Io is the smallest and closest of the Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and the primary source of food production for The Rim with its large farming colonies. Before the Red Rising saga, Io subsisted mainly by trading with the Core of the Society.
“This moon is a hateful little horror, but through ingenuity, through will, we made it ours.” -- Romulus au Raa[1]
Composition[]
Io is slightly larger than Luna and has two vastly different climates.
The entire Jupiter-facing surface of Io is volatile and dry. Beneath the moon’s pulse fields are huge orange and yellow sulfur-laced sand dunes and giant cliffs and ridges made of silicate rock that reach to the steel blue sky. Beyond the terraforming zones are great lakes of magma, explosive volcanoes, and The Sulfur Sea that stretches from pole to pole.[2] The moon also has animals carved into the mountainside and is home to "the bleeding place".
Io has a total of four hundred volcanoes on its surface.[3]
The Anti-Jupiter side of Io is covered in sulfur dioxide snow fields. We know that this side is populated, because when Darrow came to the Rim to negotiate with Romulus au Raa, he had expected their meeting to take place on the Io’s freezing side.[2]
Climate[]
Io is the driest object in the solar system, with 3600 rems of radiation bombarding it daily.[4] On the Jupiter-facing side, temperatures can reach 120 degrees Celsius. The planet is heated from interior tidal heating.[2]
The Anti-Jupiter side theoretically has extreme freezing temperatures.[2]
Ecology[]
Covering millions of acres along Io’s equator, the Societal Engineering Corp designed an vibrant agriculture system that uses the massive interior heat of the moon to power generators for crop production.[2] This system, known as Demeter's Garter, is responsible for producing over sixty percent of all food in the entire Rim,[5] since many of the colder moons of the gas giants are unable to produce enough energy to run a system to feed so many.[2]
"[Io's] a farm deck, with the biggest bread basket between Mars and Uranus. With easy gravity and cheap land.” —Darrow[2]
Culture[]
Airdancers[]
Over the Waste of Karrack, charged particles flowing off Jupiter form tentacle-shaped auroras of light that stain the frozen sulfur crystals mutating shades of violet, cerulean, and green. Daring young Blues called Airdancers from the cities of Darkfall and Nightmourn use homemade Dedalian wings to sail those auroras.[6]
History[]
Background[]
The terraforming of Io began late in the first century of the Post Conquering Era under the leadership of Akari au Raa, who constructed the city of Sungrave using orbital lasers and his household's Red miners. Since then, the office of ArchGovernor has consistently been occupied by Golds of House Raa, while Io's agricultural production has made it a critical hub of the Rim's infrastructure.
The Second Moon Lord Rebellion[]
In March 742 PCE, ArchGovernor Revus au Raa was assassinated at Darrow's Triumph in Agea alongside his granddaughter Thesalia. His eldest son Romulus succeeded him as ArchGovernor, and led a coalition of Moon Lords to rebel against the Society and declare their independence. Romulus was quickly elected as the Rim's new Sovereign, resulting in Io becoming the capital of the Rim Dominion as the Second Moon Lord Rebellion began.
By March 743 PCE, Io was one of the last holdouts of the rebellion after the rest of Jupiter's moons were captured by Roque au Fabii and the Sword Armada over the course of ten months.[7] In August of that year, Darrow O'Lykos and The Rising arrived to crush the Sword Armada, and formed an alliance with Romulus and the Moon Lords by helping the Rim achieve its full independence from the Core.[1]
Locations[]
Notable regions and cities[]
Nesos - the capital city of Io at the time of the Second Moon Lord Rebellion.[2]
The Institute of Io - near Io's North Pole
A Waygar settlement - where Sevro spotted Red workers over a ridge in the dunes[8]
The Yellow Sea of Io - inside the terraformed pulse shields, in the sand dunes[8]
The Sulfur Sea - outside of the pulse shields, covering most of the moon’s surface[8]
Demeter's Garter - a belt of farmland that encircles the moon and is responsible for growing crops for the Rim.
Plutus - The administrative center of the Garter, located just south of Nesos.
Sungrave - Io's most famous city, located southwest of Plutus. Replaced Nesos as the capital city by 753 PCE. [9]
The Wastes of Karrack - the region in which Romulus au Raa has a private home.[8]
The Wastes of Naramoor - a region on the anti-Jupiter side of Io, located southeast of Sungrave and east of the Wastes of Karrack.
Nightmourn - a city southwest of Sungrave on the edge of the Wastes of Karrack.
Darkfall - a city near Nightmourn on the edge of the Wastes of Karrack, famous for its orators, sopranists, and philosophy.
Notable buildings mentioned[]
A private home of Romulus au Raa[8]
The Dragon Tomb - the final resting place of Akari au Raa.
The House of Bounty - the main administrative and government building in Plutus.
Maps[]
The Jupiter-facing side of Io in Light Bringer, (c) Joel Daniel Phillips
Trivia[]
- There are 8,000 Peerless Scarred between the four Galilean moons.[2]
- Sevro’s comment about Io that “The whole place smells like farts.”[2] is more than just his typical petulant attitude. Due to the amount of sulfur on the moon, Io would have a strong odor, making Sevro's statement an accurate scientific assessment!
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Morning Star - chapter 41
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Morning Star - chapter 40
- ↑ Light Bringer - chapter 50
- ↑ Iron Gold - chapter 22
- ↑ Light Bringer - chapter 42
- ↑ Light Bringer - chapter 51
- ↑ Morning Star - chapter 10
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Morning Star - chapter 40
- ↑ Iron Gold, Chapter 61