Covenant rank structure

Minor (blue) and Major (red) separatist Sangheili during the Great Schism.

The military forces of the Covenant used a distinct rank structure to organise the various races and armed groups serving the empire. The unified ranks served as a basis for rank structures across the empire, though due to the Covenant's lack of a single unified military, differences between various ministries, fleets, and units meant that the structure was not uniformly applied.

Broadly, the ranks of the Covenant were held by all species within its caste system at the lower levels, though senior positions were only held by Sangheili, the species which served as the primary warrior caste of the Covenant beginning with the empire's founding. Throughout the Human-Covenant War, these officer positions were augmented with Jiralhanae troops instituted by the Prophet of Truth, a factor which ultimately inflamed tensions between the two species and led to the civil war which caused the Covenant's collapse.

These military ranks are distinct from military roles such as Ranger, Storm, Special Operations, and so forth. These roles were distinct military units within the Covenant with their own operational methods and goals, but personnel within them still held ranks such as Minor and Major.

This structure is largely the template upon which the empire's various successor states are based upon to varying degrees.

Overview

One of the core principles concerning the Covenant's military and rank structure is the division of species dependent on caste. In general, the Sangheili formed the core leadership of the military, with lesser species serving in exclusive units consisting only of their own kind. Non-Sangheili individuals could rise the ranks of their own accord, though were only permitted to command others of their own species, whereas Sangheili were permitted to command units of other species. Late in the empire's lifespan, the Jiralhanae were raised into this role to replace the Sangheili and granted full military authority over the Covenant. While this act ultimately kickstarted the civil war that end the empire, in loyalist units under the Prophet of Truth, the Jiralhanae functionally replaced the Sangheili.

Due to the Covenant's lack of a single official standing military (akin to the United Nations Space Command of the Unified Earth Government), they operated a vastly more decentralised command structure when compared to human militaries and did not have a distinct split between the concepts of individual service branches; it was common for single commanders to be charged with overseeing both domains. Commanders had broad authority to use whatever means available to achieve their objectives. This structure was advantageous for the Covenant when combined with their ability to easily and flexibly redeploy units via dropship insertions or even capital ship gravity lifts, but did mean that they had issues in keeping smaller units on-task.

Unlike human militaries, rank in the Covenant's military forces was denoted by the type, and colour, of the armour worn by a given individual. As with most aspects of the Covenant military, these were nonstandard and could vary from unit to unit, though on the whole were broadly consistent across the empire. Higher-ranked commanders recieved better weapons and armour as they advanced in rank.

• Covenant have decentralised leadership and do not have a strict table of organisation and equipment (TOE) (Ken interview)
• No distinction between space and ground forces (Enc22)
• Commanders given broad authority to use whatever means available to achieve objectives, meritocracy (Encyclopedia)
• Devolved command structure well suited to flexible and adaptable task assignments, though this also meant they had issues with keeping smaller units aligned on the same goal (Ken)
• Note the distinction of ranks versus roles: SpecOps, Ranger, Storm etc are not ranks, they are just different military units
• Sangheili somewhat analagous with a man-at-arms

By species

Sangheili

As the Covenant's military backbone, the Sangheili rank structure is the template upon which all other species' ranks can be examined. In Sangheili society, military service in the Covenant was compulsory, with Sangheili trained for war throughout their adolescence. The best of a given clan's warriors were then selected to join the Covenant's military forces, granted the title of Minor, or Lower Chosen. From this point on, promotions were attained via the accumulation of skill, experience, and honour (often, though not exclusively, measured in the number of kills accomlpished by an individual). Sangheili Minors were typically bloodthirsty, and their time at this low rank was used to teach them the merits of teamwork and the rigours of war. This time was also used to assess a given Sangheili's aptitude for command: those with promise were given charge of units of lower-caste infantry to command, while those who showed more martial prowess were instead placed in all-Sangheili units under the command of a senior officer. Sangheili Minors being tested for officer positions may be placed in charge of a Demi-Lance consisting of a small group of warriors operating independently.

There was not an expected time period for Sangheili to remain at the rank of Minor. However, for those who were not promoted by the end of their first campaign, they may fall upon their own sword. Those chosen for promotion entered the rate of Obedientiaries (Lesser Chosen, or charged with glory), broadly similar to the human conception of a commissioned officer. The Obedientiaries included the ranks of Major, Officer, Commander, Sub-commander, and presumably Third Commander. Majors were the most common Obedientiary and could be found as infantry serving on the front lines, leading teams of both lower-ranked Sangheili or lower-caste species. However, unlike the UNSC, the Covenant did not have a distinction between various branches of service. As such, Obedientiaries were expected to experience all aspects of war in order to make them more well-rounded commanders. This meant that Obedientiaries could be found piloting aircraft including strikecraft and dropships, serving as officers on a starship, attending to a senior officer, or as frontline commanders.

Sangheili who did not show an interest in the command of lesser forces, but achieved the highest standards of martial prowess, military proficiency, honour, and loyalty to the Covenant, instead joined the Evocati, or "Ultras". Evocati served as elite auxiliary forces that answered directly to a fleet's Supreme Commander. They could be attached to a given warhost in the field, during which time they would report directly to the warhost's commanding Field Master and act as specialist troops for missions in which failure was not an option. Evocati could be given authority over lesser-ranked Minors or Majors, though typically focused on skill-at-arms over leadership.

Sangheili

Kig-Yar and Unggoy

As the two lowest-caste species in the Covenant, the Kig-Yar and Unggoy shared many facets in their ranking. Both were restricted to only the lowest portions of the Covenant military hierarchy, and both were only permitted to command others of their own species. Both species could attain the rank of Major, with Unggoy noted to be permitted to achieve the rank in-part so that Sangheili may avoid the annoyance of having to deal with Unggoy themselves.

• Grunts can be promoted to specialist units when their Elite is promoted (CEA Library Spec Ops Grunt)

-Jackals serve in all lower-caste ranks and roles -