Diocese of Zhoist

The Diocese of Zhoist is the Covenant domain established around the reliquary-world of Zhoist, which also served as its capital. Remote by Covenant standards, it is mainly located in the region of space known as the Umbral Crest.

History
The diocese is fairly old, having been established over a millennium ago when a remote expedition discovered the eponymous planet. This was an event celebrated with a new Age of Reclamation, as the vaults of the promised great advancements in travel, communications and weaponry, with many more to be unlocked and studied over later centuries. In time, these discoveries ushered in major changes in the Covenant's power structure and expansion trends, enabling High Charity to both effectively communicate with faraway realms and project power there with faster ministerial fleets, thus ending a long period of civil wars and secessions known as the Long Discord. However, later expansion in the Umbral Crest has been fairly slow because the region is notoriously difficult to navigate, filled with less-than-optimal slipspace lanes, and the local authorities over the last half millennium have been conservative about faraway exploration as there was still so much to be learned in the Ten Cities.

Post-war, there is much unrest in the Umbral Crest and the Kalosi Reach, and the entire coreward side of the Third Quarter has been home to many battles between Sangheili and Jiralhanae factions due to the relative proximity of Doisac. Zhoist itself was entrusted under Jiralhanae control in the years following the UNSC incursion there in 2526, which enraged the local Sangheili aristocracy and inflamed tensions which would boil over in the Great Schism. Serving as one of the Covenant loyalist Jiralhanae's military-industrial strongholds, Zhoist would not be fully secured by the Concord of Reconciliation until 2559.