Melt rimesteel from the falls
Shoot a dark seam in the frozen waterfall until it glows, then hold E to mine it before it refreezes (Salvage 10). Seams come back after four minutes.
PLANET_02 · The Frozen Frontier
Borealis
Glacier shelves, mountains hollowed into vast ice caverns and a frozen waterfall seamed with Rimesteel. Aurora silk hangs in the sky.
UNLOCKS AT CLEARANCE 6CITY FROSTLINEMATERIALS 3STORY 4 CONTRACTS
01 / THE WORLD
The Frozen Frontier
Borealis is the cold world: snowfields, ice cliffs and a lake city called Frostline, built around a frozen lake beneath a waterfall that pours into a plunge pool. Pine trees, hot springs and a bonfire on Lake Square keep the place human. The cliffs above town are another matter.
The planet’s wealth is locked in ice. Rimesteel seams run through the frozen falls, and you melt them out with your own blaster. At night aurora ribbons hang over the city, and pilots with a silk net fly straight through them. Up on the cliff top, past the observatory, ice beasts nest; their Frost Cores are the rarest thing on the planet and can’t be crafted.
Frostline’s harbourmaster, Iona, opens a berth for you when your permit comes through at Clearance 6.
NEW · EXPLORATION
The ice caves
Out on the snowfields stand lone mountain massifs, each with a sheer cliff face and a single mouth cut into it: 30 metres wide and 28 high. It is big enough to fly through, but only just. Fighters and anything smaller fit; cargo ships and the Odyssey stay outside.
Inside, the mountain is hollow. A tunnel opens into a cathedral hall of blue ice and pillars, with side halls branching off. One way leads down to a frozen lake, another ramps up into a collapsed-ice maze, and a long two-stage descent drops to a deep grotto under the mountain. Hidden nooks off the main halls are good for a quiet camp.
Walk it, or fly it: you can hover a fighter under the cathedral roof and thread your way back out through the mouth. There are three cave layouts across the planet.
Things to do on Borealis
Fly the aurora
Fit a Silk Net (Harvest 10, 2,600 CR) and fly through the eight aurora ribbons. The heart of a ribbon gives 3 silk, midway 2, the edge 1. Each ribbon recharges in 60 seconds.
Hunt ice beasts
At Clearance 12, climb to the nest on the cliff top, west of the observatory. Up to three beasts at a time (180 HP each) and a 40% chance of a Frost Core per kill.
Fish the lake
Ice holes on Lake Square: Ice perch, Silver char, Frost pike and, at fishing level 25, Aurora trout (420 CR).
Work the Frostdeep
Rimesteel lodes, frozen amber and a deep vault guarded by crawlers. Finish the foreman’s tasks for bonus pay.
Soak at the baths
The Hearthstone Baths heal you fully. Useful after the nest.
What you gather here
Rimesteelprimary
Ore seams locked inside the frozen waterfall.
Salvage 10. Your blaster is the tool: melt the seam, then mine it.
Shoot a dark seam in the frozen falls with your blaster until it glows, then hold E to mine it before it refreezes.
1.6 kg88 CR
Aurora Silksecondary
Netted by flying through aurora ribbons.
Harvest 10 with a Silk Net fitted to your ship. Fly clean lines through the ribbon’s heart.
Fly your ship through the aurora ribbons high over Borealis. The closer to the heart of each ribbon, the more silk you catch.
0.2 kg120 CR
Frost Corerare
Dropped only by the ice beasts nesting above the upper town.
Clearance 12. Only from ice beasts; never crafted.
Hunt the ice beasts that nest on the cliff top above the lake. Cores never come from crafting.
0.8 kg520 CR
THE MINE
Frostdeep Mine · Foreman Ilsa
An adit into a great cavern with side passages full of ore. Rocks go dark after a few strikes and refill every 24-minute day cycle. The deep vault sits behind a Mining 22 gate, guarded by crawlers. You need a Mining Pick (120 CR, or free from the first foreman you talk to).
Rimesteel lode (Mining 12)Frozen amber → Ember Resin (Mining 16)Frost core seam (Mining 22, deep vault)
04 / POINTS OF INTEREST
Landmarks
- Lake SquareIce fishing, the bonfire and the fish market.
- The frozen fallsThe waterfall above town, seamed with Rimesteel.
- Aurora ObservatoryOn an 80 m plateau, up the cliff stair. The ice-beast nest is just west of it.
- Hearthstone BathsHot springs that heal you fully.
- GlaciersIce tongues kilometres long, crevassed, ending in sheer blue cliffs.
- Ice cavesMountain massifs with a fighter-sized mouth (30 m wide, 28 m high) into cathedral caverns, a frozen lake, an ice maze and a deep grotto.
- Geyser fieldsSteaming vents in mineral basins ringed by frozen spires.
- Stillwater RefugeA hidden site. Iona knows more.
05 / DANGERS
Watch out for
- Ice beastsThey hit hard. Bring armour and medpacks, and don’t fight three at once.
- The cliffsThe lake is safe to walk. The cliffs are not.
- WhiteoutA story transmission from Dr. Ilse Varga: a survey team is pinned down on the north ridge by feral ice drones (2,800 CR, 420 XP).
Rime gear (Rimesteel + Sunglass) needs Clearance 6 and Forge 8, so bring Kestrel Sunglass with you.
A Glacier water crate costs 360 CR here and sells for much more on Kestrel and Vanta.
Act II on Borealis
Story contracts radio in when you are on their world and meet their requirement. Several hand you the tool the next material needs.
| Contract | Needs | Reward | Tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thaw Line | Salvage 10 | 6,000 CR · 3,000 XP | — |
| Lights Over Borealis | Harvest 10 | 7,000 CR · 3,200 XP | Silk Net (ship) |
| Two Worlds, One Blade | Clearance 6 | 8,000 CR · 4,200 XP | — |
| The Nest | Clearance 12 | 10,000 CR · 3,600 XP | — |
Set down on Borealis.
Every pilot starts on Kestrel. Reach Clearance 6 and Borealis opens. New here? The guide covers your first hour, and the ships page shows what you can fly.