Swords of Sanghelios

—Thel 'Vadam

The Covenant Separatists are a breakaway faction of the Covenant, led by the Sangheili and "officially" formed after they learned the truth about the Halo Installations near the end of the Battle of Installation 05 in November 2552. The Separatists no longer look to the Prophets for leadership, and thus have no defined leadership save for the surviving Councilors, although Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and a few other head Sangheili, such as Rtas 'Vadum and Xytan 'Jar Wattinr hold positions of power within their ranks.

Background
The Covenant Separatists are made up of the Elite, Grunt and Hunter castes (Grunts and Hunters are sometimes seen in Halo 2 as allies.) within the Covenant's hierarchical society. The members of the faction were somewhat "united" at the beginning of the Great Schism, although the faction was "officially" formed when they learned the truth of the Halos and since both times, have been fighting the Covenant Loyalists, led by the Prophets and their Brutes, Drones, Jackals and some Grunt and Hunter supporters.

It is speculated that this disgruntled faction is led by the Arbiter, Ship Master Rtas 'Vadum and Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinr. It is possible the remaining Councilors command the faction from Sanghelios as aides to the Arbiter offering their council to him as they once did with the Prophets. Fronts of this war include the Covenant holy city of High Charity, Installation 05, Earth and areas of space where Covenant ships operate.

Origins of the Faction
The High Prophet of Regret led a badly planned mission to Earth and was forced into the First Battle of Earth upon discovering, by mistake, that the planet was the Human homeworld. He escaped to Delta Halo, but was killed by the Master Chief. Regret's death was used as a justification by the remaining Prophets to replace the Elites with the Brutes as their protectors. However, this move resulted in great turmoil within the Covenant, with the Elites threatening to resign from the High Council.

Truth then gave command of the Covenant Fleets, the post previously held by the Elites, to the Brutes. Once there were enough Brutes in place, Truth secretly ordered the Brutes to instigate a vicious genocide of the Elites (disguised as a retaliation to an Elite revolt against the other Covenant factions) so they may replace them in society. The Elites responded, with the help of factions of Hunters and Grunts and war broke out in High Charity. Later, the Elite Councilors were assassinated by the Brutes at the behest of the Prophets. When the Elites learned the truth about the Halos, it changed the war significantly and added the Humans to the struggle. Instead of a Great Journey, the Gravemind's revelation regarding the superweapon contradicted the Covenant's belief system and was motivating at least the Arbiter in his opposition to the Covenant as they tried to activate Delta Halo.



Ironically, the Separatist forces at Joyous Exultation might have helped turn the tide of the war in the UNSC's favor had it not been for Sublime Transcendence's destruction by a NOVA bomb. However, at that early point in the Great Schism, both sides of the Covenant still regarded the UNSC as their enemy. As interstellar communication is not instantaneous, it would have taken some time for an alliance to be forged and for all the elements of the Separatist faction to be informed. Either way, the UNSC had no choice, since they sent a strike force to eliminate the humans at Onyx and recover supposed Forerunner artifacts, still believing in the religion that brought the Schism upon them. Though it should be noted that the elites were trying to preserve the forerunner technology from being used, while the humans were trying to harvest it.

Weapons

 * Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle - "Plasma Rifle"
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword - "Energy Sword"
 * Type-51 Carbine - "Covenant Carbine"
 * Type-50 Sniper Rifle System - "Particle Beam Rifle"
 * Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon - "Fuel Rod Gun"
 * Type-52 Directed Energy Support Weapon - "Plasma Cannon"
 * Some human weapons supplied by the UNSC (although Covenant never use them, unless player gives them)

Equipment

 * Active Camouflage
 * Flashlight
 * Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade - "Plasma Grenade"
 * Elite Combat Harness
 * Elite Personal Energy Shield

Vehicles

 * Some human vehicles supplied by the UNSC
 * Spectre
 * Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle - "Ghost"
 * Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft - "Banshee"
 * Type-52 Troop Carrier - "Phantom"
 * Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform - "Scarab"
 * Type-25 Assault Gun Carriage - "Wraith"
 * Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Artillery - "Anti-Air Wraith"
 * Seraph-class Starfighter
 * CCS-class Battlecruiser
 * Reverence-class Cruiser
 * Assault Carrier
 * Supercarrier

