Ask Thel 'Vadam

Cousin blog to @john-halo, under the same management and the same general rules.

I've been leaving the askbox open, but I mostly deal with Thel's inbox on thursdays. (He takes more work for me.)

If he said this? If I were convinced of his sincerity? If his actions proved it true? Then yes. This is not a comment on Atriox, but on the principles I hold.

Being kaidon and leading the Swords definitely doesn't leave you with a lot of leisure time, but it could be nice to think about.

I am not sure I have the drive for purely self-indulgent activities, whatever their merits. I am, as you say, a "busy guy."

It has been a very short time and change is slow. This is one of my high priorities for Sanghelios.

With humans, we sometimes make antiwar propaganda out of hatred for the violence of it. From music, to paintings, to even graphic animation. Are there some Sangheili that hate war, and try to fight against it, or is it just treated as a bitter reality?

Rejection of warfare has never been common, among Sangheili. Our history tells us we warred with one another often and well long before the San'Shyuum made it our species' entire purpose.

This is not to say that none of my people have ever turned their backs on war as a solution, but that their number has been vanishingly few.

For our youths, it is traditional that only males were taught the battle arts. Females learned defense of self and home, but were more free to devote study to other pursuits. These were always considered secondary to military service.

Some young men refused to become soldiers. The Covenant could not make one of an unwilling or unable recruit, but it would mark him for life as somehow defective: he was a coward too weak of blood, a nonbeliever too weak of faith, or an invalid too weak of body. Any of these was a great shame to a clan, and a son's failure could worsen prospects for his cousins.

So was the thinking, for many years. So remains the thinking, among some clans.

As things are now, Sangheili must still fight. Our place in the galaxy is not certain if we are not able to hold it. But I hope the young ones we raise now will be stronger because those who fight do so by choice.

Thank you.

There is difference, yes. The customs I grew up with in Vadam are different from those elsewhere on the homeworld, and far different from any of the colonies. I can tell you the keep a warrior hails from by the fold and cut of his cloak, not just which fleet gave him his armor. A hunter from Bothaes and weaponsmith from Qikost curse with different words. The finest dancers are from Mol, where the art was a cover for how their women have always taught one another to fight.

If the times we lived in were more peaceful, I would wish to show you the market of one of our great port cities. Even a human could find something of agreeable taste there.

The least that I could stand to offer is everything that I am able, but do not give me borrowed honor.

Y’all got amazing active camouflage technology, it just always baffled me that you would exclusively use weaponry that would negate the effect almost instantly.

It is a puzzle of strategy one must contend with to use plasma at range, yes. But a weapon fired marks the marksman regardless, and a sniper has the gifts of range, surprise, and choice of vantage. It is a poor commander who cannot leverage these.

As for camouflage, it was not universally deployed and is not now. The power a camouflage module pulls from a harness generator compromises the strength of a warrior's shielding. While it is useful in its place and in skilled hands, sometimes there is very little advantage it buys.

I have heard human weapons used in situations where plasma light would give away movement, but this too is a trade.

Yes.

It is my hope that in the future, medical professionals such as these will be treated with greater respect among my people.

You are transported back in time, days maybe even weeks before you become the Arbiter. You meet your younger self.

What do you say to him?

The truth, though it would not be easy.

In the weeks prior to being made Arbiter, I was imprisoned pending execution. My failure at Halo was already numbered among the greatest disasters in the history of the Covenant. The gambit I played in refusing to submit to the will of the Minor Prophet of Stewardship would have been sufficient to mark me for death even had the consequences been far better. I knew what I had done, and I believed I knew my fate.

I was a faithful servant of the Covenant, repentant of my crime, and prepared to meet my death with whatever poise I could yet muster. The truth, that the Prophets' words were lies and Truth himself planned to turn the Brutes on my people, would have been difficult for me to accept even from someone well-trusted. This is not just because I was loyal, though I was, but because it would have seemed too easy an answer to my shame.

The shameful act itself is bad enough, but to shirk the weight of guilt is even more lowly. And I was about to die with little enough honor as it was.

Salt-cured meats have a place in our food culture as well.

This can be dependent upon sect and how much blood is permissible in meats. Blood has deep meaning for most Sangheili. Naturally, we often disagree on what to do about this. For me, I will trust the judgment of my host on what is best.

I have not eaten this, but would make an effort.

Are these as variable among humans as they are among Sangheili? I doubt there would be offense.

I would need to consult with one of my experts on details I am likely to miss, as I dine with humans less often than some of my people. But on Sanghelios it is considered disrespectful to pour a drink from a shared vessel on someone else's behalf.

I did not join the Covenant, in the same way that I did not join the House of 'Vadam when I was hatched. I am son of a great house of Sanghelios. I was Covenant. It was a foregone conclusion determined millennia before my birth.

I wish it had not been.