Amaranthine Resplendence

Amaranthine Resplendence (Raih Achla) is an ex-Covenant colony world in the Siakar Expanse, located within the Chikri-Merkaa Strand. As of the late 26th century, it is part of the Chikri-Merkaa Conflux and is one of the three most prominent worlds of the alliance.

Much of the surface of Amaranthine Resplendence has a striking burgundy hue due to high concentrations of reddish minerals on the planet's crust. Much of the planet is covered in a shallow ocean on the shores of which many of its cities and keeps are built; the landmasses are mostly steep mountain ranges and are home to many vast gorges and canyons, and many of the coastal cities are built directly into the mountainsides.

Due to the planet's higher-than-Sanghelios-standard gravity, Sangheili from Amaranthine Resplendence are known for their stocky builds. Common skin colors range from medium to dark ashen brown. Many of the locals have freckle-like specks upon their faces, necks and shoulders, and sometimes other parts of their bodies. These traits are associated with those of an Ishebannai lineage and the ancient Nurias ethnic group.

Politics and society
Amaranthine Resplendence has a long and at times complicated relationship with the nearby Radiant Zenith. Despite this relationship being amiable for the most part in recent ages, and Amaranthine Resplendence itself having grown to become quite prosperous, it does not escape the notice of the Amaranthine that they have always lived in the shadow of the Zenithers. By 2570, the planet's ruling family is the Sangheili Clan Ryskeema, perhaps the second or third most influential Sangheili family within the Conflux, ruled over by High Kaidon Onatjann 'Ryskeema from the City-Tower of Hakar Shaan on the Isle of Otchichi. A faction of the Amaranthine had sympathies for the Jai Shua coalition of reformists at the time of the Long Discord, and some of this old secessionist spirit still lingers among certain local families. The Amaranthine identity as it is known today also formed a bit later than that of the Zenithers, and the planet's beginnings were more vague and tumultuous despite the colonization of the two being only a few years apart.

Amaranthine communities are relatively distributed and quite numerous; there are fewer great cities than on many of the more urbanized Sangheili-governed worlds, such as the nearby Radiant Zenith. Amaranthine architecture favors cliff-side structures and enormous city-towers like great arcologies home to millions, often situated on islands. The local architecture emphasizes verticality: vast bridge-systems on many levels connect city-towers and their constituent spires into one another in some of the denser urban areas. The world's planetary capital is a complex of settlements known as P'bharun, the City of Islands, of which the capital city-tower Hakar Shaan is also part.

Amaranthine Resplendence is mainly an industrial world, specialized under the Covenant in mining as well as the production of specialized weapon and starship components, including various gravitic technologies. Outside this, the local clans are best known for their artisans and builders who have won renown within the Chikri-Merkaa Strand and beyond for their sleek and elegant trademark style. Amaranthine designs also have a certain characteristic tapering sharpness to them, perhaps inspired by the world's angular mountains and rock formations.

Amaranthine's primary satellite, Hierse, houses a fairly sizable colony and starport. The two other moons are much smaller and do not house settlements of note. The settlers of Hierse hailed from a different background than those of the parent planet, and settled the moon some years after the clans of the planet as a fief-clan. At the time, there were disputes between the two when it came to rights and fealties, and those disputes resonated centuries onward. Even now, there is something of a cultural and political divide between the two, albeit not as strong as it once was. Additionally, mainly Kig-Yar-run trading concerns operating in orbit and dealing with the Hiersen have caused some friction with the trade ports on the parent planet in the last few centuries, with traditionalist Sangheili feeling the outsiders undercut profits that could be going to the planetside port cities. Many restrictions have been placed on orbital trade as a result, though sky-lifts have been built by the two major clan-concerns to address the issue and essentially integrate the orbital traders more firmly under local clan power. The Great Schism has again altered these delicate power dynamics, however, with the orbital traders again finding themselves in a position to bargain with the planetside clans on a more even footing.