Sangheili (Earth-5875)

"On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, we swore to uphold the Covenant!"

- Rtas 'Vadumee

The sangheili (Latin Macto cognatus, meaning "I glorify my kin"), known to humans as Elites, are a sapient species of fierce, strong and warrior-like saurians from Sanghelios, who once formed the leadership and the backbone of the Covenant alongside the san'shyuum, united on their faith and reverence of forerunners as gods and the Halo Array as tools of salvation. They have a strong hatred for the former fellow Covenant race jiralhanae, who betrayed them during the Great Schism. During the closing months of the First Contact War, the Prophet of Truth ordered the genocide of the sangheili, a plan he carefully plotted for years, using the death of the Prophet of Regret at the hands of John-117 as an excuse for being supposedly "unfit" to continue protecting the san'shyuum - in reality, motivated by the fact the sangheili started to question the Covenant's war against humanity.

This led the Covenant to fall in disarray, with most of the pursued sangheili siding with humanity and the UNSC to stop the Covenant, after learning their entire religion was false through Arbiter Thel 'Vadam; this uneasy alliance continued after the end of the First Contact War. In the following post-war decade, Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and First Blade Rtas 'Vadum founded the Swords of Sanghelios with those who followed them, establishing a grand council of kaidons, and gaining control of most of the sangheili colonies and many ex-Covenant worlds for their cause, to reform all wrongs done by the Covenant, including the end of the social rifts between its species and peace with humanity. However, they became opposed by many different factions, all who wished to re-start their own version of the Covenant and continue a war against humans and jiralhanae, leading to the Blooding Years, a civil war through sangheili space, as well as the continuing Great Schism against the jiralhanae.

The Ark and reseeding
The sangheili evolved in tropical wetlands of Sanghelios, and were visited by the forerunners in the past, who left numerous artifacts on the planet. During the Forerunner-Xenomorph War, the Librarian visited Sanghelios as a part of the Conservation Measure to save sangheili specimens for the Ecumene, and index them in the Ark so they could survive the activation of the Halo Array. After the rings were lighted and all life extinct, the sangheili, alongside all remaining living species in the galaxy, were returned to their homeworld via Keyships, where they started rebuilding their culture.

Development of civilization and the Covenant
"When we arrived at their frontier world of Ulgethon, the cost of life was severe. Led by a might Arbiter, the sangheili resisted our delegations with ruthless force, leading to a century of war."

- - Prophet of Clarity on his Record of Punished Deeds After returning to Sanghelios, the sangheili found many of the artifacts the forerunner had left behind, and started to revere them as gifts from the gods, so much that any tempering with them was considered heretical beyond any other crime. However, many sangheili scientists went against what they saw as dangerous dogmas and secretly studied the forerunner technology, which would later become of pivotal importance into reverse engineering weapons to combat the san'shyuum. Hundreds of years later, the sangheili became advanced enough to reach Tier 3, developing slipspace technology and exploring beyond their home system, colonizing dozens of planets, with Sanghelios as the center of their civilizations' government and cultures. Not much later, numerous sangheili clans started waging war against each other for territory and dominance of the planets, which became known as the Clan Battles of Sanghelios.

In 938 BCE, the sangheili made their first contact with an alien civilization, the Reformist san'shyuum, who also worshiped the foreruners as gods, but that used their technology to suit their civilization's needs, believing that such technology was left behind as gifts. Upon landing on the planet, they took notice of the abundance of forerunner artifacts that were left behind by the forerunners to study it. However, the sangheili also worshiped the forerunners as gods, and, unlike the Reformists, had divergent ideological views on the handling of the relics, which soon developed into the War of Beginnings in 938 BCE, when an Arbiter decapitated all members of a san'shyuum embassy, delivering their heads back to the Reformists.

Much like the san'shyuum Stoics, the sangheili believed every forerunner relic to be sacred beyond measuring, and thus that they should not be touched or manipulated by lesser beings. The sangheili attacked the san'shyuum as soon as they could, and the War of Beginnings raged on for centuries. During the conflict, the sangheili had both a numeric and physical advantage. The military tactics of the sangheili surpassed that of the san'shyuum, and one sangheili warrior was worth ten san'shyuum soldiers, as they were much stronger and faster. However, the san'shyuum had more advanced technology, huragok that could repair and maintain their military technology, and control over the Dreadnought, which was able to tear down hundreds of sangheili warriors and ships.

As the war continued with no apparent end, both species came to fear ultimate annihilation on the two sides. The sangheili feared the Dreadnought and their possible extinction at its power, while the san'shyuum feared for their existence with their dwindling numbers and inability to sustain their females and children. The war became so devastating that the sangheili collectively agreed to abandon their own religious beliefs and study and incorporate forerunner technology to their arsenal to avoid total destruction. Such an act allowed the sangheili to go stalemate against the san'shyuum, but the Dreadnought still proved to be unstoppable, and so the sangheili unwillingly surrendered.

Even in the past, sangheili held numerous beliefs related to honor and battles, and so they respected a worthy adversary. After the end of the war and the sangheili's surrender, the san'shyuum proposed an alliance between the two species. In 852 BCE, a truce between the two species, under the sangheili and san'shyuum leaders Pelahsar the Strident and High Lord Mken 'Scre'ah'ben, where both sides agreed to move on their past crimes against each and cooperate towards an alliance: the result was the ratification of the Writ of Union and the formation of the Covenant. For the next decades, Sanghelios served as the capital remained the center of the Covenant, as the two forces used their own engineering tactics and the huragok to build a mobile capital city for the alliance, High Charity. While the sangheili served as warriors for the Covenant, the san'shyuum served as its religious and political leaders, effectively rising to control an interstellar empire encompassing thousands of worlds and trillions of individuals.

As members of the Covenant, the sangheili achieved the technological equality to the san'shyuum, although confined to their role as warriors and protectors of the san'shyuum and the Covenant's Hierarchs, which fitted well with their warlike and feudal nature. Medical and technological advancements occurred, and the sangheili, already long-lived, were able to live much more thanks to better health conditions. With time, the sangheili came to fully adopt the Path as their way of life, mixing it with their ancient faith on the forerunners. Serving as the arms of the Covenant, the sangheili helped to subjulgate six other species and enslave and induct them into the Covenant hegemony. These species were incorporated into the Covenant Armada, and were led in military engagements by the sangheili, quelling rebellions and helping to expand the Covenant through the Orion Arm of the galaxy.

First Contact War
"You have been judged unclean! A scourge that must be burned away! Every one of your worlds will be reduced to glass."

- - Subject 386 When the Hierarchs declared war against a previously unknown species called humans, the sangheili carried through the subsequent First Contact War against them without question. However, as the years passed and the war claimed billions of lives, the sangheili started questioning why they were not offered a position within the Covenant like previous species, while the Hierarchs continued to insist humanity were "unclean beings" that needed to be extinguished from the galaxy. They believed that, while humans were physically weak in comparison to themselves, they were honorable and fought until the very end, with some even considering them to be equal, which represented a step forward for a sangheili and any other member of the Covenant, a thought that could not be openly expressed. Some sangheili even held more respect for their newfound enemies than the san'shyuum or the jiralhanae. As the leaders of the Covenant Armada, the sangheili were presented through the entire conflict, from the Battle of Chi Ceti IV, to the Fall of Reach, the Battle of Installation 04, and the Battle of Earth.

Great Schism
"Betrayal! Our people have been betrayed by the Hierarchs and their savage puppets! You have seen what they have done, how they stroke down our faith and our leaders! And you know what we must do in the face of such betrayal. Our war against these deceivers starts now!"

- - Atoner During the final months of the war, a huge political shift occurred in the Covenant; organized by the Prophet of Truth and Chieftain of the Jiralhanae Tartarus, it eventually led to the dissolution of the sacred Covenant between the sangheili and the san'shyuum: the jiralhanae eventually replaced the sangheili in all military positions, including leadership of fleets and armadas, which began with the Changing of the Guard, where the Covenant Honor Guard, previously composed only of sangheili, were entirely replaced by jiralhanae. This major shift was told to be the direct result of the death of the Prophet of Regret at the hands of the Demon John-117, saying the sangheili failed to protect a Hierarch. During the Battle of Installation 05, the jiralhanae massacred the sangheili High Councilors, which started the Great Schism. Concurrently, Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee, Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee and the sangheili loyal to them discovered the truth about the Halo Array by 343 Guilty Spark, learning that the Path and the Great Journey were built on a lie.

This led the sangheili to be forced out the Covenant, who united under the banner of the Swords of Sanghelios against the Covenant that betrayed them. They received aid from some members of other species of the Covenant, with many unggoy, mgalekgolo and huragok at their side, although most sided with the Covenant despite the best efforts of the sangheili. The sangheili tentatively allied with the UNSC and humanity, working together to take down both the Covenant and the rising threat of the xenomorphs.

The Great Schism would stretch to Earth, the human homeworld, until Sanghelios and other sangheili colonies, while the sangheili fended off against the jiralhanae, who, supplied with more technology, sought to enact their vengeance on the sangheili for their mistreatment under the Covenant for decades.

Fall of the Covenant
"Things look different... without the san'shyuum's lies clouding our vision. I would like to see Sanghelios. To know that it is safe."

- - Rtas 'Vadum to Thel 'Vadam

"I am not Covenant. The Covenant is dead. It was a lie. I am sangheili."

- - Jat Liva to Dalia Aziz

After the Battle of Earth, the alliance between the sangheili and humanity was able to stop and kill the Prophet of Truth during the Battle of Installation 00, killing the last of the Hierarchs and leading to the dissolution of the Covenant. While this saw the end of an enormous threat, the sangheili and the humans had to deal with an even bigger menace; the xenomorphs. Arbiter 'Vadam and John-117 were eventually able to activate Installation 04B, destroying the xenomorphs that originated from Installation 05.

With the end of the Covenant, sangheili society and culture fell into disarray. As they already lacked a centralized government, instead having many independent city-states across Sanghelios and its colonies, and not possessing the array of technology they once had thanks to the disappearance of the huragok and the near extinction and disappearance of the few remaining san'shyuum, they became divided into many factions, each with a different worldview on how to govern their society, while still fighting the ongoing Great Schism with the jiralhanae. With their newfound independence of the Covenant, the sangheili had to re-learn how to manage their own society without reliance on the san'shyuum and the labor provided by other species, such as the huragok, the unggoy and the yanme'e.

Arbiter Thel 'Vadam transformed the Sword of Sanghelios from a rebellion to a fully fledged government, gathering the alliance of hundreds of keeps across Sangheili space, becoming the preeminent governmental entity among the sangheili species. However, many other groups, organizations and factions emerged to challenge and oppose the Swords, such as the Servants of the Abiding Truth and the Enclave, rejecting his aim for peace between sangheili and humans and their lack of belief in the forerunners as gods. This culminated into the Blooding Years, a massive civil war through Sanghelios and sangheili colonies in ex-Covenant space over ideological and societal differences, leading to serious lossless on all sides. The Blooding Years occurred concurrently with the Great Schism, with the sangheili continuing to fight against the jiralhanae, who had also started fighting among themselves and suffering duo to the lack of ships and technology they were once provided with the Covenant. The dilemma on the Path also became a major source of theological confusion, as, despite the san'shyuum laying to the sangheili, it still gave purpose to them. This led to many groups and sects trying to reconcile faith in the forerunners with peace, in a way that differed from the Path and the many violent crusades it led to.

Human involvement
"I remember how this war started. What your kind did to mine. I can't forgive you. But...you have my thanks, for standing by and saving us in the end."

- - Fleet Admiral Sir Ernst Hood to Thel 'Vadam After the end of the war, a new alliance and competition was developed between the UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios, with both species cooperating and hunting for forerunner relics and ruins through the galaxy. The Treaty of 2552, the official ceasefire of the First Contact War, was declared on March 11th, 2553, signed by 'Vadam, 'Vadum, Fleet Admiral Ernst Hood and Prime Minister of the Unified Earth Government Ruth Charet on Vadam, Sanghelios. While the Swords of Sanghelios campaigned for peace between the two species, many sangheili states and organizations either continued to observe humans with either suspicion or disgust, believing them to be threat that would strike them down once they could. The Office of Naval Intelligence used the political instability across Sanghelios to keep the sangheili disorganized, so they wouldn't be able to destroy humanity in case the allied sangheili betrayed them, inciting extremist factions and leaders, such as Avu Med 'Telcam, into rebelling against the Arbiter.

With ONI's assistance, these factions were able to amass resources to strike against Vadam, leading to the Blooding Years; however, their efforts also backfired, resulting in the formation of powerful groups, such as the Enclave, led by the vengeful Jul 'Mdama, who sought to eradicate humanity. In 2563, the Enclave was able to infiltrate the forerunner shield world Requiem, awakening Tragic Solitude and its Promethean forces.

The relations between sangheili and humans continued to grow and improve during the post-war period, with both the Swords of Sanghelios and the UNSC maintaining mixed control over space territories dubbed Joint Occupation Zone (JOZs), as well as forerunner installations, such as Installation 03, Installation 05, and the Ark. The two factions participated in many joint operations together, such as Operation FAR STORM, the Skyllian Blitz, and major counter-piracy missions from 2557 to 2564. Human and Sangheili scholars and scientists cooperated to gather and study Covenant records left on Sanghelios and colonies such as Khael'mothka. Many collaborative military intelligence exchange and weapons research happened between both species, including the study of the physics of the Type-33 Needler. Many warriors of the Swords of Sanghelios have been offered to train alongside SPARTANs in the N7 War Games aboard the UNSC Infinity, Anvil Station, and Arcturus Station, as part of the Anvil Initiative.

