Unggoy

"Grunts are like giant ants, without leadership they're lost."

- UNSC Serviceman

The Unggoy (Latin, Monachus frigus, meaning "cold monk") are a species of small, squat bipedal arthropods in the unified races of the Covenant. They are the lowest-ranking species in the hierarchy, and are frequently mistreated by almost every higher-ranking race (Sangheili, Jiralhanae, Kig-yar). Unggoy are primarily used as laborers or, in combat situations, cannon fodder. They are one of the later races to be introduced into the Covenant, and were the third Covenant species to be encountered by humans. They are referred to as Grunts by humans, mainly because they are considered weak compared to their superiors and also because they perform the majority of the labor required by the Covenant.

Induction into the Covenant
Grunts were the sixth client race to be integrated into the Covenant, not including San 'Shyuum and Sangheili, about 411 years before the end of the Human-Covenant War, roughly coming to their indoctrination in 2142 on the military calendar. Balaho, the Unggoy homeworld, was devastated by the collapse of its biosphere due to massive global overindustrialization that occurred even before the activation of the Halo Array, and indications are that while the Unggoy had once achieved a Tier 4 society, by the time of their discovery by the Covenant they had yet to return to such a state.

While they are essentially a slave race, the Unggoy have managed to largely retain their cultural identities, and have rebelled in the past more than once. Being the lowest-ranked species of the Covenant, they are bitter rivals with the Kig-yar (Jackals), who are also low-ranked. The higher-ranking races of the Covenant have often ignored this rivalry. The breaking point came when a junior staffer in the Ministry of Concert discovered evidence of the Kig-yar planning to poison recreational narcotics the Unggoy enjoyed, which would have left them sterile, but the High Council refused to investigate the matter. The rising tensions with the Kig-yar and the general disinterest from the other Covenant races led to an Unggoy Rebellion in 2462. During this rebellion, the Unggoy proved to be surprisingly strong in numbers and can be deadly when sufficiently motivated. During this rebellion, the Unggoy homeworld was nearly glassed. After the uprising's conclusion, as was their tradition, the Sangheili forgave the surviving Unggoy and allowed them to enter the Covenant Military as armed infantry units, rather than the unarmed cannon fodder as which they had previously served.

Despite the low place they have in the Covenant Hierarchy, the true irony is that the Unggoy's entry into the Covenant has ensured their species' survival. Membership in the Covenant granted the Unggoy freedom from risk of extinction during Balaho's two winters, as they now have access to sufficient supplies of food. Infant mortality has decreased to below fifty percent, and geronticide is no longer a necessity for survival. The average life expectancy for non-combatant Unggoy has doubled.

The Great Schism
The Unggoy obey the other Covenant races over them out of fear more than religious faith. They have next to no political power in the Covenant; the highest political rank available to an Unggoy is Deacon. However, within the Unggoy community there is a strong resentment of other species, especially the Kig-yar. At one point during the Covenant's history, in the 39th Age of Conflict, there was a Grunt Rebellion, where the conflict between the Unngoy and Kig-yar escalated. Eventually, the conflict quelled, thanks in part to an unknown Arbiter, who was called upon during that period for that purpose. The Unggoy took significant losses, and their attempt at secession saw them relegated to the lowest social strata in the Covenant. The low rank of the Unggoy, as well as the aforementioned war, also led to a lack of political loyalty during the Great Schism, as the Unggoy did not ally with a particular side, and stayed with whoever commanded them, most likely out of subservient fear to their current masters. However, many of those serving under the Jiralhanae still held support for the Sangheili and revered the Arbiter, pointing out to their comrades that they once served under him.

Description
Unggoy share a number of features with different animal species on Earth. Like primates, they walk both bipedally and with the aid of their over sized forearms. However, their bodies are armored with a hard exoskeleton such as with crabs and insects. Their mouths have a set of small, pointed, razor sharp teeth, much like reptiles. However, the UNSC classed them taxonomically as being most similar to Earth arthropods.

