Sharquoi

Sharquoi, also sometimes referred to as the Drinol, are a species of "semi-sapient" organisms native to several planets within the Milky Way galaxy - believed by the Covenant to be an example of of the out-of-place biota phenomenon. The Sharquoi are typically considered a part of the Covenant fringe, with their limited intellect thought by the Covenant to be incapable of comprehending the Covenant religion and thus joining the Great Journey. As such, the Sharquoi occupy a status somewhere between animal and sapient species, making up for their lack of brainpower with sheer might. Despite this, the Sharquoi are not a naturally warlike or predatory species, primarily relying on their power for defense. Within the Covenant civilisation, Sharquoi are typically considered as thralls, used for occasional slave labour or kept as trophies by certain regional leaders.

Prehistory
The Sharquoi's homeworld of origin is unknown, though evidence points to the planet of Ipra being the world they are known to have inhabited the longest. However, Covenant records indicate that naturally occurring populations of Sharquoi are native to Ceradon and Fulmia - planets separated by dozens or hundreds of light-years. The Sharquoi are but one of many examples of the out-of-context biota phenomenon known to the Covenant; alone, this fact would be unremarkable. However, the Sharquoi thus-far remain the only observed example of such an occurrence in a species that could be classed as sapient.

Covenant subjects
The Covenant first encountered the Sharquoi in the empire's Late Antiquity period, during the waves of colonisation and exploration spurred by the decentralisation of the regime's power. Originally encountered on Ipra in 786 CE, the Sharquoi were mostly dismissed as mere beasts of little particular interest on their homeworld. With the discovery of another Sharquoi population on Ceradon, some interest in the species was garnered among the scholars of High Charity, leading to increased observation of the Sharquoi in their native habitat. Upon discovering the Sharquoi's tool usage and tribal families, some debate was spurred as to whether the species should be granted the honour of being considered part of the Covenant's Doctrine of Universal Conversion, though increased study ultimately led the Sharquoi to be considered unable to walk the path; their limited intellect incapable of comprehending the will of the Forerunners or the Great Journey.

As such, the Sharquoi were considered a part of the Covenant's fringe species, and had limited integration within the Covenant at-large. Typically, Sharquoi populations were mostly constricted to the worlds surrounding their native planets, seeing some small integration into the workforces of local Sangheili clans. Despite their imposing power, the relatively docile Sharquoi served some colonies as thralls, even lower in status than the lowly Unggoy. In select locales, the Sharquoi were integrated into the workforce serving in heavy lifting and machinery operation roles, though this presence was typically limited due to the existence of more specialised Lekgolo forms; Sharquoi working in industry were a relatively rare sight and mainly predominant on worlds which do not harbour significant Lekgolo populations.

Due to the sheer size of the Sharquoi, moving them across space is a fairly difficult and expensive procedure and as such most regions of the Covenant Sphere do not house significant populations (if any). Sharquoi outside of their home star clusters are often seen as status symbols of feudal lords wealthy enough to transport, own and maintain such specimens. Depending on the attitude of the noble in question, Sharquoi may be seen as exotic pets for display in the court or even pressed into service as pack mules - Sharquoi-drawn chariots have served as the favoured transport of some Sangheili nobles. In this manner, Sharquoi may be given fairly luxurious lifestyles despite their thrall status. Some Sharquoi were employed in the local military forces of Sangheili clans, though typically they served to draw heavy equipment or tour the warzone as "mascots", rarely pressed into actual combat.

Due to their natural high-gravity environments, the Sharquoi saw additional population on planets occupied by Jiralhanae, favoured by the Brutes for some menial labour due to a distrust of the Lekgolo and their historic service with the Sangheili.

Human-Covenant War
During the war with humanity, the Sharquoi were largely used by select commanders on the battlefield when wishing to show particularly excess brutality. Sharquoi deployments were typically sponsored by the Ministry of Preparation, an organisation interested in the potential of the Sharquoi on the battlefield. With an enemy available and considered below the standards of honourable warfare, the Ministry saw the war as an opportunity to experiment with the Sharquoi effectiveness in combat. Due to the fairly docile nature of the Sharquoi, the Ministry experimented with several technologies including electro-shock implants and injections of chemical mixtures designed to increase the Sharquoi's aggressiveness. In a handful of battles throughout the 2530s and 2540s, a number of Sharquoi were deployed onto battlefields kitted in extremely heavy armour and in some cases, sporting heavy energy shield generators. Rendered implacable by a mixture of pain and specifically-crafted chemical soups, Sharquoi were let loose into UNSC lines to charge into armoured columns and fields of machine gun fire, largely ignoring wounds with only an instinct to tear apart anything that moved.

These experiments had the adverse effect of also leaving the enraged Sharquoi just as prone to attack Covenant troops as the UNSC they were intended to fight, with a few deployments ultimately dealing more damage to the Covenant themselves than the enemy. These limited encounters, combined with the Sharquoi's head-to-toe encompassing heavy armour, left the UNSC with limited intelligence on the species throughout most of the war with many in the Office of Naval Intelligence simply believing the Sharquoi to be yet another form of Lekgolo gestalt.

By 2552, Covenant experiments with combat-deployed Sharquoi had come far enough that some commanders were considering to use the Sharquoi in deployment on the human homeworld, though this did not come to pass before the war's end.

