Delkai

"Kin of Vendrul!"

- A common greeting and battle cry among Dalkarii

The Dalkarii (singular: Dalkai) is a species of carnivores amphibians hailing from the large desert world of Vendrul, the Dalkaish word for sand. The Dalkarii had managed to reach a status before they were discovered by the Covenant in, thanks to the   , 654 Ruined Hope, who was the Monitor of a Forerunner installation orbiting Vendrul's third moon. With the guidance of the rampant Monitor, the Dalkarii established a caste based society, much like the Forerunners', and managed to reach a tier 3 status not long after Ruined Hope left the Dalkarii. Ruined Hope departed Vendrul after a large meteoroid collided with the Forerunner installation. Ruined Hope transported to the installation to parts unknown for repairs and never returned to the Dalkarii again.

The Dalkarii established an interstellar empire not long after the departure if 654 Ruined Hope, encompassing around 250 worlds at their highest, forming the Unified Dalkarii Worlds. Though infighting after almost a century of relative peace would split Dalkarii society into warring clans which stopped the Dalkarii from developing and expanding their empire any further.

Forerunner-Flood War
The Dalkai was a species subjugated by the Forerunners centuries before the outbreak of the Forerunner-Flood War and played an insignificant role in galactic politics and were often forgotten by the greater. The Dalkarii were rule over by a, which oversaw and intervened in Dalkai politics to purposely keep them restricted to their own homeworld. This was done through the guidance of the Forerunner Monitor, 654 Ruined Hope, who practically ruled over the species with an iron fist from its installation orbiting the third moon of Vendrul, Dor'Vrill.

The visited Vendrul in the closing years of the  where she had several Dalkarii indexed for later reseeding after the firing of the. 654 Ruined Hope was instructed to not interfere with the Dalkarii after the reseeding and only monitor them from its installation. The Guardian was recalled from the system at some point after the Librarian had left Vendrul. What became of the Guardian is unknown though many belive that it has been destroyed as it was not responsive during its recall order to in.

Pre-Covenant History
The Dalkarii were reseeded back onto their homeworld after the firing of the Halo Array the defeat of the. They quickly went about building their civilization and conflicts between different tribes, kingdoms and nations quickly made their way into the Dalkarii's historical records. The Dalkai would keep evolving their civilization until they had reached a tier 6 status. It was at this tier that 654 Ruined Hope descended into rampancy and came to the conclusion that its role wasn't just to monitor the Dalkai but to lead them in their technological and philosophical evolution. The crazed monitor traveled to Vendrul and introduced intself to the most powerful of the Dalkai nations. The Dalkai took this a sign of divine intervention and began to reverse the Monitor first as a god but later simply as a messenger of the gods as it itself declared that it was no god and that it was created of by the Forerunners.

Ruined Hope guidance greatly accelerated the Dalkarii's evolution and the monitor established a caste based system based loosely on the Rates used by the Forerunners. Peace and progress rule for nearly three centuries which saw the Dalkai nearly reach tier 3. Ruined Hope's rule over the Dalkai were not to last however. A large meteoroid impacted with 654 Ruined Hope's installation, severely damaging the station. Ruined Hope abandoned the Dalkai and activated the station's slipspace drive for parts unknown.

Leaderless for the first time in over three centuries, Dalkai society threatened to give in to anarchy as the population was left spiritually broken. A leadership, formed from the heads of each of the different castes, quickly put together a plan to go search for their missing divine messenger. This plan encouraged cooperation across all layers of Dalkai society as they had a common goal to strive for. In the historical records it can be concluded that it was this plan that eventually led to the Dalkai to develop the Slipspace drive and reach out among the stars in search of 654 Ruined Hope.

With the development of the Slipspace Drive, the Dalkai first spread out and colonized the three moons of their homeworld then the rest of the terrestrial planets and moons in the system. After the colonization of their home system the dream of finding 654 Ruined Hope began to shatter as the colonies in the outer layer system began to demand independence. War broke out between the inner and outer colonies within the system. The war lasted well over a decade but had served a good lesson in space warfare for the Dalkarii.

