Stel 'Vadam

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A versatile and deadly tactician, Stel 'Vadam is a well-known commander of the Sangheilian military and younger brother to Thel 'Vadam. A wise and wizened warrior, Stel is wary of the future and the conflict that has sparked around him in the universe of Against All Odds, but remains stoic and optimistic in the heat of the battle against the rebel Sangheili faction known as The Fallen and later, the Path Walkers.

Early Life
Born in 2517, Stel's childhood was rather rocky. Despite both being close brothers, he and Thel had a rivalry as children, and the latter, being the older brother, was treated more fairly and was the favored child of the two. Stel however, was often berated and even shunned for a unique condition he was born with: a rare case of what seems to be the Sangheili equivalent of heterochromia, a differentiation of eye colors. In this case, Stel had a right blue eye and a left green eye, while most Sangheili had an amber color.

This often earned him the ire of others, and Stel himself became somewhat resentful of his abnormal status. Coupled with the jealousy of his brother getting the spotlight, the younger brother was often very anti-social and found one way to get away from the resentment that people had been giving him: joining the Covenant onslaught. He began his military training in the late 2520's and graduated as a Minor Domo in 2535, where he was sent alongside his Covenant comrades to Jericho VII.

Jericho VII
"You never forget your first day in the maelstrom of battle. The rattling of firearms. The sound of blood spilling. Explosions, and bright lights. The stench of death around you."

- Stel, in one of his more melancholic moods.

During the Battle of Jericho VII, the young Sangheili warrior exhibited his obvious recklessness and eagerness to go into battle and prove his worth to his brother when he returned. Stel was assigned with several other Sangheili to act as the air support, as Banshee pilots. Exhibiting his exemplary training, the youngster proved himself to be quite the adept pilot, removing squads of Marines at a time when using the Banshee's main cannon.

Under orders of the Prophet of Candor, they were led into battle by an Arbiter and were led to multiple places around the planet, in a staggeringly long three-day stalemate ensued against the UNSC and Covenant forces. Although Blue Team had cut right through the Covenant forces and Red Team detonated a HAVOC Nuke, Stel was one of the few remaining Banshee pilots who made it out of blast range and into space, towards the Covenant Fleet, who of which the UNSC had also been fighting in the last few days. While he had several Prowlers on his tail, he managed to evade his pursuers and land safely in the hangars of one of the battle cruisers, and witnessed the destruction of the enemy fleet and the glassing of Jericho, with what few Covenant forces left.

Despite heavy ground casualties, the battle resulted in an essentially Pyrrhic victory for the Covenant. Years later, Stel would find himself at the Massacre of Troy. Given Troy's thorough extermination and total butchering of civilian population, the Covenant steamrolled the UNSC forces and Stel was promoted to the rank of Major Domo.

Kholo
"I never thought the day would come when I would say this: but the Demon was an...honorable fighter. Perhaps the humans are different to what we first thought. What if...what if we were wrong? And sure enough, the Great Schism proved that. We were wrong."

- 'Vadam reflecting on his fight with the SPARTAN-II.

The powerful and now respected younger 'Vadam brother was present at the world of Kholo when they ordered the attack. Stel led his first squad in this time, leading a small group of Minor Domos and Unggoy subordinates. They arrived with the scout vessels and decimated the mining ships that were in orbit - boarding and attacking a small Colonial Administrative Authority vessel that was converted into an ordinance ship during the battle. Next, Covenant ground forces were deployed to slice through any UNSC forces that could give their ships in orbit trouble. This resulted in Stel and several other squads targeting an airbase which housed much of the UNSC's aerial vehicles, raising to the ground as soon as they could. Human resistance was strong, but futile. The UNSC started to evacuate whatever civilians they could and sneak them past the Covenant fleet and beyond, towards safety.

However, things were about to get interesting. A small group of SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III supersoldiers were present, helping evacuate the civilians while they were present. Within an almost-collapsing building and either side with no weapons, Stel engaged in a hand-to-hand battle with a white and blue, heavily-armored SPARTAN-II. As Stel bested him, however, he could had the choice to kill the "Demon". But once the Spartan's helmet rolled off and the two were confronted face to face, Stel allowed his opponent to live, quoting that he "fought honorably" before leaving.

However, the UNSC forces were scattered and almost completely annihilated. Stel, the rest of his squad and the entourage of the Covenant regrouped with the main fleet, watching Kholo burn until the surface was nothing but glass. The Covenant symbol for 'Faith' was carved into the planet, as a sign of the aliens' dominance over the human race at the time. Stel's leadership skills having surfaced, he was promoted to Ultra Domo.

Post-War (AAO)
Against All Odds timeline continues here.

