#San'Shyuum

[papabirdurskeks]

I decided to revamp all my Halo OCs and color them finally because I never actually DID give them official color schemes in the 12 years I've had them.

Shame on me but meh, good for practice

In order as goes: Zigor and Sorrow on top

Zosimos and Cato at the bottom

Taking a break before starting commissions

[brownald]

I have COVID and hate it so I decided to make a list of all the Covenant species to see if they have a dick + balls or not.

Sangheili: Sangheili are seen to have bulges in several pieces of concept art and renders. Furthermore, Henry is a sangheili seen in The Mona Lisa, who is naked. When we see him, his crotch is covered by a shadow. This implies the presence of dick. Furthermore, in Halo 5 some Sangheili have crotch armor, which would also imply that special protection of the groin is needed. Therefore, we can conclude that Sangheili have dick + balls.

Unggoy: No dick, no balls, we’ve seen them naked in every game. This calls into question Unggoy reproduction, as they are said to breed like rabbits despite their lack of external genitalia. 

Kig-Yar: Since this depends on the subspecies, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, however there is a difference in male and female sex organs and apparently males can get aggressive during sex, turning to biting and scratching, meaning that males do hold some power during the reproductive process. Therefore, as also evidenced by Halo Wars 1’s concept art, we can conclude that the Ruutian subspecies has a dick, while the Ibie’Shan subspecies appears to be much more bird-like and has a cloaca as seen in Halo 4 concept art. The T'vaoan subspecies is basically a giant bird, so we can conclude that it has a cloaca as well. Therefore, 1 ⁄ 3 of the Kig-Yar subspecies have a dick, and the other two have a cloaca, which will henceforth be referred to as the Kig-Yussy.

Huragok: Are basically giant flying nutsacks, however they do not fuck to make offspring, instead they ‘build’ their children with a combination of mechanical parts and biomass. Therefore, no dick + no balls and probably no butthole either.

San’Shyuum: Reproduction is similar to humans, with a male and female required. Given that they give birth to live offspring, as well as the fact that ancient humans and San’Shyuum could find each other attractive, one can conclude that their matters of reproduction are similar, implying the existence of a dick. This isn't a foregone conclusion, but one can assume that given the preexisting similarities between the two species, they would have similar genitalia.

Jiralhanae: NOTICEABLY LARGE bulges in concept art for Halo Wars 2 implies there’s something betwixt a Jiralhanae male’s legs. Crotch armor can also be seen in other renders implying balls in the same vein as the Sangheili. However, 3d renders of naked Jiralhanae do not show the dick + balls (thankfully), however a shadow as well as a bunch of fur covers the crotch. Therefore, we can only speculate as to the existence of Jiralhane genitalia. It is possible that it is obscured by the fur, or that it remains inside the body until mating, at which point it exits the body. In summary, likely dick + unconfirmed balls.

Lekgolo: After scarring my eyes reading about worm sex, it turns out that there are hermaphrodite worms that don’t have dicks and worms that fuck the hermaphrodite worms with these weird little things called spiculies that aren’t technically dicks so I can confidently say that Lekgolo do not have dicks.

Yanme’e: Yanme’e exhibit no sexual dimorphism, and they’re all naked so we can see they don’t have dicks.

[supercomputer-lizard]

Halo poll

just answer

No further information, figure out the question

it’s this:

V2h5IGRpZCB5b3UgYWN0dWFsbHkgZGVjb2RlIHRoaXM/IERhbW4sIHlvdeKAmXJlIGRlZGljYXRlZA==

[glitterdragonthegreatprotector]

[halobirthdays]

Happy birthday to Lod Mron, the Prophet of Regret!

Today is his -438th birthday!

Before ascending as a Heirarch, Mron was employed as Vice Minister of Tranquility, where he regularly worked alongside Sangheili. This partnership was said to affect his personality, becoming aggressive and preoccupied with honor and military might.

