War of Wills (Earth-5875)

The War of Wills was a major civil war on Janjur Qom over the right to enter the Dreadnought, an ancient forerunner relic that crashed on the Great Apothtea.

History
In their ancient past, the san'shyuum came to revere the forerunners as gods on their homeplanet Janjur Qom duo to the numerous artifacts they found. However, the populations became divided on how to deal with these items, and as such were divided in two factions, the Stoics and the Reformists. While the Stoics believed that the san'shyuum were not allowed to touch or tamper with forerunner artifacts, as they were "above them", the Reformists had more progressive views, and believed they should manipulate the technology to improve their species' lives.

Such an ideological difference led to the War of Wills in 2200 BCE, where the Reformists to acquire control of the Dreadnought, an ancient forerunner relic that crashed on the Great Apothtea. The Reformists, with their superior technology, were victorious in the end, and took control of the Dreadnought to escape from Janjur Qom, removing a chunk of the surface beneath it that later became the foundation to High Charity, the holy capital of the Covenant.

Aftermath
While victorious, the san'shyuum Reformists aboard the Dreadnought were faced with the challenge of having too low numbers, and thus were forced to enact strict sexual control to prevent inbreeding. They later became the founders of the Covenant empire alongside the sangheili after a new conflict that would arise: the War of Beginnings.