Prophet of Truth

The High Prophet of Truth, born Ord Casto, and formerly known as the Minister of Fortitude, was the leader of the three Prophet Hierarchs that led the Covenant High Council during the Ninth Age of Reclamation, the central antagonist in Halo 2 and 3, and one of the main instigators of the war against humanity. In 2552, he plotted the ousting of the Sangheili from the Covenant, and replaced them with the Jiralhanae after the death of the High Prophet of Regret on Installation 05. After the demise of the High Prophet of Mercy on High Charity, he became the de facto leader of the Covenant, from which position he lead their forces to the Artifact in Africa, and eventually to the Ark in an attempt to activate the Halo Array, where he was later killed by Thel 'Vadam. As a character, he is widely considered to be the main antagonist of Halo 2 and Halo 3, and the main enemy of Thel 'Vadam.

23rd Age of Doubt
Ord Casto began his political career as a junior staffer in the Ministry of Concert. During his time in the Ministry, he unearthed a conspiracy by several Kig-yar Shipmasters to poison Infusions, recreational narcotics often enjoyed by Unggoy. The Kig-Yar planned to render the Unggoy infertile, as petty revenge for the displacement of Kig-Yar nests caused by a recent boom in Unggoy population. Although Casto recommended stiff penalties, the Minister of Concert decided to simply fine the Kig-yar involved. Casto lodged a formal complaint, but was rebuffed by his superiors. However, the Infusion Incident quickly escalated into a bloody skirmish known as the Unggoy Rebellion, bringing about the 39th Age of Conflict. After the Unggoy were pacified and brought back into the Covenant, the 23rd Age of Doubt began, and Casto was promoted to Minister of Fortitude. Throughout his service in this position, Fortitude worked hard to see that Forerunner technology was evenly distributed among the member races to prevent another Age of Conflict. Fortitude was on the Roll of Celibates, a list of San 'Shyuum not allowed to breed due to their weak genes. This did not, however, particularly bother him. As the Minister of Fortitude, he was fond of smoking, yet he rarely used the hookah tobaccos favored by his senior staff. In 2525, according to the UNSC Military Calendar, Fortitude found himself involved in a conspiracy when the Vice Minister of Tranquility, later known as the Prophet of Regret, informed him of the massive trove of "Forerunner artifacts" (which was actually the human population of Harvest) that a Luminary had discovered on that planet. Tranquility planned to use these artifacts to spring himself into a position of high power, as a Hierarch of the Covenant, and offered the same for Fortitude. This marked the first alliance between the Prophets and the Jiralhanae, as Tranquility wisely decided to use them to retrieve these artifacts, rather than upset the fine balance of power by allowing the Sangheili to gain the treasures. In order to push the three current Hierarchs, Tolerance, Obligation and Restraint from their positions, Fortitude utilized blackmail against the Prophet of Restraint. Tranquility had shown himself as a sympathizer for those blacklisted from reproducing due to inborn genes, after being urged to do so by Fortitude who was aware that Restraint had illegitimately fathered two children. The Prophet of Restraint offered Tranquility a high position if he would adopt the children, but the scheming Prophets instead used this to their advantage, blackmailing him and forcing the Prophet to step down or have his scandalous affair made public. Before their coup, the Prophets visited an "Oracle" within the Forerunner Dreadnought, an ancient AI known as 032 Mendicant Bias, that had stored itself in the ship and had not spoken for several hundred years. When the Luminations of Harvest were inserted into its matrix, it suddenly reactivated and revealed that the symbols had been misinterpreted - that humans stood as equals to the Forerunners, that the hallowed "Reclamation" glyph actually meant "Reclaimer," and that the Covenant had been mistaken in their beliefs that all of the Forerunners had transcended when they initiated the Great Journey. This was a massive revelation with great implications for the whole Covenant: If humans were the chosen successors of the Forerunners (or were surviving Forerunners themselves) yet had not transcended when the Sacred Rings were last activated, then that meant that the Halos would not necessarily provide godhood to all who walked the divine path.