History of the Covenant: Difference between revisions

The '''[[Covenant]]''', like almost all cultures, keeps a record of their history using their own methods of timekeeping. Unfortunately, the exact measures, if any, of these are a mystery, and there are hints that there may be multiple divisions of each age (9th Age of Reclamation, for example.) What is known is that the Covenant divide their recorded time into seven Ages <ref name="halosm">http://halosm.bungie.org/story/staten102204.html</ref>, divided based on notable events within each. Each age is not necessarily a period of time, but a description of the events within it.

The [[Covenant]] traces its history back at least 100,000 years, when an ancient species (not yet confirmed as aliens) called the [[Forerunner]] activated the [[The Halos|Halo installations]], disappearing from the galaxy. This is referred to as the [[Age of Abandonment]] by the Covenant.<ref name="halosm"/>

At some point before the Covenant’s formation, it's been recorded that the [[Elites|Sangheili]] and [[Prophets|San 'Shyuum]] waged war against each other, apparently in a power struggle, in what is called the [[Age of Conflict]].<ref name="halosm"/> Additionally, the [[Grunt Rebellion]] took during the 39th Age of Conflict.<ref>''"No one had known that the infusion incident, as it came to be known, was the most important of many small grievances that precipitated the Unggoy rebellion, a civil war that ushered in the Covenant's 39th Age of Conflict"'' [[Halo: Contact Harvest]] p. 151</ref>

What is known is that the [[Prophets|Prophets']] discovery of ancient Forerunner artifacts during the [[Age of Discovery]]<ref name="halosm"/>  and the end of the war during the [[Age of Reconciliation]]<ref name="halosm"/>, became the foundation on which the Covenant was founded upon. The Prophets promised to find the means of the Forerunners' [[Great Journey|transcendence]] and the Elites promised to protect the hierarchy. These ages marked the beginnings of the Covenant, the start of the Covenant’s search for Forerunner artifacts and presumably the Covenant [[Writ of Union]].

These were followed by the [[Age of Conversion]]<ref name="halosm"/>, where the Covenant started their subjugation of other species in their search for Forerunner artifacts, incorporating them into their society, adding their strengths to their own. It is likely that the [[Taming of the Hunters]] occurred during this time period, requiring the creation of another [[Arbiter (Rank)|Arbiter]] and defeated them only by threatening to destroy the homeworld of the Hunters. This period most likely included the incorporation of the [[Grunts (Unggoy)|Unggoy]], [[Jackals (Kig-Yar)|Kig-Yar]], [[Drones (Yanme'e)|Yanme’e]] and [[Engineers (Huragok)|Huragok]] in separate Ages of Conversion.

The [[Age of Doubt]]<ref name="halosm"/> is speculated to be a group of periods during which many of the Covenant began to lose faith in their mission. During the 29th Age of Doubt, the Grunt Rebellion occurred, instigated by the Jackals, requiring the creation of an Arbiter to quell. The last Age of Doubt, the 29th, ended in the year 2525, in human counting, leading into the Age of Reclamation.

== Sources ==