INTRODUCTION CASTE SYSTEM CULTURE WAR RELIGION

We are a technologically advanced collective of cooperating alien races, which controls a large portion of the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Naturally this means that in relative terms, the Human race are close to our controlled space and as humans began to explore space, it was only a matter of time before our paths crossed.

Originally, we was a small collection of "client" species, held together by collective need and complimentary abilities and technologies. As this societal model succeeded, so too did the reach of the Covenant, and our technology, culture and belief system began to coalesce into a single hegemonistic culture. It is a culture with a distinct caste system.

The very name "Covenant," originated with a pact between the three senior species - the Prophets, the Elites and the Engineers. As the empire grew more species were enslaved to our cause.

The order of importance in Covenant society goes something like this:

Prophets

 Elites*, Engineers, Brutes*

Elites*, Brutes*

Hunters

Drones

Jackals, Grunts

As the highest caste, it is the Prophets who lead the Covenant. Their higher understanding of the Forerunner gives them religious powers over the Covenant. The fact that the Covenant are religious fanatics makes it all the more easy to control them. “Such is the Prophets’ decree” - The Flood.

As well as religion the Prophets maintain their higher status purely because they are needed. They are the only caste who can decipher Forerunner artifacts and use them as the blueprints for new technology, the empire needs them to gain the secrets of the Forerunner to use against its enemies.

Elites serve as the military leaders the Covenant, while Prophets often have the last say it is the Elites who organize military campaigns and naval engagements. Ship Masters command the mighty space fleets, Field Masters command the vast armies. Elites maintain the military structure of the Covenant and ensure the Prophets orders, as well as their own, are carried out. Elites are a much needed species for the Covenant to function, they are they only caste who can build and command the starships and have the military know how to ensure successful victories and keep the lesser Covenant species in order.

Engineers don’t really fit in with the Covenant caste system. In military terms they are the lowest as they are a non-militant race. But they are needed to maintain the Covenant war machine and will only converse with the Prophets themselves which indicates they are very high in the caste system, probably because the Covenant are aware of how much they are needed and the Engineers grasp on technology, Covenant and foreign, is profound. Therefore they maintain their status as one of the highest castes.

Brutes are the only slave race that has obtained equal status to that of one of the founding “clients” of the Covenant pact. Their superior strength and speed can match and even beat that of Elites. They wear exceptionally strong amour and use a weapon known as the Brute Shot.

Brutes have clearly gained some importance in the caste system as they are the protectors of the Holy Temples, a very noble and trustworthy task which shows that they are above all other slave races.

It is not known if Brutes have only recently been assimilated into the Covenant or whether they have just been encountered due to their late appearance in the Human-Covenant War.

* Info later, at this time I cannot give away any Halo 2 plot.

Hunters work hard in their role as Covenant muscle, and never disobey orders. Hunters are dismissive and contemptuous of their foes, and in fact, they will only associate with Elites, recognizing and respecting the similar warrior mentality. Hunters are deployed almost like heavy munitions, and other Covenant will often clear the area of deployment, since Hunters are unconcerned with collateral damage, they may even purposely kill the lesser castes, simply for “getting in the way”.

Drones are another slave race of the Covenant. There physique is weak but they make up for it in there large numbers. They also have the ability to fly for short amounts of time, using wings concealed within their backs under folds of skin. They are very insect like and have small protective energy shields that surround their bodies, but it is not as good as that of Elites energy shielding.

In the eyes of the other Covenant races, Jackals and Grunts are equal at the bottom of the caste system. They are both slave races to the Covenant and their past way of life has been abolished to fit in with the Covenant system. The truth is though that the Jackals are above the Grunts, not because of religious reasons or even through effectiveness on the battlefield but by brutality. Jackals are vile towards Grunts, the Grunts themselves have even acquainted themselves with the term, “fed to the Jackals”. The Jackals do this to maintain a sense of superiority so in many ways they are above the Grunts.

Many people assume that the Covenant society is purely based on war and to a certain extent they would be right.
The Covenant started with the pact of three races, the Elites, the Engineers and the Prophets. The Prophets had the connections to the Forerunner and as such its technological superiority. But they were not a war like race and so were unable to take full advantage of the weaponry technology. Elites on the other hand was warlike. Therefore the pact was made with each race using the others unique abilities to form an empire. These were the founding castes.
So the Covenant empire expanded, using their technology and their powerful space fleet the Covenant either wiped out worlds or amalgamated alien races into their society.

The latter races are slaves almost, having their past ways of life almost completely purged when they entered the Covenant Empire. All their past culture was all but erased. All useful races we're used for their unique abilities that the Covenant could use for their ever growing war machine. The Grunts for their superior numbers which will beef up their armies and act as expendable cannon fodder. Jackals for their heightened senses, such as smell, sight and hearing making them excellent sentries and scouts. Hunters it is known were enslaved by space bombardment. The Covenant armies couldn't beat the Hunters on the ground so we bombarded their worlds with Plasma from our superior space fleet until they surrendered and became part of the Covenant. The fact that they are like moving tanks made them useful. 

