The southernmost inhabited island on Jaladri, Hoshimi*, is the second largest in the archipelago. It also contains the 2nd largest city, Port Worden, which is the only major city on the planet to be powered exclusively by geothermal energy and steam. The Cinder Caldera refers to a massive volcano bearing the same name as the island, 10 miles outside of the city. Prehistoric eruptions formed the majority of the landmass of Hoshimi, the rest of course being the remnants of the massive crater that composes the entire archipelago.

* Hoshi in Japanese means 'star' and mi is 'looking' in English, so Hoshimi means 'Looking at stars'

Hoshimi has been called "Hawaiian Iceland" by those with memories of Earth. It boasts over 32 volcanoes.

The island is large and active lava flows cover substantial amounts of terrain. This process has formed a microclimate where thick rainforests full of tropical plants, mosses, ferns, and very deep lakes and ponds reside in an area that barely ever crests 20 degrees (68f) and can get cold enough to snow and form ice in some areas.

There are ample natural hot springs, most of them unfit for humans. Most of the beaches are covered in glass sand, black sand, and trillions of micro-sized Hoshimi Rubies that gleam amber and coral. Cloudy Obsidian spires and ancient lava fields take up another large portion of landmass.

Rushing Green is First Landing era terminology for the way the rainforests cut in and out of the landscape due to ancient lava fields and active lava flows.

Jaladri's days are 28 hours long. Due to the planet's axis, the binary sun system gives the planet very long sunsets and sunrises. Hoshimi is so far in the southern hemisphere that they last seven hours or more. During the Dark Seasons one can begin and end their workday during the same sunrise or sunset.

Due to the high amount of volcanic aerosols reaching the stratosphere around the island, the light is often purple hued from soft lilac to deep ultraviolet for large portions of the day. This contrasts the lush teal and evergreen rainforests and coral-orange hills of Dusk Clay.

A very large river flows from natural watersheds in the center of Hoshimi. Ikan Raja Haring, or The Ikan River. Named after the Indonesian word for Oarfish, the river is incredibly crystal clear, resembling a flashing Oarfish reflecting the sun in shallow water. There is a waterfall up in the mountains, Presh Falls, where an entrance to a vast underground cave system was discovered.

The river splits here, while the Ikan continues above-ground, a smaller sister river, The Lower Path, continues underground, feeding hundreds of small creeks and miniature waterfalls.

The cave network covers dozens of square miles and hosts several sites where ancient ruins have been discovered.

Shortly after exploration began, the caves were closed due to "Imminent Mortal Danger". While JLA did not classify or suppress the cause, fabricated unstable seismic readings were what the public heard about.

All municipal transit on Hoshimi is pneumatic with electronic supplement. The only reason subterranean lines are allowed on this single island is because there is such vast amounts of pure lava field to bore through that it does not interrupt any ecosystems and has minimal impact on the environment both in construction and maintenance.

There are less cars per train, and smaller capacities throughout, but the speed makes up for it. Part of this compromise is that your wait times may be longer.

Stations in Port Worden are known for their brutalist design and avant-garde sculptures. The entire city feels a bit strange…

Active, perpetual lava flows lace the entire island, they move through the city of Port Worden in 7 channels. Rather than redirect these flows, they were temporarily damned and rerouted while construction of energy-harnessing canals was completed.

Local streams and water channels are sparingly siphoned to feed water through the canals to generate steam power, while radiant cores inside the canal harness the sheer energy found in the heat. They were fitted with lids and at a certain point downtown, there is a viewing hall where you can go "underwater" and watch it flow around you.

Almost the entirety of the network through the city is covered by expansive green houses and public parks.

Maintenance on these facilities is an arduous task. If you were to imagine an F1 pit crew paired with a team of smoke jumpers, you might be able to approximate the type of job it is, and the skills required.

"Religion"

The majority of the south facing coastline of Hoshimi is inundated by a vast city-like deposit of columnar basalt. Spanning hundreds of square kilometers, the entire coast is a protected Sacred Planet site. It is often visited by Pilgrims of Mind, which is the closest thing to a religion you might find on the entire planet.

Religion faded away quickly after the great war. After a tumultuous decade, nature and mindfulness were the only things to remain. Which have no services or rules, just followers.

Superstition is still rampant across the explored galaxy, and far stranger things have been discovered than have ever been imagined.