Unggoy are typically poor warriors, being quite cowardly, physically weak and tactically inept. When witnessing their commanders eliminated during a battle, they often go into a panic and scatter in random directions. However, what they lack in ability they make up for with their sheer numbers, as they breed relatively quickly and, if they are focused, are actually quite accurate with their weapon. In some cases, squads of Unggoy have been known to overpower careless Marines. The conflict on Harvest, and thus the Human-Covenant War, was in part started by an Unggoy named Yull tearing apart Private Osmo. Special Operations Grunts, which are known to wear black colored armor, are far more tenacious than the lower tiered ones, and have even been known to carry fuel rod guns, which makes them extremely dangerous foes.

Unggoy are the only Covenant species to breathe methane rather than oxygen. Their combat armor/harness has an integrated methane re-breather system, as Unggoy are unable to survive for long periods of time without methane due to asphyxiation much like humans without oxygen. Due to this, if the player manages to melee their methane tank off, they will survive for a short time, but then die.

Intelligence
While not overly intelligent or creative on the battlefield, they are one of the most gregarious and sociable of the Covenant races as they possess a very strong pack mentality, often associating with each other in groups. This allows for their sense of cultural identity to remain, despite their extreme subservience to the other races of the Covenant. They usually gamble with each other and often play games; one in particular includes two Unggoy competing to kill the most Scrub Grubs.

Unggoy generally follow a few short, simple guidelines given to them by the Sangheili; namely "When in doubt, shoot." or "Stay out of the way, live another day." Despite being held in low stature in the Covenant, they appear to be strong followers of their religion. Their Deacons will often hold sermons onboard ships to boost the morale and teach the Unggoy onboard about the Covenant. For instance, a Deacon named Dadab gave sermons and taught the Unggoy on board a Jiralhanae cruiser about the Covenant and its religions. The Jiralhanae allowed Dadab these teachings because they believed that it would help the Unggoy become more competent and helpful.

Anatomy and Physiology


Unggoy are average of about 5 1/2 feet tall and are relatively weak compared to other Covenant species. Although they can easily walk upright on two legs, they may often use their arms to move in a quadrupedal fashion. While carrying armaments, they are forced to walk upright so that they may support their weapons with their hands, but while trying to flee, or while patrolling without a weapon drawn, they use their over sized arms as forelegs to add speed or stability to their gait. Their eyesight and hearing is average, and seem to have a very well developed sense of smell, sometimes sniffing the air to detect traces of foes or hidden enemies. This is facilitated through the olfactory membranes installed in their masks.

Unggoy also have thick, bio-luminescent, light-blue blood, possibly a result of methane-based proteins in the blood to facilitate methane-based respiration. Like Earth's Horseshoe Crabs, it is possible that their blood is blue due to high copper content.

An Unggoy's forearms are incredibly over-sized, as are their calves, while their upper arms and thighs are seemingly small. This has allowed them to be quite excellent climbers, as discovered in Halo: Contact Harvest. Spiny protrusions on their elbows help them scale rocky surfaces and may also be used to add force to their melee attacks. They also have an amazingly fast finger reflex speed, as they can fire a plasma pistol of the same rate a Sangheili can with a plasma rifle.



The Unggoy have flat, three-toed feet, with another toe on the back of their feet. While they are small, stocky, and not agile, they are quite sturdy; most may be weak, as they seem to be unable to carry a weapon heavier than a plasma pistol, although certain Unggoy of higher ranks appear to be surprisingly strong, able to carry an undeployed plasma cannon or fire a fuel rod gun with one hand without toppling from the recoil. However, physical strength may not actually go along with rank; the types of weapons available to them may be a part of a "trust" issue with the other Covenant. As rank-and-file Unggoy are clumsy and tactically inept, more powerful weapons are likely only issued to those who are more disciplined and experienced.

