Kaaranese Sangheili

The Sangheili of the Urs System reached a level of technological sophistication relatively recently, expanding quickly and making First Contact with the San'Shyuum in approximately AD 1500. Before that, technological progression was relatively predictable, and their rediscovery of interstellar travel was swiftly followed by total war. It is therefore difficult to see how Sangheili could have colonised a planet several hundred lightyears from Sanghelios, lost contact and forgotten about it, and the colonists built up a civilisation that rivalled Sanghelios itself.

The answer, of course, is that they didn't. Genetic studies of Sangheili mitochromial DNA show that the Morhekans split off from the main species much earlier - approximately 90,000 years ago, after the activation of the Halo Array. Exactly how the Morhekans reached Ketesh remains a mystery few feel confident in solving - even local legend is extremely hazy, mentioning only that their ancestors were "guided" to their new home by "the Holy Light of the Gods wisdom" as they fled persecution. Exactly what they were fleeing is not stated - neither is how they reached Ketesh, when it would be another 91500 years until their Sanghelios ancestors would achieve interstellar travel. What is known is that the Morhekan Sangheili made this planet their home, and have branched out in almost every way possible, making it their own.

The Morheka were discovered by a routine missionary ship patrol in 2123, the discovery of Sangheili with no prior connection to Sanghelios or the Covenant sending ripples of shock and disconcertion throughout the upper echelons. The Sangheili military leaders, expecting a fierce resistance, prepared to conquer the planet with their military might. The Prophets, exually distressed at the thought of once again facing a hostile Sangheili world, poured their efforts into communicating and negotiating with them, hoping to prevent them from becoming a rallying point for anti-Prophet sentiment. Ultimately, both of these steps were unneccessary - Ketesh joined the Covenant as its most recent acquisition willingly, with only a few religious groups voicing resistance. Today, Morhekans make up 15% of the Sangheili military personnel, with members in the upper echelons of the Covenant military. Though retaining a distinct and unique cultural flavour, Morhekans have a fascination with Sanghelios culture, and the cultural influence of their brethren has become popular, replacing the older Qu'refran Architecture once common across the planet.

Prehistory
The earliest traces of civilisation on Ketesh date back far longer than the Morhekan Sangheili have been present - the foundations for primitive towns have been found along the Daaran shorelines, indicating a coastal seafaring civilisation, and distinctly different signs of settlement have been found in the Dushqur desert, remnants of nomadic desert-dwellers. Exactly what species these early sentient inhabitants of Ketesh were remains unknown - no fossilised material has been recovered of them. What is known is that these signs come so sudden and drastic halts - the seafarers disappear approximately 90,000 years ago, and though the nomads survived longer, no trace of them is found later than 60,000 years ago. The Sangheili newcomers seem to have swiftly and aggressively extirpated any competition, either through warfare (with spearheads and primitive blades discovered in digs along the Qu'refran Peninsula) or indirectly, through competition. Either way, the Sangheili settlers were left the dominant sentient species on Ketesh.It is difficult to pinpoint when the Sangheili began their domination of the planet in earnest, since Ketesh's long history of climate instability seems to have produced a cycle where primitive tribes begin to gain ground, and then are wiped out. No less than seven large pre-Keltash cities have been discovered, each supporting populations of more than ten thousand, each apparently wiped out by climate devastation - coastal cities have been wiped out by floods and tidal waves, inland cities seem to have been susceptible to earthquakes, and the largest was struck by drought, forcing a massive outflux of inhabitants, leaving it deserted. The first permanent foothold the Sangheili made on Ketesh was on the Keltash Peninsula of the Daaran continent in 400BC, where they built up a significant empire with urban and agrarian regions spreading out through the continent, reaching a near-industrial level before the eruption of Mount Keltam. The eruption of the planets largest volcano would have disasterous effects on the Morhekan Sangheili, destroying the Keltam empire, and leaving the survivors numbering only slightly more than a hundred thousand. The First Exodus of the Keteshans saw them forced to migrate across the tumultuous Straits of Joltan, eventually reaching the continent of Kaaran.

Post-Covenant
Since the incorporation of Ketesh into the Covenant, the planet has undergone a renaissance, importing Covenant art and styles, styling itself after the most illustrious cities of Sanghelios, adopting the Covenant's religion almost universally with only a few holdouts. The majority of the planet's military forces have been incorporated into the main Covenant military forces, with regional authorities only allowed to retain a small security forces for internal policing and self-defence. The balance of power has gradually drifted from military might to economic prosperity, an area where Morheka has a significant advantage, given its vast deposits of metals and minerals neccesary for construction of Covenant warships. The Morhekan Shipyards are some of the most advanced in the Covenant, building new ships and refitting old or damaged ones, and have earned a reputation for efficiency.

During the Great Schism, the planet was thrown into a short conflict as the local Covenant forces suddenly turned on their Sangheili hosts. While Ketesh has no formal military force, all citizens are trained from birth to be warriors, and paramilitary groups were not only common, they were all-but openly encouraged by the Ketesh leadership. The result was a bitter struggle for control of the orbital Shipyards, with an elite team of Morhekan commandoes managing to gain control, reinforced by forces from Mopada and the Trinity nations. The Cult of Quenyathar, a group bitterly opposed to the Covenant from the start, and the last practitioners of the pre-Covenant faith, had been planning for an uprising for a long time, and had built up a considerably stockpile of armaments, and began distributing them. "Civilians" pushed the Jiralhanae occupying forces back, capturing and taking two cruisers, and a coordinated effort spearheaded by the Morhekan Interim Council resulted in a united effort to herd the remnants of the Jiralhanae where they could be exterminated. The unquestioning success of the defence of Ketesh had far-reaching consequences - for one thing, it kept the planet free of Covenant influence, denying them a staging point from which to launch incursions into Separatist territory, and denied them the planets resources; for another, the fact that the planet had no formal military and still managed to hold its own was a significant propaganda coup for the Sangheili.

Although there was some question whether Ketesh would ally itself officially with the weakened Separatist forces or try to gain its independence, untimately it chose to join with its Sanghelios brethren in a united front, joining the Separatist cause. Morhekans woud serve a vital part in the war of vengeance against the centuries of Prophet oppression and the genocide by the Jiralhanae

Ethnicity
While 90,000 of isolation from each other is enough to produce sometimes drastic differences in genetic populations, there is surprisingly little difference in Sanghelios and Ketesh gene pools. For the most part, the two cultures remain the same species. Some have supported classifying the Morhekans as a sub-species, but for the most part this has been the result of Sanghelios jingoism and the perception of the Morhekans as an "inferior" race due to the ease of their incorporation into the Covenant.

Still, there are some differences, and several distinct ethnic groups have emerged. The oldest current group is the Nartecan group, which seems to have originated in Keltash before the Exodus, where they had already begun showing genetic distinctions from the rest of the population, likely as a result of social seclusion - Nartecan ancestors were a part of the Keltash elite society, part of an aristocracy, and their genetic selection process seems to have been rigorous. After the Exodus, there is some genetic mingling, with introductions into the Nartecan gene pool, and some contribution into other groups, but their self-imposed exile in the Narteca wastelands has once again restored the genetic isolation.

More recently, we see a radiation from a single ethnic group splitting into several. The Morhekan and Mopadan ethnic groups are the most distinct, their almost constant state of warfare resulting in little intermingling. Further north, settlers from Morheka formed another ethnic group, the Joralan, which has also had some exchange with Morheka, more so certainly than the Mopadans. To the far east, however, most of the ethnic groups are almost pure Joralan. the central regions have had the most genetic exchange, and diversity is hard to keep track of.