Solar System · cloud cities
Venus
Never touch the ground. Never, ever touch the ground.
The surface of Venus is a crushing, scorching furnace. But about 50 km up, the air is mild and the pressure feels like home, so that is where people live: in floating cities held aloft by giant balloons.
Venus is the Solar System's greenhouse and party capital, famous for its sky gardens, golden sunsets that last for hours and the slow, swaying drift of whole cities on the wind.
Each cloud city is a cluster of domes under huge balloons filled with ordinary breathable air, which floats on Venus's heavy atmosphere.
Atmosphere
Golden haze, warm wind, cities swaying gently on the breeze.
Local quirk
Dropping something is a big deal. It is gone forever.
Regions · proposed names, not locked canon
Aphrodite Drift
The largest cloud city, a cluster of domes and gardens hanging under a ring of balloons.
The Acid Deck
The lower edge of the cloud layer, where only sealed drones go.
Maxwell Heights
Venus's highest mountains, far below, visited only by very brave robots.
Hazards
- ▲Acid cloudsLower clouds full of sulphuric acid that eat through anything unsealed.
- ▲Crushing surface pressureAbout 90 times Earth's, and hot enough to melt lead.
- ▲Balloon leaksRare, slow and very stressful.
Visitor tips
- ✦Never go below the Acid Deck.
- ✦Tie everything down.
- ✦Book sunset dinner early.
Local life
- ●Cloud-city citizens
- ●Sky farmers
A day on Venus
Mornings start with sky-gardeners tending vines that hang off the city edges.
Evenings are for watching the slow golden sunset, which lasts so long people book dinner around it.
Locals & customs
Mayor Celestine Vau
Runs Aphrodite Drift with charm and a very loud voice.
Pip
A sky-farm kid who has never touched solid ground and thinks it sounds disgusting.
- ◆Never shout 'drop it' at a party.
- ◆New arrivals tie a ribbon to the city railings for luck.
Legends & history
The Ground Below
Children are told that something lives down on the burning surface, and it waves at cities passing overhead.
Drones have recorded strange shapes down there. They are probably rocks.
Crew log
“Balloons. Lovely. Stable. Nothing could possibly go wrong.”
“Stop poking the balloon.”
Story seed · in development
Going Down
A cloud city starts slowly sinking. Zamfyr is sure it's sabotage. Onobo finds a very small hole and a very large bird.
The bird is a stowaway from Earth that hitched a ride on a cargo pod, and getting it home safely becomes the whole mission.
Earthward stakes
Venus sky farms grow crops for Earth so that Earth's own wild lands can stay wild.
Onobo packs
Science inspiration
Venus is real: its surface is extremely hot and high-pressure, while its upper clouds are milder. Floating cloud cities are a real idea, but these ones are fiction.
NASA: Venus