Athis, also known as Athi, is a Major World of the Twenty Worlds of Auraxis. Athis is considered the Second World, with the second most power and influence over Auraxis after Aurax. Today, Athis is known mostly for its artisans and intellectuals, although it maintains a sizable skilled industry sector and some of the finest medical, scientific, and engineering institutions within the Worlds.
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Athis was the first world outside the Auraxis star system successfully colonized, thousands of years before the Third Exodus began in earnest on Aurax.
History
Prehistory
The ancestors of the Athesians of today hail from the Traya subcontinent on Auraxis. During the Second Exodus, the Trayans mostly resettled on Aurax within their ethnic community in New Galaston, Avalon. During this time, the Church of Eternal Sanctity rose into power as a religious order within their community and recruited 120,000 members by 115 P2X. The order conflicted with the Avalonian government over its preaching of repeating doomsdays, and it was exiled from Avalon in 135 P2X. The Church of Eternal Sanctity formed the theocratic Athian Union in 137 and founded the city of Hanna.
In 244 P2X, the Church purchased the interstellar ark For Destiny and retrofitted it for interstellar transit. 15,000 of its constituents boarded it in 262 and began their 637 year journey to the star 122 Sarinae, most under cryogenic stasis.
Arrival
The Athesians arrived in 891 P2X and found that the third and fourth planets in the 122 Sarinae system could support life. After reanimating 12,000 colonists from stasis, tensions quickly arose between the generational passengers and the recently awoken. The passengers whose ancestors boarded the ship 14 generations before had mostly abandoned their faith to the Church of Eternal Sanctity, having spent most of the last centuries philosophizing, whereas the colonists who just woke up were as zealous as the ones who boarded 600 years ago. Violent conflict erupted on the For Destiny which culminated in the shootdown of a launch with 450 prominent generationals on board attempting to escape prosecution from religious fanatics.
After 12 days of rioting and the destruction of the Ark's main water stockpile, the two factions agreed to settle on different planets and temporarily set aside their differences. Landing thousands of colonists on two planets would require the cooperation of both factions.
The generationals had control of the For Destiny's reactor and nuclear armaments and therefore had the agency to pick the more favorable of the two planets to colonize. The generationals chose the third planet in the system, Athis, leaving the Sanctarians to land on Varae.
Colonization
14,000 generationals landed on Athis by 892 P2X and retained the For Destiny in orbit after dropping the Sanctarians off on Varae in July 891.
Although the Athesians chose the more favorable planet, it was still difficult to survive in the mountainous terrain with a torrential monsoon season. Athesians founded their first colony planetside, Suniraya Reach, in a valley of the Asla continent near the equator. In 895, heavy storms blew streams of algae off a nearby lake which caused a plague in Suniraya that killed 1,200.
By 922, the population of Athis had reached 42,000 with the first generation of Athesians born on the planet.
In 967, the Suniraya Circle drafted the first edition of Stories to End all Conflict, the paper that defined the beginnings of Query and Quorum.
Recent History
Civilization & Culture
Athis is a peaceful world with around 12 billion inhabitants.
Notable Locations
Sarcana
- Suniraya Valley
- Hissan Cathedral