3 was anything to go by. They haven’t suffered the huge amount of material damage the UNSC has in terms of glassed colonies, ships and personnel though at the same time there probably facing more threats in the form of the Covenant Remnant and the Jiralhanae.
Saying that the UNSC is fighting the Insurgency still, who seem too have reemerged from the aftermath of the war stronger than before. Also if the events of Battle of Draetheus V is anything to go by the UNSC is still at the mercy of the Covenant fleets.
I suppose you could say that the Human-Covenant war hasn’t ended, it’s just moved into its next stage.
Overall I’d say humanity is still at great peril just as they were during the human-covenant war, but now they have potential allies and are not fighting the unknown alone.
The Covenant Empire was massive. It spanned numerous star systems, planets, and Lord knows what else. We don’t know anything about its size beyond that. This of course includes every colony and capital planet of each race.
In Escalation, it’s confirmed that there is still fighting going on all across the remains of the Covenant Empire. That makes sense - whenever an Empire of war falls, the remaining major powers begin to feud over the control of what’s left. The difference here is that there is an added degree of two powers based almost entirely on religious and racial disagreement. The Jiralhanae forces, and the Sangheili forces.
Despite this, there’s even fighting within these races. The Jiralhanae packs are warring with each other for control of all manner of things, from the Covenant technology that boosted them tenfold, to the Forerunner artefacts that they still worship and admire. Even the Separatists aren’t a united force, their only real uniting factor being that they do not like the Jiralhanae.
So, the Sangheili, being rather intelligent, are likely off defending their homeworlds. Civil wars, invasions, all kinds of things would be going on with them. They’re essentially what the UNSC was during the war, I suppose.
The Jiralhanae are so divided that they barely matter anymore - in-fighting between clans, being decimated by the Sangheili, and being servants/slaves on Sangheilios, it’s all just gone terribly for them.
The Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and Yanme’e are a different story. Most Unggoy would have taken this chance to finally be free, which is understandable. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still face conflict. Despite what we saw in Halo 4, most Unggoy went with the Separatists, while most Kig-Yar and Yanme’e went with the Jiralhanae. There’s a good chance that, by 2558, the majority on either side would have fled to their home planets.
The Huragok are of course almost entirely controlled by the Humans now, with any the Covenant remnants could have held onto being taken by the San 'Shyuum.
And the Lekgolo? They were a Tier 2 scientific race before ever coming into contact with the San 'Shyuum or Sangheili. By that time, we were barely perfecting roads. Hell, even Rome was in infancy at that time. So more than likely they’re just doing whatever they want - aiding the Arbiter, killing anyone who tries to come near them, whatever.
And then, we’ve got the issue of Covenant colonies like Joyous Exultation, planets that would have had numerous members of each race living upon them. Those planets would be completely filled with bloodied conflicts.
Really, it’s a shock the Remnants have been able to achieve the might they have. The Seperatists had a majority of Unggoy, Mkalekgolo, and very likely a huge amount of powerful warships, considering the Sangheili were Shipmasters. So they’d have better gear, better weapons, better training, and possibly better troops. The reason they suffered during the Civil War, I imagine, is that the Arbiter is really trying to bring peace to the remains of the Empire. I’d be surprised if he didn’t have fleets stationed in defence over Unggoy and Lekgolo colonies, as well as all Sangheili colonies, while simultaneously deploying troops on the Covenant colonies that are rife with multi faceted fighting.
So… that’s my input.
So, overall this is how it seems:
Covenant Remnant: Assaulting humanity while claiming Forerunner relics for themselves. They lack a formidable amount of ships, decent armor for their troops, and use whatever weapons they can use. However, what they lack in materials they make up with clever tactics on Jul’s part. They also gained an unknown amount of Promethean troops from Requiem, thus boosting their ground forces.
Arbiter’s Faction: Battling against Sangheili Insurgents while waging war against the Jiralhanae clans. They seem to be doing well in terms of ships, troops, infastructure, and materials. However, they have a lot of predicaments regarding battling against Sangheili insurgents while protecting their planets from Jiralhanae attacks. Their leader, Thel 'Vadam, is focused on establishing peace within the galaxy.
Jiralhanae Clans: The Jiralhanae are fighting each other for power instead on focusing on rebuilding. This seems to be largely effecting them since they are on the edge of a species wide famine in 2558. They are also on many resource-rich worlds, however they do not have the materials to mine them. This is what lead to raids on Sangheili colonies, increasing the hostilities between the two species.
Servants of Abiding Truth: The Servants of Abiding Truth barely have any forces after their defeat on Sanghelios. A month after their defeat, they remained hidden on New Llanelli with only three frigates and a small amount of troops while ONI supplied them with weapons in an attempt to continue Sangheili civil conflicts.