#Shield World 0673

[halos-top-alien-model]

Ayit v Ernicka

This was a bit of an unusual job for Ayit. His usual assignments involved infiltrating religious and mercenary factions hostile to the rest of the galaxy. However, such fractions were being snuffed out, one by one, with those remaining having a good deal of already existing intelligence on them in ONI's archives. There was always more to learn, of course, but there was also the secondary issue of Ayit becoming a bit too known. It wouldn't do for anyone to recognize a secret agent. So for now, he'd lie low, conducting a minor job instead, in an area of space where surely no one would have any reason to hear rumors of a Sangheili working for ONI.

That's how Ayit found himself in the Refuge, aka Shield World 0673. An entire civilization of Sangheili, cut off from the greater galaxy for milennia, had re-established contact at the end of the Human-Covenant war. While some had migrated to Sanghelios - the homeworld of their far-off ancestors - plenty still remained and continued on with their own ways.

It went without saying that ONI wanted to stay on top of any developments within the Refuge. They wanted to know if any splinter factions formed from the fall of the Covenant were attempting any recruiting or propaganda within the impressionable space. That included the Swords of Sanghelios. If the atmosphere started to lean towards anti-human sentiments, they wanted to be prepared. Well, even if it didn't, they still wanted to be prepared. If possible, they'd even attempt filling discourse on the Refuge with pro-humanity views and somehow take advantage of these Sangheili.

Again, not Ayit's usual target for infiltration, but one he'd carry out regardless. All he really needed to do was gather as much intel on the Ussans - the residents of the Refuge - as possible. That included both modern knowledge and historical knowledge. Anything could be used in information warfare, after all.

One such research binge brought forth to Ayit's attention the legendary figure Ernicka the Scar-Maker. He had been one of the founders of the Refuge, the right-hand man of the first kaidon Ussa 'Xellus, and was even known a little in the late Covenant's and main Sangheili's early history. Such a name suggested he'd been a fearsome warrior - definitely someone Ayit wouldn't want to get on the bad side of. Fortunate that he was long dead - as well as his most recent reported descendant.

But he was not a scholar - at least, his true identity outside of his current cover, wasn't a scholar - and neither was he here to dilly-dally. Once he'd learned all there was to learn regarding Ernicka and his bloodline, Ayit continued on with his research, occasionally sending discreet reports back to ONI.

These poor Ussans had no idea the titanic eyeball that was glaring at them from across the galaxy, nor that Ayit 'Sevi - under a different name currently - was its loyal hand.

[lady-owl]

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