Old Earth

Old Earth is the sole name by which the Antaran race refers to its ancient, long-abandoned world of origin. Located roughly 25,000 light years from the center of the galaxy, it is part of the Galactic Rim.

The Antaran people evolved on Old Earth many tens of thousands of years before the world was engulfed in the atomic fires of World War 3 and forever devastated. When the race left the planet behind in the Exodus, it gradually faded from the forefront of Antaran memory and became little more than a dangerous reminder of the past. At the time of the Exodus nearly 1,200 years ago, there were estimated to be some two to five million survivors of the third world war.

Over the course of several centuries, both immediately after World War 3 and then after the Exodus three centuries after that, Old Earth was dying the slow death of a world whose ecosystem had been irreparably shattered. The ozone layer was badly depleted, the oceans were heavily contaminated and the inland watersheds and arable land were almost completely lost. The atmosphere was heavily irradiated and there was virtually no infrastructure as a result of the planetary nuclear war. The Exodus came to pass because the Antaran race knew it would die, too, if it remained on Old Earth.

After the race fled Old Earth, the world became a forbidden place. The fifty years of the Exodus were the days of a dwindling population as every able Human fled the world, first for Antara Prime and later also for numerous nearby worlds the Antaran people had also settled. Only a small number stayed, either too sick to travel or unwilling to leave behind the only home they had ever known. The last known survivors living on Old Earth were believed to have died out by the end of the first century after the last colony ships left during the Exodus.

In modern times, the nearest Antaran world to Old Earth is known as Elestra, 194 light years away. To monitor the system, however, the Grand Fleet maintains a battle squadron in the Elestra system - formerly known as Alpha Centauri.

When the Antaran Empire was founded, one of the first decrees made by the first Emperor was to permanently place Old Earth - and the entirety of the Sol System - under Interdict. Travel to the system, or to the dead third world, became illegal. In his speech explaining the order, Emperor Lucco Fabrini said that Old Earth was a place of nightmares, of the evil shadows that should be a warning, but not an ever-present golem that terrorized the future of the Antaran race.

As of present date, the entire star system is under the Interdict and is avoided by the Antarans. Because the system is deep within largely unexplored territory, other races are unable to visit the system. Largely because of the history behind the world and its present condition, there are few who would be willing to visit a place so broken and so haunted.