The training consisted on many collaborative efforts between humans and sangheili, such as the development of the HELIOSKRILL-class MJOLNIR, a MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor that was designed by a young sangheili prodigy of the Kolaar Manufactorum, becoming one of the finest pieces of current human technology. However, much like the sangheili, not all humans desired peace and coexistence with the sangheili, many holding resentment and hatred over them duo to the atrocities humanity suffered during the First Contact War. This gave rise to multiple human supremacist and isolationist groups, such Cerberus and Sapien Sunrise. Cerberus became increasingly popular among human space, being able to have intelligence groups of their own, while Sapien Sunrise mostly performed as a ragtag terrorist group; the latter performed a terrorist attack against human ambassador Richard Sekibo at a peace celebration between sangheili and humans on Biko. The group planned to assassinate Sekibo and the sangheili and frame the Swords of Sanghelios in the end, but this attack was stopped in time by John-117, although Sekibo died.

Some sangheili started seeking asylum on Earth and surviving human colonies, while some sangheili and humans started living together on either fallen human or sangheili worlds, such as Carrow, where they established their own governments. Rio de Janeiro became one of the major settlements for ex-Covenant species on Earth. On March 5, 2564, the Swords of Sanghelios accepted a peace negotiation made by the jiralhanae Chieftain Lydus on Ealen IV, with the UNSC as mediators. The negotiation was stopped by an attack by the New Colonial Alliance and Blue Suns.

On October 28th, 2564, the Swords of Sanghelios was able to emerge victorious against the Enclave on Sanghelios during the Battle of Sunaion. After the Reapers emerged and started the Second Renaissance through the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, Sanghelios became a safe haven for a small number of UNSC forces.

Biology
Sangheili are intelligent, agile, and strong, being best known for their honor, bravery, and combat prowess. Their already natural strength and agility is augmented with the use of their combat harness and energy shielding, which is integrated on the harness. Their physiology allows them to carry many weapons, such as Type-25 plasma rifles, Type-51 carbines, Type-33 Needlers, Type-31 Needle rifles, as well as their ancient cultural weapon, the Type-1 energy sword.

Anatomy and physiology
Sangheili are tall, muscular, and imposing, with an average height of 8' 4" (250 cms) to 8' 6" (259 cms), and average weight of 900 lbs (400 kgs) to 1000 lbs (453 kgs). Their height makes them the third tallest species of the Covenant, only behind jiralhanae and mgalekgolo. Despite their massive size, shorter sangheili, such as Mahnde, nicknamed "Shorty", have been observed, with these individuals being the source of ridicule in sangheili society. They have a unique feature with their jaws being quadruple-hinged, with an upper jaw and four lower mandibles. Adult sangheili's mandibles are observed in numerous shapes, sizes, and ranges of dexterity, which make them analogous and as unique and distinctive as a human fingerprint. Their sense of smell come from two small nostrils, located in front and below their eye sockets, coped with their predatory and carnivorous nature, sangheili make up to excellent smellers. A sangheili's hand is tetradactyl, with each of them having two fingers and an opposing thumb on both sides. Their legs are digitigrade, with short upper and lower legs, elongated tarsals, with they using the intermediate distal phalanges to support their weight when walking, which allows them to run quickly and jump between large distances in comparison to the other species of the Covenant, agility that can also be attributed to Sanghelios' high gravity. They also have a double set of pectoral muscles, something which enhances their natural strength, but their digitigrade stance makes climbing ladders and vertical constructs problematic.

Sangheili possess a binary circulatory system, and their blood is dark purple. They breathe oxygen, with Sanghelios having a nitrogen-oxygen based atmosphere, much alike that of Earth. The species has leathery skin that range from light brown to dark brown to brown, to light grey to black, and that are covered in scales. Young sangheili have less, paler scales, which hang from their necks, and which they lose once they reach puberty, in itself a leftover evolutionary trait when sangheili carried their children in their jaws. Their eyes are forward-facing, with vertical slits and horizontal eyelids, resembling that of Earth's reptiles, which grants them an advanced depth perception. Their eyes range from red to green, and even grey, although yellow and orange are the most commonly observed eye color.

Sangheili sexual dimorphism is barely noticeable, with the females only being slightly smaller than the males. However, while a male sangheili's scent is described as "leathery", a female's scent has been described as "clean feathers". The species is oviparous, laying eggs, which are incubated in tanks and pods. Sangheili are long-lived, with some of the oldest known members of the species being one hundred and eighty years. Sangheili in their 60s and 70s are still considered young and apt for combat.

Society and culture
"Glory to clan and kin, SPARTANs. Mahkee out."

