Covenant (Halo)

The Covenant is a fictional military alliance of various extraterrestrial species and serves as one of the primary antagonists in the Halo science fiction series. The Covenant are composed of a variety of diverse species, united under the religious worship of the enigmatic Forerunners and their belief that Forerunner ringworlds, known as Halos, will provide a path to salvation. After the Covenant leadership – the High Prophets – declare humanity an affront to their gods, the Covenant prosecute a lengthy genocidal campaign against the technologically inferior race.

The Covenant were first introduced in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved as enemies hunting the player character, a human supersoldier known as the Master Chief. Unaware that the Halos were in fact intended to be weapons of mass destruction rather than salvation, the Covenant attempt to activate the rings on three separate occasions throughout the series, inadvertently releasing a virulent parasite known as the Flood in the process.

To develop a distinctive look for the various races of the Covenant, Bungie artists drew inspiration from reptilian, ursine, and avian characteristics. A Covenant design scheme of purples and reflective surfaces was made to separate the aliens from human architecture.

In the primary 26th century setting of Halo, humanity and the Covenant clash for the first time in the year 2525. Searching for relics left behind by their gods, the Forerunners, the Covenant stumble across humans at the colony world of Harvest. The Covenant leadership discovers that the Forerunners designated humanity "reclaimers" of their legacy, and that the Covenant religion is built on falsehoods; to prevent the truth from being uncovered, they instigate a genocidal war against humanity.

The Covenant's superior technology gives them a distinct advantage in the war. In 2552, the Covenant discover and destroy Reach, one of humanity's greatest military strongholds. A human ship fleeing the battle discovers a Forerunner ringworld, Alpha Halo. The Covenant believe the activation of these rings are key to bringing about salvation, but the ring is destroyed by the human supersoldier Master Chief. Soon after, the Covenant falls into civil war as the truth of the Halo rings' purpose is revealed: they are actually weapons of mass destruction built to stop the spread of the parasitic Flood. The disgraced Covenant commander known as the Arbiter ultimately allies with the Master Chief to stop the Covenant and Flood, ending the Human-Covenant War. In the post-war era, various factions replace the power vacuum left by the Covenant; these include the Banished, who feature as primary antagonists in Halo Infinite.

Throughout much of the development of Halo: Combat Evolved, very little concrete story details had been developed for the story campaign, and what trials the player character would face. Writer Joseph Staten and other Bungie staff came up with the idea of a coalition of alien races, subsequently deciding that the faction would be motivated by religion. During the course of development of Halo, the designers decided upon three "schools" of architecture, for each of the factions represented – humans, Covenant, and Forerunners. For the Covenant, the team decided on "sleek and shiny", with reflective surfaces, organic shapes, and use of purples. According to art director Marcus Lehto, the principle designs for the faction came from environmental artist Paul Russell, while concept artist Shi Kai Wang was instrumental in developing the look of the various races within the Covenant. Armor color was used to denote ranks of enemies.

Like the character designs, Covenant technology, architecture, and design continually changed throughout development, occasionally for practical reasons as well as aesthetics. According to Eric Arroyo, the Covenant cruiser Truth and Reconciliation, which plays a major role in Halo: Combat Evolved, was to be boarded by the player by a long ramp. However, due to technical considerations of having a fully textured ship so close to the player, the designers came up with a "gravity lift", which allowed the ship to be farther away (thus not requiring as much processing power for detail) as well as adding a "visually interesting" component of Covenant technology.

The art team also spent a large amount of time on Covenant weaponry, in order to make them suitably alien yet still recognizable to players. At the same time, the designers wanted all aspects of Covenant technology, especially the vehicles, to act plausibly. In contrast to human weapons firing projectiles, many of the Covenant's weaponry are depicted as firing plasma. A few of the Covenant's weapons are not plasma-based, including the Needler, which fires razor-sharp pink needles capable of homing on organic foes. A weapons expert noted parallels between the Needler and ancient Greek Amazons painting their daggers pink as a psychological weapon. Bungie designed the majority of Covenant technology to mirror the aesthetic of the Elites; the exteriors are sleek and graceful, with a more angular and complex core underneath hinting at the Forerunner origins of the technology.