Xar 'Mantakree

"The secessionists are fools for what they have done. To abandon, even outright deny, the Great Journey is madness! They, along with the Humans, shall truly pay in blood."

- 'Mantakree, during a motivational speech, just before the Battle of Alexyevskaya

Xar 'Mantakree, known colloquially as the revolutionary, was a Sangheili footsoldier for the Grand Imperial Army and later a field officer and Ma'oruko for the reborn Covenant Empire. In his latter years, he would notably serve as Arbiter.

Despite the majority of his species' defection from the Covenant during and after the Great Schism, Xar was one of the few to retain utter loyalty to the Loyalist remnant. It should be noted, though, that his personal belief in the Great Journey was skeptical at best; however, he believed the hope it brought would be best for the common populace. As such, he preached its values and actively "sought" its rewards.

Early Life
Xar was born on an unconfirmed date on the remote colony world of Myriadica. It was considered a backwater world in colloquial UNSC terms; it had not a population greater than thirty thousand, most of which being exiles or travellers, yet a select few came as prospectors for valuable mineral deposits. Xar's family was actually both, in a way. They had left their clan behind after blind rumors of adultery plagued the reputation of Xar's father, forcing them to move away before action was taken. Once on the planet, they settled in the second largest village of Lustacea, a corporate-dominated settlement boasting a substantial private military intended to fend off the ferocious local fauna.

During his years as a young child, Xar studied at the privately operated Lustacea Academy of Scientific Arts, a prep school of sorts that taught pupils through the Sangheili equivalent of the seventh or eighth grade. Courses offered there included arithmetic, language and literature, science, physical education, and history (albeit "modestly" revised). Following this, he would travel, with his uncle as an accompanying escort, to the nearby and much more developed colony known as Third Harmony. There, he attended the Madévan School of Strategic Advancement, an exalted establishment for the education hopeful warriors.

During the seven semesters he spent at Madévan, Xar would truly begin to develop into a warrior mindset and physique; an extensive training regimen correlated with academics and helped to usher in Xar's adulthood. During this time, however, he also began his private studying and examination of various cases of heresy and illegal literature attempting to dethrone the concept of the Great Journey. This interest was largely sparked by his uncle, who was a an ex-soldier that also questioned the Covenant's founding religion.

Behind the Scenes

 * Xar was noticeably tall when compared to other members of his race. At nine feet, two inches, he is comparable to a Human standing at six feet, six inches when genetic variations and tendencies in Sangheili are accounted for.
 * He was actually quite fond of moderately educated Unggoy, though he was nevertheless quick to discipline.
 * His first name is a play on the Czar, an homage to his leadership skills.
 * While not my first Sangheili character, it will hopefully be the first I truly expand upon. As such, I intend his story to be a quite gruesome one (within reason) in order to capture the terror of their species in combat and otherwise.