The Destruction of Seta Prime (Set-ah)

Historical Account

Seta Prime, a planet of resplendent sandstone and emerald hues, once home to the powerful Xalax, no longer sits resolute in its orbit, but instead drifts, scattered in fragments across its solar system. The Xalax are a gifted race, to this day they form one of the main 4 races comprising the galactic council. Possessing great psychic abilities, the destruction of their home-world came entirely from their own doing, so preoccupied with whether they 'could' use their abilities to reshape their world into a paradise, they never stopped to consider if they should.

All Xalax are born with the ability to manipulate matter and forces, though to do so to any large extent requires decades of extensive practice and training. An unconfirmed incident that once knocked their planet slightly from its orbit had resulted in a once entirely emerald world becoming slowly more barren as their worlds temperature gradually increased. Their culture over several centuries accepted and adapted to this change in climate before one day considering to use their gifts to re-shape the very fabric of their planet and convert its rough desert terrain back into a tropical paradise. A group of young Xalax regrettably lacking in foresight, petitioned their elders for assistance in reshaping a small chain of desert islands as an experiment into creating an environment more suited for the growth of flora once found in the planet’s equatorial region.

Their elders agreed and over several weeks assisted in the terraforming of the islands into a solid land mass, teeming with flora and soon after fauna. Considering their work, a success, the Elders agreed to begin Seta Prime’s "Rebirth" project. The aim, to restore the planet to its once lush emerald glory.

Unfortunately for the Xalax, when you push against the forces of nature, it tends to push back.

Many months of work later Seta Prime had begun to look like it once did, lush thick jungles teeming with light and life, but during this time, the planet recorded ever increasing tectonic activity, the shifting of large sections of land, combined with the additional weight of added foliage had begun to destabilise the planets crust so much so the planet begun to see volcanic activity unlike anything seen before.

Hindsight suggests if the Xalax had stopped in their tracks, their work may have paid off, the planet likely would have stabilised, and life settled down into the newly founded lush, tropical normality. But this was not to be.

The Calamity

Upon realising their work had caused the destabilisation of their planets core and crust, with cracks and magma eruptions becoming a near daily occurrence. The Xalax chose not to cease their efforts of terraforming, but instead use their abilities to attempt to correct the ever-increasing instability, plugging the forming cracks and fault lines with clever seals and changes to terrain, stabilising planet by force. An act that would ultimately prove their undoing.

Their efforts, in truth, were clever and ambitious, their most talented elemental transmuters worked night and day to convert the planets lower crust into an impenetrable mesh of dense metals and stone preventing the formation of any further rifts or eruptions and, despite the earthquakes which continued for a short time afterwards, it appeared to have worked. A little too well…

Unbeknownst to them however, the sealing of the planets destabilising molten core beneath an impenetrable layer of rock with no way to release pressure only served to hasten their destruction. Much like a carbonated beverage being shaken within a sealed container, the mounting pressure beneath the planets crust became an invisible and undetectable reservoir of raw explosive potential, building and building until it reached its critical point.

No longer containable, the energy stored had no means of gentle release and one fateful day, without warning, erupted outwards in all directions at once, releasing chaos and transformation in its wake. The occupants of the planet and any vessels in orbit, so reports say, were vaporised instantly. The only survivors were those off-world or far enough away from the planet to not be destroyed by the shockwave. A natural disaster of the Xalax own making, reduced their population of billions to a handful of thousands, humbling the ancient race with a lesson they would not soon forget. Even the most well-meaning and best intentions can still ultimately lead to a downfall.

Type

Metaphysical, Psychic