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After the end of Halo 3, The Sangheili have vastly diminished in power from what I understand. They are now a fractured race, they are fighting amongst themselves, and their military society is severely lacking in the scientific prowess necessary to maintain their once mighty empire.
Power is measured relatively in this sense. Compared to their former selves, they are a shadow of their former selves. Compared to humanity, they are still a dangerous threat. As evidenced by Spartan Ops' final episode showing Jul 'Mdama to have amassed a fleet of around 100 ships, and having rebuilt a sizable organization of credible military threat to Earth from a bunch of backwater Sangheili frontier worlds, and being able to take the Infinity over his lap on several occasions (And evidenced by the Infinity being crippled quite promptly by a Covenant orbital facility in Escalation) humanity isn't anywhere near a comfortable position against them and won't be for a very long time.
If we want to understand how their fracturing occurred then that also requires focus on them. This is just another way of phrasing what I said about us needing to understand what factors prevent the Sangheili from finishing of humanity, whether they choose to accept humanity or otherwise. That is one of the reasons why I think it's silly to be complaining about the Sangheili getting a lot of attention for post Halo 3. They are a big threat to humanity and so understanding their cultural and societal changes is important for understanding how humanity survives.
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Seriously...unless you are in the military, everything else is considered dishonorable, scientific endeavors included.
Citation needed. The
reference that I have from the Bestiarum says that they are merely regarded as hobbies. Dishonor isn't a factor in anything. Lack of potential to gain honor is a distinct concept from dishonor.
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They will not be Tier 2 for long at this rate. In fact, it is very foreseeable, that if ONI goes unchecked in their continued efforts to cause unrest with the Sangheili, that Humanity will far surpass them in every measurable sense.
What ONI is doing is like trying to stop a freight train by shooting at it with a potato gun or something. It's one of the most hilarious things I've read not least of all because that's not how black ops should work.
The Sangheili were mentioned in Escalations to have had some fortune in recent years under Thel's leadership. That's not entirely surprising as the idea that the Sangheili could do nothing on their own was always one of the daftest ideas in Halo. There's no way that you are going to relocate the entire STEM job market and industry from an entire species over to just 23 million people (The total population of Prophets in 2552), nor is it feasible for hundreds of millions of Huragok to just vanish in an instant. Their issues have been greatly over-exaggerated, both by fans and certain authors who don't do any research on subject material or relevant real world facts (A lot more focus needs to be paid to the Sangheili before this entire situation about them not being able to do anything makes even a lick of sense. We actually know nothing about how the social mechanics of such a scenario could even develop, and I'm not sure they ever could).
Given their seemingly rapid recovery implied by Escalations, it leaves very little window of opportunity for humanity to surpass them greatly. I have no doubt that humanity is going to surpass them due to the reclaimer title and Librarian's help, but the Sangheili are never going to be too far behind given all the power they still posses in the Orion Arm. Want an idea of the difference that humanity has to close? It bankrupt the entire UNSC to build the Infinity alone, whilst the Sangheili had the resources and infrastructure to churn out 5km long CAS class Assault Carriers; they equip armour of comparable quality and capability to Mjolnir on all of their basic infantry; armor that costs as much as a Frigate for the UNSC. Only ONI has access to cutting edge real time interstellar com units, whilst every keep among the Sangheili seems to have one lying around like a cellphone. The Sangheili have also successfully integrated energy shielding into their everyday infrastructure, like that hydro-electric power station made entirely (And stupidly) out of an energy barrier.
The human race not only has to develop such technology, they have to make it affordable for mass production and consumption on the scale that the Sangheili have achieved. That's a lot more difficult than just making a working prototype in a lab or a single technology demonstrator, especially given that the UNSC doesn't have access to the Sangheili's vast manpower or resources.
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They are not as important to the Galaxy as they used to be. In fact, I dare say, that they are quickly becoming a second-tier race who will not be in any shape to actually be important enough to have any impact on the Reclamation.
They'll probably be like the Ancient Human Empire before the Forerunners actually, given what I already mentioned. Not more powerful or advanced than the Forerunners, but strong enough that entering into a war with them to annex their territory was unwise; strong enough that they can potentially roadblock you.
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While I doubt Humanity could mop the floor with The Elites as it stands, the Elites have diminished to the point where they could now lose an all-out war with Humanity.
Prove it. What about post-Halo 3 humanity suggests to you that they could take on the Elites and win in an all out war? Considering that the Elite's fractured state likely won't remain like that once a clear external enemy presents itself to them, how is humanity going to hope to mount an offensive into space they know nothing about, against defenses that they clearly know nothing about given how easily one of their orbital stations popped the Infinity? The Elites fought off the Loyalists for 6 years after the Schism, who are a much stronger opponent than post-Halo 3 humanity. How is the UNSC supposed to do better than the Brutes and Prophets with 80% of the species wiped out along with most of the military-industrial and economic base?
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In summation, The Elites are no longer as pivotal as they used to be...and they basically did it to themselves cause they could not accept their punishment for allowing Mr-117 to kill Regret.
That's not what caused the Schism...
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Based on that alone, it is safe to assume that The Sangheili are in serious trouble as it stands. This is what I like to see, as it gives the other races room to flourish.
Based on that, it looks like Halopedia (Or wherever you got that from) isn't keeping up with Escalations. It certainly doesn't look like The Return to me.
There are other and more interesting ways to create a setting where other races flourish whilst the Sangheili aren't basically retconned out of existence by waving hands and making their entire empire literally disappear in the blink of an eye.
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Also...you didn't ruin my statistic...you proved it.
Do tell. I'm very interested to know in which one of my posts I demonstrated the clear capacity to "revel in [my] hate of the Jiralhanea".