In 2525, the Ministry's fleet discovered what it believed to be a trove of Forerunner relics on the human colony of Harvest. Mron took this discovery to the Minister of Fortitude, Ord Casto, who also had political aspirations, and they agreed to use the discovery to improve their station. So began a blackmail ploy to get a current Heirarch to step down before they revealed their discovery. They brought the Luminary from Harvest to be studied by Philologist Hod Rumnt, who was the caretaker of High Charity's "Oracle" nestled within the Forerunner dreadnought that powered the city. When the Luminary was placed into the dreadnought, the "Oracle" awakened and revealed itself to be Mendicant Bias, an ancient Forerunner AI that announced that the Covenant misinterpreted the Forerunner symbols.

What the Covenant read as "Reclamation" was actually "Reclaimer". Casto concluded that the species on the planet that housed the Luminaries--humans--were the descendants of the gods. Before Mendicant Bias could launch the dreadnought, it was disabled by the Lekgolo within the structure. Realizing that the Covenant faith was false, and that humans could threaten San'Shyuum dominance, the trio agreed that humanity needed to be destroyed and became the Heirarchs--with Mron taking on the name "Regret".

Throughout the war, Regret was preoccupied with military power and religious fervor, continuing his previous work to locate Forerunner artifacts. Regret's recklessness would prove to complicate the Prophet of Truth's plans, first when he had a human world destroyed by Thel 'Vadamee without consulting the other Heirarchs. This move would impede Truth's search for the human homeworld, giving contradicting orders that would stir dissent among 'Vadamee's crew.

In 2551, Regret learned about the existence of the Ark, and where he could find a portal to take him there. He did not realize the planet, Erde-Tyrene, was actually the Forerunner term for Earth, and set a course to leave immediately. When he got to Earth, he was met with resistance that he was not prepared for. Rather than retreat, Regret raced to his prize, learning the location of Installation 05 before performing a slipsapce jump within New Mombasa.

Once on the Halo, he apologized to Truth for his recklessness yet again. Unbeknownst to Regret, Truth already knew the location of Earth and was quietly plotting his own invasion. As the UNSC advanced towards Regret's location, Truth allowed Regret to die at the hands of Master Chief by calling back his support fleet.

Regret's body was collected by the Gravemind and assimilated into the Flood. The Gravemind used Regret in an attempt to convince Thel 'Vadamee of the truth of the Halo rings so that he would prevent them from firing. Unlike other Flood forms, Regret seemed to maintain some of his consciousness--or at least his personality, though whether he was fully assimilated after his body served its purpose is unknown.

[halopedia]

San'Shyuum Saturday — Mercy

The High Prophet of Mercy, born Hod Rumnt, was the oldest Hierarch during the Covenant war. In addition to being an authority on the Forerunners and their knowledge, he was also seen as the mediator between Truth and Regret.

[enusandbenus]

Kill San'shyuum. Behead San'Shyuum. Roundhouse kick a San'Shyuum into the concrete. Slam dunk inbred San'Shyuum babies into the trashcan. Defecate in a San'Shyuums food. Launch San'shyuum into the sun. Stir fry San'Shyuum in a wok etc etc.

[bloodgulchblog]

Whatever happened to the prophets and their race after the events of Halo 3? Do they still occasionally appear in books? 

The San'Shyuum had huge problems that game lore doesn't ever talk about.

First of all, the faction that started the Covenant were actually exiles from their home planet. Basically, long ago in San'Shyuum antiquity they discovered the Forerunner Dreadnought and had big arguments about whether or not it was heresy to touch/research/possibly even use that thing.

The faction that decided it was okay hopped aboard the ship and took off (taking a scrap of the ground, which would become High Charity, with them) and the faction that decided it was not okay was left to go pound sand.

So, the Covenant San'Shyuum had an extremely small population to start with. This led to struggling with fertility and avoiding detrimental recessive traits showing up in the population, so they had a lot of strict rules about who was and wasn't allowed to have children with whom. They'd been struggling with keeping their numbers up for centuries by the time the end of the war rolled around. To make matters worse, the other part of this problem is that the San'Shyuum homeworld was actually consumed by its star going supernova at some point after the founding of the Covenant. They couldn't even try mending fences with the (large, healthy) population of San'Shyuum left on the homeworld because they weren't there anymore.

