User:Imperial Misanthrope/Prophet of Incompetence

The Prophet of Incompetence is an advisor in the Sangheili Military Complex. Unlike most Prophets of the former Covenant Empire, several Prophets actually openly engaged in battlefield or space warfare, the Prophet of Incompetence being one of them. He is considered “strange” by his fellows for his behavior, and thus he is somewhat of a sociopath to them. He has a personal preference for Sangheili.

Life of a Lone Prophet
The Prophet of Incompetence has had a long and relatively eventful life, he was never comfortable with the natural high level of power accorded to him and his people, and hated being bowed to by everyone and everything, finding it “a waste of time” when one could just get straight to the point. He personally felt that many of his own people didn’t deserve the natural amount of political power they seemed to just inherit. As a result, he has ostracized himself from the companionship of his fellow San ‘Shyuum in favour of the more noble and warrior like Sangheili.

It is thought that he had doubts about the religion, or at least had differing interpretation about it. For instance, he viewed that the Halo Rings were indeed a method of transcending into godliness, however, he believed that they themselves were part of a galactic map of some sort that would lead to a means of ascendance. The reason for this was because of his membership to the esoteric group named the Inquisitors of Truth, a now secret society that, like the Governors of Contrition, had slightly different views of the Forerunner and the Covenant religion.

The Covenant


The Prophet of Incompetence was the former Minister of Conversion, and spent much of his time scouring the Orion Arm of the Milky Way in search of new species to be absorbed into the Covenant faith. He spent much of his time away from his fellow San ‘Shyuum, who considered him to be different and weird, preferring to spend his time with Sangheili or Jiralhanae, who both exhibited a liking to battle, which he discovered he did as well.

When humanity was first discovered, he immediately made plans to bring his fleet, the Fleet of Contrite Intervention, to the contact area in order to officially make preparations for the usual diplomatic beginnings for conversion to the faith. When he later found that the relatively new Hierarchs of Truth, Mercy and Regret had allowed meetings to begin without anyone from the Ministry present, Incompetence was quite outraged, even more so when the news of a war with the humans was heard.

Unlike most San ‘Shyuum, he was a sturdy opponent to the war, and preferred to follow the guidelines of Conversion and allow for an offer of absorption into the Covenant. Many of the Sangheili that served under him in his Fleet agreed with him, as did quite a few within the Covenant military. This would lead to a number of High ranking Sangheili and the Prophet himself to form a secret society, called the “Agreement of Doubt”, a group of about 31 individuals who all agreed that there was something amiss about the zealous war the Hierarchs had declared upon humanity.

The Great Schism


During the Great Schism, the Prophet of Incompetence was aboard his flagship, the Vigilant Homilist having a conversation with the Shipmaster, Gran ‘Heptimee. During the conversation, a distress signal was intercepted and deciphered by the ships computer. The message came directly from High Charity, telling of a massive Flood outbreak on the city. Following a discussion on what should be done, not 2 minutes later a separate message was picked up, telling of a Jiralhanae insurrection backed by the Hierarchs. Upon hearing this, the Prophet and the Shipmaster began to receive reports of fighting breaking out all over the fleet.

In the following confusion, several Sangheili burst into the control room and attempted to detain the Prophet. The Shipmaster had none of it, ordering them to back away. Silencing him, the Prophet offered himself as a prisoner, remarking to the Shipmaster:


 * Sometimes my friend, the best tactic is wait, I have no part in this uprising, but they shall see it soon enough

Loyalties – Trust in the Prophet


The Shipmaster stayed in control of the vessel, at the behest of the Prophet he for now forgot about him and focused on the Covenant Civil War.

After the Covenant Civil war was over, the Fleet brought the Prophet back to Sanghelios to face trial for crimes against the Sangheili people. This is what the San ‘Shyuum had been waiting for. During the trial, there was absolutely no evidence against him, he had been away from High Charity for years, had had little to no contact with any other Prophets for just about as long, and had several friends among the Sangheili in the Fleet because of his more honourable nature and genuine like and interest in the Sangheili there.

As a result, the charges were dropped.

The Imperium of the Sangheili Empire
The Imperium proved to be an opportunity for the Prophet of Incompetence. Though many did not trust or like him, he still had his friends among the Sangheili. When the new government was chosen, the Prophet offered his services to the Arbitrator and the Imperial Admiral. The Arbitrator wished to be neutral on the issue because of public opinion of the new government. However, the Imperial Admiral V’thi ‘Gin Raman had less worry, and had heard of the Prophets abilities as a military man. Instead of placing him in a Fleet, the Admiral made him one of his personal aides and advisors. The San ‘Shyuum would not disappoint, his experiences in the open field made him an asset to the Imperial Admiral, his advice was almost always beneficial, and when it wasn’t it usually meant that there was something fundamentally wrong with the situation.

The Remnant
Until the 2560’s, the Sangheili people had either generally accepted or forgotten about the Prophet as a whole, he always managed to stay inconspicuous on minor issues, and always acted favourably in the issues that required his attention, making him either likeable to the Sangheili people, or at least he didn’t incur their ire.

However, when the Covenant Remnant was formed in 2561CE, he once again became the subject of numerous accusations. Many were afraid that he would feel loyalty towards his fellow San ‘Shyuum in the Remnant, and betray the Empire. At the behest, and with the backing of the Imperial Admiral, the Prophet announced his feelings towards the Remnant, which basically boiled down to being run by a corrupt group of old bureaucrats that he was ashamed to be associated with. This did not appease everybody unfortunately, and numerous political attacks were made on him during the First Remnant Wars, though he remained steadfast in his place in the war.

The Remnant had their own views of him, considering him a great traitor and heretic, and placed several bounties on his head, none of which were ever successfully claimed.

Death
The Prophet of Incompetence died of old age a years after The Accidental War. He had already retired at the end of the First Remnant Wars, however he came out of retirement to advise V’thi ‘Gin Raman during the Third Battle of Sanghelios, and continued for the remainder of the War.

The Prophet would be the only one of his kind to be marked on the Step of Honour, as a true patron of the Sangheili people and a loyalist of the Empire.

Personality
The Prophet of Incompetence was known by many as a temperamental individual, usually in a bad mood. He is also lesser known to be very sly, able to assess situations very well. This made him rather a skilled military tactician, which was not very well acknowledged among the San ‘Shyuum of the era. The reason for his general bad mood was his loathing of his own species. Often he dwelt on why his people were so idle, yet still had so much power and respect. He much preferred those who actually worked, like the Sangheili, who he was particularly fond of. Like them, he had a prideful nature that sometimes lead to him being considered arrogant, further ostracizing him from the company of his fellow Prophets.

He had no liking for his fellow San ‘Shyuum, apart from a grudging respect for the Prophet of Mercy. Instead he befriended several Sangheili in his Fleet of Contrite Intervention, who found him to be less of a political worm than his kin, some even considering him to have a sense of pride and honour, which they respected.

He didn’t particularly like the Prophet of Regret, but as he was the only individual that even tried to stand up to the incumbent Prophet of Truth, he had some marginal respect for him, and he was the only Prophet Incompetence regretted had been on High Charity during it infestation by the Flood.