Many Arks brought belief in their gods with them but, on Ilyos, the gods were right there or, at least, evidence that they had once been. 

​

Giant, cyclopean statues of the Olympic Pantheon were found scattered across the planet together with great, temple-like dwellings on a mountain so high it could only be Olympos itself.

​

Yet of Zeus and his family, there was no sign. In fact, the planet was discovered devoid of any kind of life at all, at least on a multicellular level. Microscopic life existed, in great profusion and variety. Later explorations found bones and evidence of animals similar to either those found on Gaia or in legend but of them, too, there was no trace. 

​

There were no signs of an apocalypse, no disaster on even a local scale could be evidenced. Nothing, like the crazed tales of sailors who raved of empty ships with no sign or crew, the population of the planet has simply espied into nothingness!

​

In the absence of animal life, the population turned first into using the Ark's seedbank to turn extensive tracts of land toward agriculture before discovering the nutrional and damn near miraculous qualities of some of the remaining unicellular lifeforms.

​

When added to their growing crops, the most abundant bacterium, soon to be named abrosarium vastly improved the crops and not only increased the size of the fruits, grains, and vegetables so produced by the taste and nutritional value. Added to this, seeds and tubers matured to harvest in a fraction of the time.

​

Of course, the population of Ilyos expanded very quickly with such an abundance of food and soon the empty cities were filled with nopbody really wanting to ask what had happened to the previous occupants thereof. 

​

Today, Ilyos is a thriving agricultural community with centres of learning to rival even those of Gaia. Such unending plenty has allowed Ilyans to devote more and more time to what they call "The Higher Persuits" of philosophy, learning, and science. Ilyan literature, poetry, and technology is considered some of the finest in The Empyraeum.

​

Their fruits and wines are considered without compare anywhere in the galaxy