Without Light, there is only Shadow.
The Dark is Generous and it is patient and it always wins.
It always wins because it is everywhere.
It is everything…THE DARKNESS IS!
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Beneath a blackened, starless sky,
We marched as warriors, proud and high.
Our blades gleamed bright, our banners flew,
Unyielding souls, to honor true.
From shadows deep, a whisper came,
No voice of flesh, no spoken name.
It coiled and crept, unseen, unknown,
A chilling wind through marrow and bone.
The Darkness spoke in riddled song,
Of power vast, of righting wrong.
Yet its words were laced with a deadly snare,
A promise gilded in despair.
We charged its form, this creeping shade,
Our swords and will, a fierce cascade.
But no blow struck, no fire burned,
For the foe was mist, and quickly turned.
It came not to fight, but to unmake,
Our unity bent, our faith to break.
Our minds it seized with a vile embrace,
Each warrior lost, each heart defaced.
Through eyes once bright, a shadow grew,
Our souls became what we once slew.
No longer Sangheili, proud and free,
We served the Darkness, its puppetry.
Our blades still sang, but for a lie,
Our honor drowned in its abyssal cry.
We fought not for kin, nor land, nor truth,
But for the whispers that stole our youth.
Oh, how we fell, as stars do fade,
From light to void, by darkness swayed.
And now we march, a haunted tide,
Sanghelios fell, with no gods to guide.
-Rhtas Vadam, The FIrst Chronicler describing the Fall of his Species to Darkness. As chronicled in the "Codex of the Wanderers"
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The Starship hummed as it drifted through slipspace, a quiet hum that was a near-ubiquitous nature, save for the small outposts and monasteries that dotted the galaxy in patches of light in the void.
The Sanghili had long adapted to wandering, centuries, nay millennia, shaped those who had not fallen to the siren call of the void of lies called the "Darkness" Though their homeworld still existed it was a shadow of his former glory.
And it was a literal statement. Those who had chosen to stay among the Darkness's influence and cohorts cast their world in a feeling shadow, that had driven away all who rejected the Darkness's embrace for the lie it was.
The Great Wars in the stars between the Sanghili were over now, time had worn away so much of their spirit, and their empire, witch once was thought to be a beacon of a strong and enlightened galaxy.
Now nothing more then a memory of petty kingdoms, warring clans and carrion birds or species looking for territory and wealth.
All empires fell from great heights.
And the Children of Sanghilios fell greatly indeed.
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The Shipmaster Ova 'Kalcam grumbled as he turned to face his unruly and strange guest that was taking up space upon his ship.
Wanderers…blades of light in the darkness, trouble, but ones that pay.
Ova nodded. "We will be arriving in the Keskus System within the week, Holy Blade. As per your request."
The older blades man's armor was a clear grey and blue, a color of a calm evening on a cool morning, his energy sword and plasma pistol clear.
Compared to your gilded armor, it was rather quaint and simple. But no less capable, in a battle, duel, or war.
He nodded. "Excellent, the monastery on Glyke will be filled with news and gossip of my arrival, and all I have seen will be brought to pen."
"You must have seen many battles to see fit that a chronicler would see to it." Ova said calmly trying to keep his composure.
Wandering blades had tricks to them.
"Less battles and more fragments of the Age of Light, when the Sphere, once graced the skies of Sanghilios." He said calmly. "Treasures of knowledge and stories of joy..embers of better days."
"Baubles and trash, sentimentality will be the death of us? If it doesn't allow us to strike at our foes, it's near useless." Ova said scoffing at the notion of his passenger's cargo.
"If it can heal the spirit of our kind, then it is worth the pain to retrieve it. What is life without the spirit to enjoy it?" The older Sanghili said. " We are petty and arrogant to focus only on our warrior past and strength , without a sense of life, our strength is meaningless."
"May I need to remained you about all the threats that are always constantly against us. The Hive, roaming Cabal Legions, Kig-Yar pirate bands, and last but most important, the accursed Black Fleet, with the Demon Disciple and it's followers still hunting us down. So we still need warriors to stand against all of them." Ova finished with a growl.
"Do not speak of me of warriors against the dark child, I am one of them, and remain so." The Wanderer allowed a glare of pain and his full height to speak the rest of his mind to the damned welp.
Ova was cowed as he looked away to hide his shame at questioning both an elder and a wanderer who had battled the Darkness longer than he had been alive. "Forgive me, Elder, I did not mean disrespect in such a manner."
Instead of striking him as any other elder would have; the wanderer took a hand and placed it on his shoulder. "You're young, and unlike so many others in this galaxy seem capable of listening."
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"We are approaching the Forge World now, noble wanderer," Ova said as the world of Glyke came into view.
"Hmm, it hasn't changed. Good." The Older Sanghili said.
Glyke, for the uninitiated, was a forge world, a massive manufacturing and production planet run by an artisan clan that is under the rule of a Kaidon, who rules the sector and commands the production of war materiel and other goods for the grand campaigns and petty wars that dot the galaxy.
It was not the great industrial giants of the past, but it was not…a mere pipe dream, either. It was one of the great jewels of the house of Juran in their petty kingdom, able to produce four ships in a year with the capacity to arm a warband along with it.
It is a paltry and small number compared to the hundreds the empire would have built in a year but in these trying times any number greater than one is a miracle.
"I don't see the great battleship pair? Is it at war or patrol?" Ova said as he looked to see a notable sight absent from orbit.
"It was needed to deal with a Kig-Yar raiding group…nothing keeps a damned pirate away then a pair of Ket-pattern Battlecruisers." He said.
Glyke awaited them both.
"Shipmaster, see to your affairs and then join me when you are able, I have need of your company within the monastery." The elder finished.
And then he turned to leave the bridge, leaving Ova alone again.
Author's Note: This is a Halo Crossover as well and despite everything, Earth isn't the Center of the Universe...Yet.
So I've taken it upon myself to flesh out the Galactic Situation a bit given that the Traveler is a legitimate factor in Intergalactic Society so I might as well start with the Covenant Race we all know and love.
The Sangheili in this timeline met the Traveler during their early empire phase and spent the ensuing Golden Age conquering, fighting, and generally being the Asian/Norse/Proto-Roman Empire that spread by the sword in some weird mix of expansion and the Imperium of Man only held back by its worse impulses by the Glorious Wisdom of some pretty Awesome Arbiters (Not our Arby I'm afraid).
But of course, the Darkness Came and pushed their shit in and killed much of their empire and those who did not join are now lost petty kingdoms and small fiefdoms holding onto the fragments of what's left.
Witness came in and chose one of the Sangheili and turned him into Disciple, earning the title The Demon Disciple. All others Sangheili that joined the Witness are known as Minor Demons.
They are Dark Age Europe, surrounded by other hostile powers and weird philosophies but the general state of Split Jaws are basically "Galactic CK2" with all the other powers.
We'll be learning more about their society, religion, and relations with other's in the next Omake, but by all means lets start getting some light out in the black.
After this, Well Maybe the Kig-Yar or one of the others.
But not the Prophets...the Prophets are...going to be a surprise for later.
Enjoy.