[5] This knowledge, if revealed to the masses of Covenant followers, would lead to revolt, the collapse of the entire Covenant Hierarchy, and the Prophets being deposed as divine leaders; the Prophets' age-old promise was that none would be left behind when the Great Journey began.[6] The Oracle tried to launch the Dreadnought from High Charity to find and bring the humans to The Ark, but before it could succeed, the Lekgolo worms that were tasked with exploring the Dreadnought's inner regions short-circuited the connection, and the two co-conspirators, along with the Philologist (leader of the ascetic priests and later the Prophet of Mercy), disconnected the Oracle from the ship. When Fortitude realized the implications of what the Oracle had told them, he and the other two Hierarchs-to-be agreed not to tell the masses of their discovery and decided that the humans must be eradicated once and for all before any of the Covenant could learn the truth. The three Prophets successfully implemented their plan and became the new rulers of the Covenant which heralded the beginning of the Ninth Age of Reclamation. Fortitude chose the name "Truth" as a reminder to himself of the truths he must never tell and the lies he would have to spin in order to prevent the Covenant from fragmenting.===Battle of the Rubble=== Almost ten years later, Truth was approached by the Kig-Yar Reth, who had brought information of The Rubble and the humans desire to trade with them. Realizing he could use this to map the human population, Truth had Reth begin trading weapons which had been modified for use by the humans, who sold them to the Insurrectionists, which allowed the Covenant to track them. The institution of the Cole Protocol hindered this, but Reth had a plan to acquire the location of the human homeworld from his human contact Peter Bonifacio. It was going well until Regret (who was not informed of the plan) sent Thel 'Vadamee to investigate the weapons, which had made their way to black markets on High Charity. Due to a failure of the humans providing Earth's location, the Kig-Yar in command, Reth, ordered an attack on the Rubble and Exodus asteroids, which soon failed along with Truth's plan. With the failure of the plan, Truth called its aftermath "a mess", and he was about to have Thel and his soldiers killed, until Thel saved him from a disillusioned Elite, and for that he spared Thel on the condition that he "never say anything of what happened here". After returning to High Charity, Truth looked on the positive side, saying they had purged possible human-sympathizing Kig-Yar and Unggoy, and because of the modified weapons, found two more human worlds.

Divisive mandate
Obsessed with the Great Journey and his personal ascension into godhood, Truth would not allow anyone to slow him down in his path his ultimate goal. Even well before the removal of the Sangheili from the Honor Guard and the Covenant's Great Schism, Truth had begun to doubt the loyalty and reliability of the Sangheili, viewing them as a species splintered by heresy and derision, even amongst their own ranks. The seeds of this were placed when the then-Vice Minister of Tranquility wisely made the decision to send the Jiralhanae to Harvest, and the more recent incident concerning the Battle of the Rubble only strengthened these impressions. On the other hand, he admired the Jiralhanae, for their eagerness to prove that their loyalty and battle prowess had earned them a place as the protectors of the Hierarchs and the Covenant. Such blind faith and vicious enthusiasm marked them as near perfect pawns for Truth to sacrifice, without the risk that the Sangheili held. This led Truth to put his "divisive mandate" in motion. Secretly, he devised a complex scheme to