Delkai

The Delkarii (singular: Delkai) is a species of carnivores amphibians hailing from the large desert world of Vendrul, the Delkaish word for sand. The Delkarii 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 Delkarii established a caste based society, much like the Forerunners' , and managed to reach a tier 3 status not long after Ruined Hope left the Delkarii. 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 Delkarii again.
The Delkarii established an interstellar empire not long after the departure if 654 Ruined Hope, encompassing around 250 worlds at their highest. forming the Unified Delkarii Worlds. Though infighting after almost a century of relative peace would split Delkarii society into warring clans which stopped the Delkarii from developing and expanding their empire any further. 
==History==
===Forerunner-Flood War===
The Delkai 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 Delkarii were rule over by a , which oversaw and intervened in Delkai 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 Delkarii indexed for later reseeding after the firing of the . 654 Ruined Hope was instructed to not interfere with the Delkarii 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 Delkarii 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 Delkarii's historical records. The Delkai 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 Delkai 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 Delkai nations. The Delkai 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 Delkarii's technological development and the monitor established a caste based system based loosely on the Rates used by the Forerunners. Peace and progress ruled for nearly three centuries which saw the Delkai nearly reach tier 3. Ruined Hope's rule over the Delkai were not to last however. A large meteoroid impacted with 654 Ruined Hope's installation, severely damaging the station. Ruined Hope abandoned the Delkai and activated the station's slipspace drive for parts unknown.
Leaderless for the first time in over three centuries, Delkai 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 Delkai 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 Delkai 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 Delkai 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 Delkarii.
Years later the Delkai 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 Delkai'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 
===Delkai-Covenant War===
The Delkarii would keep fighting against each other until the Covenant discovered the Delkai in 2532 by complete accident while searching for Forerunner relics and resource rich worlds. The first contact between the Covenant and the Delkai was a hostile one which involved a Kig-Yar crewed Missionary Ship and almost fifteen Delkai waships. While the Missionary ship, with its superior weaponry and energy shielding, managed to destroy several Delkai 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 Delkai. The fleet was dispatched to battle and subjugate the Delkai but the Covenant fleet soon discovered that the Delkai territories were spread out wide and so requested for reinforcements to deal with the Delkai. 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 Delkai seemed to quickly put aside their differences and band together once more for the first time in hundreds of years. The United Delkarii Worlds were formed to combat the Covenant but the united Delkai front was only able to slow down the Covenant's advances into their territories. The Delkai-Covenant war came to a conclusion after almost eight years of war. The war only ended when the Delkai 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 Delkarii Worlds was dissolved and its worlds absorbed into the greater Covenant. Integration into the empire went somewhat smoothly due to the Delkarii 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 Delkarii 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 Delkarii. 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 Delkai technology. This led to the upgraded version of the mainstay Delkai 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 Delkarii 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 Delkai region and titled as Prophet of Insight, from raising and training a massive Delkai army at the orders of the . The army was to be ready for mass deployment as soon as the Delkarii were fully integrated into the empire. As his title would suggest, Gwol'Yean didn't catch wind of the Delkai deception until it was too late.
The Delkai 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 Delkai initiated their own rebellion. All other races were suddenly attacked by the Delkarii across all of Delkai territory. Gwol'Yean was killed and eaten as he saw his region being taken away from him and reclaimed by the Delkai. The Delkai, 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. The hidden space stations became the center of Delkai politics until a proper government were established. The Vendrul Directorate was established on August 30, 2553 and became the unified face of the Delkai race. 
===Post-War===
The Delkai bid their time, slowly expanding their military power as they were quickly forgotten by the many Covenant splinter factions. The integrated Covenant technology allowed the Delkai to upgrade their weaponry htough it was considered inferior to actual Covenant technology in many ways. 
====Massacre on On'Droell Station====
The Delkai eventually launched a massive invasion on the former Covenant Fringe, starting the conflicts with attacking On'Droell Station. Having no real information on the state of the Galaxy after the fall of the Covenant, the Delkai played it safe and deployed the majority of their forces to the participate in the First Battle of On'Droell Station, later known as the Massacre on On'Droell Station by the UNSC and Sword of Sanghelios. 
==Anatomy==
Delkarii are bipedal vertebrate amphibians. At first glance the Delkarii appear to be of reptilian origin but on a 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 scaly 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 the spaces 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 the mucus protects against light and dry air, it also blocks harmful bacteria and other harmful microscopic organisms from the softer underskin beneath the scales.
===Senses===
====Sight====
A Delkai's natural eyesight is very sensitive to strong illumination, easily distorting or even blinding them. Contrary, they have incredible dark vision.
