
They were also the first Covenant species encountered by the Harvest Colonial Militia. The Jiralhanae were the second Covenant species encountered by the humans following the Kig-Yar raid on the freighter This End Up. Having only just rediscovered radio and rocketry, the primitive Jiralhanae were quickly defeated and absorbed into the Covenant. The Jiralhanae had recently concluded a mechanized war of attrition in which the many Master Packs fought and pummeled each other back to a pre-industrial state when the Covenant discovered them in 2492.

Despite their savagery and brutality, the Jiralhanae have proved intelligent enough to achieve spaceflight and space-faring status, though their warlike nature meant they quickly collapsed into civil war and afterward, fell back to their former pre-space status and learned nothing from the experience.
