The recolonization of Zarlethihk, in the heart of the old Almnetic Empire, is one of the great lasting achievements of the Returners. The initial landing parties, though unversed in worldmind contact, found the planet’s pervasive and complex fungal infestation oddly comforting, and rather than sterilizing it, they chose to dwell in its vaults and spires. This fateful decision would in time lead to the flourishing of a peaceful and artistic culture that combined the resourcefulness of the Hands Alive movement with the ubiquitous Reconciliation of the Greenlings.

Zarlethihker poets, believing their new settlement to be the utopia prophesied in B’shin’s Quiet Star verses, produced an enormous body of captivating if derivative memetics, while xenomathematicians, inspired by the unique architecture of their planet’s fungal networks, pushed the field of exogeometry to new heights. The Zarlethihk Hyphae, though initially hampered by lack of corporate sponsorship, went on to win several championships.

—Thucydides Plutonium