Covenant Forces

The Covenant are a collection of different alien races bent on human-kind's extinction. Though most of the Covenant's forces have been forced, or coerced into servitude they all fight with a religious vehemence. What is known about the Covenant is this: it began with the alliance of the Prophets with the Elites, two alien races, the former the religious leaders, the latter being the military leaders. They started recruiting other races into their Covenant and once they discovered humanity, they set out to utterly destroy humankind rather than enslave us. Not much else is known about their motives for their war, other than that they consider humanity an affront to their gods. The known races of the Covenant include Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, Elites, Prophets, Brutes, Drones and Engineers, although there are reports that there may be others as well. The Covenant have repeatedly shown themselves to be imitative rather than innovative. This is theorized to have something to do with their religious reverence of the Forerunners, as they will take what Forerunner technology they can, but they don't seem to invent their own technology. This has been discovered by the UNSC to be an exploitable weakness. It has been documented that Covenant forces will not under any circumstances use UNSC technology unless they absolutely have too. They feel that UNSC weaponry is inferior, and therefore unworthy of their touch. A disarmed Covenant soldier will not usually pickup and use a UNSC weapon to defend himself, even if it would save his life.

Grunts (Unggoy): Grunts are the bulky low-slung soldiers of the Covenant are often used as cannon fodder, much of Grunt culture has been erased and they are essentially a slave race. Grunts typically travel around in packs and are often accompanied by Elites. Individually they aren't very threatening but can be in large groups. Grunts breath methane and must wear a sealed suit to sustain a suitable atmosphere otherwise they will suffocate. Grunts have certain characteristics that make them difficult to classify scientifically. They have behavior similar to that of simians, but this does not reflect their appearance. They have hooves on their four-toed feet, their skin is leathery and purple-gray, and they have thick, light-blue blood (possibly because of the chemicals they breath and the chemical reaction within their bodies). Even though they are small and not very agile, they are surprisingly strong--they can carry, and fire a Fuel Rod gun on their shoulder without toppling over. Reports have been received about Grunts communications, and that have high-pitched tones in their voices (possibly due to the methane they breathe). Since they breathe methane, they are mostly seen wearing rebreather apparatuses on their backs, but they have been seen habituating in large environment domes that have airlocks and methane filters for them to breathe while not in armor.

Grunts have several classes:

The Orange armored Grunts are Grunt minors and are basically used as cannon fodder.

The Red armored Grunts are veteran Grunts that are sometimes seen commanding a few other lesser Orange Grunts.

The Black armored Grunts are Spec-Op Grunts who are commanded by the SpecOp Elites, and have been known to wield Fuel Rod Guns more frequently than the other Grunt types.

Green armored Grunts are Gunners, and their main purpose seems to be to set up and use mounted plasma cannons and fixed turret emplacements.

White Grunts have been seen performing a number of tasks, from being used in combat to cleaning starships. It is unknown exactly what position this seems to be.

Elites (Sangheili): The Sangheili, or Elites as the Humans call them, are the iron heart of the Covenant military. There are a few varieties of the Elite, but all are roughly 8'6" tall and incredibly strong. Their strength allows them to rely on brute force when necessary, but they are quite capable of brilliant battlefield tactics as well. Their natural resilience is augmented by full body energy shielding which recharges when depleted. They wield plasma pistols, plasma rifles, plasma grenades, needles, carbines, beam rifles, fuel rod guns, and the formidable energy sword. Elites consider the other Covenant client races to be below them in all ways. The Elites are the only known race permitted to operate starships within the Covenant, though the crews are always a mix of races.

In the Elite culture, names are considered a privilege. Only things of importance are named. The Elites generally consider humans to be nameless, and resent the fact that humans have assigned the label "Elite" to them, as humans have no standing to be naming things. Because names are important to the Elite society, each element of the name has a meaning. Elite names are constructed from a series of parts. The Covenant military promotion is by merit. A Covenant soldier must succeed to advance. Success is often measured in scalps. A Covenant of "Admiral" or equivalent rank, may have personally slaughtered thousands of individuals.

Elites have several classes or ranks:

The Blue armored Elites are Elite minors, and generally serve as foot-soldiers. However they have been seen commanding several of the lesser Covenant races.

The Red armored Elites are Elite majors, or veterans who command other Elites and larger squads.

The Gold armored Elites are Zealots and "Ship Masters", and normally captain starships or lead whole regiments of troops in large engagements.

The Black and White armored Elites are Spec-Ops and usually command Spec-Op Grunts.

Gray and Light Blue armored Elites are Infiltrators and are rarely ever seen without their active camouflage generators engaged.