Hoshimi's location makes it susceptible to geomagnetic interference caused by micro CME events originating from the smaller low mass star that is Jaladri's second sun. While rarely not on levels like Earth's Carrington Event, all electronics must be in Grounding Bags or Zap Plating at all times. This makes everyday handheld devices, and everything else, much bulkier. "It feels like the 80s on Hoshimi ''. All Public Call Stations (PCS) on Hoshimi resemble tiny bunkers, protecting the electronic equipment inside.

Batteries power everything mobile, and the ones used on Hoshimi are of the gel variety. Innate biological gel, similar to the aloe plant, and of the same variety used in bio solar panels. The gel protects both the energy contained, and all necessary circuitry from geomagnetic interference.

The issue presented here is that the gel loses stability in high temperatures, so crews working underground or near canals have to bring high power solar blocks to use comms. A solid state battery that is unfortunately made of prohibited substances is only permitted for certain usage. Better known by its nickname, yellow boxes are essential to the industrial and energy workers of Hoshimi.

If there were a city on Jaladri known for being seedy or shady, it would be Port Worden. Violent crime is rare on-world, with vandalism and property damage being the most prevalent. Graffiti and accidents are second.

Everything on Jaladri is absolutely sustainable…on the books. It would not be a human world if there weren't those seeking to profit and gain power over others for some reason or another. People with enough money to get clearance to move to Jaladri from Earth as civilians usually end up in Port Worden. It's the easiest place to get Earth Contraband, and people love their vices. By no means is it a "Sin City" but it is most assuredly the city with a broader moral compass. It's still a place where you would not want for food, water, shelter, clothes, or any other necessity.

With a civilian and industrial port almost rivaling New Cascade, Port Worden sees a lot of daily traffic. They also have more lax security measures. Intriguing.

If you want to move contraband on or off-world without using a covert drop team on the other side of the planet in the middle of the ocean, you will ship to Port Worden, and it will cost you on both ends of the trip.

Geothermal Solutions (GS) is the firm in charge of all power generation on Hoshimi. They are also the chief research group for the island.

Firms are all part of the Jaladri Trust Conglomerate. The need for currency (not to be confused with personal credit) is gone, but control of resources is not, it's now the only form of trade.

Companies that wish to establish themselves on Jaladri need to meet 3 criteria:

1. Obey all off-world laws, rules, and regulations regarding conduct, commerce, and import/export as well as abiding all regional laws for local operations.

2. Sign the charter of the Jaladri Trust Conglomerate (JTC) and Register with Jaladri Leadership Authority (JLA) .

3. Obey all allocations of resources and co-fund all public service requirements Earthside.

All operations on Jaladri must strictly comply with established Environmental Protection Laws.

18 km down in the caves beneath the Ikan river, advance survey teams working for GS were setting up a monitoring beacon. This was their current record depth. Transit time was 58 hours. These old lava tubes do not contain water other than the remnants of The Lower Path.

Full Hazard Armor with Thermal Heatsink Plating are required at all times outside the vehicles to maintain a pressurized environment. Scrubbers and cyclers provide adequate air to breath. The teams use hyper-agile Tread Walkers to navigate the elevation drops and tight squeezes.

A companion demolition team analyze the blockage and make minimal adjustments to fit the crew through the passages. A modified Cargo Fork also accompanies the demo team—its sole purpose is transporting emergency power and the equipment for breathable air.

Just past 18.084km in depth, all power, including backups and emergency auxiliary failed for 5 minutes. Within the void, the crew was trained not to panic, by the time they got to on board gel lamps and air tanks, everything switched back on.

Immediately the radio came alive with gurgling static followed by one word. "visitors". This is corroborated by every team member in every vehicle, the digital and analog audio backup, as well as transcript data. The only comms possible at the time aside from their local channel between vehicles were through mesh lines and were not achievable via the radio. Portable computer only.

The team were then to check in with surface ops—two hours from their last known location, where they had indicated reaching target depth for the beacon placement. When they connected with surface ops, the marshall on the phone sounded extremely relieved. He questioned what had been happening for the last 12 hours. The team collectively lost 10 hours together. 11 different people in 4 different vehicles. All they remember is losing power for 5 minutes and scrambling for emergency supplies. The main issue aside from lost time was that without emergency aux power they would have all suffocated in minutes.

After examination the whole team was deemed healthy. No excessive radiation or anything suspicious. All of their equipment was completely untouched and functioning properly.

Due to the depth and the difficulty getting there, further exploration has been abandoned for the time being. The beacon is still transmitting and functioning to this day….