A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

For those of you who have read Guardians, you will be aware that our friends have begun a colonization process, ready for the time humanity reaches out into the vastness of space. The first area they have selected centres on the planet Kalliste, in the Elpis Star system.

 

In fact, Andrew stumbled across the Elpis Star System during the events recorded in Guardian Angels. I thought you might like to find out more about Kalliste, but, instead of just talking about her, I thought I'd show you a few pictures and maps.

 

 

Elpis (an ancient Greek word for Hope) is an F(IV) blue-white sub giant star located in the Pegasus Dwarf Galaxy. This sun has 1.7 times the mass of our own Sun, and 6 times the luminosity.

In all, there are 7 planets within this system, divided into two distinct regions. The inner zone has four rocky planets: Ovid, Seneca, Apuleius, and Kalliste. The outer area encompasses 3 gas giants: Arminius, Virgil, and Arrhenius.

 

The action takes place on Kalliste, (Beauty), an Earth-like planet of dense teeming jungles and majestic mountains. Fortunately, conditions there create extensive cloud cover, reducing surface light to near acceptable levels. Callistran and Theron, the two moons orbiting this wonder, create high tidal variations. Nevertheless, with a little help from the Guardians, Kalliste has been terraformed into an absolute delight.

 

Kalliste herself has a diameter of 12,693 miles, and a 'K' standard day of 39 hours.

In Guardians, a base camp has been established on Neranda, the largest of the three continents. As you can see from the basic map, Neranda is larger than the other two continents - Viridian and Paladin - combined. Quite a bit of action will take place here in Fallen Angels, and later books too, so I thought it would be nice to familiarize you with the place.

 

Of course, there are a lot of interesting animals, native to this planet that colonists will have to contend with. What are they and what might they look like?

 

Aha! You'll have to wait until next week for that. In the meantime, say hello to Kalliste, and see if you can remember any of her basic features from the storyline...

More to come soon.