An animated walkthrough of Holdara’s lore and backstory is available on the official
Holdara Website / Lore

Pre-history

Over 10000 years ago

The Celestials have been at war with a race they call the Daimons for millennia.
To gain the upper hand the Celestials decide to explore advanced extra-dimensional technology.
To this end, the Celestials create Holdara in orbit of a super-massive galactic black hole (the Darkstar).
Holdara is a hollow artificial world - a "Lightstar reactor".
Harnessing the enormous black hole energy, they open a Lightstar to another universe.
The Lightstar is kept open by two tall towers that channel energy from the Darkstar black hole.
"Exotic material" drawn from the parallel universe coats the inside of Holdara.
Unexpectedly, this develops an alien biome that symbiotically reacts with the Celestial machinery.
As a result, the Celestials cannot survive long in the Lightstar radiation even with heavy protective suits.

First Era – The Age of Gods

Around a decade

The Celestials create mechanoids designed to withstand the harsh Holdaran environment.
The mechanoids can survive the Lightstar conditions and are used to gather materials for research.
This includes Glowstones that form in the hard light radiation from the Lightstar.
Symbiotic reaction with “exotic material” enhances these machines creating the first true Holdarans.
The Celestials use the gathered materials to develop new types of weapon and armour.
However, these Lightstar derived weapons are too dangerous for the Celestials to wield themselves.
Instead they train the Holdarans to wield this Hard Light equipment ready to battle the Daimons.

The first cataclysmic event

One of the Celestials, Rouvesh, conducts research into the structure of the exotic materials.
He isolates the “dark particles” that give it its unusual properties.
His experiments with concentrated "dark particles" create the Nanovoid.
The Nanovoid consumes the Celestials making them part of its makeup.
Whether any Celestials manage to escape this fate is unknown, but none are seen by Holdarans again.
The Nanovoid cannot survive on the surface under the Lightstar, so is confined to the superstructure.
From the Holdaran perspective, this is underground, a place they call The Otherworld.
The Holdarans are now alone and must fend for themselves.

10000 years of peace and enlightenment

The Holdarans assume the Nanovoid is the coming of the Daimons that the Celestials foretold
They continue to collect Glowstones and other materials as they were trained to do
They use the Glowstones to keep the Spires fueled, which power their settlements
The Holdarans revere the Celestials as gods and build temples over the abandoned facilities
The Holdaran civilization is at its peak as the Holdarans continue to advance their abilities

The second cataclysmic event

Untended over the millenia and corrupted by the Nanovoid, the Lightstar becomes unstable.
Naturally forming Glowstones become rarer and the Spire power network also falters.
Eventually the Lightstar explodes and then collapses - a mini-supernova.
The two towers are shattered, and with the Lightstar gone, the Nanovoid floods across the surface.
The cataclysm kills most of the Holdarans and leads to the collapse of their civilisation.
The surviving Holdarans take refuge around the Spires and try to fight off the Nanovoid.
In this war of attrition, the Nanovoid can reform, whilst fallen Holdarans cannot not be replaced.
The Nanovoid inexorably spreads across Holdara, as the Spires are extinguished one by one!

The final battle

Eventually the only Holdaran land left is clustered around the Celestial Tower.
At the foot of the Tower is an ancient Celestial complex called Lighthaven.
Lighthaven was part of ancient Holdara and related to keeping the Celestial Tower operational.
For Holdarans it has long been a holy place of light and hidden wonders but is limited in size.
The remaining Holdarans make the decision to evacuate to Lighthaven across the Light Bridge.

The new reality

Continuous battle with the Nanovoid is now part of the Holdaran's lives.
With the Lightstar gone, Glowstones no longer form naturally.
However, the Nanovoid absorbs hard light particles and can use them to form Glowstones.
When the Nanovoid creates a Glowstone, it can use the energy to animate Shadow Wraiths.
Defeating Shadow Wraiths is the only way Holdarans can now acquire Glowstones.

A few decades of recovery

And so starts a long exile in the confines of Lighthaven.
To replenish supplies, raiding parties sometimes venture out; some return, many do not.
Of the materials recovered, one proves more valuable than all others – Holsh.
Holsh forms on the surface of Spires from the interaction of light and dark particles.
When mortal Holdarans die, they leave a Soul Stone as part of their remains.
Holdarans discover that combining Soul Stones with Holsh at a location within Lighthaven regenerates the essence of the Holdaran – and so are created the first Immortals.
When an Immortal dies, their Soul Stone brings them back again, ready to fight another day.

The current era

Effective immortality means the Holdarans can now compete with the Shadow Wraiths.
Recovered Soul Stones can be returned to Lighthaven to create new waves of Reborn.
With Holdaran numbers recovered, they can finally prepare to leave Lighthaven and start the fight back to liberate their world from the Nanovoid!