Dovo Nesto

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Dovo Nesto
Personal details
Species:	San'Shyuum
Gender:	Male
Political and military information
Affiliation:	Covenant (formerly) Order of Restoration San'Shyuum flotilla Sali 'Nyon's Covenant
Title:	High Lord

High Lord Dovo Nesto was a near mythological San'Shyuum of the Covenant and the leader of the Order of Restoration.

Biography

Covenant political career

During the time of the Covenant, Nesto was the leader of the Order of Restoration, a fanatical sect which had been shrouded in secrecy for many ages. The Order of the Restoration was a clandestine group of high-profile San'Shyuum who had allegedly pulled the strings of the Covenant's politicians and nobility, all the while secretly plotting to restore the old ways of their forebears on Janjur Qom. It was an invisible lineage that flowed from the earliest days of the Covenant, even their time on Anodyne Spirit. While Nesto never laid claim to the position of Hierarch, he was in many ways a shadow master of the Covenant, governing the purposes of the High Council and even exploiting many former Prophets through countless divinatory maneuverings. Nesto claimed to have done so since the very dawn of the empire thousands of years before and that he was the oldest living being in the galaxy. Nesto's will was never denied and he never failed to accomplish his purpose, leaving him in many respects without rival as Nesto operated silently from within the Forerunner Dreadnought.

Severan first encountered Nesto in around 2535 when he was still a young warrior within the Covenant. While Severan's father Tartarus was attempting to lay claim to the title of Chieftain of the Jiralhanae in the eyes of the Hierarchs, Nesto took an interest in Severan, becoming his daskalo.

During the Fall of High Charity, Nesto escaped on the San'Shyuum flotilla, the greatest and most powerful San'Shyuum to survive the destruction of both High Charity and the Covenant.

Rebuilding the Covenant

In the years following the fall of the Covenant, Nesto consolidated whatever remained of the San'Shyuum's influence into the Order of Restoration, carefully making preparations for the Covenant to rise again. Although many attempted to unite the empire's former species under one banner, all had failed. Unlike everyone else, Nesto had the strategic acumen, connections and the history to make it happen.

Rather than openly assaulting one of his opponents and seizing their strongholds, Nesto set himself up on the human colony world of Venezia which no one paid any regard, including the humans who lived there. This allowed his enemies to remain in the dark until everything was in order. The choice of location proved to be advantageous as all those under Nesto's command came and went as they pleased and any humans who were suspisious could be easily bought off. While Nesto's forces amassed starships and weapons on outer worlds, they could coordinate everything on Venezia, right under the nose of their greatest enemies.

As a part of his plans, Nesto contacted Severan, promising the Jiralhanae a place at his right hand, appointed as an instrumental part in the Covenant's restoration. First, Severan was to build up the Vanguard of Zaladon, drawing in both his rivals and allies, something that he accomplished with little difficulty. Through his cousin Choros, Severan attained a position as a War Chief in the Banished, something that he and Nesto would use to their advantage when the time came. Nesto also formed an alliance with Sali 'Nyon and his Covenant with 'Nyon pledging all of his forces to Nesto's cause. In exchange for their help, Nesto promised 'Nyon and Severan the same thing: a position of authority in the resurrected Covenant, and a place at the head of the Covenant's military.

Nesto sought to secure the Lithos, a gateway into the Domain. During the Fall of Reach, while serving under the command of Tulum 'Juranai, 'Nyon had recovered a record of a living clone of Dr. Catherine Halsey that held the key to accessing the Domain. Swords of Sanghelios ranger teams under the command of Mahkee 'Chava extracted a message from Nesto to Kafo Dein about this from a relay mite attached to a battlecruiser belonging to 'Nyon that was stationed on Venezia.

