Planet:Alcanti

"It may be a little dry at times but it is a place of wonder and beauty - from the spires of Minos'Drakon to the Ashkari mountains, no other world would be a fitting enough home for his majesty or the senate."

- An imperial senator

Planet Alcanti is a terrestrial world that is the homeworld of the and capital of the. Within the Imperium it is considered the most important planet within the entire galaxy. Due to it's political status the planet is heavily defended with vast arrays of sattelites, space fleets, security forces and security probes, even mighty battlestations. Depite the level of security the population lives in the lap of luxury and the planet itself is almost idyllic.

Natural Geography
Alcanti itself comprises of two central continents, Miminas and Ossilas along with several oceons that snake around them. Within these continents are lakes, woodland, steppes, jungle and the various cities.

Miminas
The northenrn continent, Miminas is typically portrayed in the centre of planetary maps, it's northern coastline is along the north pole and for eight months of the year is bitterly cold and harsh. the pole itself is marked with a spiked rock formation, which was worshipped by northern tribes prior to the rise of modern civilization. A small area of the northern regions is used for farming due to the prescence of the Akhtoba volcano which has been dormant for the past 300,000 years.

The western coastline borders the Pataman sea. 2/3 of the coastline looks south while the remaining third looks west. Much of this coastline is kept warm by convection currents from the south which then flow over the polar oceon. Along with several expansive woodland areas one of the larger estuaries feeds the Pataman sea from lake Drak - a region held in deep supertition by both ancient and modern cultures - on the north and south banks of the river are two steep mountains known as Drak'vael and Drak'Ostah respectively. the continent is almost divided into two halves by the Casari mountains ending 1300km short of the northern coast and easily makes up a fair portion of the central heartlands. The result is that the eastern coastline is very rocky and undulating compared to the flatter western coastlines. the land south of lake Drak and east of the Casari is drier and browner than in the north.

Ossilas
Occupying the southern hemisphere the continent shares the difference in temperatures with it's northern neighbour. traditionally Ossilas is portayed both southeast and southwest of Miminas, it's both east and west coastlines border the antarctic Kavhari oceon and the subtropical Valori oceon. Roughly half of the continent is steppe and jungle in the north and green lowland in the south.

Occupying roughly 1/3 of of the continent's central regions are the Volis and Ashkari mountains, the snaking and branching nature of these mountains gives way to hidden groves and enclaves sheltered by the peaks. Dividing the mountains is the Vosani desert, although cool it is also very dry reaching temperatures far below freezing at night. Along the northern coastline are two lakes; Lake Thothis and lake Veridim. the northern regions of the continent are more hilly than on Miminas.

Society
Main Article:Major Cities

Alcanti (and the Aldra system in general) is famous for being one of the most sophiticated locations within the Imperium. New technology, advances and engineering projects are frequently displayed here first as a sign of the planet's prosperity and the core worlds genrally follow suit. Two examples include the orbital ring, global defence sattellite network, Aldra's dyson swarm and the battlestations. Citizens on Alcanti live comfortable luxurious lives bolstered by the wealth of the Imperium's many worlds. Some of the most important people have their homes either in the planet's upper cities or in vast countryside estates that are popular to see throughout the galaxy..

Miminas
The continent is fairly urbanised with 74% of the population living within cities. Much of this population lies in the south and around lake Drek, with smaller populations living east of the mauntains and north of Minos'Dacon. Although populated the northernmost reaches barely get anything larger than a small town.

Ossilas
Although encompassing a larger area, much of the population exists along the northern coastline, 70% of the population live in urban areas while the rest are sparsely dotted throughout the laandscape. South of the mountains there is hardly anyone and these areas have become the last refuge of pre-imperial cultures. Within the mountain ranges themselves the idea of secluded refuges is uncommon but not unheard of, it is unkown how many pepper the mountains.

Culture
The general population is very cosmopolitan. Although the planet is primarily draconis, citizens from all walks of life can be found here, particularly in the commercial districts of the major cities. Citizens indulge in luxuries, leisures and ameniaties imported from across the imeprium. Many offworlders would consider the population (particularly the non-draconis) as an elite, wealthy and powerful beyond measure. As well as the massive and densely populated cities, millions of well-to-do citizens posess numeorus country estates dotted around ALcanti's countryside; an initiative by the Imperial Government not only to appease the powerful nobility, but also to appease envionmentalist concerns, allowing for millions of acres of well-tended wilderness to be preserved.

Citizens unanamously consider Alcanti one of the safest planets in the entire galaxy due to the fact that the military, the inquisition and the Paragon's Blood Dragons are based on Alcanti. Despite the fact that Alcanti was devastated in two civil wars and the.

Being a core world of the, Alcanti enjoys a highly diverse cultural atmosphere with cultural and economic samplings from across the. It is said that "everything and anything can be found on ALcanti if you look hard enough". The Imperium's rise back into gigaquadrantic politics has only made the planet even more cosmopolitan and as the COmmonwealth grows, so do the Draconis become a slow and gradually decreasing majority of the population.

Despite this decline, it is still widely agreed that Draconis - ALcanti being their homeworld and their seat of power - still hold immense social sway on their planet.

Economy
Much of the planetary income comes from taxes gathered throughout the galaxy (Imperial law requires 20% of all tax income to be sent to Alcanti). Although much of the planet is devoted to tertiery and quaternery industry, an estimated 245trn credits in goods are made from industrial farming and high-tech industry, most of which remains planetside. 400trn credits a year is spent on R&D in labs and academies across the planet. Noble houses give 12% of ther earnings as a gesture of goodwill to the imperial government.

The millions of country estates that dot the countrside also provide luxuries both for export and to supply peopel in the cities. Many estates dedicate wide tracts of land to vinyards that grow a wide variety of crops to be processed int owine. Alcanti itself is known for cultivating several distinctive wines including.


 * Aldra Sunshine: A pale coloured wine rich in flavour, traditionally made with a mix of tropical fruits and cultivated in the equatoral regions.
 * Ultanos White: A white wine traditionally created by the estates of House Ultanos. Although it is one of several wines that are not traditionalyl associated with one planet, the proximity to the Imperial Palace has made it synonymous with the elite of Alcanti.
 * Ossilan Gold: Created in the sun-baked Ossilan ncontinent, Ossilan Gold's signature taste comes from drops of Talidoan honey mixed into the wine just before fermentation begins. Traditionally served with a single red Til'maros cherry floating on top.

Tourism is a booming trade on Alcanti as it is the site of both historic landmarks such as the Imperial Palace (entry beyond the golden gates which border Minos'Drakon is forbidden by the Paragon family), Grand Cathedral and the millions of palatial estates that dot Alcanti's contryside. The Royal Academy in the southern city of Orras'Dacon isalso a popular tourist destination, holding one of the largest data archives in the Imperium within it's inner chambers. The planet is a popular location to see traditional Draconis archiecture, with several landmarks and a few smaller communities boasting pre-Imperium architecture. More modern styles reflect the Imperium's affluence and penchant for elaborate designs.

The openess of the estates however, varies from estate-to-estate. Some being completely private while others being virtually entirely open to the public with a few restrictions. Most estates will ahve a designated tourist area.

Defences
The planetary government takes the defence of Alcanti very seriously. Outside of the gateway systems the planet may be considered one of the most heavily fortified locations in the galaxy. The government takes care to balance the scale between secure and opressive, leaving much of the draconis population alone.

The most static form of defence around the planet are the three battlestations in geostationary orbit and at the lagrange points. Battlestations one and two are located in L2 and L1 lagrange points respectively and the third was built above Minos'Drakon. Complimenting the battlestations are hundreds of defensive sattellites that fulfill a variety of roles including missile defence, anti-ship weaponry, gravity well generation and fighter docking bays. For ease of maintainence, these sattellites are maintained by clouds of nanomachines dispersed into orbit by the battlestations and patrolling warships and form a defensive cloud around the planet. The swarm also doubles as a devourer swarm for unauthorised ships entering low or medium orbit. These generators create a coherent partially-permiable forcefield around the planet which acts as a arrier to anything other than sunlight or authorised warship and shuttles. When not under attack, the shield is restricted to a weak mangnetic field that bolsters Alcanti's own geomagnetic field against cosmic rays and solar flares.

There are at least four fleets containing several thousand ships each (not counting strike craft) in orbit at any one time. Apart from the battlestations, Arcaren - once the launchpad for expansion - has become not just a luxury retreat but has been heavily fortified to defend the homeworld; once again an example of how the Imperium has balanced both security and comfort. The Korun-Vurus orbital ring is also equipped with hundreds of rail and turbolaser turrets along with a defensive non-phasic shield, providing an equatoral "fence" to further protect the planet.

On the ground each major city has at least one military academy and garrison, along with missile silos, surface-to-orbit missiless, and mechanised regiments. The Blood Dragons hold a major presence, particularly within Minos'Drakon. Sentry probes scan major urban areas and near military bases.