eventually replace the Sangheili with the Jiralhanae as his personal guardians, as well as the primary warrior race of the Covenant. This started with subtle gestures that soon became more and more drastic, which later would ultimately culminate in the beginning of the Great Schism. His plans were never made in haste; they were laid gradually and with great care. ===Discovery of Earth=== The Prophet of Truth became the deciding factor in all issues for the three Prophets, representing an inequality in power that put him above the other two. Some time before the Prophet of Regret's mission to Earth, Truth had managed to discover Earth's location. For him, this was an opportunity to crush his enemies - both the humans and the Sangheili - once and for all. Instead of informing the rest of the Covenant or his fellow Hierarchs of this discovery, he secretly assembled a fleet of over five hundred warships, to a command-and-control station called Unyielding Hierophant. All of these forces were commanded exclusively by the Jiralhanae, a fact that Truth planned to put to great use in his plans to replace the Sangheili with the Jiralhanae after the fleet destroyed the humans once and for all. This plan had more immediate advantages as well; when the time came for Truth to return his attention to Earth, his forces needed to be led by Jiralhanae, not Sangheili. Leaving the Sangheili to scour Earth in search of the most sacred Forerunner artifact in existence, the Ark portal generator, would have placed Truth's plan upon the shoulders of a species he had already decided to cast aside. However, the UNSC forces discovered the Unyielding Hierophant and its purpose, and a small team of SPARTAN-II supersoldiers led by John-117 destroyed the station, along with all but a dozen of the ships in its charge. After the destruction of the Unyielding Hierophant, Truth waited in High Charity in the Sanctum of the Hierarchs for Tartarus, Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, to arrive, with what remained of an ancient Forerunner Crystal that could manipulate time and space. He ordered the reward and secret execution of the remaining survivors from Operation: FIRST STRIKE, as not to cause any disruption in the Covenant by stories of how the Demons had destroyed an entire fleet. Knowledge of the station's ultimate goal, and its eventual destruction, were suppressed by the Prophet of Truth - the Unyielding Hierophant's original purpose has since remained a closely guarded secret, even from the rest of the Hierarchs. ===The Heretics and the new Arbiter.=== Thel 'Vadamee, the former Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, was brought before the High Council to answer for his failure in protecting Halo from its destruction at the hands of the Demon. The Council called 'Vadamee a heretic for such a failure, and with a nod, Truth dismissed 'Vadamee from the Council Chamber and allowed the eager Tartarus and his Brutes to take the prisoner away, stating that when the Great Journey began, the disgraced Sangheili would be left behind for his heresy. 'Vadamee was later branded with the Mark of Shame by Tartarus in front of the population of High Charity. However, instead of executing 'Vadamee as the Council decided, Truth, backed by the High Prophets of Regret and Mercy, chose to make him an Arbiter, knowing full well that the Council would have their corpse since the Arbiter's missions were suicidal and he would most likely die. He then sent his new Arbiter against the Heretic rebellion forming on the nearby gas mine on Threshold. This mission was considered the Elite's death sentence, but despite heavy resistance from the Heretics and even an unexpected incursion by the Flood, the Arbiter succeeded in his task and survived to take on another mission. The sparing of 'Vadamee's life was most likely due to the fact that Truth didn't wish to waste such a great warrior, preferring 'Vadamee to serve a purpose, even in death - or rather, perhaps he simply needed a quick solution to the imminent Heretic threat. However, Truth may also have felt indebted to or biased towards the Arbiter, due to their previous encounters.

