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The wealth of Araveene is the the wealth of the Imperium.

- Imperial saying

Araveene is the unofficial capital of the Corovai System loacated in the Andromeda Galaxy. A moon of the gas giant Corovai IV, Araveene is known for its single continent-spanning city that houses a large percentage of the population as well as its substantial economic prowess despite starting out as a helium-3 extraction outpost. From these humble origins it has grown into the Draconid Imperium's beating commercial heart and arguably acts as one of the great centres of finance and trade in the First Gigaquadrant, with the central exchanges for the Draconid Imperium, Gigaquadrantic Intergalactic Trade Organization and a place of business for several of the Xonexi Cluster's wealthiest individuals that closely ties with Alcanti in terms of prestige and influence.

Geography[]

The planet's surface is dominated by a single continent and several smaller archipeligos that take up 70% of the planetoid's surface, with the remaining 30% being algae-rich terraformed oceon. At one time the main continent was peppered with craggy mountains and marked with craters, most of which has been built upon by the selenopolis of Araveene City. The glass and gold spires of the city are considered to be the planetoid's defining feature, which stretch up to 4km above Araveene's surface. The remaining scrubland is used by colonists as farmland or wildlife conservation projects to protect what little land remains unisturbed by spire construction. The height of the towers gradually decreases along the fringe between the two regions.

From orbit and when it is dark, it is possible to see the city's concentric patterns which weave and thread across the continent's surface like golden spider webs. Within these major threads are smaller threads, which effectively illuminate the entire surface though the clouds. The light is so intense that on a clrar night, oen can see the mon shining like a star, an enormous light that marks out the single continent across the system.

The selenopolis is divided into twenty-eight precincts. Because of the colony's history as a helium-3 refinery world many of these precincts have names related to various raw and refined gases such as Argon Row, Tritium Gardens or Blue Xenon Bluffs, the geography that may have given rise to several of these names however has been burried under thousands of tonnes of concrete and nanotube steel. There is soemtimes a confusion regarding the use of the term Araveene City, which refers to either the selenopolis itself, or the central precinct. Locals distinguish the general city and Araveene City proper (distinguished by being a series of megatall skyscrapers that jut out from the rest of the city like a crystal mountain range) by referring to the former as "the metropolitan" or the latter as Araveene Central. It is within this central precinct that the Royal and GITO central stock exchanges are located.

Climate[]

Due to the distance from the parent star, the average temperatures in regions beyond the main city and outside specially designated "artificial temperate zones" can climb to -45 degrees C, but drop below -100 degrees C. Most of the population relies on a combination of geothermal heating ssytems which pump a layer of hot air to the populated areas, with constant use of climate-control ssytems to prevent the formation of storm surges where the warm and frigid air meet.

Within these temeprate zones, the air is cool with dense layers of cloud to trap heat. Araveene City is mostly climate-controlled due to the possibility of inhabitants living up to 4km above the planetoid's natural surface.

Culture[]

Araveene

The cosmopolitan spires of Araveene City are known thoughout the galaxy

Since its colonisation days, Araveene developed as a trader's world. As a result, most of the population, even through the transition to post-scarcity, lived in both comparative luxury and considerable poverty depending on their successes. The planet has a corporate mindset due to many trader bases, mercantile empires and passing merchants the planet regularly hosts. The wide variety of species that visit and call the planet home have created a melting pot of cultures from across the first gigaquadrant. Large chains of entertainment venues make binding deals or metting friends a thing to do in public places a social courtesy, with many clubs offering catered backrooms for more provate engagements

After the energy revolution, living conditions on the planet became more equal as the government could afford to improve the lower levels. Life isstill hard on these lower levels, creating toughened individuals who often find escape through the Imperial Talon Navy, travellers or recruiting mercenary groups.

Apartments become more spacious as one moves up the spires, with the most well-off - whose level of comfort often exceeds that of emperors in other societies - living in spacious penthouse blocks at the tops of spires that can span up to half a dozen levels. At the very base are some of the less well of. However due to the Imperium's wealth, and Araveen's success even these "low-lifes" have it relatively comfortably. Apartments are generally illuminated with artificial sunlight and simulated views to prevent insanity, with a wide variety of possible images to suit residents' needs, views and desires. The planet's nature as a trade hub and makes it ideal for business residences and hotels, with billions of tourists (both business and pleasure) visiting the planetoid every year.

Economy[]

GITOHQ1

GITO's central headquarters within the Sublimity Plaza.

For millennia, Araveene has served as a vital hub of trade and exchange within the Imperium, the location of the Corovai system within Segmentum Draco's hyperspace trade lanes has made it a popular stopping point for travellers heading down the Alcanti-Crepsuculum hyperlane towards either terminus. An estimated 810 trillion mimidian credits' worth of goods and services from across the First Gigaquadrant are exchanged daily on the moon's surface or in one of hundreds of orbital stations that surround it. Goods in varieties thought unimaginable can be found in shops, trading floors and in warehouses across the moon, giving off the impression that virtually anything can be found if one were to look in the right places.

Araveene is more than a merchant's paradise. The Royal Stock Exchange is located planetside within Araveene Central, which serves as the central hub for stock market trading actions engaged thoughout the Draconid Imperium. GITO's establishment of its headquarters in Sublimity Plaza and the establishment of GITEx (the Gigaquadrantic Intergalactic Trade Exchange) has elevated the moon as a veritable mecca for stockbrokers and entrepeneurs looking to make trillions on the intergalactic markets. This in turn makes Araveene one of the premier commerical metropoli of the First Gigaquadrant and a popular destination for movers and shakers and tourists arriving on shopping holidays.

Its popularity as a commercial and economic hostpot have draw the wealthy and powerful from across the Xonexi Cluster to base their operations here, along with drawing eager entertainment moguls with huge networks of theatres, nightclubs, bars, lounges, gentlemens' clubs and all manner other venues catering for the immense tourist, business and resident population.

Defences[]

Due to its strategic and commercial value, Araveene's security is taken very seriously. Situated in high orbit are two imperial battlestations along with hundreds of defensive satellites and orbital drone hangers. The gas giant it orbits is also heavily defended with 6 of the 20 smaller moons housing shipyards and missile bases. An energy transference network throughout Coron IV's moon system powers a powerful series of planetary shield generators that can envelop the planet in a crisis. Scattered in low orbit is a nanite cloud supplied by in-orbit fabricators that can strip down unauthorised orbital objects such as starships without clearance and containments clinging to the hulls of visiting vessels.

Ground-to-orbit railguns are situated on every moon and within Araveene city in order to repel any attackers and at any one time two battlefleets - each capable of being host to up to 100,000 warships and hundreds of thousands of fighters - patrol the moon and the gas giant. Due to the enormous population, Domestic Security forces bolster their already sizeable garrison with millions of patrol drones capable of incapacitating or even killing most draconis-sized targets.

Ever since the Khaxvis Resurgence's attack during the Red Snake Rising crisis, the number of Domestic Security personnel has doubled along with a bolstering of Grand Inquisition operatives out of a declaration by the High Inquisitor. Araveene sees an average turnout of four billion new recruits for the ITN per year, providing a sizeable ground and space garrison. Recruits are often shipped offworld after training with an estimated 30 billion soldiers and drones kept on permanent garrison.

History[]

Colonised in ID.31,558, Araveene originally served as an outpost for a promising colony on the Corovai System's second planet. It primarily served as a helium-3 extraction and refinement depot, providing fuel for spacecraft that travelled into and out of the system. For the next 4,000 years the outpost grew into a modest colony that fueled Corovai Prime.

During the First House Wars, Corovai IV and its associated mmons were annexed by House Clariox in order to push an invasion to the home of their enemies - House Rassiana. The blockade starved Corovai Prime, fearful for an invasion House Rassiana retalitated with an attack on Araveene where the primary refineries were located, devastating the planetoid and killing some five million people. The atrocities soured Corovai Prime's reputation and when House House Clariox pressed the home-advantage, they devastated Corovai Prime, leaving Araveene as one of the most populous planets in the system ofr millennia.

In ID.42,750 the planet gained increasing importance as the Imperium colonised the systems around it. It played host to numerous intermittent attempts to restore Corovai Prime; none of which would not be fully succcessful until ID.115,700. The planeet gained increasing notoriety as a place to do business situated in a trade hub within the Imperium's (at the time) mid-rim. Many merchants grew wealthy and funded the growing Araveene City.

By ID.72,803 the various settlements and industrial complexes that peppered the continent's surface merged into a single conglomoration. What was once a hearland city became the conglomoration's official name and stil lthe income poured in.

Araveene did not benefit from the energy provided by the Senvinus Reactors until ID.140,029 when a linkup was made from a generator 150 light year away. Once connected, the residents quicly saw the potential in this power source to grow the city further and further lien their poakets. The twoers of Araveene grew taller to become the stratoscrapers seen in the present-day metropolis. The wealthy and elite merchant lords and CEOs reserved places among these towers, and many spires were named after the wealthy contributors who helped to fund their construction.

during the Eara of Imposters, the Hosue Khaxvis paragons quickly put Corovai IV's industrial potential to use, buidling shipyards that would still be in use today along with a sizeable orbital industrial machine to fuel their plans of a more militarised Imperium. naturally, it became one of the Ultanos' first targets during the Second House War and was attacked several times by forces loyal to Hosue Ultanos between ID.170,020 and ID 171,120. When House Khaxvis' influence collapsed, House Ultanos had to deal with billions of angry citizens, who had grown wealthy from the industry the Khaxvis pragons had provided them. Despite efforts, Hosue Ultanos managed to gain shaky control of the Corovai System by ID.171,150.

Araveene's influence spared it with the rise of the Era of Tunnels. Corporate lobbying meant that it could still serve as an important trading hub for the core worlds even if trade interest was turning towards the new wormholes. Some merchants became wealthy by selling "exotic items" from beyond the wormholes to surrounding systems.

Araveene was at a huge risk during the Holy Shadow War. By then it had gained over a trillion inhabitants, all ofwhich were at risk of being turned into the undead. Domestic Security cordoned off outbreak zones and mobilised what forces they could, safe in the knowledge that any bodies that would have been buries prior on the planet were either incinerated or kept in buriel tombs either in orbit or in the underlevels. The outbreak increased in severity as a strange sphere attacked the planet, leading DOmestic Security to quarantine the planet until the disaster's end. By then, there were an estimated 60 billion dead, all of which were incinerated as a safety precaution.

Araveene was attacked again albeit on a smaller scale during the Red Snake Rising crisis, where Volkarus Khaxvis had arrived at one of Aravene City's larger plazas to ambush Tyraz. The attack was repelled but the population were scarred, demoralised and millions of credits had been counted in damages. As a precaution, the Grand Senate decided to bolster the planet's defences in case of another attack. The planet would quickly bounce back and escalate in popularity when it became the central hub of the Gigaquadrantic Intergalactic Trade Organization, a network of wormholes established within the Corovai System's vicinity connected it to most other other major trade hubs in the First Gigaquadrant, its increasing prominence in the economic scene making it one of the premier economic centres in known space, with an increasing number of non-Andromedans purchasing apartments within Araveene City for city-based business trips.

Quotes[]

Next time i'm going there with a more substantial escort.

- Paronus Ultanos

I grew up in Araveene City's lower levels. It's dark, you have to watch yourself, but if you're tough you can make it - I certainly did. Now I live on the top!

- Commodore Erius Verdonus

Sounds like an interesting place for a vacation.

- Koluap

Even I have to admit, this place is much more beautiful than my own capital! Ohoho!

- Admiral Decrake

By our standards, one of the most heavily defended planets in the entirety of the First Gigauqadrant. Araveene is a mighty bastion of the Draconid Imperium and is where we must go through before an invasion of Alcanti. It has much civil and military infrastructure as well as societal value for the Draconis. For this, it is as valuable to use, if not moreso, than Alcanti itself. However, to our detriment, the Draconis recognize this too, and have defended the place with many powerful structures and ships which would thwart most invasion forces. Attacking this planet warrants the use of Gargantuan Class ships in order to subjugate local forces as well as deployment of many troops to the ground. The nature of the planet means that superweapon use is strictly off limits for propaganda reasons and for it's importance in the wormhole network. Although it is possible to subjugate this planet, we are sure to lose many soldiers in the process, almost certainly including Dominatus casualties as well. However, once we take this planet, only Alcanti remains.

- Drakodominatus Tyranny Military Assessment

It appears that our Sanctuarium has a sister world.

- Iovera IX

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