Aldera was surrounded by mountain ranges.
Located in a region of Alderaan, one of the so-called Core Worlds of the galaxy, Aldera sat on a large island on a lake, nestled by a range of snow-capped mountains, one of which was the Appenza Peak. The River Wuitho ran along the the outskirts of Aldera, as well as several smaller villages. A forest also grew some way outside the city.
A scenic city, Aldera featured a collection of gleaming, rounded, white structures constructed in the architectural Alderaanian style that included the Royal Palace. It also held a spaceport, which was considered one of the best in the Core Worlds. Aldera had modern and well-maintained port facilities, including private landing platforms dedicated to the arrival of royal visitors and returning dignitaries. The renowned University of Alderaan was located in Aldera, as well as many galleries and music halls.
The avenues of Aldera were wide and lined with trees.
The city had wide, tree-lined avenues with multiple small gardens plotted along their ways. In an effort to keep the view of the palace as intact as possible, traffic in the city center was mostly pedestrian, although air traffic increased further from the palace, especially when heading towards the shipping platforms.
In its earliest days, Aldera was a simple logging camp before growing into the planet's capital. By the time Leia Organa became the Crown Princess in the year 3 BBY, Aldera and the oldest part of its Royal Palace had already been in existence for over a millennium.
During the Clone Wars, a pan-galactic conflict fought between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, representatives from across the galaxy congregated in Aldera to attend conferences and engage in negotiations concerning multiple important issues. One notable example was the Alderaan Refugee Conference, which was meant to address the growing number of refugees displaced by the war.
After the Clone Wars ended and the Republic was replaced by the autocratic Galactic Empire, Alderaan emerged as a crucible of covert resistance against the new regime. The royal couple, Queen Breha Organa and Viceroy Bail Prestor Organa, organized secret strategy meetings under the guise of dinner parties taking place in the Royal Palace's formal dinning room, effectively turning Aldera's most central building into a top-secret meeting place for rebel leaders and sympathizers.
The capital city was lost—along with the rest of Alderaan—in 0 BBY, when Imperial Moff Tarkin used the Death Star battlestation to destroy the planet, which Princess Leia was forced to witness.
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