Editing Codex - The Covenant (section)

===Covenant Starships===
'''Brief Summary:'''
Covenant starships are generally smaller and more lightly armoured than their Imperial counterparts, but they are armed with arcane plasma weaponry and equipped with powerful energy shielding that makes up for these deficiencies. Their chief advantage, however, lies in their faster-than-light technology. Xenologists and Mechanicus explorators have discovered that the Covenant use a form of FTL travel which operates on principles entirely different from the warp engines employed by nearly all known sentient races in the galaxy. When employing their FTL drives, Covenant ships enter a dimensional subdomain containing a number of non-visible infinitesimal dimensions, which can be manipulated to travel beyond lightspeed. This subdomain is referred to by Covenant personnel as "Slipspace". Xenologists have confirmed that this "Slipspace" is not coterminous with the Warp, making the Covenant one of only a few known races not to employ Warp-based FTL. Covenant FTL technology appears to be safer and more reliable than known Imperial warp technology by several orders of magnitude, and they have used this capability to outmaneuver Imperial battlefleets in several engagements. Despite this, experiments with this technology have not been authorized by any senior member of the Adeptus Mechanicus. 

Although still smaller then the Imperium, the Covenant have seized a large number of systems and sectors throughout the Orion Arm. Their territory is currently larger than the Tau Empire, and is a definite threat to Imperial space. This being said, their empire in this universe is significantly smaller due to only having what they can spare after sending it through the wormhole. However, it is believed that their size, industry, speed and alien nature will compensate for these deficits, and senior members of the Ordo Xenos and adepts of the Biologis Xenologis have stated that the Imperium should remain wary of aggressive moves. Notably, Covenant naval doctrine disdains the usage of large battleships in favor of carriers, as Covenant admirals apparently believe that strike craft in the end make for superior weapons than any amount of turrets. A theory shared by some Imperial naval strategists, but is [[Heresy|typically considered eccentric at best.]]

[[File:Covenant_v_reapers_by_droidsbane-d4zz17v.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Xeno painting (From Ya'gurian decent) depicting a Covenant Assault Fleet destroying an entire La'vesh (Also known as Reapers) tentacle fleet, during a "Holy Conquest".]]

[[File:Covenant_ships_over_planet_reach.jpg|270px|thumb|right|''Covenant Fleet of Harmonious Justice'' during the "Damnation of Hyperios"]]

'''Covenant Corvettes:''' Covenant corvettes are small and relatively unimpressive ships armed with plasma torpedoes, pulse lasers, and plasma cannons or bombardment mortars, depending on their class. Corvettes are typically employed in supporting Covenant ground forces to achieve some form of aerial superiority. In space, corvettes are used to harass enemy ships when in sufficient numbers and covered by the larger ships in the Covenant Navy.

'''Covenant Destroyers:''' Covenant destroyers, like their Imperial counterparts, are typically employed as light escort and reconnaissance vessels. CPV-class heavy destroyers, however, are often used in the vanguard of fleet engagements and glassing operations and are equipped accordingly, with excavation beams, plasma torpedoes, cannons, and bombardment mortars, and pulse laser turrets.

'''Covenant Cruisers:''' Covenant cruisers are built in several classes, ranging from CRS-class light cruisers to ORS-class heavy cruisers. They are among the most numerous types of Covenant vessel, and are employed in a variety of roles, from fleet support to long-range reconnaissance and planetary assault. Armament varies depending on class, but Covenant cruisers are typically equipped with plasma torpedoes, beam lasers, plasma lances and cannons, and heavy excavation beams. Their plasma torpedoes have been recorded as impacting with enough force to shatter cities or cause mass extinction events, depending on their size. Their plasma and beam weapons are capable of planetary devastation when employed in sufficient numbers and with sufficient power. 

[[File:20090306182445!High_Charity_wallpaper.jpg|220px|thumb|left|Pict-capture of Covenant hive-world/mobile space station High Charity, acquired by the Imperial cruiser ''Light of Benevolence '' shortly before it was atomized by a Covenant CSO-class supercarrier. In the foreground, a squadron of "Phantom" type dropships are seen inspecting the cruiser before its sudden demise.]] 

'''Covenant Carrier:''' The most common type of Covenant capital ship. Two types have thus far been logged by Imperial savants: the DDS-class carrier and the CAS-class assault carrier. These ships are among the most heavily armed vessels in the Covenant fleet. The DDS-class is equipped with plasma torpedoes and turrets and energy projectors, while the CAS-class assault carrier carries a heavy excavation beam, heavy plasma lances, torpedoes, and beam emitters, and 700 pulse lasers. These ships also carry armor and shielding that is much heavier than any other Covenant vessel. On a one-to-one basis, these vessels are typically inferior to their Imperial counterparts, but they are often employed in numbers that no Imperial battlefleet can match. Carriers do not typically engage in ship-to-ship engagements, instead standing off while their strike wings engage the enemy. 

'''Covenant Supercarrier:''' At 28km long and with an 11km beam, the CSO-class supercarrier is the largest known ship type in the Covenant Navy. These leviathans are equal in size to the mighty ''Gloriana''-class battleships which once led the Legiones Astartes into war during the Great Crusade. Supercarriers are only employed during campaigns with high strategic value, and serve as command and control ships for the Covenant invasion fleet and ground forces. The ship type is, as the name suggests, a carrier for strike craft, though it certainly has teeth of its own. CSO-class supercarriers are armed with plasma torpedoes, energy projectors, plasma turrets and pulse lasers, meaning that they far from helpless despite their designation as a command ship.

'''High Charity:''' The Covenant's Holy City and capital. It is a gigantic mobile space station, comparable to the ''Phalanx'' fortress-monastery of the Imperial Fists chapter, but built to a much larger scale. After initial contact in the Scarus Sector, Imperial expeditionary forces have been unable to relocate High Charity due to its mobile nature. During this initial engagement, the Imperial fleet suffered heavy losses from the station's escorting vessels and its own defenses. It is believed that the Covenant defend the station with hundreds of their capital-class vessels, including dozens of the CSO-class supercarriers. Rumors in the Zargos Prime subsector have suggested that the city itself is equipped with Exterminatus-grade munitions capable of cracking a planet in half.