The story of Belis Alta - Part 1 – Nova Spero

The Belis planetary system excists of three planets. Belis Alta, Nova Belis and Belis Auris which all move around their single sun, Aurora. The Belis cluster itself was was right at the edge of the Segmentum Pacificus with Tanith being the closest planet.

 

See the Belis planetary cluster at the bottom right.

The Sun Aurora had been burning bright and warm for thousands of years. When the belis sector was first discovered by the Imperial pioneer fleet of Admiral Avarell Prichard it was Aurora that had guided the fleet in like a beacon of light and hope in the vast darkness of empty space.

Prichard halted the fleet and sent out expeditionary teams to the surface of Belis Alta, which at the time was still an unnamed planet. The first humans to report back to command all spoke of a beautiful planet with lustrous jungles, wild rivers and large lakes. No seas but enough water in the lakes to support the ecosystem. The expedition encountered many different primal lifeforms. Large carnivorous beasts that hunted in the jungle and on the plains. Herds of herbivorous creatures that roamed the plains. Flora so diverse it would take a thousand years just to document them all. The planet had very large and high mountains and ridges,  large lakes, dense jungles. The open plains seemed almost empty of wildlife, only smaller burrowing  creatures would risk showing themselves looking for food only to quickly disappear underground at the slightest sign of danger.

 An exploration force was dispatched to the planet’s surface and set up camp near one of the highest mountains. They named it Prichard’s Peak and the base of operations was called “Nova Spero” (new hope). After setting up camp the base was operational and teams of explorers were sent out. They came back with countless specimen and stories. Every inch of the planet was bursting with life. A planet so beautiful they named it Belis Alta (Beautiful Old One). Not every explorer team came back as the planet inhabited some dangerous flora and fauna. Many explorers were lured into flesh eating plants or creatures that looked like plants. And then there were the beasts. A planet with so much life also meant there were a lot of predators. In the dense jungles it was hard to see any further then 50 feet but the hunters that had lived there for years had no problem getting through it quickly. Some explorers seemed to have vanished without a trace, never to be seen again.

Continue to episode 2: Flora Mortis