Dante History & Environment

The initial colonists on Dante were pretty much of the opinion that the planet was hell even before the current war started. Since by the end of the first year on the planet there had been over 40% casualties among those who made the landing, from the weather and environment related accidents. The planet was one of the many worlds literally scrubbed clean by Slayer's tide of genocide and then abandoned as the mighty war machine moved on to other targets, leaving behind it an environmental nightmare devoid of virtually all traces of its original inhabitants. There are many myths and legends that the planet was once a paradise, stunningly beautiful, with thousands of varieties of fauna and flora and a totally stable, clean environment, although if this were ever true nothing remains of it today and even the keenest of researchers is smart enough not to go looking for proof.

The primary reason for Dante's extremely hostile biosphere is that the erratic orbit of the planet around the sun keeps the weather systems in a constant state of flux, imparting to them the ability to brew massive storms and typhoons at a minutes notice. It is also suspected that the terror weapons that SLA used in the extermination of Dante's original inhabitants may also have had a hand in warping its bio-sphere and even be responsible for the strange orbital path it follows, although no one can be sure and again it pays not to look too deep. Whatever the case these conditions are further aggravated by the influence of the planets five varying sized moons which exert their own tidal forces on the surface and further stir up the storm fronts. The planets orbit has an additional unpleasant side effect in that it also results in rapid seasonal changes with each summer/winter period lasting approximately forty days, a day on Dante being approximately thirty standard hours.

Equally strange are the many areas which can become fog bound for days making navigation almost impossible only to suddenly clear and suffer a heat wave the next. Winds on Dante can reach unmatched speeds in some regions making travel by air difficult at the best of times and often suicidal at others. While sudden torrential rains can trigger flash floods in what were formally desert areas. Earthquakes are also common with many regions of Dante being plagued with constant seismic activity ranging from minor tremors to huge quakes triggering landslides and causing widespread destruction. Another phenomena of the planet is the way in which the electrical storms and atmosphere effect ground and space based sensors and communication systems. In some areas it's virtually impossible to operate radio equipment, while in others sensors give false readings and radar and other tracking systems become completely unusable at anything over line of sight ranges. The rapid formation and dispersal of cloud fronts and storms makes the use of satellite based surveillance and tracking systems extremely hard and often unreliable, meaning for much of the time its impossible to get a clear picture of what's going on the ground from orbit. In other regions vast banks of clouds have obscured the landscape from space based optics since the time of the first colonists, remaining unmoved for hundreds of years at a time. The extremely harsh weather also takes it toll on equipment, leading to breakdowns and malfunctions in most items, unless they are specially sealed against the environment, this problem is most common in Dante's two large desert regions, where the fine sand invades everything clogging vents and jamming unprotected machinery in a very short period of time.

Despite these numerous problems, the rich deposits of minerals and possibilities for mining them relatively easily were enough to tempt 20,000 colonists fleeing from the aftermath of the Conflict Wars to establish a base camp in one of the more stable areas of Dante in Year 062. All did not go well though and almost from the start the proposition of living on Dante looked doomed. By the end of this first year close to half the colonists were dead and much of their equipment and vehicles were inoperative or badly in need of replacement, fallen prey to the harsh environment, or victims of the numerous accidents caused by malfunctioning navigation systems. Despite these setbacks the colonists fought on, having nothing to return to, and at a great cost in lives and resources a permanent base was established and a rudimentary spaceport constructed on the original landing site by year 064.

Now too in debt from their losses of personnel and equipment, the remaining colonists were forced to stay and struggle on in a do or die effort. Many of their original Ion Drive ships had already been cannibalized for spares to keep other equipment operational. While those ships that did remain were now vital to the colonies survival as they were the only means of shipping minerals off planet and generating vital income for the settlement So there was now no escape from Dante even if they had somewhere to go. Over the next five years the colonists were to start to win their fight against the planet and gradually losses of personnel fell to the point where serious mining operations could begin, rather than simply spending all their time fighting to survive.

By Year 079 construction of Dante's first city 'New Hamilton' had begun and most mining and ore processing operations were moved to this area along with the colonies main spaceport. The complex at the original landing site remaining only as a secondary base of operations. Over the next 48 years the colony began to grow, if not prosper, despite the hostile environment and in addition to New Hamilton several smaller cities, towns and numerous mining camps had soon been completed in the outlying areas. The relative success of the Dante colony had not gone unnoticed though and in the Year 126 SLA stepped in and offered the colony its standard Three P Contract to join the Worlds Of Progress. Prompted by the rumors of what happened to Worlds who rejected SLA's offer and by the numerous minor incursions by Soft Companies that had already occurred in previous years. The colonists on Dante accepted the offer and signed the contract officially becoming a SLA Industrial World at the end of 127.

With SLA's backing, production and mining output were steadily raised over the next nine years, while the amount of materials exported was also greatly increased by the construction of an orbital base able to accommodate Foldships. Success though was to have a price and with this higher profile came more targeting by rival companies keen to take a piece of Dante for themselves. Taking advantage of the unique weather conditions on Dante to help mask their activities several companies secretly moved personnel onto the planet and began to raid its outlying facilities. By the year 138 these incursions had reached such a level that SLA were forced to establish a large garrison on planet in addition to the existing Operatives and Militia personnel. For a while this helped to stem the tide of DarkNight and other Soft Companies operations, although actually finding the raiders was greatly hampered by the unreliability of orbital sensors and the Soft Companies tactic of hiding in the communication and sensory blackspots. Attempts at blockading Dante from space also proved extremely difficult, with the various small moons and extensive asteroid fields in the system giving numerous places for enemy ships to hide.