They didn't have the numbers to have colonies that were mostly San'Shyuum. Most of them lived on High Charity, and they had become very dependent on deploying the other species of the Covenant to do things for them.

So, when they lost High Charity it was absolutely catastrophic for what was left of their whole species.

We know there are handfuls of them still around, but they aren't mentioned much in recent lore and the situation they're in is really really grim.

[playable-elite]

What is your personal opinion on the San'Shyuum as a species?

It would be easy to dismiss the San'Shyuum as snakes and cowards. I feel nothing but contempt for a great many of their number, and would gladly make that point with a blade.

But I think a more measured truth is that the San'Shyuum are people. Not all of them followed Truth, and some made themselves our allies at great personal risk.

There are very few San'Shyuum, now, and their position in the galaxy is dire. They always attempted to mask the smallness of their population, but we knew them too long and they relied on us too well for misdirection to hold. A loyal and trusted beast grows to know its master well, and I was one such. They were always few, and they struggled to bear more children.

The Schism and the Fall of High Charity killed most of the San'Shyuum. It was the only place that was truly theirs, and their homeworld was lost to them long ago.

Those that still held power beyond the battle at the Ark have been destroyed, or fled down holes too deep to dig for easily.

There are a very small number we have granted asylum.

I do not envy any of them.

[mellz117]

[noblesixjm04]

Your art is so cool! The lighting is stunning omg.

Halo : Refuge - Zo Resken

Today (March 7th) is my birthday so I thought I’d celebrate it this year with some personal art of my interpretation of Zo Resken, the former Prophet of Clarity from the novel Halo: Broken Circle, as he is one of my favorite Halo characters.

Sadly, the book never gave much of a description for his appearance, nor his clothing. All I had to go on was his title as a Prophet and that he was described as “fairly young”, but since the San’Shyuum are my fav Halo alien species, I’ve nerded out on their lore and had a good idea of how to go about filling in the blanks along with my own personal preferences.

And this all started out because after finishing Halo: Infinite’s campaign, I was so impressed with the Forerunner architecture in the game, I wanted to create a neat background and figured Zo would be perfect to include to kick start me being back in a Halo mood again.

As mentioned before though, I’ve often been very hesitant to post a lot of my San’Shyuum art. I adore them, but most do not so I never felt like I had much reason to post to potentially only get hateful comments towards them/my artwork. I think I’ll be changing that bad habit moving forward, though.

You can see more of my Halo Fanart here: https://lady-owl.tumblr.com/tagged/Halo

[love-beyond-space-war]

Request: "Sept 21st is making me think of Rtas for no reason in particular, so can we get a short of Rtas ‘Vadum/The Shipmaster with a reader that meant to stow away on a different, less important ship but accidentally ended up on his instead? Oh yeah, human reader after the Human-Covenant war is over. No preference on gender reader so whatever comes out in writing ig?"

Note: Alright, cool! Rtas is definitely one of my favorite characters. I just hope I made this request work as I wasn't sure why Reader was a stowaway in the first place since I forgot to ask ^^; Sorry if it's too short.

Home for a Stowaway

Rtas 'Vadum x Human! Reader

Synopsis: Rtas has always been on of the more merciful Sangheili after the Human-Covenant war. He's always been one to care for lower castes and even doesn't mind humans much now. However... he certainly wasn't expecting a secret human on board the Shadow of Intent.

Content Warnings: Romantic/Platonic Pairing (Dubious), Gender-Neutral Reader/Male Character, Canon typical violence, Possible OOC Rtas (?), Implied poor home life/life in general.

Rtas had strayed away from war ever since the end of the Human-Covenant war. His resentment towards humans, Jiralhanae, and San'Shyuum had diminished greatly. Now he was fine with just aiding Thel when possible and hunting those who have betrayed the Sangheili.

Compared to his life before... he was calmer than most others of his species.

Now Rtas spent most of his time aboard his ship, the Shadow of Intent. Sometimes he docked for supplies for his crew but other than that it was endless space. Compared to the usual bloodshed he was used to... this was relaxing if not boring.

