Covenant: Difference between revisions

The Covenant began a genocidal campaign against humanity, seeking out their worlds one by one and wiping them clean of all life. If the colony was especially important, they would scorch the planet's entire surface and mark it with a glyph of their religion, in a process known as [[glassing]]. Humanities military, The [[United Nations Space Command]] fought back, and managed to slow the Covenant's military progress through new security protocols, and launching major offensive strikes at key Covenant military strongholds, and ship manufacturing worlds.  

After decades of struggle, some Sangheili within the Covenant began to question why humanity was not offered a chance to join the Covenant as other races had.<ref name="convo">'''Halo 2''', ''[[Conversations from the Universe]]''</ref> Despite the struggle on both sides, and the losses, Humanity proved to be the greatest military threat the Covenant ever faced. They were especially troubled by their soldiers called [[Spartan]]s, who were more than a match for them in battles and often killed thousands of Covenant by themselves.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 349''</ref> While these idle heresies did not halt the Covenant's military push on the Humans, doubt began to surface as to the wisdom of the Prophets' ultimate goals; a doubt that was carefully observed by the spies of the Hierarchs.<ref name="convo"/> Notably, a major break-off faction known as the [[Banished]] was created by [[Jiralhanae Chieftain]] [[Atriox]] as a result of his disgruntlement with the Prophets' rule, and proceeded to persistently raid Covenant supplies for years while the Human-Covenant War raged on.<ref>'''Halo Wars 2''', campaign level ''[[A New Enemy]]''</ref>

The Covenant delivered a serious blow to the UNSC as both sides suffered devastating military losses at the [[Fall of Reach]] and the [[Battle of Tribute]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 320'' (2001 edition)</ref><ref>'''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''', ''Dutch's biography''</ref> After the UNSC stronghold [[Reach]] fell to the Covenant, they made a discovery of tremendous significance: a single UNSC vessel, the [[UNSC Pillar of Autumn|''Pillar of Autumn'']], had made a supposedly blind jump away from the battle, inadvertently leading the [[Fleet of Particular Justice|pursuing Covenant fleet]] to the location of [[Installation 04|one]] of the seven Halo rings.<ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''', campaign level ''[[The Pillar of Autumn (Halo: Combat Evolved level)|The Pillar of Autumn]]''</ref> The Covenant's celebration following the discovery of this prized relic was short-lived, however, as after landing on the ring Covenant soldiers accidentally released the dormant [[Flood]]. A small group of UNSC forces—among them the fearsome, enigmatic soldier known to Covenant forces as "[[John-117|the Demon]]"—managed to destroy the ring by detonating the ''Pillar of Autumn'''s [[fusion drive|fusion engines]].<ref>'''Halo: Combat Evolved''', campaign level ''[[The Maw]]''</ref> [[Thel 'Vadam]]ee, the [[Supreme Commander]] of the fleet present at Halo, was branded a heretic for his failure to save the ring,<ref>'''Halo 2''', campaign level ''[[The Heretic]]''</ref> although he was subsequently appointed an [[Arbiter]].<ref>'''Halo 2''', campaign level ''[[The Arbiter]]''</ref>