Discovered in 2513, Middangeard is an anomaly that UNSC analysts have reconciling with established historical and scientific fact. Seemingly home to a once great civilisation that had reached a post-industrial pre-atomic level, the planet now lies abandoned, the vast sprawling concrete cities and criss-cross of roads all that remains of its inhabitants. Colonial authorities have been hesitant to begin colonisation, preferring instead to maintain only a very limited presence, and even then mostly consisting of scientific researchers and military escorts - reasoning that planets don't simply become abandoned on their own. Middangeard has largely been forgotten in recent history - it lacked sufficient infrastructure to harbour refugees during the war, and was on the opposite of UNSC space to