Elite Rangers are trained to use anti-gravity thruster packs in combat, are equally dangerous in low or no-gravity environments as well as in "normal" gravity environments.

Elite Councilors are rarely seen in combat since their role within the Covenant seems to be strictly political. This does not mean, however, that they are unskilled combatants.

Honor Guards are Elites with especially ornamented armor, and are the best of the best. Instead of fighting out in the field with the Covenant troops on the front lines, they guard the Prophets from harm personally.

Elites have an interesting physical appearance. Their jaw is quadruple-hinged; they have an upper jaw, and then four mandible-like lips which are lined with sharp teeth. Their legs are double jointed so they can jump great distances compared to humans, and their unusually shaped hoof-like feet give them tremendous balance. Their hands have four fingers; two middle fingers and two thumb-like fingers on the outside of the hand for grasping. They have grayish-brown skin and purple-blue blood and it is not known what chemical makes the blood this color, though it is assumed they breathe oxygen because they can breath the same atmosphere as humans. It should be noted that the higher-ranking Elites have strange glyphs on the backs of their armor. Upon closer examination, these glyphs were found to be directly related to the same strange symbols that have appeared in ancient Forerunner structures found throughout known UNSC controlled space. This leaves considerable evidence that the Covenant worship, or at least revere, the Forerunners.

Jackals (Kig-Yar): Jackals, serve as assassins, scouts, and spies within the Covenant due to their exceptional senses of sight, smell and hearing. They use plasma pistols, plasma rifles, needles, beam rifles and carry a strong energy shield to compensate for their physical weakness; a well-positioned Jackal can hold his own against several Marines, though grenades are effective against them. They stand approximately 5'8" tall.

Jackals have little status in the Covenant hierarchy, and are subservient to all but the Grunts. Although they technically stand as equals with the Grunts, the reality is that Jackals are usually in an elevated position. While the other races consider the Grunts beneath notice, the Jackals are often purposefully cruel in order to assure themselves of their own superiority.
Jackals are not permitted by the Elites to have more than one name, but Jackal society had never placed a premium on such things, so they don't care. Examples of Jackal names include Yeg, Jak, and Bok.

The Jackals ranks include:

Jackal minors are signified by a blue energy shield and server as general infantry.

Jackal majors are slightly more elevated and are signified by an orange shield. Not much is different about their appearance other than their shield color.

Sniper Jackals not carry energy shields, as both their hands are used to operate beam rifles, the Covenant long range sniper weapon.

It should also be noted that Jackals actually do wear metal armor on their bodies along with their energy shields, though it is not known if this signifies rank.

Jackals are vaguely birdlike in appearance, with feather-like "hair" on their heads, arms, and feet. They have three fingers on each hand, and beak-like teeth. ONI scientists have noted a great variance in skin tone and color between Jackals, and they have discovered some kind of spots or patterns that cover their bodies. Some colors of Jackal skins include dark orange and dark green. Although the Jackals vary in skin color, their blood is always purple in color.

Hunter (Lekgolo): Hunters, or Lekgolo by their Covenant name, are more like living tanks than anything else. Hunters stand 12' tall, though in their combat state they contract to approximately eight feet. Hunters fight with two different types of fuel rod guns integrated directly into their armor. They carry an enormous and nearly-impervious metal shield made of an unknown alloy, which they sometimes use as a melee weapon. Hunters almost never associate (or indeed even communicate) with other Covenant client races, save for the Elites. They are dismissive, scornful, and arrogant to the "lesser" Covenant races, and are utterly contemptuous of their foes. Hunters were forced into the Covenant by the superior starship technology of the Elites - on the ground they were always victorious. Faced with extinction by orbital bombardment, they joined the Covenant.

Hunters have three names: personal name, bond name, and line name. The personal name is given at birth. The line name represents the genetic heritage, being the name of the most successful Hunter of his ancestors. If a Hunter reaches a certain level of status, his offspring will have his personal name as their line name. The bond name is taken between bonded pairs, a relationship about which little is known, but it appears to b something like a lifelong mate. Bonded Hunters consider themselves brothers and are fiercely protective of each other. Examples of Hunter names include Igido Nosa Hurru, and Ogada Nosa Fasu. Hunters are nearly never seen alone, and are very dangerous as they work in pairs.

