All records have been lost regarding the days and years the races departed their worlds on Atmosel. Even the location of this wondrous place has been lost to memory.
It is generally assumed that of Humanity’s worlds, the first one colonized successfully was the lush forested world of Terzi, only a few AU from the edge of a mage nebula. Declared “Earth-like” in initial surveys, it was covered with suitable vegetation and food sources. According to legend, the final message sent from the colony ship New Destiny in orbit around the world was “My friends, we have found Eden.”
As beautiful as their world was, it still lacked the mineral resources of its sister world, in the first orbital slot. The greatest of mages were tasked to terraforming its sister world, Xepta, drawing magic power from the nearby mage nebula.
It showed signs of working. The desert world was beginning to show signs of atmospheric buildup and increasing precipitation. It seemed the world would be livable in only a few months, when a cloud enveloped the world of Xepta.
Scans suggested that the plan to give Xepta atmosphere had merely overzealously succeeded, but that was far from the truth. When the mages attempted to use their magic to clear the cloud, it only became larger, thicker, and more chaotic. Before anyone understood its nature, it had enveloped Terzi as well.
Strange things happen in mage nebulae. Gravity swells and pulses, explosions of cold erupt from the void, light and darkness swirl together into a confusing miasma. Soon Terzi was little more than an arcane wasteland, and the tales of what became of its people are told by the dim flickering light of campfires on dark nights, spawning many a camper’s nightmare.
