In the primary 26th century setting of Halo, humanity and the Covenant meet for the first time in the year 2525. A Covenant design scheme of purples and reflective surfaces was made to separate the aliens from human architecture. To develop a distinctive look for the various races of the Covenant, Bungie artists drew inspiration from reptilian, ursine, and avian characteristics. Not realizing the Halos were meant as weapons of 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. The Covenant were first introduced in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved as enemies hunting the player character, a human supersoldier known as Master Chief.
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 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. The Covenant is a theocratic military alliance of alien races who serve as one of the main antagonists in the Halo science fiction series. Clockwise from left: a Covenant Hunter, Brute, Jackals, and Grunts as they appear in Halo 3 (2007).