Search for the Lithos

At Boundary, the Banished fleet established a defensive shell around the planet and were engaged by the UNSC Victory of Samothrace and the three remaining ships of Battle Group Omega, destroying two karves and a skeid in the first pass, but losing the UNSC Easy Does It in the process. During this pass, the UNSC Hazard Pay scanned the planet and discovered more Banished vehicles and personnel on-station in Tyrrhen than most of the UNSC had seen since the Fall of Reach. When Victory and Omega returned with the Shadow of Intent and Akkadian, the Banished sent several dozen vessels to intercept them. Through superior tactics, the UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios ships destroyed several Banished vessels. The Victory received word that the UNSC was sending reinforcements in the form of the Fourth, Sixth, Ninth and Thirteenth expeditionary fleets to enable the Victory and Omega to finish their job which was to interface the key with the Lithos or destroy it in order to keep the Banished, Nesto and anyone else from accessing the Lithos. The tau spike from the arrival of the UNSC fleets -- nearly two hundred ships in total -- spooked the Banished into breaking up their defensive shell into smaller fleets to counter it.

On the surface, Banished forces led by Severan, Ectorius, Dreka 'Xulsam and Gathgor excavated the location of the Lithos. However, the other Banished leaders began to grow suspicious of Severan's knowledge of the Lithos and his actions in withdrawing from the attack on Earth. However, Dovo Nesto learned that UNSC ground forces, the Swords of Sanghelios were on their way and even with Cortana's destruction, the Lithos still required a key and that the Domain had been built by a predecessor race to the Forerunners. Nesto revealed that he had eyes everywhere and learned that a human girl was the key to accessing the Lithos and the Domain.

However, a fleet from Sali 'Nyon's Covenant arrived as well and helped to push the UNSC forces back. The Covenant forces were let through the defensive shell because they had Severan's own fleet's clearance codes. The number of Covenant ships was great enough and they were everywhere once they got through the defensive shell that the Banished were unable to stop Sali 'Nyon from sending out detachments to claim the key to the Lithos for himself. The collusion between Nesto and 'Nyon caused Severan to realize that Nesto had promised the Sangheili what he had already promised Severan. 'Nyon himself made his way to the Banished encampment where Nesto revealed himself, surprising the members of the Eight who were on the ground as they were unaware of Severan working with a San'Shyuum and leading to a standoff that 'Nyon tried to defuse. Covenant dropships unloaded several waves of soldiers which converged on the group of leaders, creating a tense situation where the Banished now appeared to be outnumbered. The UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios team attempted to assassinate Nesto and 'Nyon, but they were betrayed by Blademaster Vul 'Soran and Spartan Merrick who injured Jai-006 and Adriana-111 and killed Spartan Stefan Vidalin.

With this development and with the Banished only minutes away from reaching the Lithos, Victory was ordered to destroy the Lithos from orbit with MAC strike in order to deny it to both the Banished and the Covenant. Captain Abigail Cole had the Shadow of Intent attempt to warn the surface team of the incoming strike while ordering the remaining UNSC ships to provide Victory with cover to make the shot against the combined Banished and Covenant forces.

The Banished and Covenant leaders were able to reach an uneasy peace, but Severan realized that he had been lied to and manipulated by Nesto due to not only his alliance with 'Nyon, but Nesto's utter disregard for Severan's ability to accomplish their shared goals despite all he'd pledged and was willing to jeopardize the War Chief's standing with Atriox to undermine it. Nesto's reaction to Severan's lack of respect confirmed that he saw the War Chief only as a pawn and Severan deduced that Nesto had promised 'Nyon the same thing that he had promised Severan: a position of authority in the resurrected Covenant, and a place at the head of the Covenant's military which 'Nyon's surprised reaction confirmed. When Severan refused to bow before the San'Shyuum's right to divinity despite the Banished forces being completely surrounded, Nesto attacked him with 'Nyon's energy sword, but the War Chief cut Nesto's arm off with one of his arm blades, causing battle to break out between the Banished and the Covenant, both on the planet's surface and in orbit.

As the battle raged, James managed to catch up with Arxus and kill him, rescuing Chloe, and helping her to escape from the planet at the cost of his own life.

On the last of the escalating platforms of the Lithos, Nesto, 'Nyon and Severan took cover behind a series of vertical barriers, firing unrelentingly into each other's position. Phantoms from each side moved in and extracted the leaders, leaving the Banished and Covenant ground troops fighting each other without any sort of coordination or cohesion. The UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios team received contact from Rtas 'Vadum ordering them to evacuate before the site was destroyed by the Victory.