Commanders

 * Sangheili
 * Thel 'Vadam (The Arbiter)
 * Rtas 'Vadum
 * Xytan 'Jar Wattinree (deceased)
 * Voro Nar 'Mantakree (deceased)
 * N’tho ‘Sraom
 * Usze ‘Taham


 * Human
 * Terrence Hood
 * Miranda Keyes (deceased)
 * Avery Johnson (deceased)
 * John-117 (Master Chief) (MIA)

Military

 * Elites (All)
 * Grunts (Most, possibly all after the war. (Not seen in-game due risk of confusing enemy with friend. A few Separatist Grunts took part in the Battle of Installation 00, but they cannot be interacted with by the player and are seen at a distance.)
 * Hunters (Most, possibly all after the war. (Not seen in-game due to risk of confusing enemy with friend.)
 * Humans (All)
 * Possibly Drones and Jackals after the war. Elites have been known to allow enemies to remain allies with their military. This is not a mercy Brutes would receive due to the hatred between the two species.

Units
Covenant Separatist Navy:
 * Fleet of Retribution

Covenant Separatist Army:
 * Legions attached to Separatist Navy
 * Special Warfare Group
 * Covenant Special Operations

Other

 * Engineers (Unknown) (most likely)

Reasons for the Absence of Grunts and Hunters

 * This was internally done by Bungie to avoid any possible confusion between ally and enemy.
 * Reassigned duties for both species, or sent to protect their homeworlds and/or Sanghelios due to the absence of the Elites.
 * Not seen by the player, due to the few times Separatists (not counting the Arbiter) are seen. However, this is may be incorrect, as they would have been seen on the Shadow of Intent at the end of Floodgate, and the other cut scenes it is featured in.
 * It's possible they rejoined the Covenant when they fretted on the Sangheili's alliance with Humanity.
 * Led an Assault on the middle tower in The Covenant, where they died. This is supported by the fact that if you are fast enough with the Hornet you can fly to the middle tower where you can see Elites, Grunts, and Jackals lie dead faced against the door. This is also unlikely because the Hunters would have easily defeated the Brutes, and Miranda Keyes only mentions the Arbiter and the Elites being at the tower.
 * Yet another reason for the lack of Separatist Hunters and Grunts, as well as the other Elite ranks such as Honor Guards, Councilors, and Stealth is the fact that there are few allied Covenant in Halo 3 to begin with.

Trivia

 * Though the Covenant Separatists were called "Heretics" by the High Prophet of Truth, they should not be confused with the factual Heretics led by Sesa 'Refumee and destroyed by the Arbiter. If remnants of the Heretics were still around during the time of Halo 3, the Separatists would be on the same side as the Heretics, since they also knew the truth about the Halo Array.
 * This is not necessarily the first internal dispute in the Covenant's society; when the current Arbiter was assigned to his office, he was reminded by the High Prophet of Mercy that an Arbiter was necessary during the Grunt Rebellion, which was a conflict between the Covenant and its lowest caste, the Grunts.
 * The Separatist Phantoms are green in color, quite unlike the Loyalist Phantoms, which is now a darker bluish-violet color. However, this does not mean all Separatist vehicles' colors are about the same color as well. During the ending cutscene of Floodgate, in the beginning cutscene of the part where the a Separatist Phantom and a couple of Warthogs are seen stopping in the hangar of the Shadow of Intent, two Banshees of the same color as Loyalists ones are seen farther away from the hangar. Also in the cutscene, where Marines are sitting around in the hangar with some Elites, a Major Elite can be seen sitting on top of a normal-colored purple Ghost. The Separatist Phantom is also equipped with Active Camouflage, used to cloak the dropships as they deliver Sangheili combat teams in Floodgate and The Covenant.
 * Only one individual Zealot has been seen in the Covenant Separatist Force, in the Halo 2 Level Uprising. It is unknown if there were any more Zealots, whether these are simply commanding troops in other Theatres of Combat, filling positions vacant after the slaughter of the Council, or if they too suffered from execution by the Brutes.
 * The alliance between the Separatist and the UNSC was the second alliance between Covenant forces and Humans. The first was the alliance between the Insurrectionists and Kig-yar in The Rubble.