Post-War (DoH)
Demons of Hope timeline continues here.

Personality
A focused soldier and with an iron-forged will, Stel is quite reserved and disciplined, in contrast to his Spartan friend. Like all Sangheili, being raised to become a honorable warrior, Stel however is a slight exception. For example, he is unwilling to let his reasoning be compromised, but he still holds a strong sense of honor. Unlike many Sangheili who were jaded by grief over the merciless killings of humanity, Stel remained optimistic and instead opted to build a new future with the humans. Another infamous attribute is his compassion, which was shown when he chose to let Doug-103 live.

The many obstacles they encounter over the path to a new future, after the Human-Covenant War, is faced by Stel with an almost frighteningly stoic visage. However, as soldier-like he may seem, he is also a rare Sangheili with a sense of dry humor. This was no more obvious than when talking to his brother Thel during a meeting with a Fallen representative, where he attracted the glares of several politicians after a joke. On that note, Stel harbors a grudge towards politics and people associated with them. This grudge often earns him the disdain of others and Stel has been noted to trust his gut more than the commands of his superiors. Given Stel's tactical intuition, Stel was recognized for his achievements, sometimes on-par, with his brother. This is quite apparent when witnessing the master warrior in battle.

Although he seems as if he is short of invincibility, his main weakness is his rebelliousness. He seems as if he never grew up at heart, more than once disobeying orders to trust his heart and his instinct. This has gotten him into trouble more than once, even if his feelings were right. This may, in the future, be used against him. Stel's preferred armaments appear to be automatic weaponry and anything that allows him to get close to engage his foes in melee combat. More often than not he has shown skill with UNSC weapons as a result of the pseudo-guerrilla warfare he was involved in after the Sangheili were betrayed by the Covenant.

Quotes
"Perfect. Eighteen years of my life, completely wasted. The San'Shyuum deceived us to no end. For war's sake? For those Forerunner artifacts? What right did we have to claim them? ...Never the less, our efforts will be shaped into forging a new future with the humans."

- Reflecting on the Human-Covenant War, and looking into the future.

"Bet you it will be all the way over there by the time he is finished talking."

- Stel joking to his brother, circa Vadam Legacies: The Fallen.

"I will not kill you out of spite, but because you are in between me and my objective."

- Stel taunting a Jiralhanae.

"The humans have a saying, Yull. "A leader should not ask his men to do anything that he is not willing to do himself," or something like that. I think that is a fallacy. Anyone can say they would be willing to do something, but a leader must first prove that he will do it."

- Him during Flight of the Phoenix: Book 2, during the colony invasion, to Yull 'Vadum.

Tropes

 * Proud Warrior Race Guy - These are the Sangheili you're talking about.
 * Large Ham - Again. Sangheili. It's as if they're subjected to some sort of lung augmentation that made them shout louder and punctuate things for emphasis.
 * Sophisticated As Hell - He may surprise several people when he speaks in a polite and formal matter, only to utter either a Sangheilian or human curse.
 * Cultured Badass - Despite it not receiving much fanfare, Stel is highly educated about his own people and about other species.
 * Lightning Bruiser - Naturally, with most Sangheili. Though Stel deserves special mention, as he's eight foot six.
 * Screaming Warrior - Very much so! Comes with a shouty character.

Stories and Roleplays featured in

 * Vadam Legacies: The Fallen
 * Vadam Legacies: Warpath
 * Vadam Legacies: Shrugging Off the Chains
 * Halo: Flight of the Phoenix/Book 2
 * Vadam Legacies: Blood Brothers
 * Halo:Oedipus
 * RP:Awakening Demons

Trivia and Behind the Scenes

 * One of the few Sangheili to use a prosthetic, in this case his left arm.
 * Stel never uses a formal tongue when speaking to close allies; examples of these are Doug-103 and Sona 'Demal.
 * He is highly sensitive about his eyes, often growling in hostility whenever someone mentions it, possibly hinting at some past experience where he was ostracized.
 * He wears a membrane to hide his prosthetic arm. Most of the time, his Heads-Up-Display (HUD) is hiding his heterochromatic eyes, and his membrane, cleverly hidden underneath his armor's pauldrons, is hiding his prosthetic arm. This is why most of the images don't show a heterochromatic Sangheili with a robotic arm.
 * Rather than trying to make the usual honor-craving, animalistic Sangheili warrior, Stel is a more or less deliberate attempt to aim for a more civilized and humanized take on the Sangheili race.
 * Given his general personality and his view on things, this makes his alignment lean towards Chaotic Good of the Type II variety.
 * For all intents and purposes, Stel's antics in war-era Demons of Hope and Against All Odds during the Human-Covenant War remain similar but change depending on certain circumstances.