Reproduction
Unggoy have been described as breeding prodigiously in many instances, with large egg clutches and short childhood periods. This might explain why there are so many of them on the battlefield. This combined with the large number of young per clutch and rapid sensory motor integration development was one of the primary reasons why the species were given the role of disposable cannon fodder. Their unburdened neural pathway allows them to absorb knowledge more freely compared to their peers. As such, they are constantly monitoring the void for traces of human communication and have developed a clear understanding of two or even three human languages. This serves as a river of confidence in times of great stress for them. Overpopulation is a serious problem and in non-war times, strict laws are placed on Unggoy breeding.

Naming
Unggoy often have names which reflect a language of very simple phonics. Common names, such as Yayap and Dadab, begins with a reduplicated consonant and consist of two syllables. Other names consist of a single syllable with clusters of consonants, such as "Flim". Some exceptions have occurred of which a name has more consonants than is usual while following the first method of naming, as in Kwassass. Often, their names are palindromes, such as Zawaz.

Unggoy names encountered so far consist of these phonemes: Unggoy do not have family names, possibly because the Sangheili did not allow it. Instead, they identify themselves by famous ancestors, their homeworld, and where on that planet they lived.
 * The vowels short A and short I.
 * The consonants D, F, K, L, M, S, W, P, Y and Z.

Unggoy do value their ties to their offspring, but are usually separated from their families at an early age by the requirements of military service to the Covenant. They resent this greatly, but because of their low social status in the Covenant, they are unable to muster any response.

Homeworld


The Unggoy homeworld of Balaho is a temperate, swampy planet with a methane atmosphere and naturally occurring pillars of fire. The cold season of their planet makes them highly covet any source of warmth and light they can find, mainly due to the blue death.

Since their natural environment has a methane atmosphere, they would need to carry methane tanks and breathing apparatus with them whenever they travel into areas without high levels of methane in the air. Since all the other races of the Covenant, and their human enemies, breathe oxygen, the Unggoy find themselves wearing breathing masks more often than not. They have been revealed to be inhabiting large environment domes that have airlocks and methane filters for them to breathe, while not in armor or restocking their methane reserves at battlefield methane tanks. They seem to have high-pitched and squeaky voices, possibly due to the different resonating properties of methane gas. The high-pitched voices are commonly regarded as humorous by most other races, since they tend to sound like frightened children trying to sound intimidating.

Overall
"Bad cyborg!!"

- An Unggoy, fleeing from John-117.

The Unggoy are the lowliest beings for troops before battle, as well as other tasks, indicating the little respect they get from the Covenant. They are known to be bitter rivals with the Kig-yar as they are both at the very bottom of the social hierarchy. From a political and military standpoint, they are expected to obey the commands of their superiors without hesitation. This unwavering faithfulness is enforced by the threat of punishment, although on the battlefield, such social protocols are often ignored, such as running in fear when witnessing their leader killed during battle.

Unggoy are subdivided into sub-rankings; lower-ranked Unggoy are typically poor combatants, while higher-ranked Unggoy may be formidable adversaries in combat and will even display signs of leadership capability as well as bravery. In groups, they can be deadly as well as tenacious, depending on the level of difficulty.

The Unggoy are also considered to be somewhat humorous for their small stature, squeaky voices, and slightly cute personality. For instance, during the level, an Unggoy can be heard saying, "Where'd my gun go? Oh, here it is! Hahaha."

Rank Structure
The Unggoy have five classes which are easily identified by the color of their armor and/or the type of armor.

Other Ranks
Deacon

The only position open to the Grunts in the Ministry of Tranquility. This rank doesn't often involve combat or hard manual labor, though they have been known to carry around plasma pistols and needlers, the former possibly meaning it is the lowest position on the Covenant hierarchy. But as seen in Halo: Contact Harvest, the Deacon ordered around other Unggoy whenever it came to matter of religion. In Halo Wars, Deacons are available as the final upgrade for an Unggoy. They further bolster and strengthen the abilities of the Unggoy squads. Interestingly, they wear elongated helmets similar to their Sangheili counterparts.

