Astragalus astracantha

Astragalus astracantha, commonly known as star-thorn, is low, stoloniferous shrub of the legume family Fabaceae. Its runners stretch for kilometers beneath the surface of the sand, concealing thorns as long as a Human forearm. It is pollinated by migration of the large, shaggy boötha, and there is also evidence to suggest it has a symbiotic relationship with the massive swarms of carnivorous sandfleas that plague its habitat.

Utilization of A. astracantha was key to the development of the Meek civilization, as the plant provides a number of useful materials and substances. Its thorns are hard and strong enough to be used for tool and weapon construction, and the plant exudes a sap which hardens into gum astracanth, which has a myriad of culinary, material, medical, and spiritual uses.

It has also awakened the latent psionic tendencies of humans and revolutionized space travel.

Before the psionic properties of A. astracantha were discovered, interstellar drives were crude affairs that relied on primitive ‘bending’ the space-time continuum. Star-thorn allows a cosmogator to pierce the very fabric of reality.

Unfortunately, it only grows in one place in the entire universe: Arið, the desertified planet better known as Sere. It was once covered in deep oceans, but large-scale desertification turned the world into a desolate wasteland. Yet as inhospitable as the planet is, it is also the center of a vast interstellar conflict where a multitude of alien species vie for control of the planet’s primary commodity.