Ceretus

Ceretus (nicknamed Six by Connor Brien) was a Jiralhanae stationed onboard the Covenant ship Valorous Salvation in 2552 along with his brother Maladus, when it disobeyed orders and landed on the human planet Beta Gabriel.

Biography
The pack which crewed the Valorous Salvation was in fact the product of two seperate packs which had recently been merged by the Covenant leadership. The two clans were ancient enemies that had fought even before the massive civil war that had knocked the Jiralhanae back to a pre-industrial state. This ancient feud caused mistrust and dissension within the mismatched pack's ranks. One clan, led by brothers Ceretus and Maladus, felt themselves to be the more intelligent faction of the pack, and their devout religious beliefs were more in line with those of the Prophets. The other faction, led by pack Chieftain Parabum, believed only in muscle and tradition, and displayed a lack of respect towards the Covenant religion.

During the Fall of Reach, Parabum exhibited cowardice when he ordered his ship to retreat from the massive attack and instead land on the nearby Beta Gabriel. When they first arrived on the planet they hunted the humans they found there and feasted like never before. Ceretus and Maladus didn't even bother using their Spikers, as they had more fun killing them with their bare hands. As the number of humans dwindled they ate the Unggoy who had been aboard the ship, and Parabum instituted limits on hunting and eating the humans.

Shortly afterward Maladus snapped and challenged Parabum over his cowardice and abandonment of their duties to the Covenant. However, Parabum was stronger and mercilessly pummeled him into submission before tearing Maladus' throat out with his teeth. This only serves to further enrage Ceretus.

After capturing Connor Brien and returning to their camp, Jiralhanae of Ceretus's hunting party killed one of the captives, Hague, for fun. However, when Parabum's hunting party returned, the chieftain was angered by Ceretus' disobedience, and so embarrassed him in front of the entire pack.

Ceretus then began plotting to overthrow Parabum, but he had no hope of beating the Chieftain in a direct challenge. Instead Ceretus tried to convince another Brute, Hammadus, who was the only one strong enough to defeat Parabum. He did so by using Hammadus's brother, Facius, and arguing that they needed to overthrow Parabum, return to the Covenant, and beg the gods for forgiveness or else face damnation.

Ceretus got Facius to try to convince Parabum to return to the Covenant, with Hammadus promising to protect his brother if the Chieftain disagreed. When Facius spoke to Parabum however, the Chieftain responded by saying that there were no gods, causing Ceretus to erupt with pious indignation. Parabum then killed Ceretus with his Gravity Hammer.

Trivia

 * Ceretus kept his face cleanly shaven similar to the Jiralhanae in Halo 3, as opposed to the gruff visage of Parabum (akin to Halo 2's Jiralhanae). This led Brien to believe that Ceretus likely took pride in grooming himself on a daily basis, and another way of setting himself apart from his Chieftain.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss