San'Shyuum

"Who would doubt the Prophets? What have they foretold that has not come to pass?"

- Prophet of Truth

San 'Shyuum (Latin Perfidia Vermis, meaning "Worms of Treachery" ), also known as Prophets, are a mammal-like species, who are the leadership caste within the Covenant and one of the more mysterious member races of the organization. Prophets appear to exert complete control over religious and political affairs, fulfilling the role of religious and political leaders. Prophets enforce a misguided theology based on the false belief that firing the Halo array will start some sort of Great Journey transcending them into a God-like status. The Prophets  are one of two Covenant races to not participate in combat. Although physically frail compared to other Covenant species they wield absolute power over the Covenant.

Summary
Very little is known about the Prophets, beyond the fact that they are the sole members of the leadership caste of the Covenant hierarchy. The only prophet that you fight in-game is Regret. They are an integral part of the Covenant High Council, formerly sharing this responsibility with the Elites However the expulsion of the Sangheili and their replacement by the Jiralhanae is likely to have caused a power vacuum, and it is not known if any Brute Councilors exist, or if the High Council has been inadvertently disbanded due to the loss of the Covenant Capital City, High Charity. Halo 2 indicates that there is a triumvirate of Covenant leaders. They were known as the Prophet of Truth, Prophet of Mercy and the Prophet of Regret, though all three are now dead. Regret was killed by the Master Chief on Delta Halo, Mercy by the Flood on High Charity, and Truth by the Arbiter in a Citadel on the Ark.

Prophets appear extremely frail either as an adaptation to a low-gravity world or because of age. The supplemental book incorporated in the Halo 3 Collector's and Legendary Edition suggests that inbreeding and a lack of concern for physical health, perhaps superseded by the single-minded desire to achieve "trans-sentience" (also known as the "Great Journey"), is probably responsible for this outcome. This is supported by the apparent lack of oral hygiene.

It is known that they claim to have evolved on a former colony of an ancient race called the Forerunners which the Covenant revere as their gods. Prophets derive their legitimacy as leaders as well as their colloquial names from this connection. According to the Prophets their world was destroyed some 3200 years ago before the events of Halo 3 (approx. 648 BC) as the result of a stellar collapse; and because of this they have since elected to make their home on the mobile-planetoid High Charity. It is also known that they waged a fierce and bloody war against the Elites at some point, halted only by the discovery of Forerunner artifacts near the field of battle. The two races united to learn their secrets, forming a mutually beneficial arrangement that would eventually become the Covenant. The Elites would become the protectors of the Prophets while the Prophets would dedicate themselves to studying their "gods" and learning the secrets behind the "ascension" they left on. As the representatives of the gods, the Prophets hold a great amount of power over the other races of the Covenant, earning reverential titles such as "Holy One" and "Eminence". They are protected at all times by the mighty Legions of Elite Honor Guards, and rarely involve themselves in combat, preferring to dedicate themselves to studying Forerunner artifacts. However, important events to the Covenant usually require a high-ranking Prophet, such as a Hierarch, to be present.

The majority of the Prophets use anti-gravity belts to support themselves. Higher ranking Prophets, such as the Hierarchs (a group of three Prophets with total control of the Covenant), use anti-gravity thrones to support themselves. These however, are not so much for support rather than for personal defense - they are fitted with holographic emitters, an energy shield generator, a teleportation device, and a built-in Gravity Cannon. In the event of assassins getting past their guards, they are able to defend themselves quite well with the Gravity Cannon.

Since the activation of the Halo Array, the Prophet's numbers have been dwindling, with the destruction of their original homeworld 3200 years before the events of 2552 likely contributing, and at the time of Halo 2 there were only 23,831,463 Prophets existing, after the Flood invasion of High Charity, their new "Home World," the majority of their race was consumed, leaving less than a thousand alive, most doomed by the Elite's quarantine of Delta Halo, and the rest of the Covenant Fleet. The Bestiarum contains a most curious reference to the Prophets. Where the rest of the races have one entry for population, the Prophets have two: Their current population, and one noted as "At time of Reseeding", exactly 500,000,000. An interesting fact to note is that the crown-like objects they wear have holographic projections of a Halo ring. The Prophets are the main leaders of the Covenant.