Occupation of Earth
While Truth had kept the discovery of the human homeworld a secret from everyone else, the Prophet of Regret managed to independently discover the location of the Artifact. Eager to exploit its power, Regret quickly departed for Earth with a fleet of fifteen ships, not realizing that this planet was in fact the most heavily defended Human world of all: Earth. Soon after this, Truth learned of the Prophet of Regret's brash and foolhardy move, and sent a massive fleet, commanded by the Jiralhanae, to Earth to pick up where Regret had left off. Upon arrival at Earth, Regret's forces were outnumbered and outgunned. In mere hours, Regret was forced to retreat. Just after Regret's retreat, Truth's fleet arrived. Several remaining ships from Regret's fleet were still under the command of the Sangheili. Once Truth gave the word, the Jiralhanae in Truth's fleet forcefully overtook the Sangheili and assumed near-complete control over the battle not only above Earth, but also on the ground, slaying any remaining Sangheili stationed on the planet at will,[14] with the Pious Inquisitor being the only remaining ship from Regret's original fleet. Upon further orders from Truth, they aggressively deployed significant infantry directly into the human city of New Mombasa, and picked up where Regret had left off while holding the human forces at bay until Truth's reinforcements arrived. Once the UNSC forces had been defeated in the city of New Mombasa, Truth's fleet would start uncovering the Artifact, preparing it for his arrival nearly a month later. ===Punishing Regret=== While on Delta Halo, Regret transmitted a message to Truth, apologizing for his reckless attack on Earth. Truth responded angrily, saying that it was only Mercy who had stopped Truth from publicly condemning Regret. Nevertheless, High Charity and its fleet rushed to Installation 05 and released a fleet of Phantoms to save Regret from the Humans who had overwhelmed Regret's soldiers. His sermons were interrupted when John-117 gained entry to his inner sanctum, and killed Regret. The Phantoms were called back by Truth, who instead had a Covenant Cruiser destroy the ancient building Regret had occupied with its weapons. It is possible that Truth allowed Regret to be killed as part of his plan to remove the Elites from power, as Rtas 'Vadumee remarks they had called back his ships before the Prophet had been killed, and so then the Elites would later be blamed and taken out of power by Truth, citing their supposed failure to protect the Prophets.

Locating the Sacred Icon.
The main reason why 'Vadamee was still alive was because he had found an Oracle, calling itself 343 Guilty Spark, who had escaped the destruction of Halo. Carefully applying questions to the Oracle, the Prophets learned of the Activation Index, which they called the Sacred Icon, required to activate a Halo ring. Truth and Mercy then dispatched the Arbiter and many high-ranking Elites, including Rtas 'Vadumee, to collect the Index from the Library of Delta Halo, fully expecting most, if not all, of them to be killed by the Flood, and secretly ordering Tartarus and his top Brute warriors to kill any Elites that made it to the Sacred Icon. This resulted in the attempted assassination of the Arbiter, and in Miranda Keyes and Avery Johnson being taken prisoner. ===The Great Schism.=== After Regret was killed by John-117, Truth's duplicitous scheming came to full fruition. The Elite Honor Guard's failure to protect the Prophet of Regret afforded him with the final leverage needed to appoint the Brutes to the lofty position. Truth began replacing the Elites with the Brutes as the Prophets' protectors, as the Elites had failed to protect Regret from his demise. This was a devastating blow to the Elites' honor, and they threatened to resign from the High Council in outrage. Shortly thereafter, while Truth was addressing the Covenant about the Flood, the Sacred Icon, and the Great Journey, SPARTAN-117 was teleported into Truth's chamber and pursued him as he and Mercy tried to escape to the Forerunner Dreadnought. On the move, Truth, knowing that there was no chance of the Sangheili stepping down peacefully due to their fury at being replaced as the Prophets' protectors, secretly ordered the genocide of the Sangheili by the Jiralhanae; initially, the Sangheili believed that the Jiralhanae had begun an insurrection against them and the Prophets. When Thel 'Vadam informed them otherwise, the Sangheili split with the Covenant completely. The Covenant Civil War had begun. As the two remaining Prophets tried to escape with their human captives, a mass of Flood Infection Forms attacked them. Most were destroyed by Tartarus and his Brutes, but one managed to get past the Brutes and leaped towards Mercy, knocking the frail Prophet off his chair, and attempted to infect him through the throat. Tartarus attempted to save the old Prophet, but Truth ordered him to be left behind, one of his final moves to take full control of the Covenant, despite the fact that Mercy was a heavy supporter of Truth. Truth would rather let the elderly Prophet die than serve as only part of the triumvirate that ruled the Covenant. Truth's mad quest for power would not be dissuaded or threatened, even by his fellow Prophets. Truth sent Tartarus to Delta Halo to activate the rings while he escaped into the Forerunner Dreadnought. When John-117 questioned a dying Mercy, he told John that Truth was going to Earth, "To finish what we started." ===Assault on Earth.