Okus

Colony World in Quadrant 7

Up until 3220 Okus had never progressed much beyond Just Settled status. Despite its proximity to Quadrant 0 and its good fortune in escaping the ravages of the Exterminator War, the world seems to have had real problems surviving economically. The last group of settlers, however, seemed to be starting to make progress when they encountered an unprecedented environmental phenomenon late in 3221.

The Shimmer

Discovered by mining survey teams, a small region of the planet had started to display unusual characteristics, including some sort of biological field that caused a visible 'shimmer' in the air. Inside the zone life was being altered in alien and unpredictable ways.
Worse still, anyone who entered the zome became changed too. Nearly everyone who went in and managed to come out in those early days became quickly insane and committed suicide. Those that didn;t come out were never seen or heard of again.
This biological field effect grew over the months, spreading to a large proportion of the planet's surface. As it grew it became stronger - to the point that nothing that entered remained unchanged long enough to leave again. Even drones and robots became 'altered' apparently becoming organic entities as well (though scientific opions differ on this).

Quarantine & Isolation

By early 3221 it became abundantly clear that the world had to be abandoned, and the colonists left. Scientific expeditions from the Wolf359 Commonwealth and the Venerian Republic were unable to learn much more than entering the field was a one-way trip, and it was becoming impossible to extract meaningful data from studies of the effect. It became clear that visitors would be putting themselves in grave danger and the world has now been quarantined permanently. (Though it should be noted that this 'quarantine' is purely voluntary and has not been enforced by treaty).

The Future

By the end of 3223 the entire planet was covered by the effect, up to the upper atmosphere, and the field was still expanding. Such measurements as could be made have determined the effect, if it continues expanding at its current rate will reach the M25 of the Okus system in between 1 and 2 million years time.