- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
1. the covenant know technology because they are imatative not inovative. the prophets original homeworld was forerunner so they got the majority of their superior tech from there. not saying they're completely dumb because they are obviously intelligent and may have made their own things from gathered technology. later in the war they steal useful human technology, such as A.I's in starships which further proves they are a imatative race.
2. yes the covenant are very mobile, they have superior starships in every way with few weaknesses and on the ground anti grav and plasma echnology gives them an edge.
3. yes the caste system is important in their society and way of life. while humans can adapt and perform multiple tasks it seems the covenant are very specialised in their functions. prophets are leaders and deal with spritual and political factors. jackals are scouts, patrols and snipers due to superior senses, elites use their knowledge of technology and superior battlefield tactics to man starships, many vehicles, be commanders and leaders and generally great soldiers to the covenant "they are the iron heart of the covenant war machine" grunts make up the bulk of the army and are fodder, i personally beleive they breed faster than any of the other covenant races also, with prophets being the least. brutes because of their strength and heavy defense are the guards of great importance such as the holy temples and the prophets themselves (so why are they on earth unless they are guarding/finding something of great riligious significance) hunters are backup and are like walking tanks where its more benificial (due to space etc or getting there) than using an actual tank, they are also very strong and sometimes used for manual things (brutes are too important) engineers are purely to maintain the covenant war machine and gather technology and we're probably a founding race like the elites and prophets. in order of caste significance it goes:
High Prophets
Minor Prophets, Commander Elites*
Elites Brutes Engineers***
Hunters
Jackals** Grunts
* if the elite is of VERY high rank it can outrank a minor prophet (said in the flood book)
** though in truth jackals and grunts are held in equal disregard by the higher castes jackals see themselves as higher than grunts and are violent to keep above them.
*** though not warriors, engineers are a high caste as they are crucial to the covenant war machine and maintaining society.
4. yes the covenant have great temples and cities and i believe the ones on the (main) homeworld was created by the founding covenant. the covenant obviously have creativity and art in their veins as there ships often contain works of beauty that are not purely related to fuction. in first strike on the unyeilding heirophant there is a grand hall, there are statues of covenant war heroes, moving pictures and gravity is used to move water (within the ship) to create wonderous effects and have planet environments in space. why would a race where there only culture seems to be war has this??? they are more complecated than that it seems (well some castes are).
i don't really think the covenant have entertainment. jackals seem to enjoy violence towards the grunts "or worse give him to the jackals". grunts seem to just sleep, eat and relax with comrades when not fighting. prophets are always scheming, planning and discussing religious or political things in their councils. due to their warlike nature i beleive all young are implemented into the military straight away to make the most of their unique caste abilities at a young age for the covenant war machine. as for females i certainly don't know, grunts have females as (its either in the strategy guide of the flood) children are taken away from mothers when they are young. the colours of jackals i think has to do what sex they are and how mad they are. as for the others i really don't know but all the fighting elites in the books that are named are clearly male so maybe females are held in high regard and don't fight? as elites are very high maybe the only true cilvilians are the children and females of the higher castes.
the covenant are clearly a military society and in religious terms hold the forerunners as almost god like and like a goal to aim to. the humans are obviously preventing this/slowing them down as it seems many of thier world contains forerunner artifacts and constructs or maybe humanity has deeper connections with the forerunner which the covenant dislike. either reason is good evidence that led the covenant into the religious war (see my sig)
hope this has cleared the covenant alittle though it opens more questions for me in the process (like why did the prophets abandon the forerunner world)?
[Edited on 6/15/2004 7:52:14 AM]