The Hunter is not a singular organism. The Hunter is actually composed of hundreds of small, orange, worm-like organisms that fit together to create the shape of the Hunter body. Their armor actually serves to hold the shape together, and without it, it would fall apart. The worm-like beings form a singular collective consciousness with each other and act as one. Hunters have very long spines composed of these worms, and are covered in metal armor. These spines are very sharp. Hunters have been known to impale careless Marines upon these spines when surrounded. The only way to kill a Hunter is to attack the "soft spots" around it's midsection where it's armor does not fully protect the organisms. This spot is believed to be due to the fact that a Hunter, in combat stance, contracts and hunches over, so any armor around that portion of their body would cause severe discomfort and hinder movement. However, if a Hunter is caught off guard, these regions become exposed for brief moments. If a precise shot from a 12.7mm HE round or higher caliber weapon penetrates the Hunter's body, it instantly dies.

Engineer (Hunagnok): The only known race of the Covenant to be non-combatant, instead they act as scientists and are the only ones other than the Prophets who deal with Forerunner technology. Engineers are very patient and focus almost exclusively on their work. When the Master Chief the survivors from Halo took over a Covenant flagship they encountered many Engineers and after shooting one the other Engineers in the room panicked for about two seconds then returned to their work utterly oblivious to their surroundings. Engineers communicate solely to the Prophets and will only pay attention to Forerunner artifacts and Prophets. The only exception is when a Forerunner artifact or structure is threatened then they will emit a high-pitched wail. Covenant ships are known to have a large number of Engineers for internal maintenance purposes. And Engineers have special maintenance ways that allow them to move through a Covenant ship quickly and efficiently.

Engineers have purple colored skin and float above the ground using large gas bladders that keep them afloat. They have six eyes and four tentacles that can split into many microscopic cilia to repair or construct anything. Engineers can disassemble and put together vehicles, armor, etc in a matter of seconds, they can learn very quickly and memorize the information for later reference. Engineers are not threatening and are rarely ever seen battle situations.

Prophets: The Prophets are the Ruling race in the Covenant and have a very large religious significance. The Prophets originated on a world that was once a Forerunner Colony and it is theorized that that is why the Covenant revere the Forerunner and also why the Covenant have such sophisticated technology. The Prophets goal is to locate, explore, and archive Forerunner artifacts. The Prophets, however intelligent and highly evolved they are, are physically weak and rely on the Elites to fight for them, hence the formation of the Covenant beginning with the alliance between the Prophets and Elites. After locating a system with Forerunner artifacts the prophets order the Elites to either destroy or assimilate their native inhabitants. Most of the Covenant population does not know what the Prophets even do but simply rely on their wisdom and knowledge.

Prophets do not have traditional names, they are instead given titles such as Prophet of Truth, Regret, Mercy, Supposition, etc. There are two classes of Prophets, the High Prophets and the Lesser Prophets. The High Prophets are more widely known in the Covenant than the Lesser Prophets are. An example of a High Prophet is the Prophet of Truth while a Lesser Prophet is the Prophet of Supposition.

Drones (Yanme'e): Drones were originally used by the Covenant as shipbuilders since they favor space over atmosphere and have only recently been being used in the Covenant military. Since they favor space over atmosphere their wings get tired out faster in atmosphere than in space which allows them little flying time before they have to rest their wings. Although Drones prefer to stay far above the battlefield, firing down on opponents they are also skilled in close quarters fighting when pitted against a vehicle a Drone will land on it and proceed to beat the soldier out.. Drones resemble insects and have a kind of chitanous plating forming a type of natural armor although it doesn't defend well against sustained fire. Drones often use light weapons such as the Plasma Pistol and Needler.

Brutes (Jiralhanae): The brutes are the newest race to join the Covenant, they are part simian (monkey/ape) and part ursine (Bear). They have gray skin and brown fur like patches of hair, their skin is very strong, thick and durable allowing Brutes to soak up lots of damage before being brought down. Brutes have a very primitive culture structuring involving a chieftain named Tartarus. Brutes probably move up in rank similarly to that of an Elite, by how well he performs in battle.

Known Brute ranks include:

Brute minors are basic Brutes, they wield the Brute plasma rifle, (basically just an overpowered plasma rifle) carbines, and occasionally the Brute Shot.

Brute majors are more skilled than their minor counterparts.

Brute Captains are signified by the flag mounted on their shoulder, and wield Brute Shots more often than other weapons.

Honor Guard Brutes have recently taken then place of the Elites as the protectors of the High Prophets, and wear highly ornamented armor.

Brutes have a high dislike for the Elites. They believe that they can do a better job of Protecting the Prophets than the Elites. This dislike led to minor clashes between both races and eventually the beginnings of the Covenant civil war (after the Prophets shifted power from the Elites to the brutes after the death of the Prophet of Regret, at the hands of the Master Chief) in October of 2552.