Banished (Earth-5875)

"I have gathered this crew and they are loyal, because I am loyal... and because we share a vision. One where the blood we spill and the treasures we plunder are in the name of our own free will and nothing more."

- - Atriox

The Banished are a mercenary organization, being one of the many splinter factions of the Covenant, which rebelled against the hegemony and acquired incredibly power following the end of the First Contact War. They are led by the jiralhanae warlord Atriox.

Origins
"The Banished are lurking on the Ark. They're new... and they're not fueled by religious fervor, but by raw lust for power."

- - Jerrod The Banished were formed by Atriox during the Battle of Algolis, on April 9th, 2549, after he killed his would-be Executioner, leading many of his jiralhanae into siding with his cause and rebelling against their sangheili during the First Contact War. For the next decade, the Banished became a major pirate group of raiders, able to cause major damage and death through Covenant territory, so much that the Hierarchs had Xytan 'Jar Wattinree, one of their greatest military leaders, protect outer Covenant territories from the jiralhanae. Unharmed with the Great Schism that tore the Covenant apart, the Banished amassed more power by acquiring many assets of the hegemony after its end, and exponentially increasing its capabilities. The Banished gained many members during the First Contact War, including sangheili who became disillusioned with the war, and many others who wished to continue fighting joined the faction after the conflict ended.

Occupation of the Ark
The UNSC Spirit of Fire, which had been missing in space for 28 years, had mysteriously arrived on the Ark on March 28th, 2565. The crew of the ship sent its SPARTAN-II Red Team to investigate the lack of communications on the surface, reaching the Henry Lamb Research Outpost, where Atriox and his warriors were hiding. Once they got there, Atriox easily outmatched the three, barely cryo-awoken SPARTANs in hand-to-hand combat, although they were able to retrieve the Auton synthetic Isabel. After nearly killing Douglas-042, Atriox gave them a chance to escape and ordered his warriors to go after them.

After the SPARTANs escaped the station, Decimus personally appeared with dozens of his own men to defend his mining operations, but they were taken out by human forces, and Decimus then retreated. As soon as Decimus heard of the Spirit of Fire's capabilities, he ordered Decimus to command all Banished outposts within the Ark to warn him about UNSC assaults, and soon after, Captain James Cutter discovered that Atriox was able to take a Cartographer that would help him locate all systems within the installation. By interfacing with one of the Banished's computer, they discovered the faction was searching for supplies among the wreckage of the Fleet of Certain Fulfillment, in a team led by Decimus. The humans were able to destroy the Banished's operations despite the latter's use of orbital support through the Enduring Conviction, a CAS-class assault carrier led by sangheili Shipmaster Let 'Volir. In the ensuing confusion, Decimus escaped.

After the Cartographer fell into the UNSC's hands, Professor Ellen Anders discovered the Banished hag gained access to the Halo's portal network, which was allowing them to easily traverse through the installation. Decimus and his troops attempted a new attack, but once again failed into preventing the UNSC from destroying his control over the portals, crippling the Banished's control over the portals and leading to Decimus' death. This led Atriox to order the 'Volir to fire with the Enduring Conviction at the Spirit of Fire. But before they could act, the humans were able to use a forerunner particle cannon that fired and immobilized the carrier, disabling its energy shields. Despite Atriox's efforts to send as many troops as he could to take the down the UNSC forces, Jerome-092 and Isabel managed to board the Enduring Conviction and use its energy projector to provoke local Sentinels. The thousands of Sentinels flew towards the Conviction and cut the ship in half, killing many of the Banished's soldiers. The pieces fell into the Ark and killed even more warriors, as Atriox and Let 'Volir watched. He then ordered 'Volir to take his surviving warriors and get on the Halo ring to retrieve it from the humans.

Halo
The Banished started to ferry to the Halo through access points devised by the Sentinels, and they established a fortress near the UNSC settlements, where Atriox directly contacted Captain James Cutter, where the Warmaster revealed he was impressed with the human's capability, and proposed the crew of the Spirit of Fire to join them. When Cutter defied Atriox's proposal, he claimed the captain had destined his crew to doom, sending all of his weapons, vehicles and warriors to stop Professor Ellen Anders from reaching the Halo's Control Room. He was unsuccessful, and the Professor was pulled to slipspace to the Soell system alongside the ring, pulling a section of the ring into space, and killing thousands of Banished soldiers. With his dream destroyed in five days, Atriox slammed his fist on a holotable, before he approached the edge of a cliff and observed his remaining forces. Atriox's war against the Spirit of Fire would continue for months. One month later, Colony, a pair of Mgalekgolo who command all Lekgolo forces in the Banished, attempted to launch a Forerunner Despair-class fighter to destroy the Spirit of Fire. This plan was thwarted by Sunray 1-1, a team of UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Troopers from Boomerang Company.

Operation SPEARBREAKER and internal conflicts
One month later, the mgalekgolo pair known as "Colony" attempted to take control of a forerunner Despair-class fighter so the Banished could destroy the Spirit of Fire and acquire equal footing. Their plan was ultimately stopped by the ODST team Sunray 1-1. The Banished's losses started to plant doubts among many of the Banished's members over Atriox's leadership, which gave rise to the unggoy warrior Yapyap, who formed his own faction to seek control of the Ark.

Awakening the xenomorphs
After three months, Atriox' forces had severely diminished and he wasn't as closing to killing the humans as expected. He sent two jiralhanae siblings, Voridus and Pavium, to visit the wreckage of High Charity and salvage all that they could, but he warned them to not go inside the city. Voridus chose to ignore the warning, hoping to prove himself to Atriox, which resulted into the Banished's first contact with the xenomorphs, which had survived the detonation of High Charity and the firing of Installation 04B in 2552. The xenomorphs proceeded to massacre the Banished's forces, which forced Atriox to abandon his fortifications across the Ark to focus on destroying the xenomorphs, which were a much dangerous threat.

During the conflict, Atriox kept in contact with the siblings, showing his anger towards the situation. After the Keymind was killed by the combined forces of Pavium, Voridus, and their surviving jiralhanae, Atriox arrived on the battlefield, protected by numerous bodyguards. He approached Voridus, and reprimanded the young jiralhanae, reminding him who was leading who. At the same time, a Facehugger jumped at Atriox in an attempt to impregnate him, but he simply caught it mid-air and crushed it. He then ordered the siblings to clean up the bodies so that the xenomorphs could not return.