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 by the humans, are a mammal-like species who are the leadership caste within the Covenant and one of the more mysterious member races of the hegemony. Prophets appear to exert complete control over religious and political affairs, fulfilling their role as leaders. Prophets enforce a misguided theology based on the false belief that firing the Halo Array will start the Great Journey, transcending them into a god-like status. Although physically frail compared to other Covenant species, they wield near absolute power over the Covenant. They have a strong religious importance throughout the Covenant.

Summary
The San'Shyuum are the religious leaders and commanding caste of the Covenant hierarchy. They hold a vital position in the Covenant because they are responsible for studying the holy Forerunner artifacts and using them to develop new technologies, and also because they keep order in the Covenant. They are an integral part of the Covenant High Council, formerly sharing this responsibility with the Elites and later the Brutes. At any given time, the Covenant is headed by a triumvirate of Prophets. The Prophet triumvirates known in recent years were Obligation, Tolerance and Restraint, and most recently Truth, Mercy and Regret, all of whom are now deceased. Regret was killed by the Master Chief on Delta Halo, Mercy by the Flood on High Charity, and Truth by the Arbiter in the citadel on the Ark.

Prophets are extremely frail, possibly due to being adapted to low-gravity environments, due to age, or a combination of both. 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Halo 3 Collector's and Legendary Edition suggests that inbreeding and a lack of concern for physical health, perhaps superseded by the single-minded desire to achieve "trans-sentience" (Also known as the "Great Journey"), is probably responsible for this outcome.

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 natural 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 their realization that war would never come to an end. . The two races united to learn their secrets, forming a mutually beneficial arrangement that would eventually become the Covenant, although they usually see themselves above the Elites. The Elites became the protectors of the Prophets while the Prophets dedicated themselves to studying their "gods" and learning the secrets behind the "ascension" they left on.

As the representatives of the gods, the Prophets held 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 as they are 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 home world 3200 years before the events of 2552 likely contributing to this. 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 species was consumed, leaving less than a thousand alive. Most were 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.

Anatomy and Physiology
While little is known of the San 'Shyuum homeworld, it is known that its gravity was quite lower than Earth's. Because of this, and their status of political figureheads who perform little physical work, most Prophets are physically frail creatures, preferring to move around using anti-gravity technology. A life of physical inactivity leaves most if not all Prophets withered and weak. They are capable of moving unaided, 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 fur-covered lobes of skin hanging underneath their chin similar to a beard, known as "wattles". 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 one thousand 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-bicentenarians.

Culture
Little is known about the culture of the San 'Shyuum. In an unknown time, before the Covenant was formed, a thousand or so pro-technology Prophets called Reformists (who believed in using Forerunner technology for their use and wished to explore the Dreadnought) left their homeworld, leaving the anti-tech Stoics (those who only wished to worship the technology and not explore the Dreadnought) stranded. The resulting calamity meant that the Covenant San 'Shyuum population was reduced to a few thousand, forcing the species to carefully manage their gene pool to prevent the loss of beneficial genes and the introduction of undesirable traits, with individuals possessing negative recessive traits placed in the Roll of Celibates to prevent their breeding. The Prophet of Truth is on such a list. However, if they should have such sexual urges, the Prophets will use concubines. If such a pregnancy should occur, however, they must be aborted, or the children will be killed at birth and the father sterilized.

It is known that the fertility cycles of female San 'Shyuum are short and few and far between, which would make it difficult for San 'Shyuum to have children. As a result, they would have a celebration called a Birthing Period when a child was conceived, which was very uncommon.

With regards to naming practices, each San 'Shyuum has a given name and a family name. However, once they rise to a certain level in the bureaucracy, they prefer to be addressed by their title, or be known by a trait they claimed to possess. Upon their ascension, Hierarchs may select a regal name from a list of former High Prophets. For example, the Prophet Hod Rumnt is always addressed by his titles, such as Philologist, or his regnal name, the Prophet of Mercy.

