Castes of the Covenant

By Lieutenant Antus Kamparian of the Turian Hierarchy's Public Information Office

Soldier of the Hierarchy! We may guess that you are a young man or woman. You were most likely very young when the Covenant invasion began, fifteen years ago. Your childhood, meant to be a time of carefree learning and play, has no doubt been permeated with footage of invasion and atrocity- yet also, dreams of that Turian heroism which has saved the galaxy before and will save it again. Now it is time to put those dreams into practice, to earn your citizenship, to show how you are a fighter for Turiankind. And for more than Turiankind, for merit and for the dignity of all beings.

Born into a society that does recognize merit and dignity, you must find the Covenant way of thought very strange. The Covenant does not believe that a solitary being has the right to prove himself, or that a job should be done by the being most fit for it. Nor does it believe that differing peoples have their own paths, a right to develop separately, each choosing a peculiar form of political organization fit for their own history and culture. The Covenant believes that all peoples in the galaxy, all of them, must be united under its San'Shyuum Prophets; that they might be made into rigid lower castes which suit the Prophets' prejudices and convenience. This belief is unnatural, and so the Covenant must inevitably impose itself on the galaxy by terror, superstition, and lawless force.

Look, unlike the Covenant, we try to keep our sermons short. The nub of it is that this empire attacked everyone in known space, attacked us, unprovoked, and they want to conquer us all and rule over us all. They haven't sought to negotiate and they're not going to seek to negotiate. Not until we stomp them and the Covenant surrenders to us and our friends, because unlike them we have friends. You want to know who you'll be fighting? A few will be Terminus settlers, seduced or dragooned into the enemy cause. The rest, well, they'll just be invaders, plain and simple. Here are the latter, arranged in rough order of caste-rank (disgusting concept):

San'Shyuum

Look carefully at these three faces. These are the faces of the so-called Prophets of Diligence, Intrepidity, and Sagacity. It's difficult to keep your tone level when you're describing these three. All of this, all of it, is their fault. They are why the enemy is in the Terminus Systems, and they are why you are in the Terminus Systems. It isn't more complicated than that. They're the leaders of the San'Shyuum, the Covenant's priestly caste, and by extension they're the leaders of the Covenant. They discovered the mass effect relay system, prepared for war immediately, and invaded at the first possible instant, and they're going to pay for it. If you ever meet one of these three beings, or the Exarch who serves as their chief sycophant along the mass effect relay system- you'll know what to do.

There are only millions of San'Shyuum. They almost all live in the Covenant's flying capital city of High Charity, and they never fight. They have dupes and peons to do their fighting for them. They spend the lives of their dupes and peons very freely. In most images of the San'Shyuum we possess they are sitting in floating anti-gravity chairs, because they think they are too good to walk. It is frustrating to think that most of you viewing this will never get a chance to shoot a San'Shyuum.

Sangheili

If the San'Shyuum are so few, and they are such useless cowardly shut-ins, how then do they have such an ancient and formidable empire? Most of the dirty work was done by the other half of the marriage that originally formed the Covenant. High-strung, the Sangheili. Drama queens, really. See how gaudy their armor is? But it is good armor. Because the Sangheili do fight, and it must be said that they often fight well, they believe that all others save the San'Shyuum are meant to serve them. We don't take many Sangheili prisoners. We would, it's just that they have a charming convention of ritual suicide in case of defeat.

You'll meet the Sangheili. They're over seven feet tall and they weigh over three hundred pounds. Sometimes they stick with each other, and sometimes one Sangheili will lead a "lance" of his lower caste lackies. Sangheili leaders often have ornate swords made of plasma, and in combat they try to close distance and fight hand-to-hand. The Sangheili do not seem to entirely know what millennium they are living in. Keep your cool. See how pretty the opulent Sangheili looks after you hit him with a good ugly Turian cryo-explosive!

Jiralhanae

You may have felt we were dancing around something when we talked about the Sangheili. You may have thought to yourself, "Hang on, aren't these seven feet tall bloody-minded maniacs a little like the other seven feet tall bloody-minded maniacs we thrashed before? Are they too delicate to address it? They're letting lily-livered hypersensitives write the Turian Hierarchy's war propaganda now?" Relax. We had a good reason for not bringing up the Krogan, a few of whom are now our friends. We were saving the comparison for the barbaric Jiralhanae. The similarities start early, with Comparative Terrestrial History. Like the Krogan, the Jiralhanae went and nuked themselves. This tells you most of what you need to know.

Jiralhanae get up to nine feet tall, taller than Krogan or Sangheili. They make big targets; you can't miss them. You might not get the chance to meet the Jiralhanae anytime soon, though. The Covenant's two dedicated martial castes have a tradition of what could be called interservice rivalry. The Sangheili reserved the responsibility of breaking the Asari Republics, the Salarian Union, and the Turian Hierarchy all for themselves. They told the Jiralhanae to stay back and garrison the Terminus Systems, to police the settlers of that region of space until they are subdued and have been made orderly. Lots of luck to the Jiralhanae! Maybe next the Sangheili will tell them to empty an ocean with a spoon.

Lekgolo

You might say that we've seen Jiralhanae before. The first thing we did after making first contact was meet and subdue the Krogan Warlords. And almost every culture in the galaxy has produced hypocritical priests and vainglorious officers, so San'Shyuum and Sangheili aren't as unfamiliar as they first look either. But the Lekgolo defy analogy. An individual Lekgolo is a small worm, not much more intelligent than any other worm. It only achieves sapient cognition by combining with other Lekgolo worms. Fifteen years since the war began, we still have no real comprehension of Lekgolo sociology, psychology, or culturology.