=== Although Tartarus' attempt to activate Delta Halo had failed, ending in the Brute Chieftain's death, Truth was not deterred, going back to the Artifact which Regret had sought. Truth took off from High Charity on board the Forerunner Dreadnought, severing the ancient vessel from the city's power grid. Unknowingly carrying Spartan-117 on board the ship, Truth headed for Earth, and after his fleet managed to defeat the orbital defenses, he landed the Dreadnought in the middle of the Artifact, which his troops had nearly excavated during the four weeks since their arrival. While the digging was still in process, Truth broadcast to a UNSC base, declaring that Human extinction was inevitable and not even their "Demon" could stop him. Once the Artifact was fully uncovered, Truth landed "his" Dreadnought directly on it, while his troops set up air defenses around the perimeter. Nonetheless, the UNSC managed to break through the defenses and assaulted the Dreadnought. However, Truth successfully activated the Artifact, opening a portal to the Ark. After getting through this portal and traveling to an activation room on the installation, he activated a barrier around the Ark's Citadel and Core to shield himself from attack and captured Sergeant Major Johnson to activate the rings for him. Despite the Prophet's efforts, the combined forces of the UNSC and the Elites deactivated a section of his shield and broke through, along with the newly Flood-controlled High Charity, who proceeded to assault the Citadel from all sides. ===Activating The Ark.=== In the Ark's main Control Room, a Brute Chieftain proceeded to beat Johnson, who goaded him on. Truth ordered the chieftain to stop as Johnson wanted him to kill him, as only a human could activate Forerunner technology. As the High Prophet tried to force Johnson to activate the ring, Commander Keyes crashed a Pelican into the control platform in hopes of rescuing Johnson, but found herself surrounded by Truth's Jiralhanae Bodyguards. As the Brutes flanked her, she held them off with her M90 Shotgun and M6G, to no avail. Truth, hiding behind her, told her she was only delaying the inevitable. She attempted to kill both herself and Sergeant Johnson before either could be forced to activate the installations, but Truth managed to stop her himself by shooting her seven times in the back with a Brute Spiker. He then commented to Johnson that he understood why the Forerunners had left humanity behind: "You were weak. And gods must be strong." As he began to activate the system, John-117 and the Arbiter found themselves momentarily allied with the Flood in a final, desperate attempt to stop Truth from firing the rings. After his guards were finished off by the Flood, Truth found himself being overtaken by the Gravemind's infection. Thel 'Vadam warned Gravemind not to infect the Prophet, desiring to have his revenge before the San 'Shyuum died, stating, "I will have my revenge. On a Prophet, not a plague!" In his last moments, Truth still believed he would transcend as a god, while the Gravemind spoke through him and stated that he would be food and nothing more. Before his very last words, Thel 'Vadam held him up by his throat so he could watch John-117 halt all of his plans by shutting down the Ark and thereby all the Halo rings. He yelled his last words, referring to himself as the voice of the Covenant, before being "silenced" by 'Vadam's Energy Sword. With his death, the Covenant had been beheaded, finally bringing the Human-Covenant War, and the Covenant Civil War, to an end. ==An Unholy return.== With peace finally established in the Halo universe done so by the High Council and The Galactic Federation, Truth was deemed as "Threat that needed to be destroyed" and a "Zealotious" madman, and with such, he was deemed the worse intergalactic villain of the United Universes... Such an imfamous reputation that earned faver for Nega-Zeus, who reserected him, and offered him a chance to become a god in return to servitude to The Guild of Thunder. He accepted with no problem at all, and sentually is a high ranking "preacher" of the Guild giving his realijustu origins. He is basicly the Jafar of the Main Council of the Guild, fittingly cause they're both traitors and liers to what they were suppose to side with, and is high and mighty with himself and quick to underestimate any enemy the guild would face. He insists that if Spyro never had his powers, he would be nothing of consinqunce to the forces of evil.