Covenant

Summary
The very word "Covenant," means "A binding agreement" and originated with a pact between the two senior species - the Prophets and the Elites. As the empire grew, more species were enslaved to their cause.

Now a technologically advanced collective of cooperating alien races, which control a large portion of the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy. As the arm of the Covenant Empire grew, so did their technology, culture, and religious beliefs.

Society
The Covenant is governed by the High Council, which is led by three High Prophets and consists of lesser Prophets and Elites (and eventually Brutes, who begin to replace Elites in Covenant society toward the end of Halo 2). They worship The Forerunner, an unknown and ancient race who have left behind many artifacts and technologies. It is assumed that those alien races conquered by the Covenant are conscripted into, or gradually become part of, the alliance. It is unknown why they have not chosen to follow this pattern and allow humans to join, instead attempting to eradicate all of humanity. The probable reason for this is that the Prophets view humanity as vile, unholy and unworthy, which only raises more questions. This point is discussed by two Elites in the Conversations from the Universe booklet.

Species
Covenant society uses a caste system with the following races (names are rough translations by the UNSC):


 * Prophets As the highest caste, it is the Prophets who lead the Covenant. Their higher understanding of the Forerunner gives them religious powers over the Covenant. The fact that the Covenant are religious fanatics makes it all the more easy to control them. The only known word for them in the Covenant Language is simply Prophet
 * Brutes are the only race that has obtained equal status to that of one of the founding “clients” of the Covenant pact, the Elites. Their superior strength and speed can match and even beat that of Elites. They have an incredible natural resilience to damage that makes up for their lack of Energy Shields, and use a weapon known as the Brute Shot. After the Elites were replaced for failing to protect Regret from the Master Chief, they took over their role as personal bodyguards of the Prophets. They have a hairy gorilla-like appearance and are called Jiralhanae in the Covenant language.
 * Elites serve as the military leaders for the Covenant, while Prophets often have the last say it is the Elites who organize military campaigns and naval engagements. Ship Masters command the mighty space fleets, Field Masters command the vast armies. Elites maintain the military structure of the Covenant and ensure the Prophets orders, as well as their own, are carried out. Elites are a much needed species for the Covenant to function, they are they only caste who can build and command the starships and have the military know how to ensure successful victories and keep the lesser Covenant species in order. They are called Sangheili in the Covenant language.
 * Hunters work hard in their role as Covenant muscle, and never disobey orders. Hunters are dismissive and contemptuous of their foes, and in fact, they will only associate with Elites, recognizing and respecting the similar warrior mentality. Hunters are deployed almost like heavy munitions, due to their 12 foot height, Extremely strong armor and strength, and their arm mounted fuel rod gun, and other Covenant will often clear the area of deployment, since Hunters are unconcerned with collateral damage, they may even purposely kill the lesser castes, simply for “getting in the way”. They are called Lekgolo in the Covenant Language.
 * Drones are another race of the Covenant. Their physique is weak but they make up for it in their large numbers. They also have the ability to fly for short amounts of time, using wings concealed within their backs under folds of skin. They are very insect like. The Conversations from the Universe booklet reveals they were put on Earth because they are used to the gravity, indicating that they are from a planet similar in size to Earth. They are called Yanme'e in the Covenant language.
 * Jackals are the scouts of the Covenant, with their superior senses. They are 5'8" tall and carry a relatively weak, but nonetheless effective energy shield and Plasma Pistol or a single Beam Rifle.  Their appearance is bird-like. They are called Kig-yar in the Covenant language.
 * Grunts are the work horse of the Covenant, as the name implies. Despite their obvious cowardice and stupidity, they are extremely large in numbers. They breathe a methane mixture and thus must wear a large tank on their backs. They fight well in plasma turrets and use the Plasma Pistol and Needler, sometimes wielding the Fuel Rod Gun as well. They are called Unggoy in the Covenant language.

