Traveler's Guide to the Galaxy: Calliope, Clio, and Euterpe
Welcome to another edition of Traveler’s Guide to the Galaxy. These dispatches aim to provide insights into the lore and design behind new locations coming to the Star Citizen universe, complete with high-quality screenshots. This time, we journey to the three moons of Stanton IV (microTech), better known as Calliope, Clio, and Euterpe.
MicroTech’s 3 moons, Calliope, Clio, and Euterpe, are coming to the ‘verse in Alpha 3.9. As the first moons to fully utilize Planet Tech V4 out of the gate, they set a new standard in quality for moons in Star Citizen. What’s more, our team was able to create these moons not only at a higher quality, but in significantly less time than was possible with our previous tech.
Named after three Greek muses, microTech uses its moons as reminders of the core values of the company and the experiences they strive to create. These moons echo the frozen, snowy landscape of the majority of microTech’s biomes, each in their own way. Visitors beware, these moons won’t prove to be relaxing vacation destinations. With temperatures far below habitable and consistent environmental hazards, travelers will need to arrive prepared with gear tailored to these climates or face a dangerous road ahead.
Stanton 4a | “Calliope”
How am I supposed to make this place sound appealing?
Been stuck researching the “natural beauty” of Calliope for three days now. The weather’s bad for flying, the mountains are dangerous, and it’s too damn cold. Can’t even hike outside for long or my gear starts malfunctioning. You’d think if the higher-ups wanted to convince people to buy a travel package out here they’d have given me adequate equipment. Make it easier on me to explore the “rugged terrain.”
My findings? This place is a boring rock. Nothing here that you can’t see planetside.
Hm. Except for those pools. The ones in the craters. Kind of like the way they look in the morning light.
Maybe I can spin something out of that.
-Personal log of a contract researcher for a microTech-based extreme camping startup
Calliope (Stanton 4a) is the middle-sized, ocean-less moon of MicroTech. Extreme highs and lows characterize its icy terrain. Named after the ancient Greek muse who inspires eloquence, Calliope reminds those on microTech to “strive for pure expression of thought.”
Beset by high winds and low temperatures, Calliope becomes so cold at night that even an exceptionally insulated weather suit can fail you. The dark side of this moon is a dangerous one, even to the most experienced adventurer.
If the harsh weather didn’t warn you away from a visit, consider the lack of visibility. Low clouds and ground fog make a difficult terrain to traverse. Beware of looming shapes in the distance; mountains jut out of the ground without warning and require an expert pilot to navigate.
Stanton 4b | “Clio”
Pink! The sky’s pink! Selling this place is going to be easy. I don’t even need to do any on-foot surveys. Everything that’s worth seeing is visible from the cockpit. Where to start? The big glaciers with the triangle-shaped rocks? The fields of snow? The green oceans (green!!!)?
They aren’t even frozen. I can’t believe it. A place this cold with liquid on the surface. A thousand creds says the rich tecchies in New Babbage’ll be taking luxury cruises up here in ten years, tops.
Got to figure out a way to downplay the blizzards.
-Personal log of a contract researcher for a microTech-based extreme camping startup
Clio (Stanton 4b) is the largest microTech moon. Named after the ancient Greek muse of history, Clio reminds those on microTech to remember that “their work stands on those who came before them.”
Clio’s defining feature is a series of liquid oceans covering much of its surface. Snowy mountains, reminiscent of the famous microTech slopes, cover the other half of the surface, with unique and distinctly shaped icebergs meshing the difference. Regions with mountains and valleys that slide abruptly into the ocean at the coast and wide fields of white snow make this moon a picturesque destination.
The hazy pink and green sky and jade oceans give this moon an alien feel, unmatched by anything else in the Stanton system.
Stanton 4c | “Euterpe”
Ha. Ha. Ha ha ha.
I thought I was free. I thought I’d compiled everything I’d need to get a good travel guide together and get paid. I talked up the ice formations. I speculated on the composition of the atmosphere. I waxed poetic about the mist. I even slipped in some jokes about ice skating.
Guess who broke her leg while trying to climb one of those chimney-looking rocks?
They’d better cover my medical bills.
-Personal log of a contract researcher for a microTech-based extreme camping startup
The littlest and last (but definitely not least) moon of microTech is Euterpe (Stanton 4c). Named after the ancient Greek muse of music, Euterpe reminds those on microTech to be guided by “the natural rhythm of the universe in their designs.” (“you-tur-pee” – you’re welcome.)
Euterpe’s landscape is composed, for the most part, of vast frozen oceans and exposed ice sheets. From time to time, you’ll find tips of land jutting out from the ice to create a harsh and intimidating plane.
Rather than large bodies of land, clusters of islands can be found around the surface, sometimes numbering in the thousands. The islands themselves are just as harsh as the planes of ice that surround them, with sharp, chimney-like rock formations dotted across the plains that hint of a volcanic past.
Want to learn more about Calliope, Clio, and Euterpe? Check out the Inside Star Citizen segment with Senior Environment Artists Pascal Muller and Patrick Gladys on the creation of the trio! (And tune in to Star Citizen Live this Friday as Patrick shows off the tools used to bring these moons to life.)
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