Proxima Twilight

Thousands of years ago, when the Toba were early in their scientific development, Proxima Twilight was the last moon in their planetary system they discovered… and it’s not surprising it was so hard to pick out against the stars with their primitive telescopes - its apogee takes it the furthest from Jivla, one of the two planets in the system.

Later, when the Toba began sending out robotic probes and autonomous landers, Proxima Twilight became even more of a mystery: it was far from the warmth of their star, and yet it was a warm moon. Apparently, the heat came from the hot core of the moon, but how? Shouldn’t Proxima Twilight have frozen solid over billions of years out in the icy far reaches of the system?

Toba scientists slowly solved the mystery. Over the centuries, further research showed Proxima Twilight was once a hot, geologically active moon spinning around a long ago destroyed third planet in close orbit with Aluza. The close orbit meant strong tidal forces twisted and pulled on the crust of Proxima Twilight, keeping the interior of the moon liquid, and birthing hundreds of volcanoes spewing sulfur compounds and other strange chemicals into the atmosphere.

Mathematical models show the moon was catapulted from its orbit when the doomed planet had a chance encounter with a large asteroid wandering through the galaxy. The asteroid destroyed the planet and flung it’s moons across the system with Proxima Twilight being captured by Jivla. The massive explosion left its mark in dozens of other small perturbations in orbits of planets, moons, and asteroids in the Aluza system but had the largest effect on Proxima Twilight. The moon entered very expanded elliptical orbit around Jivla and spends most of its orbit far from Aluza. The moon eventually cooled. Liquid rock solidified into crust, volcanoes quieted, super-heated steam condensed, fell to ground, and was shot skyward again in newly formed hot springs.

The result is a very odd environment: the stars in the sky are clear and distant in the perpetual twilight, strange aurora dance in the rich chemicals of the upper atmosphere, and yet the land itself is warm and habitable.

The Chemical Pool is full of strange liquids. Do they condense out of the atmosphere, fill the pool, and leak down through cracks in the rocks to the volcanic depths below? Or is it the opposite process where the liquid chemicals bubble up from below, gather in the pool, and then evaporate and help form the strange shimmering aurora mists overhead? Whichever way the cycle runs, the results are astounding - multiple pools full of thick, shimmering iridescent fluids, glowing with an internal light. Fields of saturated red are interrupted by thick slow-moving bubbles of cobalt. Vermillion swirls twine with green copper tracery. Like a stained-glass window - but ever changing! - the Chemical Pool can capture an onlooker’s attention. …but Rocket Dogs have no time for that! Skip across the chemical pool by jumping from rock to rock or go the long way around the edge - the race must go on!

The Chemical Volcano isn’t unique - there are thousands just like it all across the surface of Proxima Twilight - but it is still extraordinary. From deep inside Proxima Twilight strange compounds, generated early in the history of the Aluza system, bubble to the surface.

The mouth of the chemical volcano bubbles and spits, but the exact form of the ejecta changes over time. Depending on the tides that twist and pull the moon, at any given moment the caldera may ooze molten rock, eject near boiling streams of water, or hiss plumes of strange chemicals which swirl and twist as they rise into the aurora-filled sky.

Around the base of the volcano are strange multicolored pools, fed by the mineral rich waters that cascade down the volcano’s slope, and which deposit bright chemical glazes on everything they touch.

Skyfall is the north pole of Proxima Twilight and is the region of the moon where the glowing and writhing purple, green, red, and gold auroras that fill the skies of Proxima Twilight plunge to the ground.

As the aurora bend downwards and arc to the ground, they illuminate everything below with ever-changing, shimmering lights, which in turn cast strange multi-colored shadows. Any Rocket Dog racing through Skyfall will throw multiple shadows - green, yellow, purple, and stranger colors.

Where the aurora touches the moss-covered rocks of Skyfall strange flowers bloom, no two alike. Neither the aurora nor the flowers have any effect on Rocket Dogs - but if a dog is sufficiently far ahead in the race, there will be a strong temptation to stop and enjoy the natural wonders here, if only for a moment.