Astro Gulch

Astro Gulch is a moon of contrasts - towering mountains rise over deep valleys. An afternoon’s hike can bring one from small glaciers blasted by whipping wintery winds, down into green mountain glades which are protected from the gales above.

Many Toba move to Astro Gulch, to get away from the frantic high-tech, high-speed, high-energy life on the Toba home world. The pace is slower on Astro Gulch, and many Toba live pastoral lives, managing herds of wooly babas, or the larger meat-producing ashaz. Others specialize in making fermented cheese-like products from the milk of the herd beasts, or fishing in the deep valley lakes.

Astro Gulch is not a low-tech backwater, though - the quaint mountain homes all have running water, heat, electric lights, and access to online information and video programs - and thus all the Toba who live there know about the adventures of the exploration ship Leihnard, the Earth dogs, and the Rocket Dog races. When the Rocket Dogs are competing, the inhabitants of Astro Gulch all turn out, waving and clapping as the competitors race along glacial mountain ridges, up and down steep slopes, and around mountain streams and lakes.

The winding hillside path is almost - but not quite entirely - blocked by a Herd Of Bara. The massive herd of large wool-covered sheep-like creatures occupy the pasture to either side of the path, but it’s just barely possible for a Rocket Dog to slow down and carefully pick his way through the slow-moving creatures. Don’t move too quickly, or you’ll bump into one (or a dozen), but don’t move too slowly either, or the slow grass-chewing creatures might box you in and make it impossible to continue the race. It’s a hassle to navigate your way through the flock, but on the bright side, once you’re through, the coast will be clear…and every Rocket Dog behind you will have to run the same gauntlet you did!

Mountain Village is a small village on the steep grassy slopes of an alpine-like valley on Astro Gulch. The village itself is made up of a dozen or so stone and timber houses, as many large barns, and a few shops. The Toba of Mountain Village spend most of their time out of doors, herding their wooly babas from their barns down the switchback trails to the valley below, or sometimes taking them further up the valley wall, to the exposed stone ridgelines above that give access to the next valley over.

Rocket Dogs zooming through Mountain Village will have to take care not to get stuck behind herds of livestock - choose your path carefully and consider diverting onto the trails down the slope from the village, closer to the cold glacial lakes below.

The Brewery is a sprawling post-and-beam structure clinging to one wall of a steep Astro Gulch valley wall. It’s narrow (there’s not much land on the ledges that terrace the valleys), but four stories tall, and capped at the top with a narrow-pointed roof of slate tiles.

Rocket Dogs entering The Brewery thunder across wide plank floors, and startle Toba brew masters wearing traditional aprons, and assistant brew masters carrying large sacks of grains from Leenro or totes of dried fruits from the orchards of Idgoroo on Quantum Prime.

The top level of the Brewery is mostly used for storage, but open areas let Rocket Dogs look - or jump! - down to the next level, where Toba work around the rims of the giant wooden brew tubs, each bubbling with a different mash. Staircases and ramps let the Rocket Dogs race down another level, where they’ll have to dodge and weave around the giant steel-banded brew tubs. Be careful not to knock over any of the workers cleaning bottles, prepping equipment, or tending the brew. Duck low to avoid knocking into any of the wooden beams overhead! Another open area and a ramp beckon, and now the Rocket Dogs are on the lowest level, where full wooden barrels and pallets full of bottles of famed Astro Gulch brew wait for shipment. Be careful not to knock anything over!