Covenant religion

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This article is about The Covenant religion, also known as "The Great Journey". For the Halo 2 level, see H2:The Great Journey.

A symbol associated with the Path to the Great Journey.

"Every member of the Covenant shall walk the Path. None will be left behind when our Great Journey begins! That is the Prophets' age-old promise, and it shall be fulfilled!"

— The High Prophet of Regret

The Covenant religion, based upon the worship of the ancient race of beings known as the Forerunners. The Covenant commonly referred to the religion itself as the Great Journey and its teachings as the Path.

Background

The High Prophet of Truth activates the Halo Rings from the Ark.

According to the Covenant religion, the Forerunners, a race of enlightened beings regarded as nearly omniscient and all-powerful, discovered a way to transcend the physical world and became divine gods by activating the Halos, or "Sacred Rings" as referred to by members of the Covenant. The Halos supposedly uplifted the Forerunners into transsentience, but left all lesser, unworthy races behind. The Covenant believed themselves to be the chosen inheritors of the Forerunners, and sought to reclaim the "gifts" they left behind, in most cases lost technology. Their ultimate goal was to locate and activate the Halo installations. In doing so, it was believed that all faithful adherents to the Covenant religion would be uplifted as the Forerunners were, following them on a Great Journey resulting in godhood. This belief was shared, with varying degrees of sincerity, amongst all the Covenant's client races.

History

Reformists and Stoics

What would eventually become the Covenant religion was first practiced on Janjur Qom, the San'Shyuum homeworld. Janjur Qom was home to two influential factions, the Stoics and the Reformists. Although both factions believed in the prophecy of ascendancy and the holiness of artifacts left behind by their gods, they held different views on how the religion should be practiced; the Reformists believed that the religion could spread throughout the galaxy through travel in their lords' ship—a Forerunner Keyship that had reseeded Janjur Qom with San'Shyuum millennia earlier, unbeknownst to the populace—but the Stoics viewed their actions as desecrating the memory of the Forerunners. This initiated the San'Shyuum Schism, a conflict which resulted in the defeat of the Stoics. The Reformists used the Keyship to leave Janjur Qom, traveling through the stars in search of more Forerunner Relics.

Conflict and spread

While the exact date remains unrecorded, the Ages of Conflict spanned thousands of years and were a significant period in the spreading of what started out as solely the San'Shyuum's Faith (and by extension, their empire). In the First Age of Conflict, the San'Shyuum Reformists eventually encountered a saurian species known as the Sangheili. This alien race had developed a religion based on the worship of Forerunner deities independently of the San'Shyuum. However, while the two species shared similar religious beliefs, the Sangheili believed that tampering with the artifacts of their gods was an unforgivable offense. Their first contact soon led to the San'Shyuum-Sangheili War. The war ended with the submission of the Sangheili and the formation of a new empire through the Writ of Union. The Sangheili would take the role as the warriors, with the San'Shyuum acting as their superiors in matters of technology and faith, advising their allies on how best to achieve the Great Journey.

Development and rebellion

Sesa 'Refumee, the leader of the Heretics with 343 Guilty Spark at his side.

"Ask the Oracle about Halo… how they would sacrifice us all for nothing!"

— Sesa 'Refumee to the Arbiter.

The development of the Covenant religion took place across seven ages; the Age of Abandonment, Ages of Conflict, Age of Reconciliation, Age of Discovery, Age of Conversion, Ages of Doubt and the Ages of Reclamation. These ages saw the expansion of the Empire's power and the belief in the Great Journey throughout its new vassal races. In 1342, the Kig-Yar became the first race to be converted as a whole to the Covenant religion (though most were influenced by monetary rewards granted by the San'Shyuum). Next, in 2142, came the Unggoy. The Jiralhanae, in 2492, were the last species to be fully integrated into the Covenant Empire, and thus their religion.

The Covenant religion was not without internal conflicts and heretical movements, as evidenced by several conflicts throughout Covenant history such as the Struggle for Ideological Purity. In the final years of the Covenant Empire's rule, an irreligious splinter group known as the Banished split off from the Covenant out of a lack of commitment to the hegemony's cause. Later, a heretic uprising on Threshold, near Alpha Halo, was born as a result of 343 Guilty Spark revealing the truth about the Halos to the artifact retrieval group commander Sesa 'Refumee. An Arbiter, Thel 'Vadamee, was appointed and sent with a strike force to deal with the threat.

The rise and fall

"In a moment, I will light the rings! And all who believe… shall be saved!"

— The Prophet of Truth

The Covenant religion reached its zenith when the Fleet of Particular Justice discovered Installation 04 by accident, chasing the UNSC Pillar of Autumn from their victory at Reach. This unexpected discovery led to the immediate presence of the holy city High Charity and its accompanying fleet. However, efforts to ignite the ring were prevented by John-117, who destroyed the ring in order to stop the release of the Flood. This perceived sacrilege ignited widespread anger and grief among the ranks of the Covenant, having come so close to the fulfillment of their Great Journey.

Only a month later, Installation 05 was discovered when the High Prophet of Regret made a slipspace journey to the Coelest system. However, the Covenant was once again denied in their efforts. The Master Chief and a small force of humans from the UNSC In Amber Clad made their way onto the ring and killed the Prophet in order to stop him from activating it. In response, the fleet glassed the temple from where Regret had been giving a sermon, though the Master Chief escaped. The Prophet of Truth used Regret's death as an excuse to initiate the Changing of the Guard, the first step in his plot to remove the Sangheili from the Covenant. This, and the subsequent orders for the Sangheili to be exterminated, culminated in the Great Schism. The humans from In Amber Clad, in conjunction with a force of Sangheili led by Thel 'Vadamee and Rtas 'Vadum, were also successful in stopping Tartarus in his efforts to activate the ring while the battles of the Schism raged around them. Though Installation 05 was not destroyed in its emergency shutdown, the entire Halo Array was automatically moved to standby status in preparation for firing from The Ark.

The High Prophet of Truth was aware of this fact and left High Charity early, before the UNSC intervened in Installation 05's firing. During the Covenant invasion of Earth, Truth had his fleet excavate Excession, which would enable him and his fleet to journey towards the Ark. The UNSC along with its newfound allies, the Sangheili, traveled to the Ark to do battle with the Prophet-allied forces. The humans were successful, destroying the path to the Ark and removing the threat of the Halo Array.