(no subject)

[arbitrating]

Player Information ;
Your Nickname: Brig
OOC Journal: twopoinsettias@lj
Under 18? n
Email/IM: twopoinsettias@gmail.com / brigantinefranke
Characters Played at Singularity: Tex, Omega

Character Information ;
Name: The Arbiter / Thel 'Vadaam
Name of Canon: Halo 3
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: canon + amatomnes
Reference: http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Thel
Canon Point: post Halo 3
Setting: Beginner's Guide to Halo and RvB. To put it briefly, Arbiter is an alien samurai and Proud Warrior Race Guy, who is initially duped by some of the series villains (the Hierarchs) and then rebels and joins the hero, taking most of his race with him, when he discovers the truth about the Halo rings and the Flood.

As for Arbiter's time in Amat, the premise there was a magical island ruled by a not so benevolent goddess who captured people from various places/times/canons, brought them to her island, put a magic irremovable collar on them and forced them to have sex for her entertainment. The collars would tighten over the course of two weeks and kill the character if they didn't comply with the rules and have sex with someone. Arbiter was given a human body that he was forced to adapt to, and put in close proximity with several SPARTANs, UNSCDF AIs, Freelancer Agents, and simulation soldiers, some of whom distrusted him, some of whom accepted him as an ally.

Personality: (I'm keeping the orientation part because it has lots of tl;dr about Sangheili culture), so, orientation TL;DR: Wiki states that Sangheili sword-wielders, who are exclusively aristocrats, are not eligible for marriage because they are expected to spread the hypothetical 'sword-wielder genes' and to that end "may breed with any female they choose, married or otherwise." This implies that marriage exists in some form but that aristocrats don't engage in it. In the novel The Cole Protocol, there is a passage as follows: "With a promotion like this, Thel would need to send a message home to the keep elders. He would have more wives brought to the keep. It was time for Thel to create more alliances on the homeworld. It was time to expand the rooms, and father more children to pack the common rooms. The line of Vadam would be continued in strength." This implies a contradictory view of marriage, more akin to a harem, where a 'wife' is taken only for breeding and political alliance purposes but is still defined as a wife to the individual in question. Thel is certainly heterosexual by the standards of his species, in that he is expected to father children and presumably already has. In Sangheili society, children often aren't told their father's identities (to avoid favoritism) but are raised and trained by their maternal uncles, so there is no nuclear family of mother, father, and child. Without this, it is unknown how much contact a father actually has with the mother/mothers after conception. Given the cultural associations with warrior societies like samurai and Spartans, the unknown role that Sangheili females play in society, and the emphasis on the apparently all-male warrior class, it's not out of the question that male-male bonds exist. Recreational sex is frowned upon unless it is for breeding purposes, and this is a very selective process. In terms of emotional connection, Thel has never mentioned any attachment to any females of his own species nor referenced any individuals. Halo: Legends very clearly depicts a loving marriage between a male sword-wielder and his wife, but Legends may not be canon and also takes place centuries before the 'present day' of the Halo games. So, briefly, Sangheili chicks are for breeding and apparently Thel hasn't found one he likes enough to give a damn about as an individual.

In other words, combat skill sexual.

Moar Personality: Hokay first of all Thel is an alien, a Sangheili soldier (a species known to humans as Elites) who, like everyone else in the Halo series, has spent most of his life fighting in the Covenant-Human war. Obviously on the Covenant side, as the Sangheili make up the backbone of the Covenant military forces. His personality used to be more or less identical to that of any Sangheili soldier; proud, disciplined, rigorously adherent to his culture's codes of honor, and a fierce warrior. Sangheili culture seems to be a mix of Nordic/Germanic and samurai traditions, right down to the special emphasis placed on sword wielding and sword-users and even the custom of committing suicide to atone for a failure. Their speech patterns are very formal, and war poetry is considered a distinguished art form. Aristocratic Sangheili children are raised in "common rooms," to give them all an equal starting level, where they are trained to fight and expected to distinguish themselves through deeds. Like many others, Thel doesn't know the identity of his father (a custom intended to minimize favoritism) and was raised as one of many children of the 'Vadam line. Compared explicitly to the SPARTAN II program in Halo: Bloodlines, Sangheili children grow up on a steady diet of war games and constant training, all groomed to believe that martial prowess and service are the highest achievements for their kind. Thel is not only a member of this aristocratic warrior caste but also grows up to be voted Kaidon (ruler/leader/chief) of his family keep, and therefore responsible for upholding the honor and reputation of his family clan. His appointment as Kaidon was disputed in the traditional way, aka assassins climbing in his window at night. Thel takes this as par for the course, despite the fact that one of his own family sent them, and kills the assassins and also the relative who'd hired them. This is expected of him, so he does it without hesitation.

