OVERVIEW
Formed during the final years of the Covenant during their war against humanity, the Banished were born out of rebellion. Following the Atriox's desertion from the Covenant in 2549, the Jiralhanae's charismatic nature and actions inspired many whose faith in the Great Journey had begun to waver. Within a matter of months the small movement would grow into a force to be reckoned with as the newly born factions numbers swelled, and as many of the ships and kill squads sent to hunt Atriox were instead convinced to join him. By 2552 the Banished's military might had grown enough that containment was no longer a viable option, and due to the internal structure of the fledgling empire it allowed a number of talented commanders to flourish as a pirate culture was established with supply raids openly conducted on numerous Covenant depots and shipyards before the war's end. The Great Schism and the shattering of the Covenant would only serve to pour fuel on the fire as dozens of shipmasters and field commanders suddenly found themselves without a cause to fight for - something the Banished easily provided as their only goal was survival above all else, and the option to fight for oneself was an attractive alternative after decades fighting for a lie. During these years the Banished would acquire a number of powerful strategic assets and vessels - not the least of which included an entire host of Huragok engineers - although none could reason what Atriox was doing with such a powerful military force. While held up as a symbol and a champion among his people on Doisac the Brute never made a move to unite the clans under his banner, instead vanishing from the galactic stage around 2560 along with the carrier the
Enduring Conviction and a number of his most talented commanders.
That, however, was not the entirety of the Banished nor the end of them as a culture.
Born out of conflict and with a culture revolving around it, the inherent meritocracy within the Banished ensured that the end of one leader would simply give rise to another. While Atriox had been unique, a once in a generation genius, the Jiralhanae that rose to replace him was no fool despite lacking the same vision or ambition. Still with comparatively vast numbers at their command compared to the other Covenant splinter factions still clinging to power during the Reclamation, the pirate nation would instead opt for safety over abundance as the resurgent Forerunner Empire clashed with the rest of the known galaxy. Retreating to the unexplored regions of space save for the handful of hidden Covenant assembly yards and mines that had been claimed in the previous years, the Banished would bide their time for nearly a century before returning to the edges of civilized space, listening to radio transmissions and other forms of communication to keep tabs on current events. While the Kilrathi's conflict with the Terran Confederation during the 2600s was viewed as an opportunity only a handful of ships would dare venture openly into either faction's territory, although those that did were often powerful enough to easily overpower individual warships through sheer size and firepower. It would be through such acts of piracy that rumors and tales of Covenant era ghost ships at the edge of civilized space would find their origins, places only the desperate would venture or those with nowhere else to go.
Over the course of the next two centuries the Banished would slowly grow larger and far more dangerous as the lack of resources gave rise to effective and creative leadership that made do with what they had, those with a knack for stretching resources as far as they could go rising to particular prominence. During this time a number of colonies would be formed on previously uninhabited worlds alongside the repaired and by then operational Covenant assembly forges, albeit heavily modified with the Jiralhanae's own touch and Huragok/Sangheili ingenuity. More importantly this period of time would see the addition of numerous additional races to the collective beyond those that had existed within the Covenant as Kilrathi exiles fleeing known space were absorbed into the culture alongside numerous human criminal and Insurrectionist elements. Following the Black Lance debacle in 2673 a number of the now independent human colonies left to fend for themselves would fall under Banished predation, although the sheer efficiency of the raids left few if any survivors able to explain or identify the attackers.
It wouldn't be until nearly fifty years later with the arrival of the Machine Empire in Sol-Daiban that the dynamic would shift. Left largely unprotected and with the Banished facing an opponent they could not successfully fight in a war of attrition, the start of the Second Machine War would effectively mark the return of the pirate nation to civilized space as they openly approached the Union of Border Worlds seeking not to pillage them but instead an accord. The proposal made would be protection in exchange for resources - while the human militias were capable they were not equal to the might of the Banished fleets, but at the same time the pirate nation was not able to sustain itself indefinitely with so few ships to prey on and such a large fleet/army to maintain. While the proposal made was more of a threat than an offer with the alternative being the Banished taking what they needed anyways, the agreement would be one that would serve both sides in the long term. While the Galactic Federation, Terran Confederation and Sangheili Nation States sought to bring the fight to the invading Empire the Banished would instead remain quiet and in the background, only appearing where and when the worlds paying for their protection were threatened and with overwhelming force before vanishing again.
