Visegrád

Visegrad was a town at Eposz on the human colony world of Reach. The region was remote and mostly agricultural, and home to several small self-sufficient farming communities. The settlements in the region were known as kivas. Located 50 kilometers from the town was one of the communication relay outposts responsible for the planet's communications.

History
Some of the settlers had lived in Visegrad for three generations. In 2552, two of Visegrad's inhabitants commented that Visegrad was "dying" and that the only choice was to move to the metropolitan city of Manassas.

In 2550, a meteorite impact crater with metallurgical and astrophysical scientific value was discovered near Visegrad. Despite the nature of the discovery, ONI Section II did not have the civilian population relocated but instead "leaked" the information on the site, something Dr. Catherine Halsey found surprising. Professor Laszlo Sorvad was assigned for the archaeological survey of the impact area, residing in the relay station with his family. During this time, the ONI kept an eye on the civilian population, but did not call for forced relocation.

On July 23, 2552, a small Covenant force landed on Visegrad and disabled the communications relay. In response, several teams of UNSC Army troopers were deployed to investigate the suspected insurrectionist activity, but after contact with them was lost, Noble Team was assigned to the task. In the dawn of the next day, Noble Team traveled to the relay and soon found out the source of the disturbance, engaging the Covenant forces on the spot. They were extracted soon after, and the planetary emergency directive WINTER CONTINGENCY was declared.

Trivia

 * "Visegrad" is a name of Slavic origin meaning "the upper castle" or "the upper settlement/town/fortification", and the name of several towns in eastern Europe.