When some of his Sangheili crew came up to him with an issue Rtas was actually surprised. He was even more interested when the two crew members hold up a squirming human in their arms. He sees you struggle like a caught fish, fear in your eyes.

Stowaways were heard of, every port had their tales of them. It didn't look like you meant any harm or were very malicious. It was a pain that he had you catch a ride on his ship, especially since the nearest port was far away, but he kept his cool.

You looked comparable to a frightened animal in front of him. You knew what he was but some humans weren't very accepting of Sangheili yet. You fear was excusable... yet he needed answers.

"Drop the human, they aren't a threat. I'll get answers from them... alone. I'll call if there's an issue." Rtas explains, the crew members dropping you on a hover chair before leaving the room.

There's an intimidating silence as you both stare at each other.

"Well? What's a human doing on a ship serving the Swords of Sangheilios?" Rtas questions. "Far as I know you're a stowaway, right?"

"I caught the wrong ship...." You whisper.

"Why are you even crawling onto random ships? Sabotage?" Rtas asks, watching as you quickly shake your head.

You then give your reasoning as to why you were fleeing. It was something about fleeing from somewhere or someone. You were meant to catch a different ship but ended up chased into his.

You looked like a street rat. Rtas supposed you could even be called a pest. However... Rtas believes he found himself a solution to this issue.

"You can ride to the next port." Rtas allows, seeing your eyes sparkle. "In the meantime, I don't mind having company."

"You'd... be willing to speak with a human like me?" You ask, curious about his words.

"My days of fighting humans are past me. I don't mind your kind. They're useful when you need them." Rtas admits.

"I thank you for not killing me on the spot...." You bow in your seat slightly, Rtas making a noise of disinterest.

"There's no point in punishing the innocent." Rtas reassures, gesturing your hover chair beside his as he watches the endless stars. Hesitantly you bring yourself beside him, looking away to avoid making the situation awkward.

Rtas decides for now this ship will be your home. Maybe he's needed a companion other than the usual crew to keep himself grounded anyways. You don't seem like you'll be bad company.

In fact, as time passes and he gets closer to his destination, you happen to prove yourself useful. You try to help him around his quarters. You immerse yourself in the tech of his ship. You even provide decent conversation.

From the information you provided him... Rtas doesn't think you have anywhere to go. You're thankful for his hospitality and speak to him as though he's a friend the more time you spend with him. Rtas would be lying if he said he wasn't attached to you by the time a port did come up.

When his ship landed for supplies and provided a rest from space travel Rtas noticed the look on your face. You looked genuinely upset that your time with him was over. Honestly, Rtas felt similar disappointment.

"Do you even know what you plan on doing after this?" Rtas asks you. You don't make eye contact.

"Not really, just gotta see where life takes me, yeah?" You give a bittersweet smile towards Rtas.

Rtas recalls how lonely travel was without you before. He remembers how you have nowhere you have to go. With some quick consideration... the Shipmaster gives you both an ultimatum.

"What if I gave you a role on my ship?" Rtas offers, watching you look at him with surprise.

"I'd be out of place, wouldn't I?" You ask, Rtas shakes his head and puts a clawed hand on your shoulder.

"No, you wouldn't. In fact... I enjoy your company much more than I'd like to admit. I can't bring myself to watch you go if you'll be all alone." Rtas explains, feeling his skin heat when he sees you smile.

"Then I'll take the offer, Shipmaster." You accept, happy you found yourself a new home.

[glitterdragonthegreatprotector]

Soul

Layers under cut

[halobirthdays]

Happy birthday to Ord Casto, the Prophet of Truth!

Today is his -372nd birthday!

The Prophet of Truth was the ringleader of the Covenant Hierarchs--a careful plotter willing to do anything to maintain his status--whether he needed to betray an entire species or even his fellow Hierarchs. It was his appetite for influence that began the Human-Covenant war under false pretenses, taking the entire Covenant down his path of deceit. Ultimately, Truth's untruths became untenable, and his scramble to cling to power proved to be his undoing.