Deleted Races

 * Drinol are bosses that did not make it into Halo 2 and it is unknown if they will be featured in future products. It is unknown whether they are called Sharquoi in the Covenant language.
 * Stalkers are a Covenant race that did not make it into Halo 2, seen in the Halo 2 Collector's Edition disc.
 * Keelbugs are a deleted Covenant race seen in the Halo 2 Collector's Edition Disc. They were supposed to fly into the battlefield, cut dead bodies into sections, and fly off with them.
 * Engineers don't really fit in with the Covenant caste system. In military terms, they are the lowest as they are a non-militant race. They are needed to maintain the Covenant war machine and will only converse with the Prophets themselves. This indicates Engineers are very high in the caste system, probably because the Covenant are aware of how much they are needed and the Engineer's grasp on Covenant and foreign technology, is profound. Therefore, they maintain their status as one of the highst Covenant castes. They are called Huragok in the covenant language. These were deleted from Halo: Combat Evolved, and may be seen in the Halo 2 Collector's Edition disc.
 * Alien Troopers are a deleted Covenant race seen in the Halo 2 Collector's Edition Disc. It is unknown what this exactly seems to be. The only known data is that it was supposed to carry its weapon under its belly.

The History of the Covenant
Little is known about their history except that the Prophets and Elites' ancestors waged war on each other, but they formed the Covenant after finding evidence of the Forerunners and their &ldquo;Great Journey&rdquo;.

One of the leading theories is that the Age of Abandonment was the time when the Forerunners left the Prophets and Elites to embark on the "Great Journey". Elites and the Prophets began fighting each other in the Age of Conflict. It is not yet known why this war started.

In the Age of Discovery, the Prophets discovered the remains of the Forerunner technology, maybe with the help of the Engineers.

During the 1st Age of Reconciliation, the Prophets shared the information learned about the Forerunners with the Elites. the Elites and the Prophets made a truce to unite to form the Covenant with the Elites being promised salvation in exchange for their services as the military and protection. Presumably, this is when the Covenant Writ of Union was created. The Age of Conversion was when the Elites and the Prophets started to conscript other races (such as when they "tamed" Hunters) into the Covenant through religious conversion or force. The Covenant began to doubt the word of the Prophets during the Age(s) of Doubt, due to their fruitlessness of their search for Halo. The Grunt Rebellion probably occurred during this span of time.

During the Age(s) of Expansion, the Covenant integrated other races into their organization. Halo 1 and Halo 2 take place during the 9th Age of Reclimation. It is often speculated that this is a refererence to the name that the Monitors give to humans: &ldquo;reclaimers&rdquo;. Others, especially the Elites, wonder why the humans, a worthy opponent that has proven itself in battle many times, were not given the oppotunity to join the Covenant. Some within the Covenant even wonder what bad thing the humans have done to be an "affront" to the gods. This fact might be linked with humans presumably being the reclaimers.

Religion and Culture
Most might assume that the Covenant society is purely based on war and to a certain extent it might be true. The Covenant started with the pact of two races, the Elites and the Prophets. The Prophets had the connections to the Forerunner and as such its technological superiority. These were the founding castes spread throughout the Galaxy.

The latter races are slaves almost, having their past ways of life almost completely purged when they entered the Covenant Empire. Their past culture was all but erased. Most races were kept and exploited for their unique abilities, and helped to push the ever growing war machine. For instance, Hunters were enslaved by the threat of space bombardment. The Covenant armies couldn't beat the Hunters on the ground so instead bombarded their worlds with Plasma Energy until they surrendered and became part of the Covenant.

Some races customs held up though, i.e. Hunters honor their bond brother code, so long as it fits in with what the Covenant want.

The Forerunners, a long-since vanished and utterly mysterious civilization, are God-like, but not literally Gods. Rather, the Forerunners represent a level of being that must be attained, or at least attempted. This belief system is underpinned by the existence of numerous abandoned Forerunner artifacts, objects and installations, of which the artificial world Halo, is just one example. The evident technological perfection of Forerunner objects, and the awesome, and unknowable purpose for which these artifacts exist, has powered the Covenant theology for millennia.

