Minister of Etiology

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"I see you never studied, Commander. They are the Flood, one of the many test and obstacles we must pass to activate the holy rings and begin the Great Journey."

- The Minister of Etiology, to Rtas 'Vadumee and Bero 'Kusovai

The Minister of Etiology was a San'Shyuum politician and Minor Prophet, serving as the Covenant Minister of Etiology during the Human-Covenant War. He was stationed aboard the Fleet of Particular Justice's agricultural support ship Infinite Succor during the Battle of Installation 04.

Early life
The Minister of Etiology spent much of his life studying the Flood. Eventually he was assigned to the Fleet of Particular Justice as the master of the support ship Infinite Succor.

Battle of Installation 04
"We… have the command codes. Will soon leave, spread."

- Etiology as the Proto-Gravemind

During the Battle of Installation 04, Infinite Succor was in orbit over Installation 04 along with the rest of the Fleet of Particular Justice, when a Covenant Spirit dropship filled with Flood combat forms crashed into the ship's docking bay. Soon after, the Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee led a Covenant Strike Team on board the ship. The team fought through a multitude of Flood infected creatures, including human combat forms and infected animals from the ship's hunting grounds, all the way to the bridge, only to find Infinite Succor's controls disabled.

Here they met the Prophet Legate, Minister of Etiology who revealed to them that he had disabled the controls, and locked-out the self-destruct sequence override from another part of the ship. The Minister ordered the entire group medically scanned before he would meet with them, due to the situation of Flood outbreak aboard the ship.

The group met with the Legate in a secret location on the ship, where a plan was devised to get everyone off of the ship and have the ship vaporized by the nearby Covenant Fleet. During this time it also became apparent that the Flood had gained the access codes to Infinite Succor through one of the infected Sangheili from 'Vadumee's party. As the Flood continued to spread throughout the ship, they reached the bridge and engineering room and begun fortifying the engineering room. The Flood were attempting a Slipspace jump to escape the system. At this time, 'Vadumee realized the Legate was only concerned with his own life, which had been costing the group precious time. In anger, Rtas 'Vadumee slammed the Legate into the floor, telling him that their prime concern was the Covenant's safety, not his. The Minister was later absorbed by the Flood, becoming part of the growing Proto-Gravemind in the engine room of the ship. The infected Legate taunted 'Vadumee, before the latter destroyed the Infinite Succor by sending it on a slipspace vector with the system's star.

Halo: Fleet Battles
The Minister of Etiology is available as a Heroic Character in Halo: Fleet Battles for 80 points. He is able to use two Zealots every full 1,000 points at the cost of 10 points each. As a Heroic Character he must be assigned to a specific formation base within the fleet at the start of the battle.

Special Orders

 * Prepare My Transport
 * Cost: 2 Order Defense dice
 * Description: The Minister of Etiology is never without an escape plan. Should the element containing the Minister be destroyed, roll a Halo dice - on the roll of any result other than a fail, the Minister may be placed on a nearby friendly vessel within 12". Should Minister roll a fail when trying to escape, or have no friendly formation base within 12" however, the Minister is removed from the game and the enemy fleet gains and additional +4 victory points.
 * Protect The Minister!
 * Cost: 2 Order Attack dice
 * Description: The Minister may force an enemy firing solution targeting his own formation base to re-target a different member of his battle group - even if a loadout would require the formation to be the nominated (missile barrage, for example). This order may be issued after the formation containing the Minister is declared the target of a firing solution.

Unique Ability
Whilst utterly self-possessed and concerned only with politics, the Minster claims a high rank within the Covenant hierarchy and can bend even Fleet Commanders to his will. After any initial order dice have been rolled during the order dice phase, the Minister may change a single friendly Covenant order dice to be any result.

Trivia

 * His hands have four fingers each, instead of three like the other San'Shyuum, probably an oversight from the artist.
 * In one scene of the Halo Graphic Novel, the Legate is grabbed in a chokehold by Rtas 'Vadumee, then slammed to the floor. In the next panel, he is seen unharmed, his headpiece unbroken, and his being is robustly frail as any other Prophet. This is just a simple printing glitch, meant to be in a prior page.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Flood
 * Adjunct
 * Halo Graphic Novel
 * The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor
 * Halo: Fleet Battles