Ice World

Vast frozen oceans of crystallised water and rare minerals cover ice worlds from pole to pole, their surfaces fractured into spectacular ridges and plains where tectonic pressure has concentrated crystal formations of extraordinary purity. Subsurface heat vents create pockets of liquid water that xenobiologists study while miners drill through the ice to reach the crystal-laden bedrock below. Colonization requires insulated dome habitats and heated transit tubes, but the crystal yield — sometimes double that of any other world type — justifies the engineering challenges significantly.