- - Mahkee 'Chava to Fireteam Osiris Despite the natural intelligence of the sangheili, the species' long dependence on the military-industrial environment created by the Covenant through the emphasis on might over science, a concept carefully introduced by the Hierarchs, who in turn studied science and technology, led to the sangheili being indoctrinated and their current situation. However, their capability to create and use new technology is apparent, and was one of the factors that helped the species redevelop what was once lost following the end of the First Contact War.

Sangheili are raised from their childhood to be strong, capable warriors, while other roles in society are treated as secondary at best, or hobbies. For a long time, doctors have been considerable to be outright dishonorable, being said to "spill blood" outside the battlefield, and though this religious stigma still persists, under the rule of the Swords of Sanghelios, the tradition is quickly changing, and sangheili have advanced medical technology, superior that of humans. Currently, there are many doctors, from Sanghelios to the other colonies of the Swords, but most of the medical endeavor in the Covenant as was done by the huragok, which could easily treat injuries inflicted upon the sangheili, but many believed, and many still do, to die rather than be healed is the way of a warrior. Despite this, many sangheili recognized that other species did not share their same views on medicine, and willingly installed medical technologies aboard ships to treat and heal the wounded individual. Sangheili are trained as adolescents to be extremely skilled at using ranged weapons, most famously, the Type-1 energy sword, as well as diverse martial arts. In civilian life, only aristocrats and kaidons are allowed to be worthy enough of holding swords, and many who do stop being eligible for marriage, instead having sexual relationships with whatever female, or male, they desire. Children are taught to use a sword very early on in order to defend themselves, and hopefully one day use it in battle. Within the dissolved Covenant Armada, non-aristocrats were allowed to wield energy swords, although few desired to, seeing themselves as lesser.

Members of the species are military promoted by merit, not by upbringing or political status, with a warrior needing to advance among many ranks, a success measured in combat prowess and kills in battle. High-ranking sangheili were believed to personally slaughter thousands of enemies in order to reach their position. However, such practices allowed many individuals with questionable strategic merit to rise, such as Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee, a brutish sangheili who was deemed a bad blood, but was otherwise promoted duo to his bloodlust and blind obedience to the Hierarchs.

Sangheili are historically known to consider other species inferior to them, both in culture and fighting skills, a thinking which led to many sangheili treating the other species of the Covenant badly, particularly the jiralhanae, whom they viewed as brutish and disgusting, leading to the feud between the two species. After the initial year of the Great Schism, however, the sangheili entered in a cultural renaissance of sorts, thanks to the formation of the Swords of Sanghelios and the alliance out of necessity with humanity, leading to rethinkings and eventual reforms among the practices they held within the Covenant and life, including medicine, secularism, technology, racism, and gender roles. Unggoy and mgalekgolo of the Swords of Sanghelios are given command of many sangheili units, inspiring respect and admiration, something which was unthinkable just years prior. Despite the well documented longstanding feud between the sangheili and jiralhanae, which lingers on through the Great Schism, Arbiter Thel 'Vadam attempted to engage in peace talks with the jiralhanae Chieftain Lydus in 2763, on the former Covenant colony Ealen IV. There, Lydus accused 'Vadam of engaging in peace talks so he could acquire the scarce resources of his pack, but Thel assured, rebutting the idea that the sangheili cared for more than just power.

Probably the biggest indicator of the sangheili's evolved mindset towards other species came with their interactions with humans in the decades that followed the end of the First Contact War. During, and immediately after the war, many sangheili viewed humans as heretics, something deeply indoctrinated into the species of the Covenant duo to its Hierarchs. However, even in 2552, multiple human sympathizers existed among the sangheili youth, and by 2564, the social landscape of Sanghelios and its colonies had drastically changed regarding humans, with cooperation between the Unified Earth Government going extremely well. Examples of the cooperation includes the Hellioskrill armor, devised for the N7 by sangheili weapon-smiths, training programs involving SPARTANs and Swords of Sanghelios troops in the UNSC Infinity and Arcturus Station, the establishment of Joint Occupation Zones (JOCs) against terrorist, mercenary, and pirate forces, cooperative research and development of technology, among many others, showing a clearly distinct contrast to their culture just 12 years earlier. Even the farthest colonies experienced the changing nature of the society, Olympia Vale noted that during her voyage to Khael'mothka, most sangheili had grew tired of war and were intrigued with the idea of living with humans.

Many opposed this progressiveness, and refused to change the ways of the Covenant, such as the Enclave, the Servants of the Abiding Truth, among many others, which had became clear during the Blooding Years. However, by the time the Created rose and the Second Renaissance started, most of these extremist groups had been wiped out on Sanghelios and other planets.

