However, Meridian was now subject to extreme conditions and temperatures, with the surface temperature varying from -37 ☌ to 43 ☌ (-34.6 ☏ to 109.4 ☏). Some lifeforms, such as small plants and arthropods, still thrived in caverns on the world. However, the Covenant's glassing of Meridian had been been rushed and only a third of the world's surface had been coated in lechatelierite though the moon's oceans had evaporated due to the heat of the plasma bombardment, the world's oxygen- nitrogen atmosphere remained relatively intact. Meridian's surface became a treacherous and inhospitable environment, with scattered bodies of molten, liquid 'glass'. However, after the Covenant glassed the world in 2551, Meridian's topsoil had been reduced to molten slag and soil covered by lechatelierite. Meridian was home to rich mineral deposits -particularly in the Mathon Mountain Range -that helped fuel the moon's economy. Residents enjoyed the world's temperate climate and fertile soil.

The world's primary landmass is a vast supercontinent called Turones, with verdant equatorial coastlands. Any attempt to make a glassed planet habitable would mean cutting the surface down to below the topsoil.' - An observer commenting on Meridian's surface Ī small world with a diameter of 3,073 kilometers (1,909 miles), Meridian was once a green world with impressive, Earth-like features, which made the moon a prime target for human colonization. It is a result of the Covenant lances striking the surface of the planet with plasma, converting the topsoil to glass. ' The so-called glass is a mineral called lechatelierite. In 2558 a Forerunner Guardian, long-buried beneath the moon's surface, emerged in the wake of the Created uprising. Despite being a colony of the Unified Earth Government, Meridian became an independent world following the Covenant War. Following the Human-Covenant War, Meridian was resettled by the Liang-Dortmund Corporation. The Covenant eventually attacked the world in 2548 and, after a long battle that lasted for three years, Meridian was ultimately glassed by the Covenant in 2551. Once a green world, the moon held a temperate climate and fertile land. Despite being located on the edges of human space, Meridian was a vibrant and thriving colony with a robust economy and an impressive population mining and military production for the United Nations Space Command were known industries on the colony. Meridian, known to the Forerunners as Pridarea Libatoa, is a human Outer Colony and the seventh natural satellite of the gas giant Hestia V in the Hestia system. Run by a private corp now, chipping away the glass, making her livable.' - Spartan Holly Tanaka It was a UNSC colony then, but we never came back. ' The Covenant glassed this planet in '48.

Deep World Fire by C.M. Meridian