By the Year 209 SLA found that it was losing ground in the numerous skirmishes on Dante and that further action was called for to protect its investments on the planet. To this end it was decided to establish a large, purpose built, military base on the main continent to be used as a staging point for counter attacks against the raiders and as a command center for all Dante based operations. So work began on the construction of 'Slayers Fist', a vast spire of rock that was to be tunneled out to provide a ready made fortress and command complex.

The Fist was competed in the Year 212, but by this point the skirmishes on Dante had escalated to such a point that SLA gave the planet official War World status and began a steady withdrawal of personnel from outlying areas to ones that were more easily defended. During this period there was also a steady drive to build more military bases and establish definite front lines. It was also at this point that one of FEN's Weapons R&D departments started to see the potential of Dante as a possible proving ground for their products. With its vast range of environments and conditions, as well as being the site of a handy ongoing war, equipment trials could be conducted there under real combat conditions. So prompted by the initial proposal by Dr. Trenchard, one of FEN's senior researchers, the company began to petition for the right to set up research establishments on the planet. In the Year 214 the first of these requests was granted by head office allowing FEN to establish a weapons development lab at Slayers Fist base. Over the next few years many more similar requests were to follow, with several of SLA Industries key sub companies setting up testing divisions on the planet.

The biggest turning point in the history of Dante came in the Year 237 when the first of the Thresher Powersuit attacks was executed and from this moment on the war was to escalate at unprecedented speed. Using the cover of a series of particularly bad storms, Thresher were able to move their units on planet without being detected by the orbital sensors, from then on they were to mount a three day rein of terror against SLA military targets, resulting in huge losses of men and equipment, then slip away again leaving only a final radio message vowing to return. Temporarily thrown into disarray by the sudden and bloody attacks by Thresher, SLA was to pour men and equipment into Dante in an attempt to plug its shattered front lines and shore up its defenses against further raids. This situation was further aggravated by the developing crisis on Charlie's Point as DarkNight forces attempted to snatch the planet from SLA using the confusion of the Thresher attacks.

As promised Thresher did return six months after their initial raids, but this time things didn't go quite so well for them with stiff opposition and new weapons systems hampering their attacks and inflicting significant losses. This time though rather than pulling out and slipping away, a small force was left behind to dig in and continue to harry the SLA defenders. So began Dante's true descent into a living hell as the civilian population were gradually pulled out as they became 'undefendable' to be replaced by military and Militia personnel and as all available resources and production facilities that were still in areas that could be fortified were turned over to weapons production and research purposes. Most of the planets cities were also abandoned as they became key targets for shelling and Powersuit attacks and soon the only areas of habitation to remain were the scattering of military bases and production strong points. This trend was to continue till the Year 239 when SLA was to officially place Dante under totally military control and to make the few remaining civilians subject to martial law. The orbital 'New Hope' base also began construction in 239 to deal with the vast amounts of space based traffic that was now coming to the planet due to the war, while the existing satellite base was taken over by Military Intelligence and renamed 'Black Dawn'. New Hope was also to field an interceptor squadron to help counter the increased rival company attacks against inbound transports, as attempt were made by the enemy to cut Dante's supply lines and restrict the endless flow of reinforcements and equipment that was streaming onto the planet.

From Year 240 on both Thresher and DarkNight were to establish large permanent forces on Dante with which to keep up constant pressure on the SLA positions and the war was to sink into a virtual gridlock along most of its fronts. This was to remain unchanged for several hundred years with each side establishing its own strong points and many of the undefendable areas of the planet remaining strongly contested. With Dante's decline into an all out permanent war, SLA were quick to see the benefits that this could bring in terms of testing and research of not only equipment and weapons, but of biogenetics and other biological weapons systems. A rush began to establish further purpose built research centers on the planet, most prominent of these being the Karma backed 'Zodiac Nine' base established at the northern pole in Year 305. Heavy fighting during this period further added to the instability in the planets environment as the major factions limited use of nuclear weapons and even some aimed meteor strikes, threw more dust and debris into the atmosphere. All sides soon appeared to recognize the extremely detrimental effects that these types of tactics were having on Dante's already unstable biosphere and by unwritten agreement, wide spread use of these types of weapons ceased in year 312. Despite this though there have been several more isolated incidents involving nuclear devices, such as the destruction of the Van Numman Bridge and the sinking of the Dreadnought SNV 'Mawhrin'.

In the Year 379 it was realized that Slayers Fist was no longer sufficient to handle all the key command, control and training duties for Dante. Especially since it had now become a primary target for opposition raids resulting in it taking heavy damage over a period of several years. So construction of a new purpose built base was begun on the site of the original colony. This project was to become even more vital when later the same year a massed assault by Thresher units managed to breach the Fists security and came extremely close to the destruction of SLA's entire command staff. The upper and particularly the lower levels of the base being extensively damaged in the attack, with many of them having to later be abandoned. The new base was to be christened 'Archangel' and was not only intended to handle most of the incoming traffic from orbit, but to take over the majority of tactical command and weapons R&D responsibilities for the planet. Completion of its central complex and spaceport was in 395 and from then on the base was to steadily grow into the huge fortified city it is today.

Now in the Year 900 Dante remains as one of the most hostile worlds under SLA control, the planet is dominated by military bases, research and production facilities and the few non military personnel who remain live behind the walls of these fortified complexes. Dante has become a world dedicated to war and finding new ways to wage it, but SLA is never slow to exploit even what appears to be a hell on earth and realizing that the war is more valuable if it continues take every opportunity they can to squeeze profit out of the misery that Dante produces.