Humanity has looked to the stars since its earliest days and wondered what lay beyond our solar system. The discovery of Pandora in the Alpha Centauri system, our closest stellar neighbor, rocked the scientific world and ignited the public imagination, sparking new questions about the cosmos and our place in it.

Pandora is one of fourteen moons that orbit the gas giant Polyphemus. The surface of the moon is covered in massive oceans, with entire continents that remain a wild, unexplored frontier to humanity. Diverse, alien ecosystems populate these continents- from lush jungles to open plains, spectacular mountains to reaching seas. For the rare few who get to experience the moon at night, or during one of the moon’s common eclipse cycles, a different kind of beauty reveals itself through the natural bioluminescence of Pandora’s plants and animals. Nearly every living thing shines with brilliance in the dark in a stunning display of natural beauty unlike anything on Earth.

The moon is a paradise, full of wonder, beauty, but also danger. Strong magnetic forces from Polyphemus push and pull on Pandora, causing magnetic storms and high levels of volcanic activity. In addition, the flora and fauna are exceedingly dangerous to humans. Perhaps the deadliest, however, is the atmosphere, which is nitrogen-rich and toxic to humans due to a high concentration of carbon dioxide. If stranded on the surface without a proper filtration mask, humans who breathe the air will quickly fall unconscious and die.

Among the surprises that awaited the first expeditions to Pandora, none were more unexpected than the discovery of the Na’vi- a sentient, humanoid race that populates the surface of the moon. However, the revelation of the Na’vi was quickly eclipsed by the discovery of a rare-earth mineral dubbed “unobtanium” for its properties as a room-temperature superconductor. Unobtanium would go on to revolutionize human technology and be the driving factor in humanity’s outposts and ultimate colonization attempt on Pandora.

More than a decade on, Pandora has become the last hope of a dying Earth. The RDA’s return after their defeat in the Battle of the Hallelujah Mountains is the beginning of a focused effort to tame the frontier of Pandora for humanity to continue to survive.