High Charity (Structure)

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High Charity is the Covenant's mobile planetoid station and capital city, known as the Holy City of the Covenant or the Prophets' Holy City.

Physical Description
It is a large mushroom-shaped structure, 348 kilometers in diameter. At the apex of this "mushroom" is an artificial star that simulates natural sunlight within the city. This star doubles as a launch pad for the Forerunner Dreadnought, the ship at the center of the city. The stalk tapers to a point, with various branches emanating from it, likely for service as docking bays. The city is mobile, can jump through Slipspace, and is almost completely powered by the engines of the decommissioned Dreadnought. The Dreadnought's engines are powerful enough to run the city on a fraction of their potential output.'.

Capital City
In the internal hub of High Charity lies an extremely large capital city. In its center sits the Forerunner Dreadnought, embedded within the city after the formation of the Covenant as a symbol of conviction and peace between the Sangheili and the San 'Shyuum. The Dreadnought's engines are the primary power source for much of the city, though back-up generators were rigged by the Gravemind once the vessel departed.

The city itself contains many locations sacred to the Covenant such as the Council Chamber, the Sanctum of the Hierarchs and the Mausoleum of the Arbiter. As a construct, High Charity is very similar to the Unyielding Hierophant, a repair & refit station, though it also serves as a mobile command post. Unlike many small Covenant vessels and their UNSC counterparts, High Charity contains many courtyards and other non-essential spaces which give the station a terrestrial feel. The interior of High Charity is filled with the Covenant's unique architecture, of a lighter tone than their naval vessels. All of the structures within the city float above a methane-rich field in which the Unggoy dwell. The towers at the center are gigantic volcanic spires and are used by the San 'Shyuum as offices and private residences.

Protection
High Charity is so important to the Covenant Empire that it is endowed with its own personal Fleets. They consist of hundreds of battleships, carriers and cruisers. Some of the biggest fleets in the entire Covenant armada defended the city, such as the Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity and the late Fleet of Particular Justice. As it is the Covenant's major religious center and capital, High Charity is enormously sacred to the Covenant. It is thought that true believers should visit it at least once in a lifetime, though many members of the Covenant cannot afford to. It is full of San 'Shyuum and Sangheili Councilors, and the general leadership of the entire alien hegemony. It can be assumed that High Charity has it's own set of energy shields and defensive weapons. Despite its considerable defense assets it was unable to withstand the Flood assault.

Layout
Along the outer wall on the inside of High Charity are several towers, each containing rooms and hallways. Two of these towers are referred to by Cortana as the Mid Tower and the Far Tower. Most of these towers are connected to the two surrounding towers by the Hanging Gardens and the Valleys of Tears, but the towers containing the Council Chamber and the Mausoleum of the Arbiter are both notably only connected to the sections between them. Hanging far above the Mausoleum of the Arbiter is the Step of Silence and below these structures are the lower districts.

Early History
From the Covenant's earliest recorded history, the San 'Shyuum ended their long civil war by launching the Forerunner Dreadnought from their home planet along with a chunk of rock. This chunk would later be built into High Charity. The city was erected during the Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War and completed following the war's conclusion. The Forerunner Dreadnought that the San 'Shyuum used in the war was stripped of all known weapons and permanently installed inside High Charity. Because the city is mobile, it is extremely difficult for the lesser creatures of the hegemony to make journeys to the capital, yet it manages to establish a network of Slipspace probes to protect its position. Anything larger than a millimeter in diameter that drifted too close was engaged and obliterated, including ships that failed to transmit proper clearance codes within a millisecond of hailing.

Prior to the Human-Covenant War, High Charity was almost destroyed as the Forerunner Dreadnought powered up, galvanized by the discovery of "Reclaimers" by the Covenant, and attempted to reach Harvest to transport the occupants to the Ark. It was accidentally deactivated by Lekgolo worms as they short circuited the ship.

The Sacred Rings and the Great Journey
Upon the discovery of Installation 04 by the Covenant, High Charity was supposed to perform a Slipspace jump to the ring along with its fleet, where the High Prophets would activate the ring to send the Covenant on the Great Journey.