Prophet Anatomy and Physiology
Since they bear the status of political figureheads most Prophets are physically frail creatures, preferring to move around via the Gravity Belt, or anti-Gravity Thrones outfitted with an impenetrable shield and a powerful particle beam gun and a short-range teleportation device, in the case of the High Prophets. A life of physical inactivity leaves most, if not all Prophets withered and weak. However, in the Halo 3 level The Covenant, the Prophet of Truth is seen walking for a short amount of time.

Each Prophet has distinct, often furry, lobes of skin hanging underneath their chin similar to a beard. Those Prophets of greater age, for example the High Prophet of Mercy, have skin lobes on either side of their heads reminiscent of ears; despite this resemblance, the San 'Shyuum actually receive sound at the back of the head. Prophets have three digits on each hand, and are usually found wearing ornamental pieces that may also double as life support systems. These head-pieces bear a holographic representation of a Halo (indicating that the Covenant have known about the Halo rings for much longer than originally thought), but each is uniquely shaped and highly ornamental. However Prophet Councilors have been seen wearing more functional robes that lack any ornamentation whatsoever. These Prophets have a lower status and as a result wear simple robes and can be found on the seating above the Council Chamber accompanying Sangheili Councilors. Prophets also seem to have parts of their brain showing through absences of skin on their heads, while skin is still there, it may be possible that they evolved to allow their brain to grow to such a size that the skin is there simply to hold it in place.

The lifespan of a Prophet appears to be extensive, largely through the development of technologies to increase it. Such a process began in about 1552 which was 1,000 years before the events of Halo 3. The San 'Shyuum have put considerable effort into the increase of lifespan of their own species, as more than a quarter of their population are now super-bicentarians.

In an unknown time, before the Covenant was formed a thousand or so pro-technology Prophets (who believed in using Forerunner technology for their use and to explore the Dreadnought, called Reformers) left their homeworld, leaving the anti-tech (those who only wished to worship the technology and not explore the Dreadnought, called Stoics) stranded. The resulting calamity created a log of Prophets who were not allowed to breed so that negative recessive genes would stay out of the gene pool. The Prophet of Truth is on such a list. However, if they should have sexual urges, the Prophets will use concubines.

Because of their high intelligence and somewhat human-like physiology, it is possible the prophets are remote descendants of the Forerunner, just as many humans are. However, this is highly speculative.

San 'Shyuum Civil War
As revealed in Halo: Contact Harvest, the San 'Shyuum left their homeworld with only about one thousand in their population due to a brutal civil war on their home planet. Just like the Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War that would take place later on, it all began when some San 'Shyuum believed that they should enter into the Forerunner Dreadnought, even though many of the population believed that they couldn't ever touch the ship and should revere it as it was, which was presumed to be trapped in the surface of the planet as though it had crashed there. The two sides fighting in this war were called the Stoics, or the San 'Shyuum who refused to enter and desecrate the Dreadnought, and the San 'Shyuum who wanted to develop new technologies by entering the Dreadnought, called Reformers. At the climax of the Civil War, about a thousand of the Reformers commandeered the Dreadnought, while the Stoics debated what to do, since even their hate could not bring them to destroy the object of their reverence. However, when the Reformers took flight from the planet they tore a chunk out of it. Even though the Reformers were victorious and had left the Stoics (who sent out communication messages threatening that they would be damned for their digressions to the gods) behind, they realized that they were indeed ruined by the fact that there were only about a thousand that had joined their cause to control the Dreadnought. After leaving the planet they saw that they only had 1,000 aboard and if the species were to continue that they would need to selectively breed to prevent inbreeding. The next step in San 'Shyuum history would be the Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War, but since they had developed a fleet to complement the Dreadnought, the Reformers may have set down on a planet and set up a base of operations there. Perhaps they had even built cities and begun to build High Charity, but whether or not this is true is yet to be known.

Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War
Soon after encountering each other, the war between the Sangheili and the San 'Shyuum soon started with both creatures having virtually the same argument as the Prophets originally had during their civil war; the right to use Forerunner technology. Sangheili believed that the technology should not be touched or used for personal gain while most of the San 'Shyuum believed otherwise, and disassembled Forerunner relics to produce their own versions. A bloody engagement resulted in their first meeting. Physically the Sangheili were far superior. One Sangheili warrior was the equal to at least ten San 'Shyuum. However, technologically, the San 'Shyuum had the advantage: they had the Forerunner Dreadnought which proceeded to wipe out the Sangheili armada using hit-and-run tactics. Eventually, in order to ensure the survival of both races, the Sangheili gave up their own conviction, and the two races merged to form the early Covenant with the San 'Shyuum as the head religious leaders and the Sangheili as the physical backbone and defenders of the Prophets.

Appearances
The Prophet of Regret is the only Prophet that is confronted in combat by the Master Chief in the Halo series in the game Halo 2. He appears at the level called Regret. The Prophets do make other appearances though, mostly in the cinematic sequences in Halo 2. In fact, in most of the cinematic sequences, there is at least one Prophet present. Also, Mercy's corpse is found at the beginning of the level called High Charity, and Truth's corpse can be seen at the last playable section of The Covenant.

Prophets also appear as an in-game unit in Halo Wars, riding gravity thrones amidst combat. It is likely they are perhaps some kind of hero unit that indirectly assist allied forces with stat increases.

High Prophets

 * High Prophet of Restraint (deposed)
 * High Prophet of Tolerance (deposed)
 * High Prophetess of Obligation (deposed)
 * High Prophet of Mercy (deceased)
 * High Prophet of Regret (deceased)
 * High Prophet of Truth (deceased)

Lesser Prophets

 * Prophet of Supposition
 * Prophet of Pity
 * Prophet of Disdain
 * Prophet of Objection
 * Truth and Reconciliation's Prophet (deceased)

Legates

 * Minister of Etiology

Ranks

 * High Prophet- High Council (Hierarchs)
 * Lesser Prophet - High Council
 * Minister - leader of a Ministry
 * Vice-Minister
 * Junior Minister

It is interesting to note, that only the San'Shyuum in the High Council are refered to as Prophets. This is likely due to the "Prophet of..." title only appearing in High Councilors.

Flood Prophet Form
Prophet Form is a term to describe Covenant Prophets that have been infected by the Flood. Due to their unusual nature, they are not thought of as Combat Forms in the way infected Humans, Elites, or Brutes are (Note that the term "Prophet Form" has not been officially used as canon to date). Regret was the first Prophet to be infected in-game, although, the Minister of Etiology was infected long before Regret and it is assumed that most of the millions of Prophets on High Charity fell victim to the Flood after the Gravemind escaped Installation 05. The Prophet of Mercy was one of two Prophets to be seen being infected by an Infection form. In his case, the Infection Form was killed by the Master Chief before it could burrow inside Mercy's body. In the second case, The Gravemind took control of the Prophet of Truth while he was being infected and spoke through him as though he were a puppet. When the Arbiter was preparing to finish Truth small Flood tentacles and boils can be seen erupting from Truth's skin. The Arbiter, thus ending the Covenant, killed the Prophet of Truth but his body was not brought back to life like most corpses that are infected. This may be due to the mortal wound that the Arbiter inflicted, or it could be that the Prophets' frail nature does not support them being resurrected. It is worth noting that at the time of Truth's death a small Flood 'popping' sound can be heard, indicating that the Arbiter's sword killed the Infection Form as well. (Regret, pictured right, has what seems to be a Human skull assimilated into himself, just above his head and a little to the left. This may indicate other Human "hosts" may have passed through the Gravemind before).