Growth would be slow but steady from that point on as the Second Machine War eventually came to an end, with the conflict only serving to further strengthen the Banished as destroyed ships were salvaged, new technologies pursued and a steady supply of resources secured. This, in turn, would be almost entirely directed towards weapon and fleet development for two reasons. First and foremost being to maintain fleet supremacy - with the Sangheili maintaining an isolationist policy and the Terran Confederation no longer possessing the naval might they had before the Reclamation there were few who could still challenge either the Banished or the former Covenant vessels they had maintained and continued to build. That wasn't to say, however, that such a fact couldn't change, and
were it to change it would put their arrangement with the Border Worlds under their protection at risk. It was a decision that would be proven all the more correct as whispers of another alien race making raids on the Terran Confederation began to make themselves known by 2915, and after fifteen years of preparation the Kromus raids would finally find their way deep enough into the Sol-Daiban territories to reach one of the Border Worlds.
With it came opportunity, the kind that didn't present itself often.
By the time that a small group of Kromus ships finally arrived within range of a Border World the Banished leadership had already long decided how the intrusion would be dealt with. As a previously unknown race the Kromus would potentially hold things that the Banished did not, and with a group so far from home came vulnerability. The moment the colony sent the distress call a Banished fleet would perform a pinpoint jump in system, immediately placing themselves within weapons' range and allowing careful aim to be taken as the Kromus fleet was caught completely off guard. Engines would be disabled first before weapon systems would be targeted, the larger Banished vessels deliberately soaking up incoming fire with their shields to protect the smaller attack ships and boarding vessels. Rather than destroying them outright the invaders would instead be neutralized and taken alive, intact, and carried back to Banished space aboard larger ships and carriers. Most importantly, however, were the Kromus crews - while individual fatalities were unavoidable the use of Lekgolo and Jiralhanae strike teams within the boarding parties allowed for a number of bridge and engineering crews to be taken alive and thus interrogated over the following weeks as their technology was picked apart by Huragok and engineers of other species.
Much was learned of the Kromus as prisoners began to crack, and while none accepted the offer to join the Banished as opposed to an alternative fate it provided a very good picture of who the Kromus were and who was in charge. Coupled with additional common knowledge borne from the Terran Confederation's own conflicts with the species it left the Banished with a distinct advantage as they encountered additional fleets that began to encroach upon Border World territory, as well as knowledge of how the Kromus leadership was likely to react as their fleets went missing. The final conflict would be a decisive one as it became readily apparent that keeping the Banished's involvement hidden forever wouldn't be possible - thus, the only recourse was to bloody the next group enough that it simply would not be worth their time or effort to take such risks with the worlds under Banished protection. The next fleet would not be captured but rather destroyed, with the assumption that survivors would be cautious and flee at the earliest possible opportunity. Contacting planetary governors, new contact protocols would be established towards that end.
The Kromus leaders would not disappoint. Within a year of the first fleet's disappearance a much larger collection of ships would be sent to investigate, led by the then infamous Cunning Death, a dreadnought responsible for a number of Kromus victories over the Terran Confederation. The Banished response, however, would be just as unrestrained as the planet the ships arrived over would send not only a distress call but telemetry and data from planetary sensors. Provided with such foreknowledge the initial seconds of combat would be a slaughter as three CAS carriers, multiple CCS class cruisers and dozens of smaller human and Kilrathi vessels exited slipspace on top of the Kromus fleet, many of the larger ships intentionally ramming smaller Kromus vessels and cutting their numbers even before a single shot had been fired. Aware of the dreadnought's capabilities the CAS carriers would move to directly engage it, alternating which vessels took hits to neutralize the advantage the ship's Oblivion Cannon granted it as the rest of the much larger Banished fleet began to butcher the drastically outnumbered Kromus cruisers, destroyers and smaller carriers.
FEATURES
Are they farmers? Do they provide weapons for the rest of the cosmos? Are they magic users? Tell us about what makes them stand out from the rest, and what has helped them rise in power.
LEADERSHIP
What is the command structure like? How many planets do they influence? What are their primary bases of operation?
Cover all of that in this section.
PARTICIPATION
What characters are currently involved with your sub-faction? (Please choose already accepted characters for this portion!)
OTHER
Anything else you could think of that would be important to note for your application. Remember, save your heavy lore for your own board! Make nice documents that cover everything there is to know about your sub-faction.
BOARD DESCRIPTION
As I mentioned above, you'll have a board for your sub-faction's lore. Write us a paragraph of information that you'd like to be displayed there. It doesn't have to be too fancy, just a condensed version of what they are and who they're allied with.