The Fleet of Particular Justice, led by then Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee, had already made its way to the Ring while chasing the Halcyon-class cruiser The Pillar of Autumn, but they did not know about the Flood, and did not expect interference from the UNSC. When High Charity and its fleet arrived at Threshold, they found that both Installation 04 and the Fleet of Particular Justice had been utterly destroyed.

In the early stages of the Battle of Earth, the High Prophet of Regret sent the coordinates of Installation 05 to High Charity. The planetoid and its fleet arrived just in time to watch Master Chief and a group of Marines assassinate the Prophet of Regret. It then held position over Installation 05 until hostilities erupted between the Sangheili and the Jiralhanae, as the Great Schism began in November 2552.

Battle of High Charity
During the chaos of the battle, John-117 infiltrated High Charity, by way of teleportation from Gravemind directly into the Council Chambers using Installation 05's teleportation grid.

At the same time, the Flood made their own entrance, using the to perform a slipspace jump into the interior of High Charity, bypassing its exterior defenses. Once inside, the Flood used Pelican dropships to spread both Combat and Carrier Forms around the city. Within the city a vicious battle ensued among Jiralhanae, Sangheili, and Flood forces, all bent on destroying one another (this was the start of the Covenant Civil-War amongst the Jiralhanae and Sangheili). The unfortunate Master Chief, John-117 was caught in the middle of the quarrel, but managed to escape.

Eventually, the Dreadnought at High Charity's core took off, with both the Prophet of Truth and the Master Chief inside, leaving Cortana behind. It appears that the Covenant forces on both sides completely abandoned High Charity afterward, and it was completely infested by the Flood. The Gravemind took complete control of the Sanctum of the Hierarchs, using the Council Chamber itself as his "throne room".

Quarantine of High Charity
As High Charity and Installation 05 were rapidly falling to the Flood, a massive battle between Sangheili and Jiralhanae held ships continued in the space around the city. The Sangheili Separatists eventually succeeded in driving away the Jiralhanae or they possibly retreated on orders from Truth to assist in the conquest of Earth. But this led to the fall of High Charity to the Flood under the command of the Gravemind who used this as his second base and gain significant amount of ships. He sent one to infest Africa and from there all of Earth.

The Sangheili fleet formed a large perimeter and quarantined High Charity and Installation 05, attempting to prevent the Flood from infesting any other systems. Presumably all but one escaped Flood ship was destroyed, according to an Elite that was deployed to assist the Master Chief and the Arbiter. This ship, and the surrounding area of Africa were cleansed of the Flood, by means of glassing by the pursuing Sangheili ships.

After the Flood Invasion
After the Battle of Earth, a message from Cortana forewarned and notified the Master Chief that the Gravemind was speeding the infested High Charity toward Earth, and the portal to the Ark.

During the Battle of Installation 00 at the Citadel, High Charity appeared through the portal and narrowly missed the Sangheili Assault Carrier Shadow of Intent. It disgorged Flood dispersal pods (one of which damaged the carrier) and crashed on the Installation, completely unrecognizable from what it originally was apart from the exterior shape. The Mausoleum of the Arbiter was the only visible recognizable feature to be seen and this was separated from the roof of High Charity and teetered precariously on an axis.

Raid on High Charity
After stopping Truth from activating the rings, John-117 returned to the Flood-infested High Charity on a mission to retrieve Cortana, which he successfully completed. At her recommendation, he overloaded the reactor core, by destroying its pylons, as he maneuvered back through High Charity to meet the Arbiter and re-activate the crashed Pelican drop-ship to fly out of range of the explosion. High Charity was completely destroyed in the resulting explosions, with only the outer structure remaining when Installation 04 (II) was fired. It is most likely that Installation 04 (II) and the Ark were showered in debris and metal from the wreckage of High Charity as it was drawn into the gravity of the Installations. The Gravemind somehow managed to escape the city moments before its destruction, most likely using a teleportation grid, if 2401 Penitent Tangent (who might or might not have survived) was still in his clutches.

Trivia

 * High Charity is roughly 1/75 the size of a Halo installation. In the final cutscene of Halo 2, High Charity is shown as a small dot at the upper portion of the ring when Installation 05 deactivates.
 * High Charity has a simulated gravity of 0.9 G and average temperature of 20°C, comparing to Earth's 1 G and 14°C.
 * The multiplayer map Gemini takes place in High Charity.