Kel Zantak (Halo)

  Kel Zantak    

Pronouns: They/He/It 

Species: Sangheili (Elite)

Occupation: 
Before the Great Schism: Officer (demoted to a minor foot soldier after the first Flood outbreak on Installation 04).
After the Great Schism: Diplomat for the Swords of Sanghelios

Age: 35 as of 2558 (In human years)

Personality/Weaknesses/Strengths:
Kel is intelligent, quick-witted, and surprisingly kind despite his upbringing. After living alongside humans on Carrow for a year, he took on a much more open-minded philosophy, and took to diplomacy and literature. Like most of how his kind has been taught, however, he can be painfully blunt and forceful, but he has learned to be more considerate and mindful. Despite his appreciation of humans, he is aware of their wrongdoings and what they had done to him and his species during the Human-Covenant War, and hasn't fully forgiven them. Kel is also fiercely protective when it wants to be, but takes to more defensive forms of fighting and using his own body as a shield in battlefield situations.

Because of how he chooses to fight, Kel is easily susceptible to damage, and ends up relying on his companions/personal guard to protect him. He believes that it is a fair exchange for trust and friendship, even if it weakens him greatly.

Preferred Weapons:
Before the Great Schism: Needler, Energy Pistol, Energy Sword (when he was granted it)
After the Great Schism: None/Personalized Energy Shield

Story: 
(I'm using he/him here for consistency)

Kel Zantak (who's name stands for light that dances on the waves) grew up on the Sangheili homeworld Sanghelios, where he spent a great deal of his time in his youth using Arums and practicing swordsmanship. Kel was very different from his kinsmen because while he enjoyed fighting as a sport he did not revel in bloodshed or death. This made him appear weak, and in an attempt to save himself from dying at his family's hand because of it he joined the Covenant military and was given a high-ranking position thanks to his family's legacy. Despite being a warrior, he never earned the "-ee" suffix, which is used to represent status. He never wanted it for himself, which did not help his already poor reputation. 

 Kel is one of the very few of his kind to hate unnecessary violence, seeing it as a necessity rather than an honor. This made him appear foolish, however, he managed to keep his position for a short time thanks to his intelligence and knack for strategy.

Eventually Kel was stripped of his rank and reduced to a minor soldier on the field after Thel 'Vadam was stripped of his own rank and reduced to the Arbiter, as Kel was once under his ruling. After being replaced and put into a position he greatly hated, he eventually fled in the middle of the Great Schism during a battle aboard one of the Covenant vessels near High Charity before the Flood managed to overtake it, fleeing with a few hundred others to various Sangheili inhabited colonies nearby. Kel found himself on Carrow, which eventually welcomed humans after the Human-Covenant War was finished in 2553. Taking advantage of his interest towards humans, he decided to settle amongst them, ridding himself of his weapons and armor in exchange for a more harmless appearance, as he didn't need to worry about punishment or death for being seen as 'weak'. He eventually learned to speak English without need of a translator and learned about human customs. 

Upon hearing about the Swords of Sanghelios a year or so later, Kel decided to join them as a potential diplomat and advisor between them and the humans. He believed that with his knowledge of human culture and language, along with his natural dislike of violence, he could prove to be useful and help the humans warm up to his own kind after the Human-Covenant War.

After meeting with Thel 'Vadam briefly, he was given the position as an official diplomat to the Swords of Sanghelios after proving his worth, and was constructed his own armor. He also chose to wore a cape, which is unconventional to wear in battle, as a sign of peace. Seeing this, he was granted his own small personal guard of Unggoy (Grunts) to protect him if he needed it. One particular Unggoy, known as Lanam, grew close to Kel after he saved her life during a battle with Jul 'Mdama's Covenant on a human colony, which is not something she and her kind are used to. Because of this, Lanam saw Kel not just as a position to protect, but as a close friend. 

Eventually, Kel and Lanam were invited aboard a UNSC ship known as The Legacy, which would be attacked by a squad of ships under Jul 'Mdama. In a panic, Lanam led Kel to the docking bay, putting them into an escape pod and landing on the nearby newly established human-sangheili colony Opulence. The two crash-landed on a beach, along with several other escape pods, and they took to finding fellow survivors that managed to escape the battle. Eventually, Kel and Lanam stumbled across a heavily wounded UNSC soldier known as Pvt. Perrison (which Lanam helpfully pointed out after seeing his tag). Without a second thought, Kel carried the injured Perrison several miles after bandaging his wounds to a nearby settlement, hoping to seek asylum from the Covenant forces now approaching the planet.