San 'Shyuum Civil War
As revealed in Halo: Contact Harvest, the San 'Shyuum left their home world with only about a thousand in their population due to a brutal civil war on their home planet. Just like the Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War that took place later on, it all began when some San 'Shyuum believed that they should enter into the Forerunner Dreadnought present on their planet, even though much of the population believed that they should not 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 Reformists.

In 2100 BC, at the climax of the Civil War, about a thousand of the Reformists 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 Reformists took flight from the planet they tore a chunk out of it.

Even though the Reformists 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. With an extremely small gene pool they would need to create strict controls around mating to prevent potentially disastrous inbreeding. The next step in San 'Shyuum history was the Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War, after they had developed a fleet to complement the Dreadnought.

Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War
The war between the Sangheili and the San 'Shyuum began soon after their first encounter in 938 B.C.E.. Sangheili believed that Forerunner 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. Their first meeting resulted in a bloody engagement. 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 852 B.C.E., 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.

Fall of High Charity
With the outbreak of the Flood and its subsequent arrival on the holy city 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. This is also impacted by many Elites killing the San 'Shyuum in an act of vengeance and/or honor. Their current total population is now estimated at less than one thousand. It is likely that the number of Flood Prophet forms are drastically higher as a result of the Flood outbreak.

Post-War
With their population at dangerously low levels following the loss of High Charity, and now having to contend with the wrath of their former guardians, the San 'Shyuum gave their new Jiralhanae protectors access to all the technology they could. For a few years after the Human-Covenant War, the Covenant was successfully fighting off the Separatists, who had long depended on the San 'Shyuum to provide them technology. But according to a Sangheili Shipmaster, the Prophets soon "vanished". The Sangheili had heard rumors that the San 'Shyuum went on the Great Journey, but disregarded them. Most likely the few remaining survivors went into hiding or simply died out.

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.

The Prophet of Regret also appears as an in-game "Hero" unit in Halo Wars, riding his gravity throne amidst combat. He can call down a "Cleansing beam" or glassing beam that drains the players resources; it is guided around by one of the thumbsticks.

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)
 * Unidentified Prophet (The Duel) (Unknown)

Lesser Prophets

 * Prophet of Supposition
 * Prophet of Pity
 * Prophet of Disdain
 * Prophet of Objection (Unknown, probably Deceased)
 * Prophet of Stewardship (Deceased)
 * Unidentified Prophet (The Babysitter) (Deceased)
 * Prophet of Conviction (Deceased)
 * Prophet of Candor

Legates

 * Minister of Etiology (Deceased)
 * Minister of Inquisition (Deceased)
 * Minister of Penance (Unknown)

Ranks

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


 * Note: Only the San 'Shyuum in the High Council are referred to as Prophets. This is likely due to the "Prophet of..." title only appearing in High Councilors.

Trivia

 * The High Prophets' names are almost always the opposite of what their behavior is. The Prophet of Truth was prone to lying, the Prophet of Mercy was very harsh towards others, the Prophet of Regret was headstrong and unapologetic, and the Prophet of Restraint stepped down as a result of high sexual exploits when it was forbidden for him to do so, therefore showing a lack of restraint.
 * Prophet's blood is strikingly red, like that of a Human. This can be seen when the player beats the Prophet of Regret in Halo 2 and if the player shoots 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".
 * Early designs of the Prophets had a far more integrated and cybernetic 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 is because the thrones of lower-ranking Prophets are not individually capable of flight, so they must combine gravity fields with other thrones in order to fly.
 * The Halo 3 Limited Edition Bestiarum states that there are less than 1000 San 'Shyuum left in the universe after High Charity was consumed by the Flood, killing the majority of the San 'Shyuum population (approx. 20 million).
 * It is possible that their thrones are inspired by Frieza's hover throne in Dragonball Z. Or more likely by Baron Harkonnen's hover belt from Dune.
 * They are the only Covenant species that doesn't appear in Halo: Reach.

Related Pages

 * High Prophets
 * High Council