Update
With the outbreak of the Flood and its subsequent arrival on the station High Charity, the San 'Shyuum will have had two extinction events visited upon them within a single great cycle. Only those individuals who were permanently posted somewhere other than their ersatz homeworld are certain to have survived. Even those who held some position within the Covenant fleet have no hope for survival, as the entire fleet was present at Installation 05 and the Sangheili quarantined it. Their current total population is now estimated at less than one thousand.

See Bestiarum.

Trivia

 * The Catholic Papacy holds many similarities to the Hierarchy and the Prophets, such a similarity is that Prophets chose a name of a former Prophet similar to that of Popes.
 * The Prophets names are often the opposite of what their behavior is, e.g. The Prophet Of Truth was prone to lying, The Prophet Of Mercy shall show no mercy.
 * In Halo: First Strike the Prophets (specifically the High Prophet of Truth) appear to have telekinetic powers, although it may be an illusion based on the gravity manipulation technology exploited in their thrones.
 * Prophet's blood is strikingly red, like that of a Human. This can be seen when you beat the Prophet of Regret in Halo 2 and if you shoot Truth's corpse in Halo 3.
 * Perfidia is Latin for "Perfidy," which means "a deliberate breach of trust, faithlessness, treachery." Vermis means, "worm". Thus, the Prophets' scientific name can be translated into "treacherous worm".
 * In Halo 3 the Prophet holograms will flicker to the Prophet's true color every few seconds.
 * When battling the Prophet of Regret in Halo 2, you can run up to him, board his Gravity Throne and punch him as if you boarded a Scorpion Tank.
 * The Prophets were always designed to look feeble, yet sinister.
 * Early designs of the Prophets had a far more integrated feel, with the Gravity Throne more fused with the Prophet's organic structures.
 * Halo: Contact Harvest states that only the highest-ranking Prophets have the luxury of traveling in singular platforms in High Charity. Lower-ranking Prophets have to travel in groups of threes, fives or tens. This suggests they probably have slightly larger chairs capable of seating more than one prophet, though with less luxury.
 * Prophets are strong enough to wield a Plasma Pistol and other "small" weapons with a fair amount of accuracy, even though they seem frail.
 * Truth kills Miranda Keyes easily with 7 well-aimed Spiker rounds when her back is turned. He holds the rifle awkwardly, since it was designed for Brute hands and tosses it aside as if it disgusted him to even touch such a weapon. This could hint towards the San 'Shyuum's repulsed feelings towards the Jiralhanae's primitive ways.
 * You can see the brain clearly in the back of a Prophet's head and posterior.
 * The Prophet of Regret is the only one who puts up a fight as a "boss" in Halo 2. He is especially difficult on Heroic and Legendary difficulties, as he can survive rockets, Fuel Rod Guns, Beam Rifles and even Energy Sword lunges. He is capable of teleporting, and disappears if you hit him long enough, only to reappear elsewhere.  He has a Gravity Cannon mounted in his Throne, which he will fire at the player.
 * Although in the Halo 3 Manual it shows the Prophet's race and description, there are no generic Prophets encountered in Halo 3, just Truth. The picture of the Prophet is actually Regret's.
 * You can see that there are two Forerunner symbols on a Prophet's throne.
 * Prophets were originally going to be insectoid rather than humanoid. This original design, while not used for the Prophets, helped create a basis for the Drones.
 * It is very likely due to the events of the battle of High Charity and the Covenant Civil War that Prophets face the risk of extinction if they are not already.
 * The translation of their Latin name is "Worms of Treachery," perhaps alluding to their deception of the lower Covenant races.
 * Most of the San 'Shyuum's technology, and as a result the Covenant's, is copied from the Forerunner species.
 * They have been confirmed to be in Halo Wars, though only in Multiplayer mode.
 * 7 Prophets are speculated to be still alive: Prophet of Restraint, Prophet of Tolerance, Prophetess of Obligation, Prophet of Supposition, Prophet of Pity, Prophet of Disdain, and Prophet of Objection.
 * With the Arbiter killing the Prophet of Truth it is unknown if the Prophets will ever rise to power again.

Related Links

 * High Prophets
 * High Council