Casto got his start as a junior staffer to the Minister of Concert. He was assigned to investigate complaints from Unggoy distillers' unions who complained that Kig-Yar vessels were purposely tainting a popular Unggoy recreational narcotic. Though initially doubtful, Casto discovered the allegations were true: a group of Kig-Yar shipmistresses were behind the ploy, performed as revenge for the displacement of Kig-Yar nests due to an Unggoy baby boom. Casto recommended stiff penalties but ultimately, the Minister of Concert chose only to fine the Kig-Yar. The Unggoy, outraged by the lack of serious action, became disgruntled and the matter quickly escalated into full-blown rebellion. These events would prove formative to Casto, and after the Unggoy Rebellion ceased, he would be promoted to Minister of Fortitude.

Conniving and manipulative, Casto would enjoy a long career as a politician. Though he was on the Roll of Celibates, this fact did not bother him, and he was content to focus on his political aspirations.

In January 2525, he met with then-Vice Minister of Tranquility Lod Mron (Prophet of Regret) to discuss a report that a Jiralhanae vessel had discovered a cache of Forerunner artifacts on a planet outside of Covenant space. This planet was the Human colony of Harvest. The two planned to use the discovery to pave the way for them to become Hierarchs. The pair would blackmail one of the current Hierarchs--Restraint--by getting him to reveal that he fathered illegitimate children despite being on the Role of Celibates. Restraint thought Mron would adopt his children if he told them, but instead, they threatened to reveal what he'd done if he did not resign as Hierarch.

The duo then brought the relics from Harvest to Philologist Hod Rumnt, the future Prophet of Mercy. The events that followed marked the utmost tier of Casto's manipulation and deceit. The relics activated Mendicant Bias, an ancient Forerunner AI (known by them as the Oracle) who laid dormant for thousands of years within the Forerunner Dreadnought within High Charity. The ancient AI spoke, revealing that everything the Covenant understood to be true of their religion was wrong: the Halos would not start the Great Journey, the Forerunners did not ascend to a higher path, and the "Reclamation" glyph of the Covenant religion was actually "Reclaimer": humans whom the Oracle believed to be the equals of the Forerunners.

Realizing the implications of this discovery, and erroneously believing that humans were, in fact, the descendants of the Forerunners, the three San'Shyuum silenced the Oracle and made a decision: if the most basic tenant of their religion was wrong, and humans were their god's chosen, they would have to be eradicated to maintain their station and prevent the truth from being revealed. The three then ascended to power as the Prophets of Truth, Regret, and Mercy, and the Human-Covenant war began.

After the battle of the Rubble, Truth grew paranoid about the station of the Sangheili, the backbone of the Covenant's military and their greatest threat if the truth about the Covenant was revealed. He learned that some Sangheili were already questioning why humans were being targeted rather than converted and did not dare risk betrayal. Thus, he made the controversial decision to make the Jiralhanae, the Sangheili's greatest competitors and the Covenant's most newly-converted species, the new warrior race of the Covenant, a position that had been reserved for the Sangheili for thousands of years.

Before Regret made his fateful blunder by arriving at Earth unprepared, Truth had already learned of Earth's location, but kept the information a secret, privately assembling a fleet so that he could crush the Sangheili after they destroyed Earth. The plan would fail when humanity discovered his fleet, and tasked Master Chief with destroying the command-and-control station. The Spartan team succeeded, and Truth scrambled to cover up the incident, even from his fellow Hierarchs.

Truth's final betrayal to the Sangheili would occur after launching a "rescue" mission for Regret, who independently discovered Earth's location and arrived unprepared. In the chaos that followed, he would send his own Jiralhanae fleet to assume control of Regret's fleet and kill the remaining Sangheili. Truth then called back the Phantoms sent to save Regret, essentially allowing Master Chief to kill Regret and his Honor Guards, which was the perfect pretense to deem the Sangheili unworthy of protecting the Hierarchs and replace them.

Truth, still determined to activate the Halo rings, sent Arbiter Thel 'Vadam(ee) to retrieve the Activation Index. Truth made this decision expecting 'Vadam and his comrades to die in pursuit of it, but, failing that, sent Jiralhanae Chieftain Tartarus to murder 'Vadam after retrieving the Index. Unfortunately for Truth, 'Vadam survived, saved by the Gravemind. After Truth replaced the Sangheili as Honor Guards, he quietly ordered the Jiralhanae to murder all Sangheili. The Sangheili believed this to be an insurrection until 'Vadam revealed the truth, causing the Great Schism and the beginning of the end for Truth.

