Qikost

Qikost is the smaller of Sanghelios' two moons and one of the oldest and most prominent Sangheili colonies alongside its twin moon, Suban. For much of the Covenant era, Qikost's orbital facilities have served as the primary spaceports of the Urs system.

Ancient history
Important to Sangheili astronomy, mythology and religion since paleolithic times, Qikost was first colonized in the pre-Skyfall Age of Decadence. Its population always smaller than that of Suban, the Qikostans fared even worse than the peoples of Suban or Sanghelios in the aftermath of the Skyfall. Reliant on supplies from Sanghelios, the population of Qikost lost higher technologies and regressed to a preindustrial state. This made their conquest during the subsequent Sanghelian resurgence a less complicated affair than that of Suban, and Qikost's population grew considerably during the space age that followed as Sangheili from the homeworld moved in.

Culture and society
Qikost is a major hub of industry and commerce, with several powerful merchant guilds and industrialist clans calling it home. Despite this, most of the moon's surface is protected as wildlife sanctuaries. Sangheili habitation is centered on carefully planned arcology complexes, and most of the heavy industry is located in orbit or in the L4 or L5 Lagrange points. However, a number of solitary monasteries, retreats and manors are still located within the wilderness, including one of the largest spiritual centers and archives of the Ascetics. Due to its density, Qikost has a relatively high escape velocity of 8.1 km/s, which made early orbital transit difficult, albeit not as much so as on Suban. Today, an array of gravitic sky-lifts connects the moon's surface to its various orbital facilities.

Many habitats on Qikost use massive artificial gravity generators to simulate a gravitational pull more comfortable to the Sangheili, though these are not used in the nature preserves due to their harmful effects on local life. Powerful Sangheili and San'Shyuum often use the preserves as retreats to hunt and meditate. Hunting and navigating on Qikost is an art in its own right due to the low gravity as well as the size of the local fauna, though many Sangheili in particular prefer to use inverse gravitic belts set to increase their weight relative to the ambient gravity.

Qikost, like Suban, was long worshiped as a deity by many early Sangheili cultures, and was often identified as feminine in contrast to Suban's masculine nature. Though these faiths would eventually be cast aside in favor of Forerunner worship, vestiges of them remained in Sangheili folklore, mythology, and figures of speech.

Topography
Slightly smaller than Suban, Qikost is still large, dense and unusually habitable for the moon of a world Sanghelios' size. Qikost has a molten core and robust magnetic field, though it is less geologically active and much older than its twin moon. Its age and composition suggest Qikost is likely a captured inner planet and perhaps even extra-Ursian in origin, though its prograde motion and orbital synchronicity with Suban offer no hint of this. Due to these properties, some theories hold that Qikost was deliberately maneuvered into Sanghelios' orbit by either the Forerunners or an even older civilization. Although it orbits further away than Suban, Qikost still exerts considerable tidal influence on Sanghelios.

Qikost is more hospitable than its neighboring moon, and houses a complex ecosystem. Sangheili scientists have long agreed that the Qikostian biosphere has been artificially transplanted in primordial times and based on modified Sanghelios stock, albeit having evolved divergently for close to a million years. Vegetation and fauna are able to grow to enormous in Qikost's low gravity.