Since the third Battle of Alcanti in ID.219496 security forces have extended their watch to include the draconid population, paranoid that infiltrators would conceal themselves as the primary species. Since the foundation of the and the establishment of the Seat Of Light in the city of Ketallus, Alcanti is a major garrison for the Guardians of Light as well as a staging ground - alongside ALcanti's nearby planets - for the Unified Androemdan Navy, bolstering the planet's defensive capabilities considerably

Biosphere
Because the had spent millenia terraforming and colonising planets both within and beyond Segmentum Draco (many of which had their biospheres eliminated by the vanishing of the Four), animals found on Alcanti are very common on colonies accross the Imperium. Creatures like the and the Guidima have become commonplace as pets and companions of many of the Imperium's population.

Aldra, Alcanti's parent star, is 1.5x the luminosity of Sol. As a result plants do not absorb the lower-frequency red light and instead reflect it meaning plant life is frequently a reddish colouration and animals have evolved to adapt accordingly, resulting in many annimals having reddish or earthy colours on the skin

History
Prior to the rise of the empire the planet was devastated by the 800-year long unification wars. The war was a devestating ordeal caused by the 20 most powerful nation-states on the planet. Along with the depletion of several natural rescources. Much of the far southern hemisphere (A popular site for oil companies to drill) was abandoned and left to nomads and primitives due to the regions drying out. By pID.2840 the wars were concluded by diplomats from the Vormothan empire allying with the state of Faroulo, the formation of this alliance (along with unifying several other northern nations) concluded the war with the cities of Minos'Drakon and Orras'Dacon - the two largest nation states - agreeing to rule a unified government in partnership. While military academies were established in Minos'Drakon, the senate established itself in Orras'Dacon. This unified government became known as the Alcanti Confederacy between pID.2840 and pID.1

Between pID.2772 and pID.2610 the unified government worked on a space programme to reach the moon and return with the same craft. The first return trip was completed on 21st Thorsid, pID.2610 (the fourth month, 24,224FC on the old calender). After a lull period the first lunar colony of Larthis was established in pID.2505 over a century later. Much of the research into FTL drives had occured within Larthis, eventually developing the working prototype by pID.1340. the original vessel, the A.E.V. Gloryseeker was upgraded and adapted for the first extrasolar jump.

Since the establishment of the first extrasolar colony the senate rebranded the territories as the Alcanti Solar Confederacy. Larthis remained as a launch-pad for extrasolar colonisation and Battlestation one - a heavily armed space station linked to a defensive array of satellites - was constructed in pID.1245 and uprgraded continually since. When the Draconis Empire was established the senate was moved to Minos'Drakon and the first paragon made his home in the old palace. Even today the palace remains one of the most impressive structures on the planet. Orras'Dacon established the royal academy of sciences in pID.805 in order to study alien artifacts in a more central location.

Over the empire's history the planet was rarely attacked, pirates barely entered the lower tmosphere due to the defences on Battlestation one (Which became one of three battlestations orbiting the planet). The two greatest devastations came from the house wars; the first was during the first house wars when a loose alliance bombed Minos'Drakon with the desire to destroy the senate. Much of the city was heavily damaged along with several other cities and leaving one billion dead. The second was during the second house wars when Paragon Ovonira Khaxvis II declared the senate to be executed in their own chambers along with devestating Alcanti society with the Blood Dragons hunting for Ultanos loyalists.

Since the era of tunnels Alcanti has experienced a golden age; much of the official population lives in luxury, tended to by slaves from conquered worlds and sustained by the wealth of the colonies. The academies teach about history, sciences and forms of anatomy that could only be dreamed about and the imperial palace is considered by many to be one of the most mighty structures in the sector. Since the 's foundation in ID.219495, the planet has become one of the most important political and strategic locations in the galaxy due to its newfound position as the adopted capital of the commonewalth thanks to the construction of the Seat Of Light loccated in Southern Miminas, with its influence growing constantly.

Quotes
"She is the flawless jewel of the Imperium, her glory is to be everlasting. No city is grander than mighty Minos'Drakon, no academy finer than the one in Orras'Dacon. May Alcanti's glory shine forever."

- Galenna Ultanos, Prefect of Alcanti

"Burn it and make it our colony, Grandaddy!"

- Harkrhos 7

"This world will make a fine shrine for the Devourer..."

"The vast lands of Alcanti and its glory are awe-inspiring, but also tragic. They remind me of our own homeworld, lost forever..."

"A majestic planet... for a species of infidels, of course."

"Paclernos is to us as what Alcanti is to them. It is full to the brim with ancestry."

- Kicath

=Navigation=