Kig-Yar (Earth-5875)

"Jackals may be superior marksmen and they're very sneaky, but that doesn't make them excellent snipers — they’re a little too bloodthirsty for that."

- - Avery Johnson

The kig-yar (Latin Perosus latrunculus, meaning "hateful bandit"), are a sapient species of bird-like reptiles. Native to the moon Eayn, the kig-yar were the third species to be inducted into the Covenant, with their conversion occurring in 122 BCE. Unlike the other species of the Covenant, however, the kig-yar served the hegemony not out of faith in the Path, but because of money and payment, effectively acting as mercenaries and privateers instead of zealous warriors.

They served in the hegemony until its dissolution in late 2552, and afterwards, majority resorted to piracy, while some served in mercenary positions at Covenant splinter groups. The kig-yar possesses three different races: ruuhtians, ibie'shans, and t'vaoans, known to humans as Jackals, Geckos, and Skirmishers, respectively. In combat, kig-yar acted as snipers, scouts and trackers duo to their advanced senses of smell, hearing, and sight.

The Ark and reseeding
During the Forerunner-Xenomorph War, the Librarian and her Lifeworkers visited Eayn as a part of the Conservation Measure to save kig-yar specimens and index them in the Ark so they could survive the activation of the Halo Array. After the rings were lighted and all life extinct, the kig-yar, alongside all remaining living species in the galaxy, were returned to their homeworld through keyships, where they started rebuilding their culture and civilization.

Development of civilization and the Covenant
The early kig-yar civilizations saw their society divided between clans that dwelled across Eayn's oceans and skies as pirates, pillaging and raiding territories belonging to enemy clans. Because of an ancient divide between continents, the kig-yar developed with two distinct races - the ruuthians and the ibie'shans. Kig-Yar also experienced a gladiatorial era not much different than that of humans, where they held inter-clan combats and competitions at Ruuth, Eayn's biggest continent. The clans eventually united, and together were able to form a government that bolstered their technology, enabling them to become space-faring and achieve FTL travel.

After establishing colonies on planetoids and asteroids through Chu'ot, such as T'vao, which become home to the t'vaoans, that eventually developed into their own race. Some kig-yar decided to return to their ancient ways of life, turning into pirates and raiders by kidnapping and pillaging merchant vessels. The increasing piracy led the planetary government's militia of Eayn to recruit commandos from sectarian societies of Chu'ot's asteroids to combat the criminals. Ruthlessly, they were able to do so, which resulted in numerous conflicts. However, with the arrival of the Covenant war machine in 122 BCE, the pirates and the militia joined their forces in order to banish the alien invaders.