The Covenant is a religious imperial alliance of alien races from the Xbox video game franchise Halo.

Society

The Covenant, governed by the Prophets in a theocratic manner and advised by a High Council, are extremely religious. They worship the Forerunners, an unknown ancient race who have left behind many artifacts and technologies. There is speculation that several races of the Covenant are actually descended from the Forerunners, but this is entirely unsubstantiated. It is believed that the Covenant conquer alien races and force them into the alliance, adding to their ranks.

In 2552, Ninth Age of Reclamation, the Covenant splintered into three factions: Covenant Loyalists, the pro-United Nations Space Command-Forerunner Separatists, and the recently defeated pro-Forerunner Heresy.

The Covenant Homeworld is the mobile, planet-like city of High Charity, which was deserted at the end of Halo 2 and the Heretic homeworld is Threshold, the gas giant planet from Halo: Combat Evolved.

Species

Covenant society uses a caste system with the following races (names are rough translations by the UNSC). The letters following each name denote each race's alignment Covenant Loyalist (L), Separatist (S), Heresy (H), or Neutral (N).

Prophets

(L) Prophets are the highest-ranking Covenant, fulfilling the role of religious and political leader. There are many "lower" Prophets, with titles such as "The Prophet of Supposition". The three highest-ranking Prophets are the Prophets of Truth, Mercy, and Regret.

Brutes

(L) Brutes are considered the personal bodyguards of the Prophets according to the third book. As of this writing, they are known to be very strong, in the books they are quoted as being capable of tearing apart a Hunter (although in the actual game, a Hunter can easily toss several Brutes around like rag dolls). They are the Elites' rivals and later enemies who became the new generals of the Covenant military after the death of the Prophet of Regret. They have a hairy gorilla-like and rhinoceros-like appearance. They are called Jiralhanae in the Covenant language.

Hunters

(S) Hunters are like walking tanks, with their massive size (8' in their normal contracted stance and 12' full sized), near impenetrable armor, and hand mounted cannons. They are by far the toughest infantry unit in the Halo series (with the possible exception of Tartarus). Hunters are actually a colonial organism, made up of thousands of wormlike creatures and possibly other organisms. The collective units are known to operate in pairs, calling each other 'Bond Brothers'. In the first game, they have an exposed region in their back that can allow a quick and easy kill via one pistol shot. (This weak spot is less vulnerable and better protected in the sequel, making Hunters more difficult to kill) They are called Lekgolo in the Covenant language.

Covenant Elite

(S)/(H) Elites are the generals of the Covenant military, the longtime guards of the Prophets and also the race from which Arbiters are selected, being the first of the races to join the Prophets in the Covenant. They stand 8' tall (close to the height of the Master Chief) and wear armor, with the color indicating rank, and use a shielding system similar to that of the MJOLNIR armor used by the Master Chief. They are both physically strong and capable of coordinating their units with brilliant battle tactics. The highest ranks go by gold, black, red, and then blue at the lowest; special operations commanders wear white and the Prophets' guards wear glowing samurai-style armor, the honor guard commanders wear the same glowing armor but with white background, while Councillors wear light blue with a tall crested helmet. Elites are typically promoted on the number of enemy kills they have achieved, meaning that a single gold Elite may have slaughtered millions before attaining that rank. They are called Sangheili in the Covenant language.

Jackals

(L) Jackals are the scouts of the Covenant, with their superior senses. They are 5'8" tall and carry a wrist-mounted energy shield that deflects bullets but is weak against plasma and physical attacks. They sometimes abandon the shields in favor of carrying the Particle Beam Rifle in their capacity as snipers. Their appearance is thin and bird-like, and their bodies are quite frail. They are called Kig-yar in the Covenant language.

Engineers

(Neutral) are the civilian engineers of the Covenant. They float via air sacs and manipulate machinery with their many tentacles. Engineers are capable of quickly learning the functionality of new technology. They are called Huragok or Hunagok in the Covenant language, and sometimes referred to as savants by the Humans. Their motivations are unknown, but they appear to draw no distinction between friend and foe, preferring to spend their time either inspecting or repairing technology. This is best demonstrated in Halo: First Strike, where an Engineer repairs the Master Chief's damaged shield generator. Engineers do not appear in the actual game and appear only in the novels, although 3D models of them exist buried in the game code and screenshots of the original Halo design.

Grunts

(S)/(H) Grunts are the work horse of the Covenant, as the name implies. Despite their obvious cowardice and stupidity, they are extremely large in numbers and, when cornered, can attack with suicidal desperation. Since their frozen homeworld is a naturally gaseous environment (Neon-Helium-Krypton 0.0004%, Methane 1.93%, as opposed to Earth, in which the quantities are officially known as 0.0001% and 'trace') they are forced to carry a large processor on their back which corrects the gas balance and pumps it to their almost universally recognized airmask. The grunts are approximately 4' 9" tall, which does not, unfortunately, give them any confidence when facing humans, though they lose most of their fear when locked into a plasma turret or a vehicle; they are, in fact—as a species—adept with most plasma technology. In spite of their low rank on the caste, some of the Grunts have been trained with the bulky, yet powerful, fuel rod guns and have been seen wearing re-inforced armour, coloured black (implying that they are special ops Grunts, since Elites wearing black armor are special ops Elites). This does not hold with classic Covenant operation, but it seems to be case. These prodigiously breeding creatures are called Unggoy in the Covenant language. Because of their aforementioned tendancy towards panic, dissarray, and dying, the Grunts are usually herded as cannon fodder and directed by one or more of the higher caste.

