Jul 'Mdama

"Requiem's treasures shall be ours."

- Jul 'Mdama

Jul 'Mdama is a Sangheili and was the Lord of Bekan Keep in the rural state of 'Mdama, where he lived with his wife, Raia, and his children, two of which are Dural and Asum. He later became the leader of the Storm Covenant, assuming the title of the Didact's Hand.

Biography
Jul served as a Shipmaster within the Covenant, though it is unknown whether he fought during the Great Schism. After the war, Jul returned to his keep in 'Mdama, still uneasy about the outcome of both the war with humanity and the San 'Shyuum. Jul spent much of his time in debate over how Sanghelios should be run now that the war was over, while his wife, Raia, was more concerned how the Sangheili race would rebuild in agriculture and engineering. When Kaidon Levu 'Mdama decided to side with the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and his quest to pursue a cease-fire with humanity, Jul was torn between agreeing with Levu or attempting to assassinate the Arbiter. In the end, he decided to side with Avu Med 'Telcam, leader of a religious sect known as the Servants of Abiding Truth which believed Thel 'Vadam to be a traitor and a heretic due to his actions, and his proposed resolution to the growing problems. Jul and his friend, Forze, traveled to the state of Ontom to stage a coup d'etat and plan the Arbiter's assassination alongside 'Telcam and his armed forces. He managed to get several Sangheili shipmasters to agree to his terms and steal the Unflinching Resolve from the Aanrar Shipyard. They proceeded to hide the warship in a quarry five kilometers from Bekan Keep until it could be used.

While agreeing with 'Telcam's views on the Arbiter, he began to grow suspicious of the source of munitions and weapons 'Telcam was receiving to strengthen the Servants. During one of 'Telcam's supply runs, Jul followed him to New Llanelli to observe 'Telcam meeting with one of his suppliers, which turned out to be Kilo Five, led by Captain Serin Osman. Jul, shocked that 'Telcam was dealing with humans, tried to escape but was captured and almost killed by Naomi-010. Jul was taken prisioner by Kilo Five and brought aboard the, where he was interrogated. He was later transported to ONI Research Facility Trevelyan to be studied by ONI scientists.

During Jul's time on ONIRF Trevelyan, he was kept prisoner in the newly erected camp on the Shield World and subjected to some degree of interrogation by ONI scientists. Jul was eventually allowed to wander the Shield World but only when accompanied by Prone To Drift and whilst wearing a rigged explosive vest similar to one that Huragok were forced to wear by the Covenant.

Whilst held prisoner on the Shield World, Jul was fed genetically engineered food developed by ONI that could potentially be used as a biological weapon against the Sangheili. This food caused Jul to suffer from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Through mimicking his human captors, Jul would eventually glean information from Prone To Drift about the location of The Didact, as well as information detailing a system of portals from the Shield World to other Forerunner artifacts across the galaxy. Even though Jul was told of the danger of using these portals, he still viewed them as his best possible chance of escaping ONI clutches. Using the Huragok's instincts to protect Forerunner technology, Jul was able to force Prone To Drift to removing his explosive vest then jumped into the active portal.

Jul appeared on the Sangheili colony world of Hesduros, where he meets Panom and several youngsters. It turns out that these colonists have lost contact with the Covenant about a year prior, and have no knowledge of the Great Schism or the end of the war. Jul asks the locals to help him contact his keep. When he does, Jul learns that Raia and Forze were both killed by UNSC forces during the assault on Vadam Keep.

This crushes Jul's soul and he asks to be left alone for a while. One of the youngsters approaches Jul as he admires the Forerunner relics on the planet and explains to him about the Forerunner symbols that were encrypted on Jul's belt. They show Jul a second holy gate where he finds the same symbols that were on his belt; the symbols for the Didact and coordinates to Requiem. Panom and the others, religous as they are, believe that the Forerunners sent Jul to Hesduros to find the Didact and bring him back to them. They agree to help Jul with whatever ships they can spare and to avenge his wife.

Sometime after that, 'Mdama had become a Shipmaster of a in the newly formed Storm Covenant and arrived at Requiem.

Requiem
"I know what the Librarian will say, Glassman. She will tell us where all things sacred are hidden in this galaxy. Ships, weapons, bounties beyond our imagining. And she will tell us how to make those miracles...our own."

- Jul 'Mdama addressing his troops



Four years later, in 2557, the Storm Covenant were still attempting to gain access to the Shield World Requiem when the drifted into the planet's orbit. In an attempt to prevent any humans who might be on the ship from gaining access to the planet, Jul ordered his troops to board the ship and eliminate the threat. Roused from thousands of years of dormancy, Requiem reacted to the presence of a Reclaimer - John-117 - aboard the Dawn. As Requiem scanned the Dawn, Cortana awakened the Master Chief in response. Eliminating several Covenant boarding parties, the Master Chief manually fired a Hyperion missile from the Dawn's hull, destroying one of Jul's ships. Scanning the Master Chief, Requiem opened a massive portal in its metallic shell to the planet within, trapping all nearby Covenant ships along with the Dawn within a powerful gravity well.