Prior to the Battle of the Rubble (pre-game, essentially) Thel was on the surface a model believer in the Covenant, never questioning his orders to annihilate humans and glass their planets (a process which renders a planet unable to sustain life) and even chiding some of his soldiers for so openly admiring human ferocity in battle. The Sangheili have a tradition of honoring foes who show 'appropriate' behavior in battle, aka will fight to the death, and will sometimes accept 'lesser species' that perform admirably. Many Sangheili questioned the San 'Shyuum/Prophets' adamant refusal to even consider admitting humanity into the Covenant alliance, feeling that humans conducted themselves more honorably than several other races that were admitted. Like many of his brethren, Thel was uncomfortable with the dishonorable political machinations of the Prophets as they jockeyed for power amongst themselves, and also recognized an oddly unwarranted hatred for humans in the ordered genocide, but his devotion to duty kept his mouth shut and his resolve firm to not invite heresy by dissenting. To speak out against the Prophets was not only career suicide, but often literal suicide, and Thel had a lot to lose as a clan leader and an up-and-coming officer.

Thel took offense to any action of the Prophets that seemed to be usurping the Sangheili role within the Covenant forces, such as giving special missions/leadership duties to the other 'inferior' races like the Brutes/Jiralhanae. Thel considers the Jiralhanae savage and barbaric, the opposite of what a true warrior should be, and feels his superior attitude is not only justified but natural. There's no shortage of racial pride in his personality.

So basically, Thel is a samurai. Tradition and honor, fight to the death, don't question orders, but there is precedent for him to be slightly more sympathetic to humans than a member of another Covenant race. To him, honorable conduct and battle prowess are the most important qualities of any individual.

THEN, after the Battle of the Rubble plants a seed of doubt in Thel's mind about whether his superiors are really in the right (and also having to kill one of his close comrades for 'heresy'), the events of the games occur, and pretty much destroy every aspect of Thel's life as he'd known it.

Having attained the rank of Supreme Commander of a Covenant fleet by the time of Halo 1 and led the attack on the fortress planet Reach, Thel is unable to stop Master Chief from blowing up a Halo ring, an object considered sacred in the Covenant religion. For this failure he is stripped of all rank and honor and even his name, and branded with the Mark of Shame before a jeering crowd. He is set to be executed (this may also have meant that his entire clan would be killed along with him) and "hung by his entrails" with his corpse paraded through the city, but is spared by the San 'Shyuum Hierarchs who decide to offer him another option, the position of Arbiter.

Before the war between the Sangheili and the San 'Shyuum had ended and the Sangheili converted to the Covenant faith, the Arbiter was a powerful and honorable position within Sangheili society. Once integrated into the Covenant, the position became a byword for willing suicide. The title is bestowed in times of crisis, where one Sangheili becomes the sword of the Hierarchs and instrument of their will, but is inevitably killed during one of the impossible missions they are sent on. Most Arbiters die on their first mission, in fact, so the Council who had wanted Thel executed is content to let him get killed as the Arbiter. Arbiters have authority and autonomy but are also untouchables to their former comrades; they are essentially walking corpses. Broken and despairing over his sentence, Thel agrees to become the new Arbiter, preferring an honorable death in battle to the utter shame of execution as a heretic. He professes to no longer care about his life, as "Thel 'Vadamee" is already dead. There is only the Arbiter left."

Expected to die on his first mission, Arbiter is given command of troops again, but faces the hostility of their usual commander, Rtas 'Vadumee, who snarls that "you are the Arbiter, the will of the Prophets, but these are my Elites. Their lives matter to me, yours does not." Arbiter snaps back that "that makes two of us" ie, Arbiter doesn't give a damn about his own life any more.

This is Sangheili pride. Arbiter has no illusions about his chances for survival and is still every bit the professional in combat, but for the first time he's fighting as an isolated individual. These troops are not his brothers and look on him with suspicion, uncertainty, or even dislike. For the first time Arbiter doesn't have protective status as an honorable aristocratic warrior with the rights that this role affords him. He's an outsider among his own soldiers, branded with the Mark of Shame on his chest for anyone to see.

