High Charity: Difference between revisions

'''''High Charity''''' was the [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]]'s center of government and mobile capital city, known as the ''Holy City of the Covenant'' or the ''Prophets' Holy City''.<ref name="floodgate">'''[[Halo 3]]''', campaign level, ''[[Floodgate]]''</ref>

High Charity was a massive mushroom-shaped structure, about 348 kilometers in diameter. It was partially constructed from an enormous chunk of rock<ref name="CH145">'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''page 145''</ref> that had been blasted away from [[Janjur Qom]] by the [[Forerunner Dreadnought]],<ref>'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''pages 262-264'' </ref> with the rest of the superstructure being built around it. Inside the hollow dome of the station was a massive multi-leveled city, and beneath which, within the foundation rock that the station was built upon, was a honeycomb structure of [[hangar bay]]s and weapons platforms.<ref name="CH145"/> An "artificial star" at the peak of the dome simulated natural sunlight within the city, and its glow would periodically dim and intensify to simulate day and night cycles. A typical day on ''High Charity'' was roughly comparable to 265 Earth hours.<ref>'''[[Halo Encyclopedia]]''', ''page 31''</ref> The interior artificial environment on the station was practically Earth-like with a generated gravity of 0.95G, a nitrogen-oxygen-argon atmosphere of 1.03 atmospheres and a temperature range of 50°F - 75°F (10°C - 24°C).<ref name="VIS93">'''[[Halo: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 93''</ref> The "stalk" beneath the dome was a mass of towers and antenna-like structures; some 8'930<ref name="VIS93"/> semi-rigid umbilical docking tethers.<ref name="CH145"/> ''High Charity'' was mobile, and could make jumps through Slipspace.  

''High Charity'' was surrounded at all times by its own personal defense [[fleet]], which consisted of hundreds 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]]''. It was also capable of refitting and housing thousands of vessels ranging in size from personal fliers to cruisers on its umbilical docks and within its internal hanger bays.<ref name="ENC294">'''The Halo Encyclopedia''', ''page 294''</ref> As it was the Covenant's major religious center and capital, ''High Charity'' was enormously sacred to the Covenant. It was thought that true believers should visit it at least once in one's lifetime, though few of the Covenant could afford to do so. It was full of [[San 'Shyuum]] and [[Sangheili]] [[Councilor]]s, and the general leadership of the entire alien hegemony. Hidden within the station's founding bedrock were carefully shielded weapons platforms<ref name="CH145"/> which boasted firepower unrivaled by even the largest Covenant battleships.<ref name="ENC294"/> It can be assumed that ''High Charity'' also had its own set of powerful energy shields in addition to this.

However despite its considerable defense assets it was unable to prevent the [[The Flood|Flood]] from infiltrating its interior. The station's shields are most likely why the Flood entered it with the ''[[UNSC In Amber Clad|In Amber Clad]]'' by a precise [[Slipstream space|Slipspace]] jump: it allowed them to bypass any and all outer defenses.