Years later the Dalkai began spreading to nearby systems and by the high of their civilization they had more than 250 planets under their control. But once more rebellion rose from within and Dalkai's united society were shattered as hundreds of planets declared independence and waged among each other. This period of war would later be recorded in the historical records as the Civil Wars Era

Dalkai-Covenant War
The Dalkarii would keep fighting against each other until the Covenant discovered the Dalkai in 2532 by complete accident while searching for Forerunner relics and resource rich worlds. The first contact between the Covenant and the Dalkai was a hostile one which involved a Kig-Yar crewed Missionary Ship and almost fifteen Dalkai waships. While the Missionary ship, with its superior weaponry and energy shielding, managed to destroy several Dalkai warships, it was eventually destroyed but not before it managed to send a message back to one of the Covenant Fringe Fleets about what had befallen them. A fleet received the message and contacted the regional San'Shyuum for guidance on how to handle the situation at hand. The San'Shyuum saw the destruction of the Missionary Ship as a provocation for war and declared war on the Dalkai. The fleet was dispatched to battle and subjugate the Dalkai but the Covenant fleet soon discovered that the Dalkai territories were spread out wide and so requested for reinforcements to deal with the Dalkai. The request was denied due to the ongoing war with Humanity and so other Fringe Fleets were contacted to participate in the war.

While the Covenant made great progress in the early stages of the war, the Dalkai seemed to quickly put aside their differences and band together once more for the first time in hundreds of years. The United Dalkarii Worlds were formed to combat the Covenant but the united Dalkai front was only able to slow down the Covenant's advances into their territories. The Dalkai-Covenant war came to a conclusion after almost eight years of war. The war only ended when the Dalkai saw that they had no hope of winning the war against the Covenant and it was with heavy hearts that the surrendered unconditionally to the Covenant. The Unified Dalkarii Worlds was dissolved and its worlds absorbed into the greater Covenant. Integration into the empire went somewhat smoothly due to the Dalkarii already operating within a caste system and also due to their religion aligned with the faith of the Covenant to some extent.

While the Covenant was glad that it had gained a new warrior race, was unaware that the Dalkarii were still greatly opposing the Covenant at large. Secret, largely self-sustaining space stations had been constructed during the last few years of the war as a place to reverse-engineer Covenant technology introduced to the Dalkarii. The existence of these stations were erased from all records and only a handful of shadowy individuals knew of their whereabouts and their existence. Covenant technology was shipped to these stations to researched and fused with Dalkai technology. This led to the upgraded version of the mainstay Dalkai warship, the Il'vrag-Class Cruiser Mk. II, and the development and implementation of energy shielding as well as upgraded slipspace drives.

Great Schism
The Dalkarii would largely remain hidden from the greater affairs of the Covenant as the Covenant High Council wanted to introduce them to the rest of the Covenant when they were fully integrated. This didn't stop Gwol'Yean, the San'Shyuum overseer of the Dalkai region and titled as Prophet of Insight, from raising and training a massive Dalkai army at the orders of the. The army was to be ready for mass deployment as soon as the Dalkarii were fully integrated into the empire. As his title would suggest, Gwol'Yean didn't catch wind of the Dalkai deception until it was too late.

The Dalkai were about to be shipped out for battle against the humans in late and take part in the. However, when news arrived at Vendrul that the Great Schism had begun, the Dalkai initiated their own rebellion. All other races were suddenly attacked by the Dalkarii across all of Dalkai territory. Gwol'Yean was killed and eaten as he saw his region being taken away from him and reclaimed by the Dalkai. The Dalkai, having broken free of their shackles, didn't aim to go to war against the Covenant planets near their old borders. Instead they used the next years reestablishing a new government and rebuilding their fleets and armies.

Anatomy
Delkarii are bipedal vertebrate amphibians. At first glance the Delkarii appear to be of reptile origin but on closer inspection it can be concluded that they are actually amphibian. Delkarii undergo metamorphosis several times during their growth to adulthood. A fully grown and healthy Delkai stands around 200-220 centimeters tall and weight around 95-110 kilograms. Delkai have tough scale skin that offer them some form of natural protection. The skin, however is extremely sensitive to dry air and direct contact with sun light. The Delkai have therefore developed glands directly under their protective scales that produce as form of mucus which drips out from space between the scales, covering the entirety of the Delkai's body in this mucus. This is why all Delkai skin seems to sparkle in illuminated areas. The mucus keeps the body cooled and moist but also plays a critical role in the body's immune system. As it protects against light and dry air, it also blocks harmful bacteria and other harmful microscopic organisms from the softer underskin beneath the scales.

Reproduction
The Dalkai can either reproduce asexual, effectively creating near identical clones of themselves as their offspring, or reproduce sexual. The Dalkai usually prefer the latter as asexual reproduction will eventually lead to genetic defects down the generations, the first signs of genetic defects usually occur in the third or fourth generation. While the Dalkai have male and female genders, the asexual reproduction isn't limited to only the female Dalkarii. As such it's not uncommon for a male Dalkai to raise his own offspring which his has created on his own. Dalkai lay clusters of eggs of around 10-15 but clusters as large as 30 has been documented.