Lore:Auraxis


 * This article is about the moon Auraxis, as described in the lore. For gameplay-related information, see Auraxis.

, originally called New Earth, is an earth-like moon on which the events of PlanetSide 2 take place.

A moon of a gas giant, Auraxis was discovered in the year 2642 by the remnants of an exploratory fleet from the Sol system. Though signals detected from the wormhole that had led to the Auraxian system implied the existence of life on the planet there was none to be found on its surface, only the remnants of an ancient civilization—the "Vanu".

Auraxis is known to consist of seven major continents—Amerish, Cyssor, Esamir, Hossin, Indar, Oshur, and Searhus. Some miscellaneous islands are also inhabited, most notably the islands of Koltyr and Nexus. The civilizations of Auraxis hold a notable presence in orbit around the planet, with the largest hub of humanity in space being the neutral space station of Sanctuary.

Colonization
Auraxis was first discovered by the remnants of an exploratory fleet launched by the Terran Republic (with representation from the newly formed New Conglomerate aboard) after the wormhole between the Sol system and this previously unknown sector had collapsed during the fleet's passage. Approximately 40,000 people survived the journey, with only 48 of the fleet's original 128 vessels making the journey—the remainder either stuck on the home side of the wormhole, destroyed inside the wormhole itself, or left damaged beyond repair on the Auraxian side.

Two years following the collapse of the wormhole, in the April of 2642, Auraxis—then dubbed "New Earth"—was discovered and the fleet set course for the planet. After a total of three years stranded in unknown space, and with much turmoil in the interim including further loss of life due to New Conglomerate insurrection and treachery from Terran Republic officials aboard the remnants of the fleet, the expedition made landfall on Auraxis, though were shocked to find the planet barren of all life.

The Golden Years and the Great Auraxian War
While the journey had been fraught with uncertainty and tragedy, the survivors managed to find some semblance of peace finding their colonization of Auraxis. Although the troubles that had caused the turmoil in the first place had not ceased—with the Terran Republic retaining an iron grip over the populace in an attempt to keep the colony stable.

Over the better part of the following two centuries, the Republic had colonized a large part of the planet and in the interim discovered relics left by an ancient civilization known only as the "Vanu"—knowledge that some few scientists, most notably Henry Briggs, had already secretly discovered prior to and during the journey to Auraxis.

This peace was not to last forever, however, and as the Republic's grip grew tighter, with the government attempting to stop any independent research on Vanu relics and further cracking down on the freedom of its citizens and refusing to relinquish emergencies powers it had granted itself during the expedition, many scientists and businessmen—particularly those of the New Conglomerate—declared themselves independent and began to set up civilization separate from the Terran government.

In the meantime, Terran scientists who had access to the otherwise forbidden Vanu relics had begun to discover that these relics were not only of archaeological interest, but had a practical purpose—they could be used to modify humans, something those scientists saw as the key to the next step of humanity's evolution, and in secret those few formed the Vanu Sovereignty, and began to covertly bring more people into the enlightened circle, and later smuggling as many Vanu artifacts as they could out of Terran possession.

Tensions grew between the Terran Republic and New Conglomerate, who were now both major powers vying for control of Auraxis and its relics, tensions which came to a head in the year 2845 on Searhus, near the Kane Prison Compound on the volcanic continent. The compound was home to a large amount of captured New Conglomerate forces, a sizable number of potential soldiers which the Republic could not allow to go free—and an army the Conglomerate could not permit to stay imprisoned. With neither side unable to allow the other's victory, the previously cold war turned hot, and the Great Auraxian War began in earnest.

Seeing a chance to pillage Vanu artifacts from both sides, and the opportunity to enlighten the population of Auraxis—voluntarily or otherwise—the Vanu Sovereignty revealed themselves to the world and stepped into the war as a third party, truly bringing the entire planet into the conflict—the government, corporations, and the covert.

The war has continued forward until the present day on Auraxis, kept hot in perpetuity due to the development of an incredible technology made possible through Vanu relics—Nanites—which have been used for a wide variety of applications, including the perfect revival of humans, allowing soldiers to fight and die without consequence.

The Shattered Warpgate
At some time at least two decades after the commencement of the Auraxian war, one of the many warpgates found on Auraxis exploded, turning into the eponymous Shattered Warpgate and unleashing volatile tempest energy onto the continent around it—Esamir. The events following the calamity lead to the development of new technology, the uncovering of the ancient Vanu world anchors beneath the warpgates, and most importantly—the discovery of Desolation, a large planetoid host to a large amount of previously undiscovered Vanu relics.

Distant Shores
Abandoned in 2845 with the commencement of the Great Auraxian War due to its lack of rebirthing technology, the continent of Oshur remained uninhabited for several decades, its vast research complexes and the secrets they discovered remaining untouched. Seeing an opportunity to reclaim these technologies for their own uses, the Terran Republic commissioned Nascent Expeditions, a neutral New Conglomerate mining and exploration company based aboard Sanctuary, to devise a method to reach the archipelago, as the Republic were unable to breach a mysterious barrier protecting those Distant Shores.

On breaching the barrier, it is revealed that the Terran Republic were conducting black research on the Rebirth Matrix on Oshur, having contracted Viridian Genetics to do so, and were seeking to selectively exclude its competitors out of the network to finally bring an end to the war.

Trivia

 * Although only the seven mentioned major continents are known to be canon, sound files could point to a total of up to eleven continents—Ceryshen, Forseral, Ishundar, and Solsar having continent lockdown voice lines on top of the seven mentioned continents (including Searhus and Cyssor).
 * Almost every mentioned continent, exceptions being Indar and Koltyr, existed in the original PlanetSide. A series of themed bundles based on the original continents is released each year as a part of the PlanetSide Legacy event, with bundles for every continent that didn't make it to PlanetSide 2—as well as Oshur and Sanctuary.
 * Indar was inspired by Ishundar, with the new name given as the continent's multiple biomes conflicted with Ishundar's full desert-based design.