Sense of honor
"What madness sangheili honor can be. They should be careful, lest they lose their way."

- - The Prophet of Regret One of the core tenants of sangheili culture is their admiration and respect for honorable warriors, being their allies or not, and it was recorded and not unusual for sangheili to show admiration to their adversaries, even if they believed they were inferior. Sangheili respect veterans, as evidenced by their elders, following their counsels and guide. Sangheili heroes are largely victorious fighters and leaders that defeated enemies and never left their honor behind them, a reminder of wanting too much power. During the Unggoy Rebellion in 1341, after witnessing the ferocity which the unggoy fought with, the sangheili allowed those who survived the fight to become their companions in battle.

The sangheili are extremely intelligent, but they allow their obsession with honor and customs cloud their judgement and potential victories. The sangheili make use of overly complicated strategies, only if they have proven to be successful in the past, and which allows their warriors to kill more enemies. Regardless of the damage they received, sangheili warriors charge at their enemies in battle with aggression in order to die with a honor kill, unwilling to admit defeat. Many Young Blood Minors commit the mistake of standing in the open in battle without taking cover, while elder sangheili, such as Zealots, will lure enemies into traps to kill them without incident. In the Covenant and its splinter factions, sangheili will often shield themselves behind other species to protect themselves. Their desire for grandeur and victory led to the sangheili losing many battles against humans, such as the Battle of Psi Serpentis, Operation FIRST STRIKE, and the Onyx Conflict.

One of the biggest displays of sangheili zealotry and strive for honor came during the Battle of Camber, when Thel 'Vadamee and two Silent Shadow engaged the unarmed UNSC Marine Corps' 3rd Battalion Reserves. When 'Vadamee realized the humans were unarmed, and thus unable to defend themselves, he dropped his Type-15 plasma rifle and activated his cloak, awaiting for the Marines to pick up their weapons and defend themselves. They were all killed later, but such an act was the first recorded time when a sangheili showed their honor to a human, despite this clearly presenting a danger to himself.

those who favor practicality over the zealous of honor are renowned strategists. Despite being the most adherent members of the Path, the Zealots use pragmatic and cunning tactics, willing to use subterfuge to defeat their enemies. Special Operators also employ similar tactics, such as the use of ultra-advanced cloaking to not outright engage in open combat. Some sangheili, like Jul 'Mdama and Xytan 'Jar Wattinree, see honor as an aspiration rather than a living philosophy, believing that the use of deception and other "dishonorable" tactics should come in play in order to survive, which only increased when they saw humans doing the same thing.

The sangheili honor code can be understood and construed as similar to some used through human history, with concepts like skill, loyalty to clan and family, and views on death and the supernatural. If a sangheili warrior is injured critically or captured, they would rather commit suicide than lose their honor by being subservient to the enemy, in order to keep their honor intact. Even if a warrior is incapable of killing oneself in fear, they will request the help of one of their clan brothers or fellow warriors to carry the burden; capture under combat is considered a serious dishonor, and captured sangheili would more than likely commit suicide in prison. Escaping is acceptable, but it is generally considered to be built upon dishonor.

Customs and superstitions
"It is a poor warrior who insists on seeing things not as they are, but as he wants them to be. One day reality hits, and his illusions fail him, and he dies stupidly. What honor is there in that?"

- - Thel 'Vadamee Despite the martial nature of sangheili culture, they have superstitions regarding spilling both their own blood and the blood of their own kin in battle, extending to the philosophy that a warrior is the essence of the being, and thus synonymous with honor; therefore losing your blood is losing your own honor. This led to a stigma against doctors in sangheili society, which were reduced to the lowest members of society as they "make [their] living slicing and causing another sangheili to bleed without honor." This thinking led the sangheili to only consider being injured an act of blood appearing, as well as putting shame to those who visited doctors.

Personal weapons are only seen as tools of war that should not be glorified for its previous owner, even if it happened to be great warrior. This became mostly a norm during the existence of the Covenant, where weapons were mass produced and warriors had to constantly change their weapons in favor of newer ones. However, some legendary weapons, like the End of Night, were given their own names duo to their cultural significance, being said they possessed the heart and soul of their former user.

A gesture of love and nobility among a clan consists of a kaidon or community leader to walk among his people and perform many duties for them, in what would once be considered the work of a female, such as carrying eggs. This also helped sangheili workers to feel they belonged to the same place their leaders did.

