| "The light had faded, but all was not lost." |
| "I call it Arkuras. It means 'garden'." |
| images and content © Alicia Brons |
| Arkuras The world the WoRs would know as their home was covered in orange sands, and streams of brightly lit water. It was a world that had once been abundant with plant-life, but had been ravaged and left as a dusty husk of what it once was. According to Luuntao, the world was originally a giant garden used by the Raveens of old to cultivate and grow plants. The plants had been used as healing herbs, food, and plants grown for magical arts. Arkuras was blessed with rich soils, and had been perfect for this use. Large Towers were built upon Arkuras' surface to draw in the energies of the nearby stars - since Arkuras lacked a sun or moon, it was the energies and light of distant stars that gave life to the world of Arkuras. The towers pulled the energy into the heart of Arkuras, and the energy was passed into the soil and water above. An unexpected side-effect of the Towers was that the plants began to grow faster than they could be harvested. All too soon, Arkuras was overgrown. Not wanting to lose control of their garden world, the Arkurasans created large insects to help maintain the overgrowth. Non-sentient, and driven only by the need to eat, the insects helped to keep the overgrowth contained. However the energies that the Towers were passing into the world began to affect the insects. They multiplied and mutated out of control, and began to eat. They ate, and ate, and ate until there was no plant-life left. The Arkurasans tried to cut the insects down, but they'd become immune to magic and their exo-skeletons were invulnerable to harm. Seeing no quick way to destroy the Swarm, the Arkurasans decided to abandon the world. Eventually the Swarm would die off from starvation. Only they didn't. When the plants no longer remained, they mutated to eat energy, and have been surviving off the energy from the Towers for centuries. Some Towers have been damaged over the years by the overzealous Swarm feasting on their spires - and the number of stars in the sky has greatly diminished. Though it will be a long slow road, eventually the Swarm will devour all the energy from the stars, and Arkuras' energy will be no more. Arkuras was left to its fate. "Arkuras wasn't a mistake. Turning Arkuras into a garden for off-worlders was the mistake." Natural Threats Sandstorms were numerous, and a threat that raged across the surface. Some sandstorms were mild; passing by in the matter of minutes, others were more dangerous and could bury a WoR alive. The Towers emitted a high level of psionic energies. Visible in the blue light that reached up to the sky, these energies were beautiful but deadly. Getting too close to the energy (or trying to touch it) could incinerate a WoR instantly. The Cold. Arkuras had no sun. The day and night were all one cold temperature. One was forced to get used to the cold, and adapt to it to survive. The Towers provided heat, but it wasn't adequate enough to keep the constant chill of the world away. In areas where the Towers were broken the cold was especially dangerous, as the temperature in these areas could freeze an individual to death. |
| (right) The Towers, with visible damage to their spires. |