The Sterile Garden

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Thousands of years ago the astral mesh, that thin weave that allowed travel between the planes, tightened due to a physical law identified by a Gid arcane physicist Glafcos Panou. It left our world, Sairius, abandoned by our gods. On that day in the year 176 - day 1, year 1 - magic sourced from extra-planar entities ceased to function, and in their place physical magics became the norm. Arcane studies in these fields quickly advanced. Pushed to the edge and melded together in new ways, this allowed for arcane machines that traveled faster than horses, communication across far distances, medicines to replace magical cures lost when god-given healing vanished, and materials stronger and lighter than any natural metal known. A technological renaissance that lasted four hundred years blossomed.   During the latter half and following this period, the peoples of Sairius did what so many peoples do in a technological boom. They quickly found themselves at odds with each other, waging an ideological warfare on a scale that the world had thus far never even considered. By the end, entire regions were rendered unlivable by the horrific arms unleashed.   It took the combined efforts of thousands of individuals, several rebel coups, and four very brave and diplomatic Zoi - then war heroes - to finally end the fighting. After 62 years, the planet found peace.   Institutions were established to share knowledge and rebuild the world almost sundered by the terrible fighting. When the world, more closely knit than ever before, finally found itself stable and happy, its people looked to the stars. They wanted to spread this newfound peace and knowledge and true affection for each other to whatever else might be out there, to join the waiting worlds of others and truly become something more than themselves.   -----   The year is 3498. Magic fueled space travel has become routine and a wide federation of colonies and independent worlds now sprawl across the galaxy. It’s spring on Sairius, a time of rebirth and new life; of planting and beginnings. More than 100 light years away, the first pilotfish colonists of AM217-b, a verified Garden-class planet, have just removed the aerobraking shielding of their ship and are taking in their first glimpse of their new home.   Welcome to The Sterile Garden.