The Scorchers 101

The Maw and Earth's Atmosphere

During the first two Sky Wars, all of earths continents were levelled by the Sky Splitters. Durus wiped each of the Queens empires off the face of the planet. This apocalyptic war destroyed all land masses and boiled most of earths oceans away. Everything that once was the land and ocean had been thrown into the atmosphere.

Not only did the Sky Splitters destroy everything on the surface, they also rose the temperature to extreme levels. Millions of cubic kilometres worth of water had been deposited into the atmosphere. This effectively turned Earth into a gas planet.

Earths atmosphere doubled in thickness. Storms filled every part of the sky. And it was hot. What once a beautiful and rare planet has been destroyed by war.

There was no land or sea to call home, only sky.

Durus and her Scorchers had the whole Underworld to herself, the destruction of the surface did not hinder her and her empire. But the new atmosphere created new challenges and even advantages.

Ash clouds gravitate towards the poles and create a layer of sun absorbing clouds. This means areas at the poles are much colder than normal. Having an extremely hot equator and having freezing cold poles brews storms straight out of hell.

Once known as Tornado Alley, the southern plains of the United States have evolved into The Maw. Tornado Alley got its name from the frequent tornado-producing storms and violent weather that occur there. Now it's hell on earth and more reminiscent of Jupiter than Earth. This area is the most violent spot on earth.

The Maw is essentially one giant storm covering half of the central United States. The sky is a never ending cyclone of smaller storm systems. From space it would appear as a giant white spot on the earth. Jupiter has its red spot. Earth has The Maw.

Wind-speeds in the Maw regularly exceed 200 mph. Near the centre of the Maw, wind speeds are always 300 mph and above. But in eye of the Maw, there is a location of calm. The only calm place left in the atmosphere.

It is here where Hope can hide from the Scorcher threat.

Although the earth may be completely screwed, the planet still experiences cycles of clear skies and hellish storms. Different times of the year bring different storms and conditions. The air is mostly water, so when the sky is clear there are no air particles. The air is extremely clean. It's basically just air and moisture, no particles or ambient dust. Just air and massive amounts of water vapour... It's not just the extremely warm and wet air, but also the hot air is trapped by a layer of dense air high above, creating a heat dome.

This means cloud formation is halted during these conditions. With hot, super-saturated air an explosive condensation is inevitable. And when all conditions are met, the result is catastrophic.

Cloudbursts

All it takes is a single particle of dust to act as the nucleus of a cloud droplet. But when there is no such particle to attach to, the air can't form clouds. But as pressure builds up this sudden formation is explosive.

During the summer and fall water and heat are at their peak. Huge cumulonimbus clouds can explode high into the atmosphere in just minutes. These explosions of growth create shockwaves which carry the potential to level any nearby infrastructure. The explosion is awesome, but the updraft is dreadful.

When conditions are right, multiple supercells can combine to form a hypercell. Hypercells can only grow as moisture is sucked into it. It's rotating and extremely violent. So violent that certain groups like the rebels, use these supersonic updrafts as quick ways to gain altitude.

Flying above or through these skies of super-saturated air is extremely dangerous. Exhausts from engines or even a loose bolt falling loose from an airship can cause a cloudburst. Imagine a nuclear explosion in slow motion made of clouds instead of fire and plasma.

But it's not all bad.

Rudis and Inepta have no homeland. Instead, they have a homesky. Deep in the Maw is where they hide from Durus and her army of Scorchers...