Prophet of Truth Early Biography Halo

“I am Truth! The voice of the Covenant!”
— Truth's last words

The High Prophet of Truth, born Ord Casto, and formerly known as the Minister of Fortitude, was the leader of the three Prophet Hierarchs that led the Covenant High Council during the Ninth Age of Reclamation, the central antagonist in Halo 2 and 3, and one of the main instigators of the war against humanity. In 2552, he plotted the ousting of the Sangheili from the Covenant, and replaced them with the Jiralhanae after the death of the High Prophet of Regret on Installation 05. After the demise of the High Prophet of Mercy on High Charity, he became the de facto leader of the Covenant, from which position he lead their forces to the Artifact in Africa, and eventually to the Ark in an attempt to activate the Halo Array, where he was later killed by Thel 'Vadam.

As a character, he is widely considered to be the main antagonist of Halo 2 and Halo 3, and the main enemy of Thel 'Vadam.

23rd Age of DoubtEdit

Ord Casto began his political career as a junior staffer in the Ministry of Concert. During his time in the Ministry, he unearthed a conspiracy by several Kig-Yar Shipmasters to poison Infusions, recreational narcotics often enjoyed by Unggoy. The Kig-Yar planned to render the Unggoy infertile, as petty revenge for the displacement of Kig-Yar nests caused by a recent boom in Unggoy population. Although Casto recommended stiff penalties, the Minister of Concert decided to simply fine the Kig-Yar involved. Casto lodged a formal complaint, but was rebuffed by his superiors. However, the Infusion Incident quickly escalated into a bloody skirmish known as the Unggoy Rebellion, bringing about the 39th Age of Conflict. After the Unggoy were pacified and brought back into the Covenant, the 23rd Age of Doubt began, and Casto was promoted to Minister of Fortitude. Throughout his service in this position, Fortitude worked hard to see that Forerunner technology was evenly distributed among the member races to prevent another Age of Conflict. Fortitude was on the Roll of Celibates, a list of San'Shyuum not allowed to breed due to their weak genes. This did not, however, particularly bother him. As the Minister of Fortitude, he was fond of smoking, yet he rarely used the hookah tobaccos favored by his senior staff.

In 2525, according to the UNSC Military Calendar, Fortitude found himself involved in a conspiracy when the Vice Minister of Tranquility, later known as the Prophet of Regret, informed him of the massive trove of "Forerunner artifacts" (which was actually the human population of Harvest) that a Luminary had discovered on that planet. Tranquility planned to use these artifacts to spring himself into a position of high power, as a Hierarch of the Covenant, and offered the same for Fortitude. This marked the first alliance between the Prophets and the Jiralhanae, as Tranquility wisely decided to use them to retrieve these artifacts, rather than upset the fine balance of power by allowing the Sangheili to gain the treasures.

In order to push the three current Hierarchs, Tolerance, Obligation and Restraint from their positions, Fortitude utilized blackmail against the Prophet of Restraint. Tranquility had shown himself as a sympathizer for those blacklisted from reproducing due to inborn genes, after being urged to do so by Fortitude who was aware that Restraint had illegitimately fathered two children. The Prophet of Restraint offered Tranquility a high position if he would adopt the children, but the scheming Prophets instead used this to their advantage, blackmailing him and forcing the Prophet to step down or have his scandalous affair made public.

Before their coup, the Prophets visited an "Oracle" within the Forerunner dreadnought, an ancient AI known as 032 Mendicant Bias, that had stored itself in the ship and had not spoken for several hundred years. When the Luminations of Harvest were inserted into its matrix, it suddenly reactivated and revealed that the symbols had been misinterpreted - that humans stood as equals to the Forerunners, that the hallowed "Reclamation" glyph actually meant "Reclaimer," and that the Covenant had been mistaken in their beliefs that all of the Forerunners had transcended when they initiated the Great Journey. This was a massive revelation with great implications for the whole Covenant: If humans were the chosen successors of the Forerunners (or were surviving Forerunners themselves) yet had not transcended when the Sacred Rings were last activated, then that meant that the Halos would not necessarily provide godhood to all who walked the divine path. This knowledge, if revealed to the masses of Covenant followers, would lead to revolt, the collapse of the entire Covenant Hierarchy, and the Prophets being deposed as divine leaders; the Prophets' age-old promise was that none would be left behind when the Great Journey began.

The Oracle tried to launch the Dreadnought from High Charity to find and bring the humans to The Ark, but before it could succeed, the Lekgolo worms that were tasked with exploring the Dreadnought's inner regions short-circuited the connection, and the two co-conspirators, along with the Philologist (leader of the ascetic priests and later the Prophet of Mercy), disconnected the Oracle from the ship. When Fortitude realized the implications of what the Oracle had told them, he and the other two Hierarchs-to-be agreed not to tell the masses of their discovery and decided that the humans must be eradicated once and for all before any of the Covenant could learn the truth.

The three Prophets successfully implemented their plan and became the new rulers of the Covenant which heralded the beginning of the Ninth Age of Reclamation. Fortitude chose the name "Truth" as a reminder to himself of the truths he must never tell and the lies he would have to spin in order to prevent the Covenant from fragmenting.