There's nothing like evidence for the existence of Gods, than finding their abandoned technology scattered throughout the galaxy. However, the Forerunner technology is as obtuse as it is arcane. It can only be guessed at what its true purpose and origin might be, and much of this is speculation and dogma. Though the Prophets do not admit it. That said, we have been able to incorporate some Forerunner advancements into our weapon and transport technology.

The Covenant are mainly driven by fanatical devotion to religion. The slave races are driven by the religion which they have been forced to accept, and also by fear from the other Covenant races.

Technology
See also: Technology

The Covenant, it is repeatedly stated, are imitative rather than innovative, unlike their human enemies. Their technology is largely mimicry of the leftover Forerunner artifacts. In the game, their weaponry is largely plasma based and most of their vehicles are capable of hovering. All of the Covenant's hand-held weapons (except the fuel rod cannon) use magnetic coils to direct the usually unstable plasma energy.

Their architecture usually sports elaborite displays and favors a neon-purple type of color

While Covenant technology is (on the whole) far better than humanity's, the Covenant seem to be ignorant of how precise or powerful their technology can be. Covenant engines, for example, are more precise and faster than a Human engine, but the Covenant use their engines slower and less precisely than they can be treated. Cortana uses this to her advantage on the captured Covenant Flagship Ascendant Justice by reconfiguring the electromagnetic shaping coils to shape the plasma into a thin, sustained beam that while very effective, consumes plasma at an astonishing rate. This was seen in the book Halo: The First Strike.

Weaponry
The Covenant boast a large arsenal of plasma-projectile weapons. Most of the Covenant's weaponry uses a form of magnetic channeling that the human race has only learned to apply in the MAC gun aboard starships and the Warthog mounted Gauss Cannon.

Plasma-based weaponry is very effective against energy shielding. The amount of shots that can be fired tends to be very high, but power cannot be recharged and firing many shots in a short duration can cause the weapon to overheat, which reduces energy use efficiency as well as forcing a temporary cooling period in which the weapon cannot be fired. Once the plasma reserves are used up, the weapon is useless.


 * Plasma Pistol: This weapon is normally used by lower level units such as the Grunts, Drones and Jackals. The weapon's primary mode is a semi-auto single burst in which it fires small plasma orbs.  However, the trigger can be held to charge the weapon to varying degrees, including an overloaded state. This mode allows the weapon to fire a powerful semi-homing burst of plasma which is far more effective against energy shielding, normally bringing it down completely.  The pistol must be cooled after releasing an overload shot or prolonged semi-auto firing. One overload shot will generally destroy a Sentinel. The plasma reserves will drop much faster when constantly overloading bursts. (in Halo 2 the overcharge shot will not kill regular units such as grunts and humans)


 * Plasma Rifle: Due to its large size, this weapon is normally only used by the Elites. The plasma rifle has two rates of fire; semi-auto and full-auto. Semi-auto fires single bolts, and allows the weapon much more time to cool.  Full-auto is activated if the trigger is held, increasing the rate of fire but drastically reducing accuracy.  Like all plasma weapons, it will overheat after several shots are fired in succession, and be useless once the plasma is used up.


 * Brute Plasma Rifle: As the name implies, this is a type of Plasma Rifle used by the Brutes. While it's lethality is identical to the normal Plasma Rifle, it boasts an increased rate of fire, will overheat more quickly, requires more time to cool and is bright red in color. First seen in Halo 2.


 * Needler: Uses a small, football-shaped crystal that seems to function as the "clip." This "clip" can be seen in the level where you first learn of The Flood. The needler fires semi-homing crystal shards that explode approximately two seconds after they come in contact with an organism or ten seconds after being launched and ignore most forms of personal energy shielding. The ammunition will also bounce off walls, filling the air with projectiles. While one explosion produces fairly light damage, several crystals exploding in succession can multiply the damage to fatal amounts. The needler seems to a modified version of an Enforcer's weapon. This is also the main weapon of Heretic grunts, probably due to its ability to be used multiple times (limited supplies)


 * Fuel Rod Cannon: This unique weapon is used by both the strongest and the weakest of the Covenant castes. The fuel rod cannon is carried on the shoulders of many SpecOps Grunts, while a modified version of the weapon is also directly implemented onto the right arm of Hunters. The standard FRC fires a powerful blast of plasma that's fired in an arc and capable of exploding like a mortar, while the Hunter version also allows a straight, continuous beam( in Halo 2). (Halo 1 Hunter fires mortars).


