history of hunters

Hives of Lekgolo were found in orbital rings surrounding their planet. The rings were in fact the destroyed remains of an ancient Forerunner installation in orbit. The relics had been the Lekgolo's food for millennia, and the orbital rings around the giant were actually composed of digested-and-destroyed Forerunner relics that some of the Lekgolo had been consuming. Strangely, the Lekgolo colonies had very differing diets, as some would eat only Forerunner alloys, while other would eat everything except Forerunner materials.

Initially, Covenant Fleet commanders, especially the Sangheili, wanted to destroy the Lekgolo for desecrating the holy Forerunner relics. They tried to eradicate the Lekgolo, but found that indiscriminate destruction would have unacceptable consequences: since the Lekgolo lived in the sacred relics that the Elites were trying to preserve, simply annihilating the Lekgolo would have resulted in the destruction of some or all of those relics. The Arbiter that was created during this crisis suggested that they could be tamed and put to better uses as part of the Covenant Hierarchy.

Thus, those Lekgolo colonies which preserved Forerunner relics were incorporated into the Covenant, while those that destroyed relics were eradicated. This extermination campaign proved to be difficult, as the Lekgolo were able to combine into powerful Mgalekgolo; consequently, the Lekgolo won most, if not all, ground engagements. The Covenant's forces were completely overwhelmed by the sheer size and ferocity of their foes. On the verge of defeat, the Covenant took desperate measures, threatening to orbitally bombard the planetary surface of Te unless the Mgalekgolo surrendered.