Of course, Arbiter doesn't die on that mission, because that would be a short game. Instead he goes on to establish a connection with Rtas and his soldiers, re-earning their loyalty through his actions during missions, and they eventually become his firm allies. As the only Arbiter who has ever apparently survived past his projected expiration date, he seems to take on a special status to the other Sangheili, who soon start readily believing his counsel over the words of the Hierarchs and other Covenant officers. This willingness to see Arbiter as an authority is possibly relating back to the pre-Covenant Arbiters that were not slaves to the Hierarchs. In other words, by his very title, Arbiter has a cultural association of 'traditional rebel leader' before he himself ever even thinks of defying the Hierarchs.

Which he does, eventually. The rest of Halo 2 and 3 is spent with Arbiter being faced with mounting evidence that the Hierarchs he serves are not only lying sacks of lies, but also suicidal crazies who persist in believing that activating the Halo Array (a super weapon designed to destroy all life in the galaxy, a last ditch counter-measure against a Flood outbreak) will make every Covenant who "takes the Great Journey" into a god. Arbiter clings to his faith stubbornly, unwilling to listen to 'heresy,' but in the end there's simply too much evidence to ignore. He finally, finally comes to accept that the Prophets have been deceiving his people, the war against humanity was ordered to cover up their lies, the other Covenant species are either being duped or willingly disbelieve the truth, and that the real menace everyone should be worried about is the Flood. Faced with little other option in a time of crisis, Arbiter eventually allies with Sergeant Johnson and Chief to stop the Flood outbreak and stop the Covenant Hierarchs from activating Halo and killing everything. According to wiki, when Arbi formally rejects the Covenant by changing his surname from 'Vadamee to 'Vadam, the entire Sangheili species follows suit, breaking away from the Covenant and allying with humanity under the Arbiter's authority. And then there is lots of fighting. And our heroes win. Yay!

So, what is Arbi like at the end of Halo 3?

Arbiter by the end of the third game is a completely different person. He has been through a crisis of faith and several life-changing experiences, including having to "rebuild" himself as a warrior and win back the respect of his own kind. Even Arbiter doesn't think of himself as that same entitled soldier who looked forward to an almost inevitably promising career and loyally jumped when his orders told him to. His religion as he'd been conditioned to understand it is revealed to be a lie, and had been used by the Hierarchs to support the dishonorable practice of hoarding political power. The Great Journey which was supposed to offer godhood is really just a euphemism for suicide-by-Halo. These are major, major things to have ripped away from him. Yet, by allying himself with humans who are the heirs to the Forerunners, aka the deities or demi-deities the Covenant had worshiped, there is still something religiously redemptive in his actions. Destroying the Flood is also directly in line with the will of the Forerunners and humanity is technically the last living remnant of the Forerunner race. Fighting alongside them after discovering this fact is enough to make Arbiter feel like he is doing something right.

The games don't go into detail about how any of the Covenant feel when they find out that their religion is a big fat lie, but Arbiter at the very least doesn't suffer a breakdown. He is a soldier, first and foremost, and when he doesn't know what the fuck to do about scheming politicians and fake religious decrees, he knows damn well that tentacle monsters devouring all life are bad and need to be stopped. He is willing to ally with humans (and even briefly with the central intelligence of the Flood itself) to accomplish what needs to be done, and equally willing to cut down anyone standing in his way. A large part of his motivation in the games is also personal revenge against the Hierarchs who had lied to him and the Jiralhanae who had participated in the conspiracy. It is Arbiter, not Master Chief, who finally kills the Hierarch responsible for ordering the the genocidal war against humanity.

Arbiter's perspective of humans also changed dramatically from the soldier who admonished one of his troops for complimenting human battle prowess. While Arbiter doesn't go so far as to apologize for what happened during the war (nor do the humans forgive his species for it), the tentatively friendly alliance forged out of necessity during the Flood outbreak seems to be there to stay. The SPARTANs encountered by Sangheili during the war, especially Master Chief, had already won a place of respect to the point where the Sangheili consent to give Chief a name (the Demon), and Arbiter will refer to him as "Spartan." This is a big deal in Sangheili culture, where inferior species are usually not worth names and are not allowed to give names. For instance, in one of the pre-game novels Thel remarks on the insult of humans having named a planet, and part of his punishment when he receives the Mark of Shame is the loss of his own name.

