The Sangheili—or “Elites” as they are known by humans—are a proud, noble race of saurian bipeds hailing from the distant world of Sanghelios. For centuries the Sangheili were the military backbone of the Covenant, a theocratic alien alliance driven to reclaim the wonders and technologies left behind by the enigmatic Forerunners. Central among these sacred relics was an array of ringworld weapons collectively known as Halo, objects that Covenant leadership promised would usher the faithful into godhood through a divine sublimation they called “the Great Journey.”

Eventually, the Covenant would be broken—in no small part thanks to the betrayal of the Sangheili at the hands of the empire’s scheming and power-hungry leadership, who were determined to let nothing stand in the way of their path to divinity. In the aftermath of the Covenant’s collapse, the Sangheili have fallen into civil war—its people unsure of which beliefs to uphold, and which heroes to exalt.