Continuing his quest to commune with the Didact, Jul's ships performed Slipspace jumps directly into the planet's hollow centre and advanced toward the core, despite meeting fierce resistance from Requiem's native inhabitants, the Prometheans. Meanwhile, the  picked up Cortana's distress beacon aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn and attempted to follow its signal into the gravity well.

After several firefights with both the Prometheans and the Covenant, the Master Chief reached and activated what he and Cortana had believed to be a satellite (which they could use to amplify their transmissions to reach the Infinity) at the planet's core. However, the 'satellite' turned out to be the Didact's Cryptum - the Didact had been up to this point been using the Infinity's transmissions to deceive the Master Chief into freeing him from his imprisonment within. Regaining control of his Promethean forces (which had previously been subversed by the Librarian) and commandeering the Storm Covenant, who had always worshipped the Forerunners as gods, tbe Didact adds the Storm Covenant to his ranks in order to fulfil his design of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy once more, while preventing the humans from attaining the Mantle of Responsibility. Using containment fields to immobilise the Master Chief, the Didact then makes a Slipspace jump out of Requiem's interior, destabilising the core.

As the Master Chief narrowly escapes Requiem's collapsing core, Infinity is pulled into the gravity well. Fending off a combined Promethean and Covenant force, Master Chief managed to clear the Covenant out of the ship with the help of the new Spartan-IV's, and they force The Didact to retreat.

The Didact decides to slip space jump to Installation 03 and, under his control, the Covenant immediately attack the UNSC science facility, Ivanoff Station, that housed the Composer. That is when Jul witnesses the composers power and the power of true Forerunners; The Didact fires the composer at Ivanoff Station, digitalizing and, assumingly, killing every human.

The Didact and the Covenant jump to Earth where they fire the Composer aiming directly at the city of New Pheonix. Jul's vengence is almost finished as the entire human race will slowly be exterminated by the Composer.

Unfortunately, the moment did not last for Jul 'Mdama. Master Chief followed The Didact to Earth, and with the help of the Infinity and Cortana herself, he defeats The Didact, destroys the Composer, and forces Jul to retreat.

For six months now, the Covenant had been occupying Requiem, they've built bases and archaeological outposts to help them search for new technology to fight against the humans. The Infinity had been preparing to assualt the Covenant, and as soon as they jumped out of slipspace they deployed Spartan Fireteams to clear out locations Covenant outposts on Requiem's surface. Jul 'Mdama tried everything to stop the humans from foiling his plans but the Spartan-IV's proved themselves powerful.

The UNSC then set up their own science facilities to study the Forerunner artifacts on the planet's surface. During this process, Spartan Crimson Team discovers information on Covenant archeaological teams. Jul found something deep in Requiem, a Forerunner artifact. With the aid of Promethean Knights, Jul sent what he could spare to that location to stop the humans from retrieving it, but the Spartans were able to escape along with the artifact.

The Spartans took it back to Infinity where scientist Henry Glassman was sucked into the artifact while he attempted to experiment with it. Glassman was teleported to a Forerunner construct on Requiem's surface, where one of the archaeological teams retrieved him. They immediately contacted Jul, and since Infinity's arrival, 'Mdama has had so many things and reports to attend to. But the artifacts gift to them deserved his attention.

He went to the archealogical site where they have found a shrine that will release The Librarian when they activate it. That is where Jul takes Glassman to force him to activate it with his knowledge of Forerunner tech. Jul plans to release The Librarian in order to find locations to all things sacred in the galaxy: ships, weapons, and bounties beyond their imagining.

Family/Friends

 * Raia 'Mdama- Jul's wife, who is in charge of much of the financial and agricultural planning in Bekan Keep. She died in the crash of the frigate Cleansing Truth.
 * Naxan- Raia's grandbrother, who teaches the young children of the keep in combat and defense training. Although it is unconfirmed, Naxan is a possible swordsman, as he trains the youngsters in sword drills.
 * His sons, Dural and Asum, though they do not associate with Jul due to the Sangheili custom of children not allowed to know their true father to avoid being shown favor.
 * Gusay- Jul's personal aide.
 * Forze 'Mdama- Jul's friend and fellow Shipmaster who is an elder of an unknown neighboring keep, who supports Jul's views on the Arbiter and humanity. He died in a crash of the frigate Cleansing Truth.

Trivia

 * Since Sangheili are unable to pronounce the sound of the letter P very well, he pronounced Phillips' name as "Philiss".
 * He was, ironically, the only "family man" aboard the, the observation was made by one of the crew members.
 * Jul had a habit of fiddling with his arum.
 * Early in Jul's capture by the crew of the Port Stanley, Mal comments "It sounds like it's saying 'blarg,'" which is a reference to Red vs Blue (in which the aliens in that series are known to say "blarg" often), due to Karen Traviss being a huge fan of Rooster Teeth, the creators of Red vs. Blue.
 * Jul' has handpaint on his armor.

List of Appearances

 * Halo: Glasslands
 * Halo: The Thursday War
 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops