The Fall of Aireth Arnor

Edit: Redid a few elements to the background. Made it a little darker lit as well, both to change the time of day and to make the characters stand out more. Hopefully the explosions look like explosions now too... so... let me know what you think? XD

Well remembered as one of the last bastions of the Phoenix Empire’s presence in the First Sphere, Aireth’Arnor was an earthen planet originally known for its lush, tropical landscapes and being both a prominent tourist destination and home to one of the largest nelri Trading Unions operating within the system, thanks to the planet’s thriving local merchantile industries.

Of course, when the brutal conflicts involving the One Year War for Sersa Prime developed into a galactic-spanning racial war, Aireth’Arnor’s once celebrated peaceful existence in the known galaxy was quickly forgotten as it slowly became a haven for nelri immigrants forced to escape the growing dictatorial concerns the Federation of Human Systems willed over their lives. Tragically, however, they counted on herding them upon the planet for their first real act of genocide against the nelri race.

It is without saying that Aireth’Arnor became what many regarded as the first planetary site to be classified as a location of martyrdom to the nelri. Before the Phoenix Empire was even able to assist the planet with military aid, the Federation had already conducted a hardline military campaign that rendered much of the planet uninhabitable from nuclear bombardment. Fortunately, it was a terrible act that many historians felt was the defining moment in the First Galactic War that raised political unrest within the Federation itself, which was instrumental in the lead up to the Treaty of Esha. Yet nevertheless Aireth’Arnor’s grim fate was already sealed, breeding along with it an unlikely partnership that would last long after the planet's ruination.

It was the place where Kaden and Sinaa first met, ironically as enemies. Kaden, who was on the Federation’s payroll during the fateful incursion, was among one of the few elite contingents sent down to the planet’s surface before Admiral Rin Bastille ordered her orbiting battlefleet to commence Operation Basilisk. Kaden and his team were to infiltrate, disable and occupy one of nine key military installations that prevented a direct Federation incursion from ocurring. And of those nine, five were taken. Kaden and his team were successful in overwhelming theirs, yet at the same time the elite soldier became disillusioned over his comrades’ brutality against the nelri defenders and was horrified to learn that the key military installations were in actuality fortified shelters protecting nelri civilians. By then the Federation's genocidal plans were clear to him, but still not to the nelri.

He wanted to change that. While his team occupied their subjugated shelter, Kaden was only able to convince one of his comrades that the Bastille fleet was getting into effective formations to orchestrate a nuclear bombardment of the planet. Suddenly the race was on to re-establish communication between the nine shelters and warn them of the Federation's plans, yet despite his heroic, moral intentions, his other team members became his foes and attempted much to hinder his efforts.

It was only through the combined assistance of his one comrade and an agile young nelri woman that they were able to re-establish communications with those of the shelters that had managed to resist the first waves of Federation infiltration. But in the heat of the chaos, Kaden and his two allies were incarcerated. His comrade, Gerod, was shot point-blank in the back of the head for his part in betraying the team, while Kaden was bound and forced to watch them badly molest the nelri woman who helped him. It sent Kaden over the edge and before his former allies could stop him, Kaden killed every last one of them without hesitation and without remorse. But by then it was too late for Aireth’Arnor's innocents. Operation Basilisk had begun.

Fortunately for Kaden and the nelri woman, they were able to escape the shelter and traverse enough ground between them before the first nukes hit. And along with other civilians, who went with them into the mountains, they survived long enough for nelri warships to reach the system and repel the Federation to whence it came. Fortunately for Kaden, they would become his saviours in more ways than one after that day. Yet by then he knew his promsing days as a Federation soldier were over.

It was then when his days as a bounty hunter began.


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Well, few things to note I guess... I’m renaming a few things in the space age of my OG universe. Like the ‘Alliance’ from now on will be referred to as the ‘Federation’, but I won’t bother getting too technical about it all. And overall, despite questioning if I could have drawn Sinaa’s outfit differently, this was fun to draw. It’s a quickie, though! If I look back on it long enough I’ll probably end up thinking I could have drawn this scene a lot better, but it was because of this drawing in the first place that I managed to come up with all that lore description above... and solidified a few things... finally. Again, a big thank you to Ginny, aka =gppr, for helping inspire me to create this and work on fleshing out the way neglected, futuristic side of my OG universe...

Still, I drew a freakin’ futuristic male combat suit. That’s gotta count for something, right?

Artwork - © Kristopher P. Love // Sinaa and Kaden - © =gppr & *Aikurisu.