Hunting
Hunting is an important part of sangheili culture, and centers around the ritualistic hunting of worthy enemies, which became the backbone to the honor-keen clans and city-states across Sanghelios and other colonies. Sangheili travel to distant locations across planets, and even stars, in order to face worthy or dangerous opponents to prove themselves as worthy and honorable combatants, starting a hunting ground to face them. Their "prey" is considered as equally worthy as the hunters, something which indicates great impressions for an arrogant sangheili warrior.

Defeat during hunts place great shame to the hunting sangheili; in the case of a disastrous loss, some sangheili commit honorable suicide in order be spared of the shame brought to them. During the First Contact War, many sangheili considered their engagements as hunts, and would see who would become the greatest hunter among their own military hunter by toying and combating lone or confused UNSC Marines. They never hunted human civilians, however, and gave them quick, short deaths, as they were non-combatants and thus deemed dishonorable for a fight.

Government
"Long before the Covenant, the sangheili ruled their world with pride and vigilance, surviving the perils of both land and sea. These were the Arbiters of old. Part king, part judge. Warrior-rulers unlike any of which would follow."

- - Prophet of Clarity on his Record of Punished Deeds The sangheili do not have a unified government. Instead, they are splintered in many feudal states who value meritocracy above all else. States are governed by its founding clans, and its capital is a massive assembly house called a keep, which is headed by a kaidon and his council of elders from distinct parts of the state. Each state has numerous client keeps that belong to smaller clans and clan leaders that were either conquered or swore loyalty to the kaidon. While these clans continue using their clan names, they answer by the kaidon's clan name, signifying his dominance. Currently, most of Sanghelios and its colonies are governed by the Swords of Sanghelios, while the planet was once ruled by the Council of City States before the formation of the Covenant.

In Sangheili customs, it is common for ruling disagreements to be dealt with through assassination, a practice considered honorable, although the act had rules: the assassin should use their personal weapons to do so. If a council elder believes his suggestions or orders are being subject to insubordination and subterfuge by the kaidon, they would send their personal assassins against the state ruler to test the merit of his martial prowess, with the common belief being that if "a kaidon who could not defend himself was not a true leader." If the assassination results in failure, the elder responsible for sending the attackers will be promptly executed in public space, and his lineage may be either killed or exiled from the state forever. However, this punishment is flexible, and mostly varies from state to state and from kaidon to kaidon.

Family
Sangheili place a great deal of value and respect on family, lineage, and kinship. Each family within a clan have their own battle poems and saga walls, which detailed the story of their lineage during times of both war and peace. Despite sangheili society being branded as patriarchal duo to kaidons and most warriors being males, female sangheili hold a large amount of power within their keeps and family issues, which include politics, personal guard, trade, and civil duties. They perform these duties in their homes and states, while males are sent to the outside world as warriors. With the formation of the Sword of Sanghelios and the heavy reforms they are currently conducting through sangheili space, the status quo of gender roles have been facing considerable changes and reforms, with females being heavily featured among the faction's military ranks, such as the pilot Mahkee 'Chava and the warrior Tul 'Juran. Females have access to holographical archives that detail their own bloodlines before marriage, and they are able to chose their mates. Both wives and keep elders are expected to maintain the familial issues of a keep. The concept of divorce is nonexistent to a sangheili.

Sangheili warriors emphasize closely-developed relationships among themselves, such as referring to their fellow soldiers as "brothers" and "sisters", developing an intense and almost unbreakable loyalty to one another. In the case of the death of a fellow warrior, a sangheili will perform a ritualistic prayer and chant to celebrate their arrival on the afterlife.

Children
Newly hatched sangheili are called "childlings", and as they grow they become known as Young Blood. Children have protective scales hanging from their necks, which is an evolutionary holdover from when sangheili used to carry to their children with their mandibles from threats and danger. Children are raised in their family keeps, where they are raised equally to ensure their development through merit, and as such, they are not allowed to meet their true fathers, being raised by maternal uncles instead; such method exists to have the children not living under the shadow of their parents, and that they develop and gain merit of their own, based on their own feats and achievements rather than that of their father. Some of these parents are swordsmen, and as such they are granted the right to reproduce with any female of their own desire.

Clothing and armor
Sangheili clothing highly varies between individual, clan and state, being entirely based upon customs and personal preference of its wearers. Among design choices include the tribal ornamentation and painting through a sangheili body, and the addition of ancient Digom symbols and dialects through armor plating.

The most recognizable sangheili piece of armor is their combat harness, which vastly differs and varies depending on rank, role, and function, ranging from utilitarian to decorative and insectoid. Their harnessess incorporate a heated wire mesh with temperate control that helps them adapting to harsher environments, such as hot, cold, and even toxic. Retractable Energy daggers are a common weapons incorporated over each different harness, as well as computerized systems to control the systems of the harness, including a heads-up display that are showcased in the eyes of the sangheili soldier.

