Swords of Sanghelios

The Swords of Sanghelios were a martial order that came into control of Sanghelios in the 23rd Age of Doubt and remained in control following the collapse of the Covenant. It was a core polity of the Crimson League and the Concord of Reconciliation.

History
The Swords of Sanghelios can trace their origins to several older military forces originally belonging to independent city-states. They share their name with several past coalitions dating back to ancient times.

The Swords' genesis in its current form is heavily tied with the incorporation of the Jiralhanae into the Covenant. Many Sangheili saw the assimilation of a group of old enemies as a threat, and so wished to reassert their own identity within the Covenant. While Sanghelios was nominally governed by a Council of City-States, this assembly was seen by many as ineffectual and riddled with scandals; Sanghelios states generally wanted to either be more independent, or more unified, presenting a stronger common front to affect matters in the High Council. Into this relative vacuum came the Swords, who managed to consolidate the support of several key states. Following a minor civil conflict waged in accordance with Shal'annu, the Swords emerged as the preeminent power on Sanghelios and the world's formal government as recognized by the Crimson League and the institutions of High Charity.

The campaign of extermination declared on Humanity divided the Swords throughout the war. While the group remained officially committed to the Hierarchs' cause, they were also the source of many of the protests and grumblings over both the prosecution of the war and the High Prophet of Truth's favoring of the Jiralhanae. On the latter issue, the Swords managed to rally many of the formerly divided member-worlds of the Crimson League, even aligned High Councilors in High Charity, with a new Council being appointed during the war. This, in turn, allowed the Sangheili to present a relatively unified front during the Great Schism and the events leading up to it, and enabled the Schismatics to organize relatively quickly against the Loyalist threat.

With the ignition of the Great Schism, the Swords would undertake two major actions. The first being the expansion of their political control to the Sanghelios moons and orbital swarm and the second was their efforts to get the Crimson League to side with the newly-founded Concord of Reconciliation following the first Grand Council of the Schism in 2554. Although some member worlds protested against this action, the unity built up in the last decades was strong enough to override such grumblings for all but a few exceptions, which then proceeded to secede from the League. Some of these errant polities would later become part of the True Communion, while others retained an independent existence alongside the Concord.

Extremist and secessionist ideas and factions began to surface in the Concord from the late 2550s through to the 2590s, causing internecine violence across Sanghelios and its moons. A notable engagement from this time is the Sunaion Uprising, where a group of violent secessionists battled against Swords forces on the eponymous littoral platform city.

Politics
The Swords of Sanghelios are a warrior aristocracy relatively typical of Sangheili-led polities, led by a collection of Sanghelios' preeminent noble houses and encompassing all their holdings and vassals. Under their ruling assembly, feudal politics between several descending tiers of nobility largely play out as usual, though the common threat of the Loyalists made them atypically united, and the ongoing cycle of conflicts has led to the upheaval among the noble families. Some of the member states wished to maintain this spirit of unity even after the defeat of the Loyalists as a united force, though the 2570s onward saw the rise of many dissenting voices among them.

Military
Like many post-Covenant polities of note, most of the Swords' military forces are feudal vassals bound to the members of the alliance, though they also maintain a standing military. Formerly little more than a policing force, their armed forces have expanded considerably since the fall of High Charity.

The Swords acquire most of their ground materiel from Sanghelios or Sanghelios-moon based armories and forges. They maintain naval forces with a number of Attack Ships and Bellators. Two Vestiges from the later ages were found years after the beginning of the Great Schism and added to the fleet.

While their leadership is composed of Sangheili, the makeup of their military reflects that of most Covenant-based forces, with the Swords have Unggoy, Lekgolo, Yanme'e, Kig-Yar, and a small force of Jiralhanae in their ranks. The latter are composed largely of those who never pledged their allegiance to Truth, or surrendered to the Sangheili during the Schism. While most of the species are present one way or the other, their distribution among the ranks varies by unit. Like in the Covenant, the Swords' elite units remain Sangheili-only, while common forces are more mixed. Auxiliaries and levies comprised solely of Unggoy or Kig-Yar are also occasionally deployed, albeit usually with an embedded Sangheili leadership to ensure "proper" conduct.

Aesthetics and design
The Swords of Sanghelios use a crimson and white scheme, a set of colors traditionally associated with the world of Sanghelios as a whole. This scheme was used on armors, Banshees, Wraiths, Ghosts, and Spirits. A type of orange-red energy sword called the Sunlit Guard, used by some members of the organization, has also become associated with the Swords as a whole. Though vassal-states' individual color schemes vary, they configure their plating to the official Swords colors when representing the league in a formal context. As well, Swords have been known to fly the Concord's emerald green and silver when engaged in joint operations, either fully or as an added flourish over their regular color scheme. Members of the Swords known to be the most ardent supporters of the Concord and the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam also frequently appear in livery incorporating the Concord colors as a tacit way of showing their support to those among the Swords' own ranks.

Prominent members

 * Xola 'Rhathon - Representative for the Swords of Sanghelios both to the Crimson League and Concord.