Although their partnership was understandably strained in the beginning, Chief and Arbiter end up spending a lot of time fighting as allies, and when Chief goes by himself on a crazy suicide mission into a crashed, Flood infested cruiser to rescue Cortana, Arbiter goes in after him to help him fight his way back out. Arbiter also stops his ally Rtas from glassing Earth from orbit to contain the Flood outbreak, counseling him instead to only target the infected area. While Arbiter may have more ambiguous feelings about other humans, especially those that aren't soldiers or warriors, his exposure to Johnson and especially Chief has given him a respectful inclination towards SPARTANs and a positive attitude towards Chief himself. It helps, certainly, that Chief doesn't make a big deal about holding grudges. Stuck in a mostly human environment, Arbiter will be intensely uncomfortable but he's not going to run out and kill the first human he sees.

Arbiter is also, a little unwillingly, a major figurehead for his entire species as the leader of the Separatists by the end of Halo 3. He is not comfortable with this, having gone from rising career to untouchable to active rebellion and forging major military alliances in five minutes while fighting tentacle monsters, and doesn't feel that his own personal crisis of faith is really stable leadership basis. Sangheili culture revolves not only around combat prowess but the wisdom of veterans. As Kaidon, Arbiter had a council of elders who advised him and also ruled the clan in his absence. But as both Arbiter and Separatist leader, Arbiter is suddenly the only Sangheili with his particular range of experiences. He is, for better or worse, something unique. He doesn't want to think of himself as a politician, or even a fit leader for his entire race, but he is dedicated to the service of his people and will step up to whatever task they require. That includes apparently serving as some kind of liaison with humans, as he attends the memorial service for the MIA Master Chief and the other casualties of the Human-Covenant war. His last action in the game is to return to his homeworld of Sanghelios with the rest of the Separatists who had come to defend Earth, wanting to "make sure that it is safe" and doubtless needing to deal with the aftermath of the split from the Covenant. Arbiter seems to be quieter by the end, less utterly sure of his own righteousness, and bears the responsibility of Separatist leader with far more gravity and humility than he'd born the title of Kaidon or fleet commander. It seems only logical that he would take his role of liaison or ambassador to humanity very seriously, being a figurehead for his species in the eyes of both humans and Sangheili. He would do whatever was necessary to preserve the alliance, if an alliance was what best benefited his race.

...in Amat, he was also intimate with a female SPARTAN, and will probably check himself before lashing out at any random human or another SPARTAN because he'll worry about what she would think. Probably.

Abilities and Weaknesses: Arbiter is a big tall alien (7'10") from a warrior culture trained to fight from birth. He has claws, tough hide, and a Predator-style mouth with mandibles and fangs. He's a good shot, can pilot any number of vehicles, has commanded troops for many years, and is exceptionally deadly with energy swords, his favored weapon. He has better reach and is stronger than any human, not as fast as a SPARTAN in armor but faster than any other Covenant race. Sangheili culture disdains injury, however, so a warrior would continue fighting with a grievous wound and probably end up dying rather than fall back and get it treated. Arbiter also wears ancient, ceremonial armor that is certainly not up to par with modern Sangheili armor. It has a cloaking feature but will only render him invisible for a few minutes at a time, shorting out randomly.

Arbi is all about honor. He will take offense to things, especially improper behavior towards females, demand ~duels to the death~, and be easily manipulated. He will try very hard to be conciliatory towards any SPARTANs who want revenge for Reach, which will only last until his temper snaps.

Inventory: Non-functioning Amat collar, two Sangheili energy swords, one Covenant rifle thing that I can't be arsed to go look up the proper name.
Appearance: http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091005182405/halo/images/b/be/Master_Chief_%26_The_Arbiter.jpg

He's also got a huge, scarred and mutilated brand on his chest, the Mark of Shame.

Age: Unknown, but adult by the standards of his species. Probably the Sangheili equivalent of being in his thirties.

OC/AU Justification ;
If AU, How is Your Version Different From Canon, and How Will That Come Across?

Having lived several months in Amat in a human body and forced to get it on or die, Arbiter is a little more savvy about human culture and behaviors and has especially come to recognize how different ordinary, civilian humans are from the SPARTANs he finds comparable to his own culture. He's on much better terms with Chief, having been forced to rely on him when Arbi was still relearning how to walk with knees that bent the wrong way, and considers Chief, at least, a steadfast ally with sound judgment. Arbiter is much more disposed to consider Chief a leader, no matter his actual rank around other SPARTANs, due to Chief coming from the end of the war while all the other SPARTANs were from earlier periods. Arbi has a bit of an awkward attraction to and protective streak over Black-One, who was the first SPARTAN aside from Chief to make any friendly overtures towards him. She's hardly his girlfriend or a mate, but Sangheili culture demands certain respectful behavior towards breeding partner females, so Arbiter awkwardly treats her as something between an independent ally like Chief and a female whose honor he's obliged to defend.

