What exactly is The Covenant?

@ninXeno426, I do believe there are 2000 colonists in cryo on the ship. We've only met the crew so far.

I'm not sure I've heard that yet.Thanks Necronom IV.Those people are in for a really rude awakening that's for sure.I read somewhere that they were carrying a bunch of embryos but didn't know what to think of that.

There is a picture from earlier on with the standing cryotubes and there were lots of em. Yes, indeed, food for the canons, hehe ;)

I read somewhere that a good portion of the ship is the terraforming machine. if they have 2k in cryo and the atmosphere machine that ship is huge.

Time will tell...

Its hard to gauge how large this ship is but it seems fairly big

There has been talk of 2000 colonist but then also 200, and we have the Frozen Embryo rumors too but they could be (if true) a more efficient means to carry Livestock rather than Human Embryos?

We need to think of this mission logically... they would need

*Crew that can perform various tasks, which include Pilot and Maintain the Ship, Security, Science Teams, Medical Teams and Construction Workers.

*A good supply of Food and Drink, that will last enough until they can start to Terra-form and grow Food and Breed Livestock etc.

*Equipment to Terra-form and also Farm any Land/World

*Medical supplies and Equipment

*Construction Materials, they wont be building Mud Huts for sure, and so they would have Outposts on the ship that would fit together like a Giant Lego Set.

As for the name..... i think it has multiple levels

The Covenant is the main enemy type in the Halo series 

Oh...

I think they would have a lot of equipment and means of Terra-forming that they would not have needed on Paradise but they had as a preparation for their other destination.

Prior to what ever horrors has afflicted Paradise be that after Davids arrival or maybe a past event, we can assume that this World would have been just as ripe to Colonize just as the Western World was when Europeans first started to land in the Americas.

A lot of people are thinking the Wheat is something Shaw planted, or they brought with them.... i can buy into them giving her a Dog Tag when she clearly never had any.. but how did they bring Wheat?

Nope... Paradise all ready had Wheat and Vegetation and its more likely these things was brought to Earth Many Millions of years ago after Earth was Terra-formed

LOL Neomorph

In Halo i think it a case of its not the Main Enemy... but Enemies to me the Covenant in that Games sense is to show that there is a Empire built from the joining of Many Races to form a Group known as the Covenant... The Covenant thus being a representation of a Agreement to Work together.... similar to say Star Treks Federation of Planets.

I think maybe similar theme could be explored in this movie as i am sure a Covenant applies to some deal/agreement made between a number of Races connected in this movie.  does this include Humans? or exclude us

Here are images of the possible equipment on board the Covenant ship.

That's a great question BigDave it should be blatantly obvious for me to take note what the title refers to given the fact that it has always been there "in your face"

Now that I think of it I guess it's about a pact between us humans but now that you mention it it could very well include engineers and other alien races. 

Indeed Neomorph its pretty open to how this applies... anything could happen...

Covenant between David and Engineers where he uses Shaw as part of the Deal, and then he screws them over...

Between David and Shaw and then he screws her over.

Touch upon why the Engineers never came back because they made a Covenant to leave us be... how would Davids actions change this.

And many more..

@Ingeniero

I think it depends on what kind of surveys they did on the World they are going to, i doubt they was off to a Baron World that needed a lot of Work... but surely maybe a place like LV-223 that needs a little extra work to turn into a New Earth.

So certainly they would have some Technology and Equipment that they maybe would not need for Paradise but maybe needed for their original destination.

The atmosphere processor is a big question of mine.Do they have all the right equipment to build something that large?Does it even exist at this point in the time line?In Aliens it seemed pretty new to Ripley.

Confirmed,The Weyland Corporation first developed Atmosphere Processors in the mid 21 century 

Something like 3D printing tech could allow them to replicate the terraforming equipment on-site and not have to haul as much bulky equipment with them, especially if they expect to world they are going to colonize to have usable resources and building materials on it already.

Also, re: Shaw's dog tag, just because she didn't wear it in Prometheus doesn't mean she doesn't have one. I'd expect every crew member to have one.