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 Prophet's Holy City.

Physical Description
It is a large mushroom-shaped structure estimated to be 348 kilometers in diameter. At the apex of this "mushroom" is an artificial star that simulates night and day within the city. This star doubles as a launch pad for the Forerunner Dreadnought, the ship at the centre of the city. The stalk peters out to a point, with various branches leading off 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 were so powerful that the Covenant had to keep them at partial power, yet they still powered nearly all of High Charity.

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, but serving as a mobile command post as well. Unlike many small Covenant vessels and their UNSC counterparts, High Charity contains many courtyards and other spaces which are an attempt to seem natural. The interior of High Charity is, of course, laced 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.

No city construct of the Covenant, with the exception of High Charity, is ever seen in any of the Halo games.

Protection
High Charity is important, and significant enough to the Covenant Empire to wield and sustain its own personal Fleets. Consisting of thousands if not tens of thousands 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. Being the Covenant's major religious center and capitol, High Charity is enormously sacred to the Covenant. It is thought that true believers should visit it at least once in a lifetime, though this isn't affordable to many members of the Covenant. It is full of San 'Shyuum and Sangheili Councilors, and generally the leadership of the entire alien hegemony. Identity-wise, it can be likened to the Human view on the, albeit a hundredfold. It can be assumed that High Charity either has it's own set of energy shield's or defensive weapons. Though with all of these defenses it was unable to shield itself from the onslaught of the Flood.

Layout
Along the outer wall on the inside of High Charity are several towers, each containing several 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 connecting to the two surrounding towers by Hanging Gardens and 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.

Early History
High Charity was erected during Sangheili-San 'Shyuum War and completed following the wars 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 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.

After the First 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 and crashing into High Charity to ferry Combat Forms to the station, and Pelican dropships to spread Carrier Forms. 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 here from which he sent one to infest Africa.

The Sangheili fleet formed a large perimeter and quarantined High Charity and Installation 05, attempting to prevent the Flood from infesting any other systems.

After the Flood Invasion
After the Second 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 (several 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.

Theories
High Charity's arrival on the Ark is rather strange, as Installation 00 is beyond the Outer Rim and the Flood's destination was Earth. The only possibility was that it went through the Earth Portal and arrived at the Ark. However, at the end of Halo 3, Earth seemed perfectly fine. While the Flood could have penetrated the handful of Human ships guarding the portal rather easily, it seems unlikely that the Gravemind would avoid leaving at least a small number of Flood spores on Earth as it passes as seen when High Charity arrived at the Ark. Both small and big pieces of debris fell from the wrecked, ravaged city. This questions why Earth hadn’t been infected given the amount of Flood that was attached on the single incubator/carrier that flew through the window on the barrier tower, unless High Charity exited slipspace directly above the portal to the Ark, entering it immediately. Another theory is that during the Forerunner-Flood War, the Gravemind learned of the Ark and what it does, which is considered likely since he was able to at least converse with AIs of Forerunner ownership. Finding the Portal on Earth, he may have considered leaving any of his minions upon Earth to be a waste if he wasn't able to stop the activation of the Halo Array, and would need all of the biomass it could muster if circumstances lead to their firing. Perhaps this is why it left no Flood on Earth. Or, since the area around the Ark had already been glassed by the Elites, there was no nearby biomass for the spores to infect so it would have been pointless to drop off those spores. Another possibility is that the Gravemind learned of the coordinates of the Ark during the Forerunner-Flood war and used those coordinates to jump directly to the Ark (however this would have taken considerable time even through slipspace). Another theory is that the Gravemind somehow tapped into the Forerunner's instantaneous transportation system (perhaps through Pentinent Tangent) and used that to reach the Ark, but this is unlikely since nothing as big as High Charity had ever been transported.

There is also the question of power, as High Charity depended on the engines of the Dreadnought to power its own thrusters and slipspace drive. Yet the Flood-infested city, lacking any apparent power source, except the power core the Master Chief blows up in order to destroy it, can be seen moving under its own power, arriving at the Ark. It may be possible that the Flood used the back-up power supplies on board the ship for power. Possibly off lining systems not necessary to the Flood, such as most energy doors and the Gravity Lifts. Also, another possible theory is that due to the amount of power it generated (only using a fraction to power the whole city), it gave enough power to let High Charity last with power for months, even years without having to be connected to it. However, it is also known that it was placed within High Charity after its construction had started. This could mean that the city had a permanent generator system, and that the Dreadnought was an efficient, and ready power source.

And in Cortana's message she states that there is a "solution" to the Flood, that she knew that there was a portal and she knew where it went. It's also possible that the High Prophet of Regret knew about the portal to the Ark being on Earth, or was at least given the orders to go there by Truth, therefore there must have been records about the portal on High Charity so that the Gravemind and Cortana found out about Earth's significance and/or location.

Second Battle of 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.
 * It is big enough to fit a Forerunner Dreadnought on top of it in the center of the vast city, describing how massive High Charity is.
 * Both multiplayer maps Gemini and Assembly, take place in High Charity
 * Three levels in the Halo Trilogy take place on High Charity.
 * High Charity is the only covenant city in the game.
 * High Charity bears a striking resemblance to "Cloud City" from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Cloud City is said to have been the inspiration for the design of High Charity due to Bungie's obsession with Star Wars like many of their other obsessions.