Blooded and Unblooded
Blooded and unblooded sangheili refer to a nomenclature established by clans in a hierarchy system, to define warriors, leaders, workers, and apprentices.

Unblooded consist 55% of the sangheili galactic population, comprising male and female sangheili, both and young, who are considered to not have distinguishable skills and traits to make up a warrior. If one of these unblooded prove themselves in combat or a hunt, they become blooded and are allowed to join the military, a process which the sangheili utilized during the existence of the Covenant. Many unblooded are sent by their relatives on ritualistic huntings in order to become blooded. However, with the fall of the Covenant and the Swords of Sanghelios' reform through sangheili space, these actions have been slowly deemed barbaric and violent for young sangheili, with the organization itself accepting all of those who wish to join them.

Blooded consists of 43% of the sangheili population, mostly comprising male sangheili warriors who have proven themselves worthy in battle. In some clans, such as Clan Vadum, a sangheili may mark themselves with a drawing symbolizing their first sucessful hunt by burning it into any part of their body. These warriors are considered worthy of holding weapons such as energy swords, among many others. Elders comprise 5% of the sangheili population, and are deemed retirees. They are still incredibly capable warriors, however, and are an inspiration among their clans.

Bad blood are sangheili criminals and traitors, considered to be scourge and a source of shame among their families, although the justice system through Covenant space made crime very low duo to the brutal nature of their punishments. Ripa 'Moramee was notably deemed a Bad Blood and was sentenced to die at the Weeping Shadows of Sorrow, before he was appointed as an Arbiter by the Prophet of Regret.

Language
Digom is the most widespread sangheili language through the species' history, and served as the lingua franca of the Covenant during the hegemony's existence. To untrained ears, it sounds largely harsh and guttural duo to the sangheili's physiology, leading some sounds to be absent from their language as a result of their unique mouth structure, even among the other species of the Covenant. Human word with "v" or ending with "p" are nearly impossible to be used in Digom, such as it was with Dr. Evan Phillips, a scholar of Digom, whose name was pronounced as "Efanphilliss".

Some colloquial terms in Digom, most of which are derogatory, have been successfully translated by human linguistics and xenoanthropologists. The word "Jir'a'ul" was a term created to insult jiralhanae, which mixed the name of the jiralhanae species with "a'ul", meaning "lump of wood" in English. Sangheili are known to refer to humans as "nishum", translating to "intestinal parasite", a term whose origin can be traced back to the sangheili's first encounter with UNSC Marines, who discovered weak and fleshy creatures upon their deaths, when compared to themselves.

Homeworld and colonies
Sanghelios is the homeworld of the sangheili, in the triple Urs system. The planet is home to a population of 4 billion as of 2565, which decreased severely with the outbreak of the Blooding Years, where the planet had a thriving population of 8. 135 billion. The planet has two moons: Qikost and Suban.

The sangheili are the former Covenant species with most outer territories and colonies under their rule, as they have been space-faring for millennia, even before the formation of the hegemony. Totaling more than two hundred worlds, from moons to gas giants, many of them are considered points of major centers, such as Saepon'kal, Zesmeni, and Kurinth, while others such as Hesduros and Yautja being more isolated sangheili worlds.

Technology
Sangheili technology is distinctive, even more than that of the Covenant, duo to its combination with ornamental and tribal-like appearance with sophisticated, Tier 2 capabilities. Even though the sangheili have access to advanced technology, such as cloaking and plasma weaponry, they still use many ancient and traditional weapons, including the Curveblade and the Combistick, many of which later evolved into energy weapons, such as the Type-1 energy sword and the energy stave; these weapons are considered more honorable than their more advanced technology duo to the cultural values they hold to the past of the sangheili. Even before first contact with the san'shyuum, the sangheili had already been able to develop numerous warships, such as the Hekar Taa-pattern Blockade Runner, the Man O' War and the Brigantine. These vessels served both for war and exploration, sending the sangheili in a golden age of space colonization.

Because of their over-dependency on the Covenant, the sangheili lost their way and capability of producing their own technology duo to over dependence on the san'shyuum and the huragok. Under the rule of the Swords of Sanghelios, the sangheili have been able to significantly advance themselves, with artisans taking cues and benefits from human capitalism and aid of automations, as well as revelations of the forerunner language and command codes that had been long since locked by the san'shyuum. Using forerunner knowledge and their own designs, the sangheili started a Renaissance of their own, with engineers, medics and artisans more than willing to make up for the time the species had lost in order to pursue new technologies without the taboos that prevented the Covenant's species from thriving