User blog comment:TheAlphatheOmega/Grath/@comment-12161342-20150130221433

Crucible

''Deep in the firey belly of one of Crucible's largest magam oceans, trouble is brewing. Gasses dissolved in the magma have reached critical saturation levels, and the weight of the molten rock above keeps the gas from venting. However, it does not stop submerged vents from spewing out ever increasing amounts of fresh magma and gasses into the bowels of the ocean. With nowhere to go, the accumulating gas turns the deepest layers of the magma ocean into a frothy fluid akin to soda, and just like a soda taken one too many times, it is on a hair trigger, ready to erupt at the slightest provocation. A small, magnitude 4.3 tremor beneath the ocean provides that slight nudge, and the deepest layers of the magma ocean froth up and begin releasing gasses all at once, shooting through the cooler layers above.''

''A gigantic fountain of fire roars upwards from the surface of the ocean, sending magma soaring upwards so fast that it creates rippling, continuous sonic booms in Crucible's thin atmosphere. Racing upwards at mach speeds in the double digits, the several-kilometer wide fire fountain looks for all the world like a massive pillar reaching up from hell, high enough to bathe Cueball in a spray of lava. But as soon as it began, it ends. The magma, completely degassed, can no longer sustain the gargantuan fountain, and the entire lava fountain starts to collapse as if it was a solid column suddenly shattered by a powerful blow. The lava, racing downwards, impacts the ocean and sends magma tsumanis and pyroclastic flows sweeping outwards in all directions from the site of the ongoing fountain collapse. After the action dies down, the roiling magma ocean glows white-hot where the fountain erupted, an indicator of the hotter, heavier materials that have been bought up from deep within Crucible. Above, Cueball glows with a faint, scarlet light as the spray that coated it cools and hardens, adding yet another layer of smooth volcanic glass to the already-polished orb.''