Decimus

Decimus
Biographical information
Died:	March 30, 2559
Personal details
Species:	Jiralhanae
Gender:	Male
Height:	Taller than Atriox
Hair color:	White
Eye color:	Yellow
Political and military information
Affiliation:	Covenant (formerly); The Banished;
Rank:	General

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"The Covenant could not stop us. You have no chance."

— Decimus to humans from the UNSC Spirit of Fire^[3]

Decimus was a Jiralhanae warrior who founded the Banished alongside Atriox when the two of them and several other Jiralhanae rebelled against the Covenant Executioner. Decimus had been serving as Atriox's right hand ever since and was a general in the Banished.^[1]

Biography

The Covenant and the Banished

Decimus prepares to slam a Sangheili into the ground.

Decimus once served in the Covenant's military. He fought in the genocidal war against humanity. He was present on Algolis when Atriox, the survivor of numerous suicide missions and a disbeliever in the Covenant's Great Journey and the war, was meant to be executed.^[3] He was inspired by Atriox's refusal to allow himself to be killed and his defiance of the giant empire. At that moment Decimus sprung into action. He and other Jiralhanae killed all of the Sangheili present in the immediate area.^[3] Decimus personally was responsible for numerous deaths, which he caused without the aid of any weapons.^[3] Forthwith, he fell to both knees before Atriox and pledged to follow him. From that day onward, he was Atriox's right hand. He served in the Banished as a general^[1] and had command of multiple types of units, including Jiralhanae Warlords and Unggoy thrall-taskmasters. He accompanied Atriox during raids on Covenant supply lines and stores to build up a formidable amount of ordnance stolen from the hegemony.^[3]

Recruiting Sig Raan

After the foundation of the Banished, Decimus travelled to a secret Covenant facility on the planet Otraak to attempt to recruit a Kig-Yar scientist named Sig Raan in an effort to expand the Banished's technological base and support their fleets.^[4]

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The Ark and death

"The Ark is ours, humans, and no one will stand before the might of the Banished!"

— Decimus to UNSC forces while in the midst of battle with them.

Decimus, fully-armored, emerges from a portal.

In November of 2558, the Banished arrived in force at Installation 00 aboard the Enduring Conviction. Decimus personally led the subsequent attack on the humans at the Henry Lamb Research Outpost. He and a contingent of Banished ground forces massacred everyone in sight easily. Following this, Decimus was charged with establishing a system of power extraction and excavation across multiple sites on the Ark. In addition to plundering the massive Forerunner installation's resources, he also directed the collection of salvage left over from the prior Battle of Installation 00 in 2552. Over the next few months, these endeavors grew in scope. Accessing a Cartographer allowed the Banished to take control of the installation's local portal network, which made travel and coordination between many sites much more effective.

When the Template:UNSCship arrived at the Ark on March 28, 2559, one of the first things the Banished were required to defend was one of these sites where Decimus was in charge of resource gathering. Around R-6029-4452 according to a Sangheili method of keeping time, a base under the control of Decimus was destroyed by Jerome-092 and Strike One. At first, the Jiralhanae general was unaware as to why contact had been lost with his contacts at the base, but it wasn't long before the attack and the humans' presence became known to him. At first, he called for shipmaster Let 'Volir to target a newly-built UNSC firebase with pulse laser turrets as a short show of force. As the marines and the Spartan were undissuaded, however, Decimus finally appeared on the battlefield himself. From the ground, Decimus not only took on the many fighters himself in close-quarters combat, but also repeatedly ordered the shipmaster to target his own location briefly and with precision, as he was protected from the lasers by a powerful energy shield that his mechanized power armor could encapsulate him in for short periods. When it became clear that he would not be able to fend off the attack, Decimus retreated but the Enduring Conviction continued to bombard the area, killing UNSC and Banished troops alike, ostensibly to keep the humans from learning anything from the operation. He was ordered to report to Atriox immediately following this loss.

Decimus would not step into the fray again until two days later on March 30, when UNSC forces were making a push to cripple the portal network by destroying its central hub. He had been reassigned to protect the portals after the extent of the network was discovered by the enemy. Decimus, enraged, made a bold stand against the aggressors, wherein he coordinated with the Conviction similarly to the previous engagement. The combined fire of the many humans present eventually killed him at this time.

Personality and traits

"He is Atriox's right—hand and pledges loyalty to the Banished, but as I watched him walk among the ancient's halls I recognized the awe and reverence in his eyes that I once saw among my own clan. I saw that fatal longing, that tragic need to be once more struck dumb and blind by the promise of a wondrous destiny. If we are to succeed, Decimus must purge these old conflicts from his thoughts. A warrior's heart must be certain if he is to survive, as doubt is a surer killer than the sharpest blade."

— Orda Val 'Saham on Decimus' reaction to the wonders of the Ark.

Decimus kills a Sangheili by breaking his neck.

Decimus was ruthless and extremely bloodthirsty, boasting almost unparalleled, raw physical strength. Fighting for the glory to kill, Decimus was considered to be the embodiment of every horror story that has been passed around through the UNSC Marine Corps about battling Jiralhanae. When he served the Covenant during the Human-Covenant War, he took particular delight in hand-to-hand combat with the outmatched soldiers of the United Nations Space Command. Decimus respected strength above all else and held the traditional Jiralhanae belief that "might makes right"; Atriox gained Decimus' absolute loyalty after he successfully rebelled against the Covenant,^[1] becoming known as his right hand. As befitting his rank, Decimus had his own personal Jiralhanae Warlord lieutenants but he also relished the chance to make a personal appearance on the field against particularly stubborn enemies. Decimus' bloodlust often whipped troops under his command into a frenzied rampage. While the Jiralhanae who make up Atriox's Chosen share their leader's cunning, Decimus encouraged more base traits in his warriors, chief among which was the unquenchable thirst for blood.

Decimus still harbored resentment against the Sangheili that serve the Banished due to how they treated the Jiralhanae in the Covenant. As such, Decimus took a sadistic joy in ordering the Sangheili of the Banished on dangerous, and often suicidal, missions.^[1] Like Atriox, Decimus despises the Covenant and its remnants.^[5] Unlike many in the Banished, Decimus secretly continued to harbor a belief in the divinity of the Forerunners right up until his death. Orda Val 'Saham, a Sangheili guard who reported to him, noted that he regarded the Forerunner architecture on the Ark with reverence and awe. In his eyes, 'Saham saw what he regarded as a fatal longing and a tragic need to be struck dumb and blind by the promise of a wondrous destiny.^[6]

Equipment

Decimus wore a powered exoskeleton into battle when the Spirit of Fire appeared at the Ark. This exoskeleton increased his strength and granted him a great deal of protection from weaponry.^[7] When engaging UNSC forces for the second time, Decimus bragged that his armor had been improved in the meantime since the last fight. Decimus wielded a modified gravity hammer that could be used to pull vehicles and infantry toward him so he could then smash them, in addition to unleashing a devastating gravity vortex.