Drones

(Loyalists) are human-sized, insect-like beings with wings that can enable them a limited ability to fly. They are called Yanme'e in the Covenant language. They are also believed to aid in starship maintenance.

Great Journey

The Great Journey is a quasi-religious program the Covenant wish to complete.

They believe that the 7 Ringworlds called "Halos" must be activated, thus sending the entire race on a "Great Journey". As such, finding and activating these Halos is a prime goal of the Covenant.

However, few members in the Covenant are aware that these Halos, when activated, destroy all sentient life in the galaxy. Whether the Prophets do know the true effects of activating a Halo is uncertain, but they are hellbent on doing it, believing this will propel them into the "Divine Beyond", their promised land. The Halos were not built as religious icons; they are weapons (Fortress World Installations) built by the Forerunners to contain a race known as The Flood.

Technology

The Covenant are imitative rather than innovative like their human enemies. Their technology is largely stolen from leftover Forerunner artifacts. In the game, their weaponry is largely energy(plasma) based and their vehicles are capable of hovering and boosting. The precise mechanisms of their weaponry are unknown, however, it is known that the Needler utilizes some form of energy coil.

While Covenant techology is (on the whole) far better than humanity's, the Covenant seem to be ignorant of how precise or powerful their technology can be. Covenant engines, for example, are more precise and faster than a terran engine, but the Covenant use their engines slower and less precisely than they can be treated.

History

The Seven Ages

There are seven names to the Ages in Covenant's History. The current age is the Ninth Age of Reclamation.

Age(s) of Abandonment

Age(s) of Conflict

Age(s) of Discovery

Age(s) of Reconciliation

Age(s) of Conversion

Age(s) of Doubt

Age(s) of Reclamation

First Age of Abandonment: Early Conflicts and Foundation

Little is known about their history except that the Prophets and Elites' ancestors waged war on each other, but they formed the Covenant after finding evidence of the Forerunners and their "Great Journey."

Earlier Ages: Expansion and Crisis

They recruited other races around them. Extraordinary crisis (Taming of the Hunters, the Grunt Rebellion) which almost destroyed the Covenant were resolved by the first Arbiters.

Ninth Age of Reclamation (2525-2552(MIlitary Calendar)): War with Humanity, Forerunner Sentinels, and the Flood, and Civil War

When they first came into contact with Humanity, they regarded them and the expansion of their United Nations Empire as an affront to the Gods and waged a 30-year war that destroyed United Nations Empire, but not their Homeworld, Earth and its Solar System, because their Invasion force was reduced by Unyielding Hierophant's destruction and repulsed by the Master Chief. The turning of the tide of the War by the Spartans was very slow, but they scored victories by temporary deliving blows to the Covenant.

Halo 2 cast doubt on whether or not the Covenant knew that Earth was the Human homeworld. The Covenant had amassed an enormous fleet of over 500 ships at a refit station known as the Unyielding Hierophant with the intention of sending it to Earth, however, when Regret's ragtag fleet arrives, the appear to be surprised that humanity is on Earth. This gives us a clue that, perhaps, they came to Earth for other reasons.

Soon other Factions got involved in the War: the Flood and the Forerunner Sentinels.

The War, combined with a Civil War with the threat of Heresy and Master Chief's infilitration, followed by a Flood Invasion of High Charity, splintered the Covenant into the pro-UNSC Separatists—Hunters and Grunts led by the Elites—and the Loyalists—Brutes, Drones, Jackals, led by the Prophets.

Two of the Prophets Mercy and Regret, Tartarus, and the Councillors were killed or murdered and the Covenant is now in a position like the UNSC's: they will fall while on the edge of victory.

Weaponry

See List of Covenant weapons for a full list of weaponry.

The Covenant boast a large arsenal of plasma-projectile weapons. Most of the Covenant's weaponry uses a form of magnetic channeling that the human race has only learned to apply in the MAC gun aboard starships.

Plasma-based weaponry is very effective against energy shielding. The amount of shots that can be fired tends to be very high, but power cannot be recharged and firing many shots in a short duration can cause the weapon to overheat, which reduces energy use efficiency as well as forcing a temporary cooling period in which the weapon cannot be fired.

Vehicles

One of Halo's selling points is its implement of vehicles with realistic physics. Land based Covenant vehicles, unlike humans', are capable of hovering and are less prone to uneven terrain, and all appear to run on the 'Boosted Gravity Propulsion Drive'. All Covenant vehicles have a signature purple sheen.

For a detailed list of Covenant vehicles, see List of vehicles in the Halo universe#Covenant vehicles.

External links

• A Covenant Primer: The Best of the Bestiary (http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=covenanthierarchy)
• The Library: The Covenant (http://library.psyjnir.net/?id=2)
• Halo Story Page & Staten, Joe (2005). Joe Staten Interview. (http://halosm.bungie.org/story/staten102204.html) Retrieved January 9th, 2005.