Boiling Sea

The Boiling Sea is an inland sea at Northern G4. It is a trans-commissure limb of the larger oceans of Northern A known for its unseasonably warmth and the relative dearth of life within it, both being caused by the presence of natural fission reactions near its headwaters.

Geography

The Boiling Sea is deep and covers a wide area of the G4 face, spreading around the steep, rocky terrain typical of Ventral-adjacent layers to form narrow branches at its furthest extents. Numerous small, rocky islands litter the sea's interior; most of sand and silt have been eroded away, leaving pebbles, boulders, and spires to predominate.
The water of the Boiling Sea is as warm as bath water year-round, shrouding the countryside in thick blankets of mist when the weather is cool enough. While there are some geothermal pockets in the region that contribute to this effect, the most prominent source of heat for the Boiling Sea is a series of large uranium ore deposits at the base of the sea near the commissure leading into Northern A. The ore is rich enough - and located densely enough - to reach criticality, forming a natural nuclear reactor that superheats the metal to well beyond its melting point even underwater. The reaction would subside over geological time, but more uranium ore veins on the surrounding seabed are forced towards the commissure, and eventually subducted back into the crust of the cube, due to geophysical circumvection processes, continuously refreshing the reaction. On particularly still, dark nights, the Cherenkov radiation from this reaction can sometimes be seen through the water. As the otherwise tepid waters of the oceans at Northern A flow through the commissure as a result of cooling at that side, the water passes by these deposits and flashes to steam, boiling up to the surface and heating the surrounding sea water as it rises.

Ecosystem

Most life that manages to survive the harshness of the Boiling Sea is in some way chemosynthetic or radiotrophic in nature. Inevitably, some of the byproducts of the nuclear reaction going on in the deptsh find their way into the water table, poisoning the area for all but the most hardy of life forms.
Plant life is sparse as a result of high salt concentrations, radioactive contamination, and poor soil adhesion, but some particularly scraggly-looking mangrove trees do manage to grow on the islands scattered about the Boiling Sea. The winter months are marked with blooms of red algae, which migrates to the surface to maintain optimal growing temperatures. The brown caps and red shelves of specially-adapted fungi grow a little above the high water mark, giving the air around the lake a characteristic earthy smell when they start giving off spores en masse. Within sight of the commissure - but at a distance nonetheless - lay fields of tubeworms and medusae polyps evolved to survive on the unusual radiochemical soup present in the sea's basin. Here, the decomposed remains of ocean life from the adjacent cube layer blends with fission decay products and geothermal sputum to make a slurry that would poison most living creatures; nevertheless, the increased rate of mutation has also increased the rate of speciation and selection for traits that allow for survival in such a toxic environment.

Natural Resources

Boiling Sea water is sometimes bottled and sold elsewhere as a tonic for any number of ailments. This practice is considered a form of nuclear quackery and is discouraged in almost all major nations, but tinctures and bath additives have been found as far away as the Temple of Wholeness in the Southern Tesseract. For more legitimate purposes, agents of the New Cobalt Protectorate have been known to skim Boiling Sea water and mineral samples from around the area to refine into source elements for the atomic batteries in P1-d "Dokidiu" Covert Operations Pneumo-Armor.

Tourism

The Boiling Sea sees little in the way of tourism, being high on the list of the most toxic non-Distal locations under the Manifold Sky. Even the usually adventurous Burning Hearts Social Club and aspiring Seekers of Misfortune are disinclined to spend long in the area - especially in the summer months, where the wet bulb temperature near the sea approaches unsurvivable levels.
Biologists from various educational institutions sometimes visit the place to examine the unique species that grow in and around the Boiling Sea, but they do so only with the aid of protective equipment such as the HC-1 "Meantwig" Hazardous Condition Auto-Armor or "Ixulova Tun" Amphibious Assault Auto-Armor lined with lead instead of Eudoxium. Fungus and animal specimens tend to be sessile and can sometimes be kept alive for extended study under the right conditions. These captive specimens are held at specially-prepared facilities within the Northern Tesseract, such as the Northwoods Botanical Research Facility, to help simulate the radiological makeup of their native habitats.

Type

Inland Sea

Location under

Northern Tesseract