Kig-Yar

Kig-Yar, more commonly known to mankind as the Covenant Jackals are a race of sapient and sentient bipeds reptiles indigenous to Eayn, a moon orbiting the large gas giant Chu'ot. Physically-speaking, their appearance is thin and avianoid, and their bodies are quite frail. Jackals appear to be predominantly left-handed (as opposed to the other Covenant species or to Humans). Despite operating within the Covenant ranks, they are in fact mercenaries, and can be found outside of this grouping. Some Kig-Yar have actually been known to aid mankind.

Covenant Tactics
Covenant Jackals excel in defensive positions, fighting from behind their distinctive energy shields. A well used shield makes a Jackal a difficult target, but the notch they use to return fire provides a weak spot that can be exploited, specifically by a sniper's weapon. Jackals sometimes abandon the shields in favor of carrying the Particle Beam Rifle in their capacity as snipers. When these snipers are face to face with a stronger opponent, they will drop any heavy weaponry they may have and cower like a Grunt, but if given a chance will pull out a Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol and continue fighting.

Their rank is shown by the color of their body and of their shield, indicating a prejudice towards racial skin tones amongst either themselves or the overbearing Covenant, although it's possible that each subspecies/race of Kig-Yar instead excels at something in particular and are naturally allotted to this rank. They are often cruel to the Grunts / Unggoys, considering themselves better than they are and to ensure their own superiority though other Covenant caste members just simply believe the Grunts are lower than they are; this leads credence to the hypothesis that Kig-Yar are prejudice against their own racial or gender-based skintones. Jackals hold themselves above Grunts socially, even though they are in the same "worker" caste. They often refer to Unggoys with derogatory monikers such as "gas suckers," due to the Unggoys' need to breathe methane gas. The Grunts in turn seem to dislike the Jackals as a Grunt is heard saying "Stupid Jackal, say thank you!" after the Arbiter has destroyed the Sentinel which was attacking them. Between the years 2552 and 2553 Unggoys were known to tell the Arbiter, "If hungry, eat Jackal!".

For those seeking Jackals as opposition, it is worth noting that they can be heard and identified even before they are seen by their unique screech/yell sound. This cry is usually heard when a potential target, such as a UNSC Marine, has been spotted. The Jackals have chosen to side with the Prophets and Brutes in the Covenant civil war for unknown reasons, but it is speculated that it is due to their dislike of the Grunts which have sided with the Separatists.

Jackals come in two different skin colors: black and orange. The darker Jackals were not seen between fall of 2552 and 2553, and in earlier 2552 are seen holding the blue plasma shields. Another note of difference between the two versions of Jackals is their glowing pink eyes and a lesser amount of armor during 2552-2553. Jackals during this later period also were not known to roll or flee as often as their counterparts that were witnessed aboard Installation 04, making it more difficult to exploit gaps in their defenses. All of the Jackals seen in late 2552 and 2553 were witnessed to have mohawks, while their Installation 04 counterparts were not always seen with mohawks, indicating perhaps a difference in personal preference or instead the beginning of a style fad.

Trivia

 * According to the action figure released by Joyride Studios, Jackals have been described as paying only the merest lip service to the cause of the Covenant, and are more or less mercenaries working for the alliance. They have been known for privateering, but the Covenant at large either condones or turns a blind eye to this practice.
 * Their binominal classification, Perosus latrunculus is Latin for "Hateful Highwayman".
 * Kig-Yar is Breton for chicken and Phonetic Welsh for chicken meat.
 * It seems that the Kig-Yar can live reasonably peacefully alongside other races they can trade with (except Grunts), as witnessed when they forged a society with the Humans on The Rubble and relations between the two groups were relatively good (compared to other Covenant species) until they were ordered to kill the Humans. Many of the Kig-Yar later regretted following this order.