Keliso

Keliso was a planet in the Unknown Regions, a member world of the Golden Empire and home of the Sev'layas.

Geography
Eleven of Keliso's fourteen major landmasses were dominated by gently rolling hills of blue grass and forests of red and purple trees. Several were split by canyons which could extend hundreds of miles, but most of these also had plant life growing along their walls. Rivers generally coursed through the canyons. Of the three remaining landmasses, two were polar ice caps, and one was a barren, rocky mesa in the middle of an ocean.

All fourteen landmasses were, for the most part, hundreds of meters above sea level. Plants received sufficient water only due to Keliso's daily, gentle rain showers. The skies of Keliso were permanently cloudy, and most of the plant life had adapted to living with only filtered sunlight. Breezes were almost constant, but rarely strong, although the four landmasses closest to the equator experienced an annual typhoon season in varying degrees of intensity.

The oceans of Keliso were fairly shallow, only a few kilometers deep at their deepest points, although they were host to many life forms. Most of the planet's continents were connected to one another by narrow isthmuses, though these were closer to sea level and occasionally flooded.

Society and culture
The Sev'layas dominated Keliso, and were well-adapted to all its forms of geography. Though they had initially evolved in the forests, they eventually built cities in the open plains and even through the gorges. Their four gripping feet allowed them to travel vertically as easily as horizontally, and Sev'laya structures were built for access from all floors. Those societies built into canyon walls were often as tall as they were wide.

The Sev'layas were known to be fiercely loyal to the Golden Empire, and the tomb of the Centurion and general Keltrayu was located on Keliso's blue grass plains.

History
Early geological instability was blamed for Keliso's high landmasses, and a combination of their altitude and thermal venting beneath the oceans contributed to its windiness.

The Sev'layas originally evolved in the forests, though some archaeological evidence suggested that settlements in canyon caves dated back thousands of years. They tended to work in accord with nature, rather than against it, and Keliso's daily rain showers allowed abundant harvests when the Sev'layas discovered farming.

As Sev'layas began to make war upon one another, the isthmuses connecting landmasses were heavily fortified on both sides and Sev'laya cities became increasingly complex. Only when the Sev'layas invented air and submarine travel were the limitations of Keliso's geography surmounted entirely.

Some time between 503 BBY and 95 ABY, the Iscali arrived on Keliso and contacted the Sev'layas. Trade was opened between the two species, as well as with the Vuuls of Yin, and the Sev'layas developed additional means of transit around their homeworld. Many still favored an incorporation of the natural and the technological, rather than a strictly technological society like their Iscali allies.

In 95 ABY, the Golden Empire came to Keliso, having already recruited both Iscandar and Tershin, and actively engaged in diplomatic negotiations with Yin. The Sev'layas agreed to join the Empire, and Rin allowed them to import high-level defensive technology. After the Great Liberation, Keliso was selected as the site of Keltrayu's Tomb, as Keliso had been his favorite world in the Empire.

The Battle of Keliso occurred when the Reawakened and their army of Skavik and Vyrak clones attacked the planet during the Nightmare War. The Romasi Sector Fleet fought off the invaders, and a ground force of the Royal Army defended the planet. The Anzat hounds were first deployed at Keliso.

Appearances

 * The Fall of Keltrayu