Ministry

"Ministries seem to proliferate. Certainly faster than San'Shyuum. Soon there will be more Ministries than there are members of our species."

- The Prophet of Inner Conviction on the rapid rise of ministries in the early days of the Covenant.

Ministries were a political and military subdivision of the Covenant empire.

Function
In Covenant governance, the High Council tasked lesser councils with bureaucratic oversight and day-to-day governance of the empire, with lesser councils thus issuing edicts to the various subordinate ministries to enact their decrees and laws. In practice however, each ministry was effectively an independent body and acted with impunity.

Each ministry acted as a governing body of the Covenant, directing vital religious and secular activites within the empire. The power and prestige of their groups waxed and waned as they waged bloody internal wars for bureaucratic dominance and promotion of their particular brand of orthodoxy. Ministries controlled a large number of independent martial organisations, with the empire as a whole not having one strict standing military. During the Human-Covenant War, three ministries served as the primary military force encountered by humans.

A given ministry is led by a San'Shyuum minister, with a vice minister under him. Some ministries may also employ a Minor Minister. The ministries employed senior and junior staffers below these leadership positions.

Known ministries of the Covenant
At the time of the empire's dissolution, there were hundreds of ministries within the Covenant. These ministries generally had broadly overlapping spheres of influence and duty, which promoted internal competition and infighting - and allowed the Hierarchy and High Council absolute authority over the Covenant's imperial holdings for millennia. Ministries could be created and dissolved with relative ease, and by the Covenant's end some existed purely to create busywork for particularly ambitious members of the High Council.
 * Ministry of Abnegation - responsible for overseeing the Sangheili order of the Ascetics.
 * Ministry of Anticipatory Security - a short-lived ministry responsible for detecting threats to High Charity before they became a threat.
 * Ministry of Artifact Survey - presumably a ministry created for the purpose of finding new Forerunner artifacts.
 * Ministry of Concert - responsible for settling matters of dispute between Covenant client species, and representing the lower-caste species such as Kig-Yar and Unggoy.
 * Ministry of Conversion - responsible for exploring space already known to the Covenant to find new convertees to Covenant faith.
 * Ministry of Discovery - responsible for technological development and reverse-engineering Forerunner artifacts.
 * Ministry of Etiology - likely responsible for the "study of causes, origins, or reasons", as based on its name.
 * Ministry of Fervent Intercession - famous for the number of Zealots in their ranks, this ministry is a semi-monastic organisation obsessed with discovery and control of Forerunner sites.
 * Ministry of Fortitude - responsible for the distribution of Forerunner artifacts among the Covenant client species.
 * Ministry of Infidels - likely responsible for the investigation of technology produced by those designated "infidels", such as humanity.
 * Ministry of Inquisition - likely responsible for investigating and trying heretics.
 * Ministry of Kindly Subjection - responsible for matters of diplomacy in the early days of the Covenant.
 * Ministry of Penance - likely responsible for matters of the Covenant judicial process.
 * Ministry of Preparation - responsible for oversight of biological research and genetic engineering, alongside creating the Prelates.
 * Ministry of Preservation - a military ministry responsible for putting down rebellions and attempted secessions.
 * Ministry of Relative Reconciliation - a diplomatic ministry present in the early days of the Covenant.
 * Ministry of Relic Safety - responsible for the study of Forerunner artifacts.
 * Ministry of Resolution - one of the main ministries responsible for the war with humanity, originally tasked with hunting piracy.
 * Ministry of Sacral Assembly - a ministry that oversaw the construction of Shadow of Intent and possibly other vessels.
 * Ministry of Sanitation - responsible for matters of public health.
 * Ministry of Tranquility - responsible for exploring space, acquiring forerunner artifacts and bringing new client species into the Covenant with little care for how these means are accomplished.