Covenant society is very warlike and militaristic, slave races are conscripted at a young age. Grunts are taken away young from their parents. Elites find honor in the military, they can only obtain honor of a full name by providing their services but it isn’t compulsory for the none slave races to serve in the armies.

Other races still keep some personal customs, i.e. Hunters honor their bond brother code so long as it fits in with what the Covenant want.

Though Covenant are a warlike culture that isn't to say we are without other privileges. We have religion but we also have art, which is very important to us. In one of our service stations, the Unyielding Hierophant, we had a grand hall. It has many statues of Covenant war heroes, moving picture images and what’s best of all we use the effects of gravity to make unusual effects with water (its hard to explain) to make things of beauty and make planet like environments within the ship to simulate our worlds.
This shows that we aren’t purely militaristic and there is more depth to us than humans make out.

WAR

The Human-Covenant War is a religious one. A religious underpinning leads the genocidal campaign.

Humans are an affront to the Gods and we, the Covenant, are there to remove them.

We often fight in one of two ways.

1) If an insignificant human world is discovered, the Covenant space fleet will engage, wipe out any resistance in the system and Glass the planet. Glassing is a Plasma Bombardment, blasting the planet until nothing is left but rock and it is inhospitable.

Ground engagements are rare in such a case but can occur if the Covenant wish to lower the planets defenses in space from the ground. Such as capturing and destroying Super MAC cannon generators.

2) If an important Human world is discovered a war if fought on two fronts. The Covenant space fleet will try and destroy or weaken the UNSC fleet which will enable Carrier Class Vessels to unload troops and military supplies onto the planet and other Cruisers to enter orbit. While the space battle ensues ground forces overrun the world, capturing vital areas. Depending on how the battle goes, the Covenant either.

a) If UNSC forces win the space battle, Covenant ground forces quickly obtain their target, or as much of it as possible then return to their ships and leave. - Sigma Octanus IV.

b) If Covenant win in space it is only a matter of time before the ground forces are victorious. Reinforcements will bulk up the Covenant army but more importantly the Covenant ships can strategically Glass certain areas of the planet, areas that are not important to their goals but help wipe out vast majorities of the UNSC marine forces. The Covenant are then free to obtain their target groundside without hassle. Once obtained the Covenant leave the system, after totally Glassing the planet. - Reach.

Usually these objectives are valuable Forerunner artifacts.

The Covenant fight to the last warrior. If we win, we wipe out every last human, should we lose we never surrender, rather being destroyed and taking a few more humans with them unless anything Forerunner is at risk.

We, the Covenant, rarely take prisoners. All human civilians and surrendering UNSC forces are usually systematically grouped together and executed. We do actually take prisoners, just very few. It is only done when absolutely needed and captives often die by the torture implemented on them or killed after we find what we wanted to know. Prisoners were only taken during the end of the war when information was needed.

RELIGION

We believe that the Forerunners, a long-since vanished and utterly mysterious civilization, are God-like, but not literally Gods. Rather, the Forerunners represent a level of being that must be attained, or at least attempted. This belief system is underpinned by the existence of numerous abandoned Forerunner artifacts, objects and installations, of which the artificial world Halo, is just one example. The evident technological perfection of Forerunner objects, and the awesome, and unknowable purpose for which these artifacts exist, has powered our Covenant theology for millennia.

There's nothing like evidence for the existence of Gods, than finding their abandoned technology scattered throughout your galaxy. However, the Forerunner technology is as obtuse as it is arcane. We can only guess at its true purpose and origin, and much of our belief system is based on speculation and dogma. Though the Prophets do not admit it. That said, we have been able to incorporate some Forerunner advancements into our weapon and transport technology.

As the Covenant we are mainly driven by our fanatical devotion to the religion. The slave races are driven by the religion they have been forced to accept but also by fear from the other Covenant races.

Prophet ceremony and purpose is not generally known to the Covenant population, most of whom simply trust in their wisdom to further the goals and territory of the Covenant.

Elites coexist with Prophets uneasily. They need access to the Forerunner technology parsed and reverse engineered by the Prophets, and certainly demonstrably share some religious beliefs. But the Elites prefer to demonstrate their faith on the battlefield, not the temple. They have little patience for those who believe that liturgical pomp, rather than conquest, is what the Gods require.

Engineers see their task as a religious duty, these remarkable aliens are patient, almost completely silent and utterly focused on their task and its religious implications putting their religious applications above everything else.

Hunters commitment to the Covenant religion has always been in question, since they continue to maintain their ancient cultural traditions. It shows that they have not altogether accepted their new faith.

Jackal and Grunt religious practices are unknown. While the Covenant religion has completely replaced their old ways it is unknown how much they support it. These castes are more motivated by the fear of Elites rather than the religious implications of battle. But they follow the religion never-the-less.