====Smell====
Delkarii have an incredible sense of smell that easily allows them to distinguished smell from each other and can track pray up to several meters away with great accuracy, making it extremely hard to sneak up on or past Delkai guards. Delkai make use of air-scenting which helps them track fresh smells instead of ground-smelling that the pray have left traces of smells of behind. A Delkai actively tracking pray will often be seen sticking its head high into the air to better capture the smells in the air. Their sensitive nose is a double edge sword, however, extremely sharp smells can overload their sense of smell, making the Delkai either sick or feel pain that can be so powerful that the Delkai can be knocked out. Delkarii expecting to work or enter areas with such powerful smells will usually utilize a form of air filters to try an minimize the effects of the smells that they are sensing.
====Hearing====
Relaying more on their sense of smell and sight, the Delkarii have weak hearing. To counter this weakness, many Delkai equip themselves with hearing enhancing technology. This became increasingly more popular among the general Delkai population after they were subjugated by the Covenant as the other Covenant races relayed far more on sound to communicate then Delkai were used to. Adjustment to these hearing enhancing devices can take some time to get used to, usually two weeks to a little over a month.
====Taste====
Delkai sense of taste doesn't seem to be inferior or superior than humans. They do, however, mention that they seem have a greater stimuli from sweetness than humans. Curiously they seem to have a dampened stimuli to Saltiness while sourness and bitterness seems to be about the same for humans and Delkarii.
===Diet===
Delkarii are carnivore beings and as such mainly gain energy and nutrition from meat from other organisms. Being the apex predator from their homeworld, they had few actual threats to them and so have taken great pride in taming and cultivating many species of animals from their homeworld as a food source.
Delkarii aren't above cannibalism either, and some tribes during the Civil Wars Era actively engaged in cannibalism as part of their culture. They would usually eat their own fallen as well as the corpses of their enemies to let them live on within them.
As of 2558 some Delkarii engage in cannibalism by hunting and devouring Casteless. This practice is mostly carried out by socially high ranking Delkarii who see it more as a form of sports. Some even go so far as calling it pest control, saying that they help cleaning out the Castless slums to prevent overpopulation in these areas.
===Reproduction===
The Delkarii can either reproduce asexual, effectively creating near identical clones of themselves as their offspring, or reproduce sexual. The Delkarii 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 Delkarii have male and female genders, the asexual reproduction isn't limited to only the female Delkarii. As result, it's not uncommon for a male Delkai to raise his own offspring which his has created on his own. Delkai lay clusters of eggs of around 10-15 but clusters as large as 30 has been documented.
==Life cycle==
===Egg===
Delkarii Lay clusters of 10-15 eggs. These eggs are either fertilized from a partner through intercourse or through Parthenogenesis where the eggs are lied unfertilized but will still evolve into a Delkai tadpole. Delkai eggs are, much like amphibians from Earth, covered by a near-transparent membrane composed of mucoproteins and mucopolysaccharides. A lone Delkai egg will be almost colorless to the naked human eye but when they are grouped together in clusters an orange, almost golden, glow can bee seen. This coloring from their grouping are due to to how the membrane's mucoprotein and mucopolysaccharide composition scatter light, much like how an Earth-like atmosphere scatter light and become blue.
The eggs are lied in fresh water with a temperature of 20-40 degrees Celsius, 35 degrees Celsius being the most optimal temperature for the eggs and to increase their chances of developing further. Before the Delkarii evolved into an advanced civilization they used underground fresh water pools which were heated from the hot rock which in turn were heated from the hot weather from the surface. The pools of fresh water also have to consist the right composition of minerals to make sure that the eggs' membrane remain durable and to ensure that plenty of nutrition are at hand for the tadpole to grow.
A Delkai egg will be roughly sphere in shape when placed in the water and will have the size of around a tennis ball. The egg will remain on the pool of water for around five months and grow to around twice its original size before hatching.
===Tadpole===
After hatching the Delkai tadpole will be measure 10 centimeters on average and will weight around 50 gram. The Delkai Tadpole is flat and roughly arrow shaped in appearance. A single tail covered with a thin membrane on either side, allows the tadpole to move around. The tadpole will keep its tail through its youth and will only loose it, it will simply detach from the body and fall off, when it comes of age and enter the ranks of the adults.
The tadpole will rapidly grow over the next 15 years. During these 15 years, the tadpole will develop 
===Adulthood===
==Culture==
===Religion===
===Government===
Category:Into The Unknown
Category:Vadumverse