Oshur

Oshur is an warzone continent planned on Auraxis. The fifth major continent made available, Oshur is described as a "tropical paradise brimming with research opportunities...evacuated as the Auraxian War began."

''Once a tropical paradise brimming with research opportunities, the island populace was evacuated as the Auraxian War began. With tensions high and no access to rebirthing technology, the risk to stay was too great. Many years later, and with events of the Shattered Warpgate only a recent memory, Nascent Expeditions takes on a contract funded largely by the Terran Republic to enable a return to the abandoned islands. However, they're not the only interested party.''

An archipelago abandoned due to the dangers of the Auraxian War, and lacking a rebirth network, Oshur is a uniquely structured continent as compared to the original four warzones. Although the continent still features a large amount of standard facilities, it also hosts a higher than average number of construction outposts, and the archipelago is abundant in Cortium.

The continent, due to the nature of its abandonment, does not feature any warpgates. Instead, factions base out of Exodus Fleet Carriers, modified and stationary Bastion Fleet Carriers that provide the typical amenities of a warpgate. These carriers are not protected by any sort of shielding, and are instead armed with Particle Projection Cannons with which to defend themselves.

Oshur is the pioneer of a fully-featured water system, allowing all domains of combat on Auraxis to interact with the oceans in an engaging way—infantry and tracked vehicles traverse the sea bed, wheeled and hovering vehicles skirt the waves, and aircraft dart between the surface and underwater at will—albeit at great cost to their maneuverability when underwater.

Unlike the other warzone continents, Bastion Fleet Carriers and Colossi cannot be deployed on Oshur, as no terminals are available to call them down.

Lore
Oshur was once a teeming paradise for research and tourism before the start of the Auraxian War. Though hosting facilities dedicated to related research, Oshur itself was not part of the rebirth matrix, and was thus fully abandoned at the start of the war as the safety of those on the archipelago could not be guaranteed.

Three hundred long years later, the Terran Republic sought to return to the continent, before discovering that a mysterious energy barrier had formed around the archipelago preventing any from reaching it. At the behest and funding of the Republic, Nascent Expeditions of Sanctuary put into action a plan to dissipate the barrier and reach the island chain, an endeavor for which they recruited the aid of the New Conglomerate and Vanu Sovereignty.

With technology aboard the Exodus Fleet Carriers allowing the rebirth matrix to be brought to Oshur, the Auraxian war finally reached the archipelago at the same time as the expedition, as the empires sought to uncover the mysteries left behind when it was abandoned. After a long investigation, it is discovered that the Terran Republic never truly abandoned the continent, and Viridian Genetics were working covertly to research rebirth matrix technology, specifically seeking a way to exclude the New Conglomerate and Vanu Sovereignty from its amenities—before a tidal wave wrecked the archipelago and all but eliminated the research team.

Trivia

 * Oshur was originally featured in PlanetSide, as a collection of Battle Islands in that game.
 * Some of Oshur's facilities have their names in PlanetSide 2 today, including Rashnu Bio Lab, Hvar Interlink Facility, and Dahaka Technology Plant, although their facility types may have been changed in the transition.
 * Oshur had originally been teased numerous times throughout the lifespan of PlanetSide 2, and was officially announced for addition on August 30th, 2018 for a tentative release in the latter half of 2019. However, the continent was put on indefinite hold at that time instead. Although lead designer Wrel stated on numerous platforms over the last months of 2019 and first months of 2020 that the continent was not in active development, an announcement at the beginning of November 2021 finally put Oshur on a solid course for addition to Auraxis.
 * References to the original cancellation of Oshur could, prior to the expedition to the continent, be found on Sanctuary.
 * A display screen could be found in the south-east sector of the station with the headline "Oshur Project Status", followed by smaller text that read "Energy Anomaly Detected" and "Connection Lost | NO CARRIER".
 * A Nanite News Network (NNN) display screen in the center hallway of the station mentioned that the Oshur outpost relays were still down after mysterious power surges, and that no contact had been made with the investigators dispatched "weeks ago."
 * The Skylance Cannons that were to be used for anti-Bastion operations in the continent's original iteration were later added to the game separately in 2020, used by the Colossus for that same role.