The Plagaran Sandstorm of '98

In a
once-in-a-lifetime photo, the Great Plagaran Sandstorm of 1,898 M.E.
is depicted as it is about to engulf King Valley, the only visual
documentation of the event known to exist.

Until
its destruction in 2,005 M.E., the planet Plagarus was a center of
macabre activity. Serving as the graveyard for the Thrassi Republic
for over a 1,000 years, it fell into disuse when its star, Plagara
Majora, began to enter its final phase of life. Things rapidly
deteriorated for the once grassy world. Its temperature increased
exponentially, driving the local ecosystems into mass extinction as
grasslands turned to dust-bowls, and seas turned to vast, empty
chasms.

A grisly
practice of grave robbing ensued as looters descended on the dying
world, stripping the billions of graves there of any commodities they
could find. Most of the grave robbers congregated around King
Valley, which was the place where the Thrassi kings were interred in
elaborate tombs set into the carved walls of the valley. Riches of
untold value were reputed to be buried there.

On a
spring day, in 1,898 M.E., an epic sandstorm engulfed King Valley for
almost a day. Estimated to be two kilometers tall, it was evidently
created by powerful solar-generated updrafts and apocalyptic
atmospheric turbulence. The result was the deaths of about 200 grave
robbers, consigning the men to the very cemetery they were pillaging.
For over a century afterward, up until the day the planet was
finally obliterated by its dying star, the stories of the Storm of
'98 were nearly legend. For a long time afterward the storm's
effects were immortalized in local sector idiom. To “reap the
sandstorm” meant to suffer terribly painful consequences, often
followed by gruesome death, due to short-sighted greed.

This
image depicts the last moments of the infinitesimally small, unseen
men who died clutching the trinkets and artifacts they so craved.
They were surrounded by colossal monuments which seemed to frown down
upon them as if in scorn for their greedy avarice, heedless of the
warnings of impending doom, a testament to the irony of their deaths
on a cemetery planet.

Made in Blender 2.75 as a means to test Cycle Renderer's volumetric rendering.  I couldn't seem to drag realistic enough results from it, but others have been.  Will have to do more research.  But I'd figure I'd put up the results and a little speculative fiction on top of it.

Post in AE CC 2016, Gimp and Blender

Dan