In a last-ditch effort to activate the Halo rings, Truth launched the Forerunner Dreadnought, housed within High Charity, through the portal to the Ark on Earth. He raced to the Citadel on the Ark, the place where he could activate all of the Rings. He was pursued by the recently-collaborating UNSC and Sangheili forces, who were united in their understanding that Truth had to be stopped.

Just as he forced the captured Avery Johnson to begin the activation process, he was interrupted by the appearance of John-117 and 'Vadam, assisted by the Gravemind. Determined to take vengeance on Truth himself and not a flood-infected thrall, 'Vadam stabbed Truth through the chest as he declared himself the voice of the Covenant. Silenced, the Covenant empire collapsed.

[halopedia]

Sailing Ship Saturday — Sangheili galley

This ancient Sangheili maritime vessel made use of oars and sails to navigate the treacherous oceans of Sanghelios at some point prior to the species' formation of the Covenant alongside the San'Shyuum.

[bloodgulchblog]

What are the weirdest facts about Halo you know. Like just absurd stuff. I mean there’s the worm mechs but I wanna know if there’s more

ALRIGHT let's see what I can remember off the top of my head before I have to leave for the day:

Once upon a time in the most ancient space days before the Halos were fired, everyone in the galaxy thought the San'Shyuum were incredibly sexy.

A scrapped enemy from the early Halos was a gigantic, lumbering one-eyed creature that they were thinking was a whole species the Covenant weaponized. The Sharquoi would later be used as a forgotten Forerunner weapon in a novel that are hive-mind controlled from this metal crown that will dig into your brain.

It's a kind of widely known fact about them, but the Forerunners as a species reached a point where they were not considered to be actual adults until their bodies had been extensively augmented, and it was a signifier of importance and status to go through multiple mutations over the course of their lives. (Which is why they are so radically different from one another in size/shape/appearance.)

The way the Librarian found out about how the Forerunners genocided the Precursors was by traveling out to where it happened and finding a planet where there was a population of Forerunners that had been surviving without technology for tons and tons and tons of generations. (They conveyed this information to her by biting her, so that the bacteria their ancestors had genetically engineered to contain memory and information could teach her about it.)

We have one canonical example of a smart AI living for a very long time... and it's because he was actually two AIs in a trenchcoat who would switch which personality was in charge while the other one went out to live in the internet-of-things between space tractors and cropdusters for a while to recharge.

Jiralhanae smell. They communicate tons of information through scent/pheromones, and are noted to stink noticeably when they're scared.

The Unggoy are a very musical people. They have a 42-storey high building in their capital city dedicated just to the musical arts.

The way the Covenant found the mech worms in the first place was that the Lek'golo worms were eating Forerunner technology and they did not like that, but then they figured out that SOME of them would just eat AROUND the technology so they had an Arbiter negotiate with them and get them to help kill off the other kinds. Normal Covenant stuff.

Huragok are actually living tools created by the Forerunners for building and maintaining stuff. There were once some Huragok that were used by Forerunner Lifeworkers that could work with living tissue the way other Huragok work with machines, but they were all wiped out. (...One does show up in a book but shshhhh I'm trying to keep this simple.)

Ideas of the "ideal female body" humans have are based on the Librarian's appearance because she messed around with genetically implanting stuff into humans so much.

The way you euphemistically talk about Sangheili groups that let their women fight more than is conventionally allowed is you say they have a "strong protector-of-eggs tradition."

The whole splinter population of Sangheili I mentioned recently that didn't want to joint he Covenant, so they went and hid in a Forerunner structure and succeeded for several thousand years.

The planet Onyx where the Spartan-IIIs were trained was actually secretly a Forerunner shield world. Now that it's been brought back into normal space, it takes up most of that solar system. The inner surface of the sphere will take generations of work to explore because it is so large.