Covenant ministries

A page to map out how the different ministries were set up in the Covenant.

A key thing to remember is that the ministries weren't static throughout history, nor were their functions; and few if any of the ministries that were there in the beginning survived up to the 9th Age of Reclamation, sooner or later falling victim to the attrition of relentless inter-ministerial politics. Ministries were in constant flux, merging, splitting or emerging over the ages. It was rare that an age passed without at least some change in one or more of the ministries. Many ministries had overlapping tasks also partly so they would police one another and keep their power in check. However, these overlaps were also partly borne out of ambitious ministries expanding their influence and power. As ministries amassed power, they also assumed new functions and duties so as to be more independent of the others.

More often than not, Ministries were regulatory and supervising bodies, overseeing numerous sanctioned holy orders, organizations and guilds that put their edicts to practice, rather than implementing those edicts themselves; though as ministries amassed more power, they would also often absorb various lesser organizations into themselves. Many of the more worldly Ministries' functions were also filled by the Covenant's feudal states' own governments, but the ministries remained the supreme authority, and also had representatives in the domains' synods.

List
The ministries are divided here roughly by areas of responsibility.

Religious theory
Studying and interpreting scripture and canon, enforcement of orthodoxy across the Holy Ecumene
 * Revelation

Conferring religious titles and naming saints, investigating and substantiating miracles or cases of divine intervention or providence, especially when it came to the discovery and reverse-engineering of relics (this, too, had rules - all findings were divinely inspired, but there were degrees of intervention as it was believed that the Gods did not meddle in frivolous affairs.)
 * Ordination

Revelation's counterpart; studying scripture for contradictions and devising apologetics and exegetics; had a role as kind of a "devil's advocate", but also dabbled in esoteric and mystic scripture
 * Abnegation

Internal affairs
Culture, language, education, news, propaganda, information control; also maintained the ecumenical wavecaster network
 * Edification

Social affairs, health, public works, disaster relief
 * Contentment (could be merged with Common Weal?)

Welfare of the citizens of High Charity
 * Common Weal

Dealing with provincial authorities and the domain-level ecclesiarchy, settling disputes
 * Integrity

Dealing with the caste system, imposing labor policies and policing unions and guilds, settling disputes among member species, particularly the Unggoy and Kig-Yar
 * Concert

Finances, tax collection, regulation of trade and commerce on a macro level (partial overlap with Concert and Integrity)
 * Prosperity

Record-keeping and historical research
 * Annals

Judicial matters and the conviction of criminals
 * Penance

Ensuring orthodoxy in practice, investigating allegations of heresy and apostasy, oversight of religious courts, conviction of heretics
 * Inquisition

Technology and science
Acquisition and deciphering of Forerunner artifacts, relic-hunting fleets
 * Tranquility

Distributing artifacts and sanctioned technologies to member species
 * Fortitude

Ascertaining the purposes of relics
 * Etiology

Oversaw holy orders of discovery-priests reverse-engineering relics into useful and replicable design patterns, kept records of existing patterns, as well as the distribution of existing designs to manufacturers
 * Discovery

Overseeing industry, operating fabricaries and assembly forges, large-scale construction projects, controlling the distribution of industrial machinery to guilds
 * Fabrication

Mining, acquiring and refinement of raw materials, controlling the mining rights of clans and guilds; maintained the most extensive excavator fleet in the Covenant
 * Extraction (Procuration?)

Colonization and conversion
Charting, exploration and colonization of new worlds, astrography and cosmology; also artifact discovery; grew considerably over the past 700 years
 * Exploration

Bringing new species into the fold; also scouting for new species and civilizations. While they maintained sizable fleets and had played a key role in prior species assimilation wars, they took the back seat during the human conflict, as the Covenant's goal was not to convert but destroy. This troubled many within the ministry as they watched the war from the sidelines; while conversion by the sword was a common and acceptable reality, a means to a noble end, utter xenocide was not.
 * Conversion

Security
Internal security, experimental projects
 * Preparation

Dealing with internal dissent, putting down rebellions and secession movements by client races and states
 * Preservation

Security, anti-piracy, warfare
 * Resolution

Secret police and espionage
 * Vigilance

Securing strategic relic sites during crises, oversight of the Chapters of the Zealotry
 * Fervent Intercession

Defunct ministries

 * Ministry of Nomenclature - Established at some point to standardize and control the naming of all things Covenant, from spacial locations to organizations. Was largely ineffectual at getting any real change done, and was eventually disbanded.
 * Ministry of the Uplifting Word - A ministry active at the time of the incorporation of the Kig-Yar, which its minister oversaw.
 * Ministry of Canon - an earlier predecessor to the ministries of Revelation and Verity.