All Lekgolo colonies which can be usefully considered as infantry are "Mgalekgolo." Mgalekgolo equipped for battle resemble twelve feet tall suits of armor, and for some reason are always paired. They wield heavy weapons and are stronger than Jiralhanae, Krogan, or Sangheili. Other Lekgolo colonies are more usefully considered as vehicles. They operate, or inhabit, gangly titanic walking machines that have driven even the Salarian Union's most open-minded scientists nuts. Lekgolo are the only Covenant people who both fight and who have never surrendered to the Citadel Council even once. If you meet the Lekgolo your task is difficult, but very simple.

Yanme'e

Rachni. We're all thinking it. It's mildly unfair. The Yanme'e can talk, they can negotiate, and if they really feel like it, they can even surrender. They all surrendered once, to the Covenant. But it is wartime, and it is natural to notice the faults of our enemies, and not any artistic achievements that the overgrown wasps conceivably produced by accident at some point. And the Yanme'e usually don't talk, and they usually don't negotiate.

What happened to the Rachni doesn't need to happen to all the Yanme'e. Just don't expect to make friends with any Yanme'e that you meet. He-she-it- will probably be a sterile soldier drone. They fly in swarms, have no sense of self-preservation, and don't take prisoners. If things are going very well, and the Covenant is retreating particularly quickly that day, you may meet worker drones. Worker drones may choose to surrender, may choose to fight you to the death, or may just keep on working without speaking or acknowledging that there was a battle at all. The Yanme'e queens are out there somewhere, and they're presumably a little smarter than the soldier and worker drones that we've seen. To date the queens have at least been smart enough to stay away from us!

Huragok

We've now traveled some way down the Covenant social pyramid, and we're coming into its lower reaches. It will be natural for you to find the peoples here at the bottom somewhat more sympathetic than their strutting overlords at the top. Do not get carried away. The lowliest, most abused member of the Covenant may still leap at the opportunity to take his frustrations out on you and the people around you. There is only one caste of the Covenant which finds combat to be absolutely alien and around which you may, within reason, relax. This is the Huragok caste. We might think of Huragok as the Covenant's equivalent of the Citadel Keepers. As the Prothean Empire created the Keepers to maintain the Citadel, the antecedent civilization the Covenant dubs the "Forerunners" created the Huragok to maintain their own ships, orbitals, and technical devices.

Reflecting their broader mandate, Huragok are more adaptable than Citadel Keepers. They travel, are capable of socialization, and unlike Keepers are recognizable as people. That said, their priorities are not like the priorities of a naturally evolved species. Their fixation on mechanical engineering always takes precedent over any interest they might have in friendship, culture, or any such distractions. You may find Huragok serving the Covenant in their capacity as mechanics. The regulations governing treatment of Huragok POWs are far lighter than those concerning any other Covenant people. Suffice it to say that it is not even necessary to keep them away from weapons or ammunition. Our charitable Hanar partners in the Illuminated Primacy have taken the lead in caring for Huragok POWs, as alone among the Covenant's peoples Huragok by themselves are simply not any kind of threat.

Kig-Yar

It's hard to remember now, but there were five years between the Covenant's discovery of the mass effect relay system and the start of the war. The San'Shyuum and Sangheili were making preparations. In that short period, it was the Kig-Yar who were the only members of the Covenant to travel from the Attican Blank to the Terminus Systems in appreciable numbers. The puzzling thing is, they were well-liked. It's hard to say whether this speaks well or poorly of them. One might say that it shows a Kig-Yar capacity for co-existence and fellowship. Another might suspect them of espionage. A third might suppose the Kig-Yar genuinely did take to the Terminus Systems; but posit that an affinity for the Terminus mercenary economy might not be such a positive thing.

The autonomy of those Kig-Yar pioneers who scouted the Terminus Systems for the Covenant might make us wonder if the Kig-Yar are truly so lower-caste and neglected. Any doubts on this score may be settled by consideration of the condition of the Kig-Yar infantry you will meet. They are given no armor and are barred from operating heavy equipment. They are given weak pistols and pitifully cheap wrist-mounted energy shields, and then told to close with the enemy. They are still dangerous, but you are dangerous too, and unlike the Kig-Yar you are properly equipped. Some luckier Kig-Yar are given long-distance rifles and trained as snipers. You will find these far more joyous to kill.

Unggoy

The methane-breathing Unggoy are the most populous race of the Covenant and do the most real labor to keep its economy churning. They are without question the most oppressively exploited people of the galaxy. Unggoy fecundity, which rivals that of the Krogan before the Genophage, is kept in check by the sheer brutality of Unggoy repression. There is a history of Unggoy rebellion against the Covenant, though not an encouraging one. The Unggoy are the only Covenant race which is methodically denied the right to captain warships of any kind, though they would be capable of it, and every Unggoy uprising inevitably ends in nightmarish slaughter and a return to abjection.

As you will meet the Unggoy infantryman, it is best for you not to dwell too long on his misfortunes. He is denied even the wrist-mounted energy shields granted to the Kig-Yar, but he is always numerous and sometimes he is enthusiastic. Many Unggoy lances surrender when their Sangheili officers are disposed of. Many do not. You will do whatever must be done.

Yonhet

We don't know much about the Yonhet, but we're not all that curious to learn more. The Yonhet have a far smaller population than that of any other Covenant race except for the San'Shyuum, and they are considered so trivial as to lack formal caste-rank. This may not be such a bad thing for them. We believe that in practice, Yonhet have more autonomy and usually more personal wealth then Huragok, Kig-Yar, or Unggoy. They are also excluded from military service, and so you will never meet one. We have included them for the sake of completeness.