 * Plasma Grenade: The Covenant plasma grenade is one of the more clever weapons in the game. The grenade has an unknown internal mechanism which enables it to distinguish between scenery and opponents. It has a thin layer of plasma on the outside to allow it to stick to vehicles and opponents effectively. It has a 3 second countdown before detonation.


 * Plasma Sword: Called the Energy Sword in Halo 2, a whack from this sword takes out a lot of damage from a person. As the name implies, it is literally a sword made of energy or plasma. As seen in Halo: Combat Evolved, only the Elites bear the sword and the Elites who bear them are usually Gold Elites (Halo 1) or SpecOps Elites (Halo 2). One attack from an Energy Sword in Normal difficulty and above can instantly kill a player. In Halo 1, the Master Chief cannot pick up an Energy Sword. However, in Halo 2, both the Master Chief and the Arbiter can pick it up and use it. It has a fatal lunge attack, which will kill a normally shielded opponent on contact.


 * Particle Beam Rifle: The particle beam rifle or the beam rifle is the equivalent of a Human Sniper Rifle. In this case, the Beam Rifle has scope ranges of 5X and 10X. Although it is not plasma-based, it has an advantage over the Human Sniper Rifle as there is no manual reload; however, the corresponding disadvantage is that it overheats after 2 shots in quick succession and must cool down before reuse. Once the Rifle's energy cell is depleted, it is ironically useful only for melee attacks. These rifles are exclusive to and quite abundant in Halo 2, with a unique scope (image) that is different from the Human Sniper Rifle. It can fire upto 20 succesive shots. Shots that overheat the weapon use up slightly more of the battery, so overheating the weapon will result in less shots. It is still very similar to plasma weaponry in that it does not reload, runs on a battery-like power cell, and once depleted it cannot be recharged.


 * Carbine: The Covenant Carbine is a new type of Covenant weapon available in Halo 2, in that it actually uses ammunition and needs to be replenished and reloaded. While it has a zoom function similar to the Battle Rifle and is highly accurate, it lacks a full-auto rate of fire. It is extremely effective against the Flood when wielded properly, even on Legendary mode. (main weapon of Heretic elites)


 * Shade: A stationary gun turret, manned in third-person like a vehicle. They consist of a stand and a floating mobile turret-like seating with control systems to its gun. The gun fires three fairly slow, high powered bolts of energy which can travel long distances before cooling. Found on Installation 04 before the Covenant fixed its flaws in the Large Plasma Turret. Extremely effective against any opponent.


 * Plasma Cannon and Shielded Plasma Cannon: A single-barreled gun turret, carried by infantry and set up at strategic points. Usually used by grunts and is much like the cannon found on Ghosts and Banshees. Mainly used for assualt purposes as it is found on the Cairo Station and on New Mombasa during the Covenant attack, but not usually found on Forerunner Installations or High Charity. Correspondent to a Human turret.


 * Gravity Cannon: Similar to the modified Fuel Rod Cannons integrated into the Hunters' armor, it fires a continuous beam for a few seconds, rather than single energy projectiles. It is reddish-gold instead of green like that of a Hunter. It is more powerful than a Fuel Rod Cannon too. Not much more is not about this weapon, except that it can only be used by Prophets, mounted into the throne-chair.

Vehicles
One of Halo's selling points is its implement of vehicles with realistic physics. Land based Covenant vehicles, unlike humans', are capable of hovering and are less prone to uneven terrain. All Covenant vehicles have a signature purple sheen, except for the Banshees used by the Heretics.


