Aether

Aether is a habitable planet in the Metroid universe and the setting of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Aether is a rogue planet in the Dasha region of space. It is the home of the insectoid Luminoth race.

History
Fifty years before the events of Metroid Prime 2, a Leviathan from planet Phaaze crashed into Aether with unusual force, destroying the planet's natural beauty and bringing with it pure darkness in the form of the Ing Horde, and their home, the alternate dimension of Dark Aether. The exact details of the event and how the Dark dimension was created are still unclear; however, it is believed that the Leviathan's wormhole-creating abilities coupled with the tremendous power of Phazon are somehow to blame for the creation of Dark Aether. The meteor was transported to Dark Aether before impact, causing the crater which scarred a whole face of the planet. Despite there being no sign of the meteor or its mark, Aether itself still felt the force of its impact and bore the signs of desecration.

Since splitting with Dark Aether, the planet became plagued with violent electrical storms in its atmosphere and purple clouds, a direct result of the battle for dominance between the two dimensional planes. In addition to creating Dark Aether, the impact left Aether mostly rocky and barren, ruining what had once been a beautiful landscape. A few weeks after the impact, when the Luminoth race which dwelled there eventually emerged from their shelters to see what happened to the planet, they discovered that the meteor was nowhere to be found. The Luminoth then realised the extent of the meteor's consequences, and a war with the Ing that would last decades began. The planet was eventually restored to light by Samus Aran when she visited the planet on a rescue mission of a Galactic Federation squad lost on the planet, near the war's end. Areas of Aether include the Temple Grounds, the Great Temple, Agon Wastes, Torvus Bog, and the Sanctuary Fortress.

Temple Grounds
The area Samus Aran makes planet fall on. In the game, the Temple Grounds acts as an overworld-type area, linking all of the other areas. It's the area surrounding the Luminoth-built Great Temple.

Great Temple
The Great Temple is the last refuge of the Luminoth and houses the last of the Luminoth placed under stasis sleep and guarded by the sentinel of the Great Temple, U-Mos.

Agon Wastes
The barren desert area of Aether. Before the event the Luminoth refer to as the Cataclysm, the Agon Wastes was a lush green field of grass, named the Agon Plains. This area was occupied by the Space Pirates and turned into a research and mining outpost where they harvested Phazon and conducted experiments on the native life-forms. This is also the area where Samus fights Dark Samus for the first time.

Torvus Bog
This forest area of Aether has turned into a rotting bog after the Cataclysm. It is home to many dangerous creatures, such as the dreaded Grenchlers. The Torvus Bog is divided into two areas: The upper Torvus and the lower Torvus. The Upper Torvus is the Bog area and The Lower Torvus is the temple built by the Luminoth, which was later completely flooded with water.

Sanctuary Fortress
A giant fortress building built by the Luminoth to be the ultimate sanctuary for the Luminoth population. Filled with independent mechanisms and sentry androids, it is a very dangerous area. The Sanctuary Fortress also contains parts of an unassembled Quadraxis, a fully assembled model being taken by the Ing during the war. In Dark Aether, the Ing have claimed the fortress as their "Hive" and have re-built and possessed most of the machines from Light Aether.

Species
Below is a list of various creatures native to Aether. The Ing, their various possessed Darklings and any creatures originating from off-world are not included.
 * Luminoth
 * Blogg
 * Bloggling
 * Alpha Blogg
 * Sandigger
 * Alpha Sandigger
 * Splinter
 * Worker Splinter
 * Alpha Splinter
 * Brizgee
 * Kralee
 * Grenchler
 * Krocuss
 * Seedburster
 * Shredder
 * Shrieker
 * Sporb
 * Aether War Wasp