Anatomy and physiology
The Sharquoi have a fairly standard body plan, averaging five metres in height with a single head, two arms and two legs. Their astounding height makes them one of the larger sapient organisms known to the Covenant, when not including select Lekgolo meta-forms. Most of the Sharquoi's body is coated in a leathery hide, with many portions additionally covered by naturally occurring bone armour. As such, the Sharquoi is naturally very resistant to most attacks, able to shrug off small-arms fire without issue. Due to their height and the high gravity environments in which they thrive, the Sharquoi have a network of sponge-like blood vessels running throughout their bodies, acting as a restrictor for the flow of blood to ensure the Sharquoi does not pass out from blood loss when standing. Uniquely, this network is also used as a defense mechanism, with the Sharquoi able to endure massive injuries without substantial bloodloss, in some cases even able to survive for up to thirty minutes after having a limb cut off without issue. As such, the Sharquoi are capable of taking immense amounts of damage; when attacked, they merely enter a rage, allowing them to ignore injuries until such adrenaline has worn off.

Despite their propensity for fighting, the Sharquoi are not a predatory species, and live off a hypocarnivorous diet; that is to say, mostly consisting of plant matter with a small amount of meat. Despite the appearance of such, the presence of large "teeth" on the Sharquoi's jaw is the presence of tusks used for fighting and intimidation. The face itself is covered in bone armour, with a single cyclopsian "eye" dominating the centre; this "eye" is in fact an extremely sensitive mass of grey tissue used for the purpose of echolocation, with two eyes located on either side of the head. The Sharquoi rely on this echolocation moreso than their vision. The Sharquoi's mouth is located on the bottom of the head, often hidden behind the bone mass on the front of the head.

The Sharquoi's size comes with great strength, with each of the species' massive arms boasting hands capable of tool use. Sharquoi are capable of fashioning spear weapons from uprooted trees and constructing simple dwellings. Combined with their pain tolerance and seeming lack of fear, the Sharquoi are perfectly capable of running into fields of machine gun fire to rip manned bunkers or armoured vehicles apart. This berserker rage and sheer strength also makes the Sharquoi difficult to control, as the "fight" response can be triggered easily seemingly at random - making prolonged storage and direction of the Sharquoi problematic aboard starships. The Sharquoi arms also often serve as fore-legs, allowing the Sharquoi the ability to traverse terrain quickly without standing upright - useful on the higher-gravity worlds they inhabit.

The Sharquoi, despite their appearances, are not animals and are a species of "limited-sapience"; occupying a status above the realm of Great Apes, but below even the Jiralhanae in the Congruent-Enigmatic scale. As such, it is easy to forget that the Sharquoi are fully self-aware beings, with many in the Covenant regarding them as simply another species of fauna. Their inclusion on the Congruent-Engimatic Scale is contested, with different camps viewing them as Congruents, Enigmatics or not viable for inclusion in the scale at all. However, the average Sharquoi is capable of processing language, spoken word and technology - though to a limited extent. The Sharquoi's vocabulary is limited to a few hundred words and phrases, meaning that communication with them is possible, though orders and direction must typically be given in simple terms. Similarly, the Sharquoi have little issue operating machinery, and in a select few instances are put to work in manning some industrial facilities. However, most higher-order thought processes and concepts are wholly alien to the Sharquoi. The Sharquoi are considered incapable of truly embracing the concepts of the Covenant religion, and as such were deemed unviable for the Doctrine of Universal Conversion.

Culture and society
Sharquoi do not have a civilisation as such, but do organise themselves into small familial tribes or "herds". The Sharquoi are capable of fashioning and using primitive tools, using trees and large rocks as melee weapons. Natural Sharquoi on their homeworlds can construct primitive dwellings, and if given training can be taught to operate simple machinery and firearms (some Covenant experiments did consider the idea of equipping the Sharquoi with Mgalekgolo arm-mounted focus cannons). The Sharquoi's limited capacity for language means they can be taught to communicate with other species, and can relay and process simple orders and tasks well.

Sharquoi tribes are typically led by a matriarch, with the majority of the tribe consisting of the daughters and other females. These groupings are often stationary, residing in camps within a specific tract of land with groups consisting of 30-50 members, including adolescents. Because of this stationary placement, Sharquoi females typically take the roles of farmers, tradesmen and artisans, with the matriarch and her daughters permitted to have offspring and serve as caretakers of the group's young.

Males stick with the tribe through adolescence, though eventually depart upon reaching maturity to join more nomadic groups of other male sharquoi in the wild. The nomadic Sharquoi tribes may naturally consist of 25-30 individuals led by the strongest male, with the more stationary tribes consisting of a larger number. Within the nomadic tribes, males compete to be the strongest, with individual nomad groups conflicting with each other should they cross paths. However, the otherwise mostly vegetarian diet of the Sharquoi sees them rarely predatory and mostly engaging in combat for self-defense or competition with other Sharquoi. Sharquoi do engage in warfare, mostly consisting of raids on competing Sharquoi groups to steal resources and other Sharquoi. Displays of spectacle and power can easily convince a Sharquoi to join a new tribe or support an upcoming alpha male's claim to leadership. Nomadic tribes have a high rate of turnover, as internal conflict sees new leaders rise to the top before subsequently being ousted, typically resulting in the nomadic group splitting into numerous smaller groups.

Sharquoi nomadic groups will often return back to the tribe they originated from, having collected valuable items, resources and new blood to join the tribe. These gifts are offered to the Sharquoi matriarchs in exchange for permitting the nomads to stay in the encampments of the females during the colder winter months. Nomads who are deemed of giving insufficient patron are turned away. Because of this tradition of patronage and gift-bearing, Sharquoi villages and communes are oft-decorated with artifacts stolen (or traded) from other tribes, banners and other works of art giving each tribe a unique visage.

Because of the semi-nomadic nature of the Sharquoi and their predisposition toward spectacle, they were easily subdued by the Covenant with displays of power, and Sharquoi have little difficulty or issue with their thrall status when serving in the Covenant.