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ARLIRIS (are-lie-riss)

Galactic Co-ordination System: Forest, DIBOLE-2

Arliris is a humid world of heightened temperature, low ocean coverage and a high amount of atmospheric water vapour. The result is a highly consistent climate across latitudes, with even the polar and equatorial regions supporting vegetation in the form of a dense and diverse forest. Much of the surface is concealed beneath the canopy.

The homeworld of the Tever is sparsely populated and underdeveloped by the standards of many Alliance planets; the traditional Tever preference for personal space and the value they place on an unspoilt forest environment means that Arliris resembles a nature reserve rather than the birthplace of a spacefaring species.

Visitors to Arliris are often easily lost in the cities of the Tever, which tend to be sparse and embedded in the natural environment, as a holdover from that stalemate age of secrecy. Even Tever from other regions on the planet may be hard-pressed to work out which district they are standing in when they visit an unfamiliar city – or if they are even standing in a city at all.

The administration of Arliris does not encourage visitors. This was agreed as a concession to the traditional Tever lifestyle of hunting and hiding, which is still practiced in its original form by many on Arliris – but also as a way of ensuring the safety of travellers, who might easily lose themselves in the planet’s threaded woods and succumb to exhaustion and/or heatstroke before they could ever be found. With that being said, there are a few notable sites that are accessible and welcoming to outsiders:

• The province of Corilis (core-ee-liss) and in particular the administrative district of Leril (leh-real) within it comprise the capital of the planet – they held the seat of the planet’s government in the colonial age before the Alliance was formed. The open-air amphitheatres here once held meetings between the ruling council and representatives of farflung Tever colonies, though these matters of state now occur in more formal environments with better air conditioning.
• The nadir of the canyon known as the Dehesilin (deh-heh-seal-een) Rift holds a memorial for all of the voyagers lost by Arliris when it first set out into space. The structure is barren, crude, and carved entirely with primitive tools – a symbolic act of penance to form a site of quiet contemplation.
• Moruc (moh-ruck) is Arliris’ highest mountain, which rises clear over the canopy around it. Moruc is not notably tall by the standards of other planets, rising to a mere 852m above sea level at its peak – but it is broad, dry, temperate and comparatively clear of vegetation on its wide shelves, which made and makes it an ideal site for launching and receiving spacecraft. “Moruc” means either gift, visitor or invader in the Tever language, depending on the dialect.
• The Prili (pree-lee) is a coastal region notable for lacking the mantle of vegetation that coats most of Arliris’ other landmasses – instead, its gentle hills are covered in a spongy and absorbent moss, creating a dry and pleasant landscape unlike any other on the planet. Prili moss is remarkably resilient and an invasive species – controls on its spread have been bolstered by the mandatory decontamination of all visitors in or near the region before they leave the planet.