He'll be less likely to start fights with SPARTANs, even antagonistic ones, knowing Chief and One would B| at him for it, but he'll defend himself if he has to.

If OC, Did You Run Your Character Through a Mary-Sue Litmus Test?
And What Did You Score?

Samples ;
Log Sample (Amat log sample):

He had been afraid, honestly, for the first time in what felt like years. Fear was unworthy, a disgrace to his bloodline and something he despised in weaker creatures, but that was before the universe had shifted beneath his feet. When he'd never had cause to worry about such concepts as the extinction of all life in the galaxy brought about by the simple touch of a button. When he hadn't known the true horror of the parasite, and been presented with the very real possibility of his home, his family, being devoured the same way he'd seen his troops devoured.

Gravemind's voice still echoed inside his head. The words of a higher intelligence. Perhaps more god than even the Forerunners, but he did not wish to have them dictated and immortalized in a stanza for his family Saga.

They journeyed home, now, to see what had been left after the Great Schism. The planet called Earth, once the highest priority target for destruction for himself and the fleet he'd once commanded, was left behind now to deal with its own aftermath. Without the Spartan to remind him of their races' parallels, he'd found himself ill at ease amongst former enemies, old instincts returning at the flash of gun barrels and the sound of human voices. Concern over soft-treading diplomacy had never been a natural instinct of his. Better that he leave, give the position of liaison over to someone who would honor the role. He could hope only that Sanghelios would not require the same of him, and that he and his comrades would not come home to a civil war between clans. Yet the truth of the Halo rings was a bitter draught. There was no question that the path of change would not run smoothly.

These were the thoughts that had occupied his every waking hour. On Earth, and since leaving it. He'd fallen asleep to them and woken to them without change.

Except for this day.

The light of the outside sun had risen, waxed, and waned before he could truly convince himself that this was not some kind of dream or induced hallucination. Panic and confusion had given way to furious rationalization, and then to speculation and wilder speculation, and finally to the enforced calm that had been drilled into him every day of his life as a Sangheili warrior. He had his facts. He had his unknowns. He had his clear advantages and disadvantages, and he would look at the situation and make sense of it using them.

Most importantly, the body that housed him now was not his. It was small, weak, and utterly foreign, though he recognized the design of it instantly. A human body. Human flesh with his mind somehow transposed inside. There was no explanation for it, and no explanation for the ring of metal that encased his throat, but here he found himself all the same with too many fingers adorning his hands, a neck that could not turn properly, a chest that did not contain multiple hearts. Lips. Soft, fleshy things to go with the rest of this soft, fleshy body that had only the single saving grace of being a proper color. The rest was wrong and foreign and in one particular aspect alarming, as he had woken from the familiar yearning of an egg-dream, his undisciplined body deceptively supplying flesh memories of past breeding partners. Fortunately, the dissonance of waking reality had quickly killed that impulse.

Also, he'd fallen off the bed.

In point of fact he was still on the floor, because human skeletons were designed differently, and these new legs did not bend in the proper direction. Aggravating, debilitating, and horrifying as the thought was, he could not stand. He could not walk. He could not fight.

Correcting this was made his first priority. And when he could balance, shakily, with the aid of whatever sturdy objects were close at hand, he made his way to the window, and stared out at what could only be, however impossible, planet Earth.

Network Sample:

[ There's a bit of static at first, audio only, and then a series of flat electronic tones sound. It might come across as similar to Morse code, except anyone who knows Morse code won't recognize the 'words.' The signal repeats itself for about a minute, and then shuts off.

Restarts. Plays for a minute, shuts off. This process repeats for five minutes.

More static. Then, a different code, and this one might be more recognizable. A Covenant general distress signal, rather than the first one coded for Sangheili receivers. This code also repeats in sequence but is cut off halfway through the second repetition, as if the broadcaster had suddenly changed his mind.

Then, the familiar sound of buttons being pushed by someone who has no idea how to use this device, and a deep male voice making a noise of irritation before the audio feed abruptly cuts off. ]