Atoner (Earth-5875)

"We had done so much in the service of the Hierarchs' lies. I have done so much...all of it lies. I have so much to answer for. So after all these years I brought my ship back to this place of my greatest victory, now my greatest shame, to find a new purpose for my existence."

- - The Atoner

This "Atoner" was a sangheili Shipmaster of the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance and a veteran of the First Contact War. After the Great Schism, he joined his fellow sangheili in a fight for survival, and following the fall of the Covenant, sought for a purpose after having his entire life rendered as a lie.

Early life
"My people were the chosen ones, we enforced the will of our Hierarchs. The holy sears who led our great Covenant believers along the Path to transcendence; the path to the Great Journey."

- - The Atoner

Born on the sangheili colony Oma Ker, on the Covenant, the Atoner became a firm believer in the Path, deeming his species as the "chosen ones" who would transcend like the forerunners did. He trained martial arts alongside his clan members at his homeworld. On one occasion, he bested his rival, who fell into a nearby like. Inside it, the rival was captured by a ilpdor, but the Atoner did not help him as he was weak.

Battle of Kholo
"This planet is buried in war, and I know. For so long I know how every warrior here dies, how every battle here ends. But I don't know who won."

- - The Atoner

On March 21st, 2739, the Atoner, then a Shipmaster, became the leader of the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance, supported by the Prophet of Conviction. After he was able to locate the human colony Kholo after stealing information from a freighter, the Atoner sent his troops to the ground while his fleet battled the few human ships in orbit. After all enemy space forces were destroyed and the ground battle was an overwhelming success, the Prophet of Conviction commanded the Atoner to carve the Covenant glyph representing "faith" with his energy projector in their ritualistic glassing. Following the human extinction on the planet and the Covenant victory, the Atoner bonded with the san'shyuum.

During the course of the First Contact War, the Atoner fought in many battles as Shipmaster, including the Fall of Reach, destroying three ODPs. At the battle, the sangheili realized the tactical and military prowess of humanity as they did the impossible in an attempt to save Reach, despite the ultimate failure to do so.

Great Schism
"Betrayal! Our people have been betrayed by the Hierarchs and their savage puppets! You have seen what they have done, how they stroke down our faith and our leaders! And you know what we must do in the face of such betrayal. Our war against these deceivers starts now!"

- - The Atoner before killing the Prophet of Conviction

Following the beginning of the Great Schism, the Atoner confronted the Prophet of Conviction after the Hierarchs led the jiralhanae into betraying the sangheili. One of the co-conspirators in the betrayal, the Prophet heard about the Atoner's arrival and locked himself in his room, prepared to defend himself with a plasma pistol. However, the Shipmaster was able to break it and easily dodge the plasma charge coming at him, kicking his chest and subduing him. He dragged the san'shyuum to his subordinates and exposed the images of the massacre of the High Councilors, proceeding to execute the Prophet and leaving his lifeless body as he and his warriors prepared to counter-attack the jiralhanae.

Post-First Contact War
"It was a terrible war. The san'shyuum provided the jiralhanae with powerful new weapons, hoping that they would in turn defend them against our wrath. But when the san'shyuum and the huragok disappeared, the lack of leadership and technology allowed the jiralhanae to return to their savage nature and they soon began to fight against each other. This lack of solidarity made them much easier prey. Some of my fellow commanders continue that fight even now, but not enough. After generations spent obeying the Covenant and the words of the san'shyuum, we no longer know how to find what our gods want us to do. We don't know what our gods want..at all. We have no scientist, no law and no reason to be. We risk extinction for the lack of a purpose and that is why I came to this planet where I last felt the virtue of gods; for guidance... and atonement."

- - The Atoner From that day onwards, until 2765, he and his loyalists continued fighting the jiralhanae into the ongoing Great Schism with no end in sight. In the same year, he returned to Kholo in the hopes of atoning for the sins he felt he committed, as well as to seek communion with the forerunners, who he still revered as gods despite his abandonment of the Path. While traveling through the ruined cities and landscaped he and his fleet glassed, he discovered an excavation operation set by humans, quickly noticing a firefight between a small group of humans and three kig-yar scavengers. Using only his ancient Curveblade, the Atoner was successfully able to kill the three kig-yar, and approached the humans, only to realize two of them were already dead, while the third one was gravely injured. Seeing that she would succumb to her wounds, the Atoner left her and approached their camp, discovering a series of pictures detailing the humans encountering forerunner relics, including an Oracle, which he noticed looked like the one who lived in High Charity and the other who was brought by force. He quickly returned to the wounded human and realized she had been hit by plasma in the chest. He decided to save her, as she could be invaluable in revealing the secrets her team was hiding. For this, he called his fleet, who awaited for him, and asked for a tracking team to patrol the surrounding area in the search of kig-yar and human ships. He hoped that, if he discovered these forerunner relics by himself, he would be finally able to meet one of his gods and find a purpose and life, and, once and for all, be able to live with himself after all he had done.

Equipment
The Atoner used a customized sangheili combat harness. He also possessed an ancient Curveblade, and a Type-51 carbine, which he stole from one of the kig-yar raiders he killed.