Human-Covenant War: Difference between revisions

Human-Covenant War (edit)

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 {{main|First Battle of Harvest}}
 [[File:SSgt Avery Johnson, UNSC Marine Corps.JPG|thumb|200px|Staff Sergeant Johnson leading Colonial Militia during the Covenant invasion of Harvest.]]
-[[Humanity]] and the Covenant first came into direct contact in February 3rd [[2525]], when a [[Kig-Yar]] Frigate, the ''[[Minor Transgression]]'', discovered a human ship that had dropped out of slipspace due to a problem with the [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]]. The Kig-Yar raided that ship and another one. The Harvest shipping operations AI, Sif, found out about the raids as a result of the distress beacon from the ships (although she and an [[Jilan al-Cygni|undercover ONI spook]] on Harvest thought that Insurrectionists, not aliens, were behind the raids). The spook set a trap for the Kig-Yar which resulted in a [[Skirmish Over Harvest|minor skirmish]] between [[Staff Sergeant]]s [[Nolan Byrne]] and [[Avery Johnson|Avery Johnson,]] and the Kig-Yar privateers. When the Covenant returned with another ship and a contingent of Brutes, the UNSC proposed a meeting (via pictogram) to trade. The Covenant met the UNSC on Harvest, but were only interested in claiming the relics that the [[Luminary]] had detected on Harvest, completely oblivious that the humans were the "relics" in question. The meeting was botched after [[Osmo]], a member of the [[Colonial Militia]], -- was attacked by a nervous [[Grunt]] -- who was part of a second Covenant force sent to look for the relics. As a result, a firefight erupted between the two groups and the Covenant retreated back to their ship.
+[[Humanity]] and the Covenant first came into direct contact in February 3rd [[2525]], when a [[Kig-Yar]] Frigate, the ''[[Minor Transgression]]'', discovered a human ship that had dropped out of slipspace due to a problem with the [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]]. The Kig-Yar raided that ship and another one. The Harvest shipping operations AI, Sif, found out about the raids as a result of the distress beacon from the ships (although she and an [[Jilan al-Cygni|undercover ONI spook]] on Harvest thought that Insurrectionists, not aliens, were behind the raids). The spook set a trap for the Kig-Yar which resulted in a [[Skirmish Over Harvest|minor skirmish]] between [[Staff Sergeant]]s [[Nolan Byrne]] and [[Avery Johnson|Avery Johnson,]] and the Kig-Yar privateers. When the Covenant returned with another ship and a contingent of Jiralhanae, the UNSC proposed a meeting (via pictogram) to trade. The Covenant met the UNSC on Harvest, but were only interested in claiming the relics that the [[Luminary]] had detected on Harvest, completely oblivious that the humans were the "relics" in question. The meeting was botched after [[Osmo]], a member of the [[Colonial Militia]], -- was attacked by a nervous [[Grunt]] -- who was part of a second Covenant force sent to look for the relics. As a result, a firefight erupted between the two groups and the Covenant retreated back to their ship.
-The Prophets declared Humanity to be an affront to their gods (supposedly because Humans inhabited and "defiled" areas which were once Forerunner), and called for a crusade against the Human species. This "crusade" would eventually turn into mass [[Wikipedia:Genocide|genocide]].
+The political ramifications of these relics were abundant, and two [[San 'Shyuum]] bureaucrats, the [[Prophet of Truth|Minister of Fortitude]] and the [[Prophet of Regret|Vice Minister of Tranquility]], were already scheming to use the supposed reliquary to inaugurate a new Age of Reclamation with themselves as the [[Hierarchs]] of the [[High Council]]. To do this, they needed the blessing of the Oracle of [[High Charity]]. When the two Prophets approached the [[Prophet of Mercy|Philologist]] to affirm on their behalf, the data from the ''Rapid Conversion'' caused the long dormant Oracle, actually a fragment of [[032 Mendicant Bias]], to reactivate. Mendicant declared that the Covenant had been misinterpreting Forerunner symbols: the "relics" in question were the humans, calling them [[Reclaimer]]s and his makers. This shocked the three San 'Shyuum, who concluded that the humans were actually living [[Forerunner]]s who had been left behind when the others transcended. Although they were able to prevent Mendicant from taking the [[Forerunner Dreadnought]] to take the humans to deliver them to [[Installation 00|the Ark]], Fortitude concluded that if the masses learned that they might be left behind, they would rebel against the Prophets. Fortitude and Tranquility inducted the Philologist into their plan and ascended as the High Prophets of Truth, Regret, and Mercy. They declared that the humans destroyed the reliquary on Harvest and ordered the entire race to be eradicated.
-The campaign to exterminate Humanity was an attempt by the Prophets to keep their power, under the disguise of a holy crusade. The Prophets found out that the Forerunner objects that the Luminary revealed on Harvest were actually Humans (which the Prophets interpreted as meaning that the Humans were descendants of the Forerunner, or possibly surviving Forerunner). Initially, the Covenant interpreted the glyph from the luminary as "Reclamation". Startlingly, the Forerunner AI [[Mendicant Bias]] revealed that the interpretation was wrong: the glyph meant "Reclaimer". The Prophets Regret and Truth realized that if the Humans were actually Forerunners, then it was possible to be left behind when the Great Journey occurs. This stood in contradiction to the Covenant religion, which held that no one would be left behind in the Great Journey. The Hierarchs, recognizing that this truth would destroy the Covenant, declared war on Humanity, hoping the truth would perish with their newly-declared foe.
 The first battle of the war was the extended though one-sided ground battle which took place on Harvest, in which the UNSC managed to delay the Covenant long enough to evacuate many of Harvest's civilians. Eventually, the Covenant used their capital ships to [[glass]] the planet's surface.