Canon

High Charity

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

This article is about the Covenant capital city. For other uses of "High Charity", see High Charity (disambiguation).
High Charity
A screenshot of High Charity and a small number of Syfon-pattern assault carriers of the Second Fleet of Homogenous Clarity. This is one of a number of environments that were intended to update depending on the player's progress through the campaign.
A render of High Charity for Halo 2 Anniversary's Blur Studio cutscenes.
Production information

Naval architects:

Manufacturer:

The Supernal Chorus[1]

Role:

  • Holy City of the Covenant (formerly)
  • Flood hive (later)
Specifications

Diameter:

348 kilometres (216.2 mi)[2]

Height:

505 kilometres (313.8 mi)[1]

Mass:

100 trillion metric tons (estimated)[1]

Powerplant:

Engine:

Wings of Malygus[1]

Slipspace drive:

Sefom Invictus[1]

Hull:

Shielding:

  • Pavise of Urs[1]
  • Plaon's Gaze[4]

Armament:

Complement:

Numbers beyond counting[1]

Crew:

  • 3 Hierarchs
  • 23.8 million citizens
  • 7.7 billion Menials
Service information

First sighted:

January 18, 2524 (UNSC)

Commissioned:

648 BCE;[2] built c. 791 BCE[1]

Destroyed:

December 11, 2552[5]

Participated battles:

Human-Covenant War
Post-Covenant War conflicts

Fleet:

High Charity defense fleet

Affiliation:

 

"Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood too shall fail."
— The High Prophet of Truth[6]

High Charity, often referred to as the Holy City, was the Covenant's mobile capital city and center of government, effectively serving as the collective's united homeworld.[7] It was a massive space station, home to billions of individuals from each of the Covenant's member species. Home to the Hierarchs and the High Council, the city was full of San'Shyuum and Sangheili High Councilors, who functioned as the centralized government of the entire alien hegemony.[8] High Charity also housed the Covenant's many ministries in its Tower Districts,[9] as well as their ministers.[10] Because it served as the Covenant's most significant religious center and capital, High Charity was considered to be of utmost sanctity and importance to the Covenant, thus guarded by their central fleet: the High Charity defense fleet.

Throughout the history of the empire, High Charity "gorged on the wealth of hundreds of worlds."[1] It was widely believed that true adherents to the Covenant religion should visit it at least once in one's lifetime, although few of the Covenant could afford to do so.[9]