I've been replaying Halo: Infinite and a thought has occurred to me about the elites. Mostly that our last elite enemies were Jul 'Mdama's Storm Covenant. We know he was refusing to join The Arbiter because he still believed in The Great Journey. This makes sense from what we know in Halo's lore. The Sangheili were indoctrinated into this for generations. It's unlikely they or other Covenant species will just stop believing without directly seeing the evidence Thel saw or if they already trusted him like The Shipmaster did.
However, The Banished don't. They're unique among Covenant separatists groups in a lot of ways, including not believing in The Great Journey. So, why aren't the elites from The Banished just in Sangheili space? I asked that and then started to realize something. The Arbiter didn't create an independent Sangheilios. He started reforms. Including making doctors a respectable career among the sangheili and allowing women to serve in the military. Effectively, Thel Vadam created universal healthcare and started a feminist reform on his home planet.
So, I'm now wondering if The Banished elites are just the chud sangheili. Like these guys took one look at all the social progress and said "NO! WE DON'T LIKE THIS WOKE NONSENSE! WE WANT TO BE COOL SPACE CONQUERORS AGAIN! So we're gonna go join space Genghis Khan (Atriox)! Fuck you Cuckbiter!".
Am I crazy or does that seem like the plausible explanation?
'Mdama's mistrust for humanity was pragmatic: he recognized humanity as a threat, and felt that, left unchecked, they would colonize beyond the Sangheili's control. Jul was not particularly religious, but was willing to use what remained of the Covenant's piety as a means to his ends. After the death of his wife, his hatred of humanity became personal, going to great lengths to ensure their destruction. He met his end at the Battle of Kamchatka at the hands of Spartan Jameson Locke. With his death, his remaining forces were defeated at Sunaion on Sanghelios, marking the end of his Covenant and the Covenant as understood before the Great Schism.
After the fall of the Covenant, he disagreed with Arbiter Thel 'Vadam's decision to make peace with humanity. He sought out others who shared his belief, and partnered with Avu Med 'Telcam, leader of the Servants of the Abiding Truth. After following 'Telcam to meet his secret weapons supplier, he was captured by Spartan Naomi-010 and brought to ONI Research Facility Trevelyan, where he was interrogated and experimented on.
Meanwhile, his wife, Raia, died in search of him, having insisted on boarding one of 'Telcam's frigates in her search for him. The frigate was shot down by the Arbiter's forces as 'Telcam attempted to bombard the state of 'Vadam.
At Trevelyan, he learned of the Didact and his location. After escaping through a portal, he convinced the Sangheili inhabitants of the reclusive Hesduros--who had not heard about the Great Schism--to assist him in finding the Didact. It was here that he learned of his wife's death, and his determination to destroy humanity was solidified. Jul called his faction the Covenant--the last vestige of the original hegemony.
On Requiem, Jul forged an agreement with the Didact due to their shared desire to eradicate humanity, coining himself the "Didact's Hand". There, he learned of the Janus Key, a Forerunner "key" which would allow him to access the Absolute Record, a Forerunner artifact repository. He partnered with Catherine Halsey, who had been taken prisoner by the UNSC, and who had her own reasons for wanting access to the Absolute Record.
After the record was destroyed, Halsey realized that she would no longer be useful to Jul. Thus, she devised a trap and contacted the UNSC to give them Jul's location. Fireteam Osiris arrived and engaged 'Mdama and his forces in close combat, with Locke eventually initiating a fatal blow to Jul's stomach and neck with a combat knife.
Back home, his sons--now orphaned and grieving--would take diverging paths. His oldest, Dural, would be taken in by 'Telcam and join the Servants of the Abiding Truth. His youngest, Asum, would be fostered by Kasha 'Hilot and taken to live on the multi-species community Paxopolis. Asum committed himself to nonviolence, and befriended other species--including a human--during his stay there. Thus, Jul's sons find themselves on opposing sides of post-war conflict.
