Ataraxia

**Ataraxia** is a temperate world located in the Phero Ecumene, capital of the Ataraxis Prefecture. It is also homeworld to Ataraxic humanity, and a holy world in the Catechism Makharhyan. Its world-soul, **Athi**, is worshipped as the Makharhyan goddess of love and patron of humanity.

Ataraxia is the largest moon of **Ata'ash**, a gas giant in the Chi Praxis system.

## History

Ataraxia has been inhabited by humans since shortly after the species' initial appearance in the Aegis Cluster. Its earliest settlers consisted of three great tribes: the **Lydites** of the warm equator, the **Medeiites** of the cold south, and the **Cythides** of the temperate middle-north coastal lands. They are represented as the green, white, and gold fields, respectively, on Ataraxic flags throughout history.

### Greater Ataraxis (Premodern)

The **Kingdom of Greater Ataraxis** was a short-lived state which successfully threw off imperial rule for a two-century period, before being reconquered by the Aoshanti Empire.

### Greater Ataraxis (Early Modern)

    A more recent **Kingdom of Greater Ataraxis** existed between 5,046 and 6,612 PR. It ruled over the region which would become the modern Ataraxis Prefecture of the Ecumene, as well as much of what is now Zenosyne and Qungunshi.

The Kingdom regularly defended itself against raiding Tesar from early modern Karia and neighboring regions. By the 6,600s, these repeated conflicts left the Ataraxic military weakened and its treasury dry. In 6,610, the Despotate of Makhaira invaded Ataraxis, successfully conquering it after a two-year war.

The human hereditary monarchy of Ataraxis, addressed as His/Her Serene Highness, was held by the Katechiad dynasty, descendants of Katechon IV, after whom the planet of Katechon is named. The monarchy and majority of the Kingdom practiced a branch of Rhyanism known as **Galini Rhyanism**, named for its founding prophet, Galina of Sapph.

### Kingdom of Ataraxis (Modern)

Smaller than its predecessors, the most recent **Kingdom of Ataraxis** successfully broke away from its Aoshanti suzerains during the fragmentation of the Makhairan Empire, under the Xandriciad dynasty. It lasted from 10,594 to 11,232 PR.

Following the Fall of Makhaira in 10,828, Ataraxis and Tvolai both held contested claims on the Kingdom of Makhaira's former territories, leading to a prolonged cold war between the two as they built up regional defensive blocs.

#### Ataraxic Wars

In 11,160, the First Ataraxic War broke out between the Tvolai-lead Celerea Pact and the Ataraxis-lead Elegy League. This conflict would completely reshape the political dynamic of the region.

## Physical Characteristics

Ataraxia is a largely rural world, though most of its population lives in dense urban zones along the Fertile Coast and other shores of the Thalatria Ocean.

### Atmosphere & Hydrosphere

Ataraxia has a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, breathable by humans, Aoshanti, and similar species. Its hydrosphere is water-based.

#### Climate

Due to Ataraxia's status as a moon, and its highly elliptical orbit around Ata'ash, it effectively has a two-layer seasonal cycle. In its 28-day orbit around Ata'ash, 4 of those days are in total darkness (sometimes dubbed the "monthnight") and closest to the larger planet, often bringing frost, snowfall, extreme tides, and even volcanic activity. These effects are most prevalent in equatorial regions, leading to a strong preference for settling in temperate and subpolar zones.

### Continents

* **Vrilimaria** is Ataraxia's largest continent, containing the inland **Athic Sea**, **Vrilimar Desert**, and populous **Fertile Coast**.
* **Syrres**
* **Myndicea**
* **Parasmos** is a wide, thin continent largely just below Ataraxia's equator, and forms part of the **Paranirn-Medeia** supercontinent encircling the Neritas Ocean.
* **Nirnes** is a tall, thin continent attached to western Parasmos, separated by the tectonic plate and subcontinent of **Lydna**. It extents south to nearly the pole, before wrapping around into Medeia on the opposite side of the planet.
* **Medeia** is a large continent partially covered by the southern ice cap. It is attached to Nirnes through a large land bridge beneath the ice, save for a thin coast along the **Small Sea**.
* **Flori**
* **Elegio**
	+ **Avalglen** is a large island partially covered by Ataraxia's northern ice sheet.
* **Mytivala** is a continent substantially covered by Ataraxia's northern polar glaciers.
	+ **Icefell** is a microcontinent almost entirely encased beneath the northern ice sheet, save for the thin **Heltali Coast**. While separated from Mytivala by a mostly-frozen sea, it occupies the same tectonic plate. Ataraxia's north pole is located along Icefell's northern geological "coast," beneath the ice.
* **Ampergyroi** is a northern continent partially attached to the ice sheet.

## Culture

Ataraxia is one of the Ecumene's three major centers of human population and culture, alongside Muara and Xeribel. It is self-sustaining in most industries, with a commercial output that is primarily cultural and technological, similar to its Aoshanti-dominated sister world of Makhaira.

### Religion

> "*And Athi came to rest in the cradle of Humanity*"
>
> **- Catechism Makharhyan, I Chronology, Verse 86**
>
>

**Athi** is the patron of Ataraxic humanity, love, pursuit, ingenuity, and carnal desire. She is typically depicted as a human woman with short hair, a rose-colored toga, and a crown of flowers, carrying a fan and bolas. Some more recent depictions replace the fan with a gear.

The planet is also the headquarters of the Ataraxic Exarchate, one of the largest Makhairan Rhyanist organizations.

Two of the Makharhyan Miscellanea, the *Hyona Kassathi* and *Hyona Erotathi*, invoke Athi extensively in discussing romance and carnality, respectively.

Galini Rhyanism
Galini Rhyanism is still practiced by some Ataraxic humans.

### Romance Culture

Beyond its nature in the Makhairan Rhyanist pantheon, Ataraxia is often venerated as a secular romantic site for peoples of the Ecumene and beyond.

### Automata

Ataraxia and its surroundings are known for being the Ecumene's primary robotics and AI development hub, in part due to Ataraxic Humanity's long tradition of automata engineering.

## Related Bodies

Ata'ash
The gas giant host planet of Ataraxia, Ata'ash is sparsely inhabited by Tvolii, many of them operating sky-plantations which can readily feed other Tvolin populations in the surrounding prefecture.

Alciphron
Alciphron is a neighboring Ata'ashin moon, small and partly terraformed for human habitation.

Nikidon
Nikidon is a relatively distant but large fellow moon of Ata'ash, visible as a large red-brown point in the Ataraxic night sky. It is an arid world with a thin, almost universally toxic atmosphere, though a small outpost exists on its surface.

Diogene
Diogene is the third-largest moon of Ata'ash, after Ataraxia and Nikidon. Due to orbiting in reverse of Ata'ash's rotation, it is believed to be a captured dwarf planet. Bright and visible by night due to its water-ice surface, it "bleeds" a trail of ice and dust ejected by its many cryovolcanoes, largely attributed to the intense tidal forces acting on it. Larger ejections annually fall into Ataraxia's atmosphere, causing the Diogenean Meteor Shower.

## Trivia

* Ataraxia is partly inspired by Greece at multiple points in history. Ataraxic human characters tend to use Greek, Cypriot, and related names.