Great Schism

Summary
DATE: October 20, 2552?

LOCATION: High Charity, all throughout the Covenant empire and Installation 05.

Involved: Covenant, Covenant Seperatists

Synopsis: The Civil War of the Covenant is the most recent battle amongst the Covenant, still taking place at the end of Halo 2.

Outcome: No conclusion known.

The Covenant Elites
Commander: The Arbiter, Rtas 'Vadumee.

Multiple ships (various Classes). Multiple ground forces including Elites, most of the Grunts, Hunters.

The Covenant Prophets
Commander: High Prophet of Truth, Tartarus(now dead)

Multiple ships (various Classes). Multiple ground forces including Jackals, Brutes, some grunts, and Drones.

Timeline
No timeline is given. But events in Halo 2 tell the the beginning of the battle and why it started:


 * Installation 04 is destroyed by Human forces. Its Monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, escapes to Threshold. The Fleet of Particular Justice is wiped out. The fleet's flagship, the Ascendant Justice, is captured.
 * A Covenant Artifact Retrieval team led by Sesa 'Refumee is investigating the Gas Mine of Threshold when he encounters 343 Guilty Spark. Inspired by Spark's words, 'Refumee rebells against the High Prophets of the Covenant.
 * The Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice is tried before the High Council and sentenced to death.
 * The High Prophet of Truth overrides the council and makes the Supreme Commander an Arbiter of the Covenant. Truth then sends him to kill Sesa 'Refumee and destroy his rebellion, which they dub "Heresy".
 * The First Battle of Earth. The defeated High Prophet of Regret is forced to retreat to Installation 05, pursued by the UNSC In Amber Clad.
 * The Arbiter and a SpecOps Commander, Rtas 'Vadumee leads a team of SpecOps forces to Threshold, where they kill Sesa 'Refumee and sucessfully crush his rebellion.
 * The Master Chief tracks down and kills the Prophet of Regret on Installation 05.
 * Witnessing the assasination of the Prophet of Regret, the Prophet of Truth replaces the Honor Guard Elites with Brutes. Insulted, the Elite Councillors threaten to resign from the High Council.
 * High Charity arrives at Installation 05. The Arbiter and Tartarus are sent to retrieve The Index. The Arbiter sucessfully takes the Index, but Tartarus tries to kill him and takes the Index from him, as he was secretly ordered to do by the Prophet of Truth.
 * Most of the Elite Councillors are taken to the surface of Installation 05 where they are massacred by the Brutes.
 * Tartarus declares war on the Elites. Fighting between Elite and Brute forces breaks out all over High Charity. As word spreads, fighing takes place throughout the fleet, as Elite- and Brute-controlled ships attack one another.
 * Tartarus attemptes to activate the Halo.
 * The Arbiter, with the help of of Sergeant Johnson and Rtas 'Vadumee, kills Tartarus.
 * The Prophet of Truth takes the Forerunner Ship to Earth, to join The Second Battle of Earth. The Brute forces there are already engaged in fighting with the UNSC. Unbeknownst to the Prophet of Truth, the Master Chief is on the ship, with the intention of "finishing the fight".

Related Links

 * Elites
 * Brutes