Reconciliation Era

"Yet it is true that we have our place in the stars, and our place in the galaxy's history. The Great War could not extinguish us, and we have now spread further than ever before. Yet now, caught in the aftershock of a collapsing empire, we are taking our greatest steps into the unknown yet. Our harsh first contact was the traumatic sunset of our childhood dreams, and now, after that dark and dreadful night, we have finally reached the dawn of a new day. Like any new day, it will bring with it change, which terrifies us; for it is one of our most primal urges to cling onto the status quo. But the sooner we realize the inevitability of that change, the more content we will be. For being alive to experience it is a luxury granted to a select few of us."

- Martian celebrity sociologist and author Ald Olivares, 2564

The Reconciliation Era covers events following The Great War era, i.e. the Human-Covenant War. To the former Covenant, this is a time marked by soul-searching and strife after the loss of High Charity and the breaking of the Writ of Union in the Great Schism, and indeed the early decades are known to some as the Sundering Days. It is also a period of new opportunities for those willing to seize them, and is characterized by technological, societal and religious diversification within the Covenant Sphere. To humanity, it is a time of relief for the first time in decades, yet even as the Covenant threat fades away, their shadow looms large upon the ashen ruins of Man's nascent empire. The end of the war is only the beginning of a long and arduous period of reconstruction, resettlement and reconciliation.

To view all of the era pages, see Timeline.

2553

 * January 6: The Arbiter returns to Earth aboard the fore half of the Forward Unto Dawn. He, along with Rtas 'Vadum, would spend the next two months consolidating ex-Covenant forces within the human sphere, making alliances, fighting remaining Truth loyalists, and securing key locations such as Onyx and Installation 04's wreckage.


 * February 7: the formation of the Concord of Reconciliation is ratified by the Singular Bond, a pact among a collection of Sangheili commanders allied with Thel 'Vadam and Rtas 'Vadum.


 * February 24: the Treaty of Luna is signed by the Concord and the leadership of the UNSC and token representatives of the UEG. This marks what is often considered the official end of the Human-Covenant War.


 * March 3: The Voi Memorial ceremony commences. The Arbiter and Rtas 'Vadum depart for Sanghelios aboard the Shadow of Intent.


 * April 6: The Shadow of Intent arrives at Sanghelios.

2554

 * The first Grand Council of the Concord is convened by the Concord in tenuous cooperation with the self-declared Covenant government-in-exile at the Strewn Shore, beginning an uneasy and at times vague alliance between the two polities. The most notable result of the convocation is the formal revocation of the previous Hierarch triumvirate's legitimacy and the declaration of the anathema issued on humanity as invalid. While many would defer to the Council's ruling, opponents of the Arbiter's coalition would view it as a mere charade.