Merchants

Though it's never named a rank and only mentioned once, it was revealed in Contact Harvest, that well respected Unggoy in the Hierarchy are merchants. When Truth was sworn into office, a Drone queen, Kig-yar ship masters, and Merchants were said to be there. It was also said that their combat harness was adorned with large jewels.

Suicide Grunts 

The suicide Grunts appear as a separate rank in Halo Wars. In Halo Wars, they serve as the Arbiter's unique units, coming in squads of four. They resemble standard grunts except for a large, transparent, cylinder-shaped methane tank replacing the standard, triangular tank. These Grunts seem to be one of the lowest ranks considering the fact that they wield plasma pistols and commit suicide kamikaze-style. Their Y ability consists of lighting their methane tanks and charging the enemy in a similar fashion to some Grunt minors. Once the Grunts come in contact with the chosen enemy, they violently explode.

They also appear in Halo: Reach as standard Grunts. What makes them different is that they immediately light their plasma grenades and charge at you rather than shooting or running away like most other Grunts.

Heretic Grunts

These Grunts have different methane tubes than their non-Heretic counterparts. They use two rounded tubes, instead of the triangular shape. Another feature of the Heretic Grunt armor is a small mouth-breather that exposes a Grunt's teeth. Unlike the armor of the Heretic Elites, there is only one uniform color for a Grunt's armor, which is a shining, golden-brown. Because of this, there is no hierarchy or ranking system, and Heretic Grunts are inferior only to Heretic Elites. Heretic Grunts are also superior to their Covenant counterparts by their equipment and usage thereof. They almost always use needlers, or occasionally fuel rod guns, but never the plasma pistols that are often wielded by their counterparts. They set up turrets like the Heavy Unggoy. They are better treated than their Covenant counterparts, and are not used as cannon fodder. It's also worth noting that Heretic Grunts are much harder to kill than normal Unggoy. Typical Unggoy can be killed with 2 or 3 shots on normal via Carbine, but Heretic Grunts can absorb up to five shots before dying.

Gameplay
Overall, the Unggoy in gameplay are very weak in combat; often fleeing when their leader has been killed. However, in larger numbers, they can be more of a threat, especially in higher difficulties. If their leader is killed, Unggoy may sometimes activate two plasma grenades and rush to the player in an attempt to suicide-bomb them. A melee can kill them instantly, so use this advantage when near them.

In Halo Wars, the Unggoy serves as the main infantry unit, serving as the Covenant equivalent to the Marine. They start with a plasma pistol and three in each squad, but they can be upgraded to wield needlers.

Trivia

 * Unggoy enjoy trading human communication files, such as soap operas and comedies, through the black market.
 * However not shown in the games, Grunts also joined the elites' and humans' struggle against the Prophet of Truth when they also found out about the lies of their fake religion.
 * In Tagalog, Unggoy means "monkey".
 * In real life, "Grunt" is a slang military term for infantrymen.
 * The Unggoy were ranked #5 in Game Informer's "The Top 10 Most Pathetic Enemies" list.
 * In Halo: Reach, Unggoy's voices have been changed. Instead of being high pitched and squeaky, their voices sound deeper and mechanical, possibly because of their breathing masks.
 * Although unable to survive unaided without an atmosphere, Unggoy carapaces can withstand vacuum. This is evidenced by the armor of Ultra Grunts, which allows them to survive in the vacuum while leaving their limbs uncovered.
 * In Halo: Reach, during the mission Pillar of Autumn, after you cross the broken bridge with Emile, there is a small station where Grunts will go to refill their methane tanks.
 * In Halo: Reach, if an Unggoy is shot in the back, their methane tanks will fall off, and the gas will shoot them into the air. This is often considered a great hazard to players, especially on higher difficulties. One of Anoj's Top 10 episodes on youtube (betrayals) features a grunt's methane tank shooting off when it is killed and in turn killing another player.

Related Links

 * Unggoy in the Games
 * Unggoy Quotes

Grunt Grognards