 * Ghosts are one passenger reconnaissance and rapid attack vehicles, they hold one driver and have two plasma turrets. In Halo 2, there is a secondary boost function, but takes power from the plasma turrets.


 * Banshees are one passenger airborne ground assault vehicles with high manueverabilty and fair speed. They boast two plasma cannons and a fuel rod cannon. There is also a secondary boost function (in Halo 2), but like the Ghost, takes power from the plasma turrets. Arial acrobatics can be enabled to effectively dodge weapon fire.


 * Seraphs are the Covenant's main starfighter and first appeared in Halo 2.


 * Boarding Craft are the Covenant's way of infiltrating Enemy Starships to capture them or any information on board.


 * Wraiths are one passenger hover tanks, which make them surprisingly manueverable but slow because of the near meter thick armor. Their sole weapon is a powerful mortar gun that fires in an arc similar to the Fuel Rod Gun.  Other than this, they are fairly vulnerable to very close enemies.  They are usable in the single player campaign of Halo 2, in which they are also armed with twin plasma cannons, although these cannot be used by the player. It has a temporary boost function, which effectively rams opponents in the way of the Wraith.


 * Phantoms are a dropship-like aircraft similar to the human Pelican dropship. They are far more formidable than the dropship of Halo 1, armed with a trio of Shade cannons and can drop its occupants to the ground without having to fully land. First introduced in Halo 2. The Shade cannons can be blown off and are remote targeted by Rocket Launchers.


 * Spectres are small troop transport vehicles that appear to serve a purpose similar to that of the human Warthog. Like the Ghost and Banshee, it hovers.  The vehicle also has a plasma turret mounted on top.  Introduced in Halo 2. It can support a driver, two passengers, and a gunner.


 * Shadows are the Covenant's main mode of moving large numbers of troops around on land. They can hold a driver, a gunner, and up to eight occupants, depending on species of Covenant. They're outfitted to carry Elites, Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals. They're equipped with a Shade cannon, but the main purpose is to deploy infantry. They cannot be piloted by the player, but their fixed turret can be used.


 * Scarabs are different from most of the Covenant's other ground-based attack vehicles. Instead of using anti-gravity pods, it walks about on massive legs. It is highly mobile for a vehicle of it's size, and sports numerous turrets that shoot large shards of explosive crystals when piloted by the Covenant, as well as a massive, forward-firing plasma cannon.


 * Covenant Dropships are the dropships of Halo 1. They were most likely troop and cargo ships to move around Halo easily due to its fork lift shape for cargo and The Covenants occupational state would mean a Phantom attack-style ship wouldn't be nesscessary. However when the humans arrive the Covenant soon find out these vessels are not good in combat. Features a driver and two "arms" for carrying troops, has a "gravity field" in between the arms for carrying vehicles and supplies and is armed with one shade turret. Looks like a giant tuning fork.
 * Kestrels are deleted covenant vehicles seen in the Halo 2 Collector's Edition Disc.

Fleets

 * Fleet of Particular Justice

Stations

 * High Charity - Covenant Holy City


 * Unyielding Hierophant - Covenant Battle Station

Flagships/Assault Carriers

 * Ascendant Justice-Ship Master Chief used in First Strike.
 * Begotten Angel

CCS-Class Battle Cruisers

 * Truth and Reconciliation - ship the Master Chief storms on a misson to save Captain Keyes. Twice.
 * ''Pious Inquisitor- The setting of the Halo 2 multiplayer map Midship.
 * Sacred Promise
 * Purity of Spirit

CAR-Class Cruisers

 * Contrition
 * Penance

CPV-Class Destroyers

 * Esteem
 * Reverence

Support Ships

 * Infinite Succor

Unknown Type

 * Devotion
 * Commitment and Patience

Important Covenant Events

 * Taming of the Hunters


 * Grunt Rebellion


 * Civil War of the Covenant

Related Links
Internal External
 * Writ of Union
 * A Covenant Primer: The Best of the Bestiary