Ashlar

Ashlar is the planet where the Oberon crash-landed. The planet is in a galaxy beyond the Crab Nebula. The planet has five moons.

One billion years ago, comets bombarded Ashlar, causing great pain to the dominant life-form - the 'Great Nest', a species of brachiopods controlled by a insectile hive-mind known as 'The Core'. This left the planet covered in massive craters that, over time, formed mountainous valleys.

Legend has it that the planet was settled by a group of apes, humans and horses who came from the stars in a 'Great Migration' aboard the spaceship Wadza, led by the human David and the ape Semos. They limited the use of technology on the planet in order to ensure the peaceful co-existence between the species that had failed on their home planet. One faction among the group rebelled and were exiled into space on the Wadza, doomed to wander in and out of time via a worm-hole near the planet. They were known as 'The Guardians', and were able to monitor developments on the planet's surface. Originally wooded, Ashlar became largely deforested as the population grew. A valley was inhabited by reptiles of varying shapes and sizes, from piranha-like water lizards to pterosaur-like flying reptiles to dinosaurs. Sentient anthropomorphic reptiles ruled the valley, using the dinosaurs as pack animals.

3000 years later, the dominant political unit on Ashlar was the Empire of Derkein, controlled by apes who had rejected the founding principles of co-existence. Derkein was originally a republic, founded by mythical twin chimps who were suckled by the human Tara, the patron goddess of Derkein, yet (like the role of the wolf in ancient Rome) humans have became a hunted animal in Derkein, often used as slaves and gladiators. The Ramula Rebellion turned the republic into an empire. Bordering Derkein were the desert of Og, the river Gamesh and the land of Cham, where hermits, sorcerers and outcasts eked out an existence. Beyond these areas was the Republic of Garuda, whose ape and human population preserved the old faith and believed that the founders of their civilisation would return some day. South of Derkien, across the river Liffey, was the Confederation of Clonfert, a loose alliance of barbarian human tribes who also revered the mythical founders. The people of Clonfert were the sworn enemies of Derkein, while Garuda aimed to avoid any conflict with Derkein, yet provided shelter for its escaped humans. An Empire of Kronos also threatened Derkein, but little was known about it. All other territories on the planet paid homage to the Derkein Empire.

Derkein was ruled by Mithras, an ape whose good intentions were corrupted by power. His son Migal was killed in an ambush by the humans of Clonfert, and Mithras disappeared while trying to recover Migal's body. While the Senate deliberated on how and by whom Derkein should be ruled, Thade led an invasion across the Liffey and attacked the humans of Clonfert, during which the space-pod carrying Leo Davidson crashed to the planet. Leo was captured, along with human leader Kirubi, whose brother Nica had betrayed him to Derkein. With this victory, Thade became the undisputed leader of Derkein and hoped to cement a political alliance by marrying Ari. During an escape from Derkein, Leo encountered the savage dragon-like 'Glurks', before allowing the human tribes to believe that he was the returned mythical 'David'.

Other inhabitants on the planet included giant glow worms and beetles which feasted on each other in a labyrinth of underground caverns. The beetles immobilized their prey hypnotically, and then sucked out their life-force.

Notes

• The name of the planet appears in William Broyles' initial treatment for the film, where it is explained that the word comes from the geological process of hardening marble. The planet was settled in ancient times by colonists led by the humans Moses and Daena and the apes Abraham and Zophie.
• Writers Ian Edginton and Dan Abnett had planned to feature a sentient humanoid race in Dark Horse Planet of the Apes comics after issue 6. They were to be similar to the mutants from the original film franchise.