In orbit, the Victory was nearly able to get into position to fire before the Banished flagship Heart of Malice joined the fight, ramming the Victory off target and damaging the drive control system, rending Victory unable to maneuver in any way. However, Victory's speed and trajectory still put it in position to fire upon the Lithos. The remaining ships of Omega held off the Banished flagship long enough for Victory to get into position to fire. Victory's MAC successfully fired into the Lithos just before the UNSC flagship was rammed by the Heart of Malice again. Thousands of Banished and Covenant were killed in the strike while the Lithos burst into a pillar of light that tore into the sky. Several dozen ships were vaporized by the Lithos' destruction while others were severely damaged, either cast adrift or sent on a collision course with the planet's surface. The attack sent Victory plummeting to the planet's surface, but the ship's drive actuators unexpectedly came back online, allowing the bridge crew to level the ship out as much as possible before Victory crash landed on Boundary.

The shockwave from the strike caused both Severan's Phantom and 'Nyon's to crash. With the Lithos destroyed, Severan contacted the Heart of Malice and ordered the retreat of all of the remaining Banished ships. Taking an overturned Covenant Ghost, Severan chased down 'Nyon and Nesto as they escaped in a Abatyar-pattern Revenant to a parked Phantom. Severan caught up with the two at the Phantom, killing the Revenant's driver and two guards. Severan dueled 'Nyon, ultimately decapitating and killing the Covenant leader. Before Severan could kill Nesto, he was stabbed through the back by 'Soran who left Severan to die as 'Soran and Nesto escaped in the dropship. However, Severan was rescued by Kaevus in a Trespasser.

Continuing his mission

Onboard the Breath of Annihilation, Nesto used a Forerunner gene-forge to regrow his severed arm. With Sali 'Nyon dead, Nesto took control of his Covenant and all of its resources for his continuing mission to restore the Covenant empire. Nesto told Vul 'Soran that with the loss of the Lithos, they would be forced to achieve their goals another way and asked what he knew of Cloister. 'Soran knew that it was what Rtas 'Vadum and the Shadow of Intent had been searching for, the final destination of the San'Shyuum flotilla. However, neither he nor 'Vadum knew any more than that about it. Nesto explained that Cloister lay at the very heart of the San'Shyuum's designs, holding many ancient secrets within going back to a time when the race was possessed of great youth and vitality. It was also the source of Nesto's knowledge about the Lithos. Having infiltrated the Covenant remnant, Ayit 'Sevi sent a message to Admiral Jilan al-Cygni warning her of this development.

Personality and traits

Although Nesto put on a kind and wise facade, in reality he was extremely treacherous, deceitful and manipulative, only seeing Severan -- someone whom he had mentored and referred to as "my son" while addressing him -- as a pawn rather than as a leader, a mere game piece Nesto had dispatched to do his bidding. Nesto promised both Severan and Sali 'Nyon a place at his side in the restored Covenant as the head of the Covenant's military in order to gain their support. While Nesto was able to fool Severan for decades, his facade slipped when the San'Shyuum High Lord risked Severan's position with the Banished by bringing Sali 'Nyon's Covenant in, confirming Severan's growing suspicions. Severan's defiance caused Nesto to lose his patience and temper and show his true colors for a moment.

Nesto believed in his own right to divinity as well as that of the San'Shyuum as a whole and as a result, expected those not of his race to bow before him. When the Banished refused to do so and Severan taunted him, Nesto completely snapped, grabbed 'Nyon's energy sword, and attacked Severan personally which proved to be a grave error as Severan blocked the blow and cut the High Lord's arm off.

While elderly, unlike most of his kind who required mobility apparatuses to get around, Nesto was able to walk, possessed an unnatural resilience, and never aged. Nesto claimed that he had been granted eternal youth by the gods during the time of the Covenant's formation. Nesto claimed to be the oldest living being in the galaxy, having been around since the formation of the Covenant thousands of years before. At least some of his unusual traits were due to Nesto's use of Forerunner technology such as the gene-forge which allowed him to regrow a severed arm.

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List of appearances

• Halo: Empty Throne (First appearance)