=Rhea= 
**Excerpted from:** //Travel Saturn Goes to Kronos//
What is there to see on Rhea, [[Saturn|Saturn’s]] second largest moon? Not much, unless you like ice. Lots and lots of ice. That vast expense of ice with more ice is probably why almost no one lives here, except for a few small tin can outposts. Instead, people in these parts have opted for an environment that is a bit more exciting, like say the genuine hive of scum and villainy of Kronos Cluster, in orbit above Rhea’s snowball.
==Kronos Cluster== 
**Station Type:** [[Clusters|Cluster]]
**Allegiance:** Independent ([[Anarchists|Anarchist]]/Criminal/[[Ultimates|Ultimate]])
**Primary Languages:** Cantonese, Dutch, Turkish
**Population:** 950,000
Kronos’s exterior grapevine look is seductive and misleading. The interiors of this cluster’s modules are dirty and overcrowded. The station desperately needs to grow, but lacks the planning and infrastructure, forcing thousands of others to live in tin cans and permanently docked ships lashed irregularly to the cluster’s exteriors.
Kronos began as a mixed [[Extropians|Extropian]] and anarchist settlement. Like everywhere else, it was ﬂooded with refugees and infugees during the Fall. Many of the Extropian ventures here were already bordering on what would be considered criminal territory elsewhere; the inﬂux of survivors brought new waves of desperate and poor individuals, many of them with criminal afﬁliations of their own. As Kronos grew and expanded, its social order and infrastructure did not do as well. Criminal elements increasingly took advantage of the free environment to dominate commerce; the private Extropian security, legal, and insurance contractors here were simply unable to keep up,with many pulling out or being subverted in their own right. As the gangs began to struggle over speciﬁc areas and markets, violent crime skyrocketed. Militias began to aggressively protect the various anarchist enclave borders. As certain gangs did likewise, getting around Kronos started to become a real problem. The dominant Extropian presence, the Kronos Port Authority (KPA), brought in ultimate mercenaries to restore order, but the situation backﬁred when the ultimates chose to seize control of the port, taking over the KPA themselves. Today, Kronos remains a patchwork of armed neighborhoods.
===Kronos Port=== 
Most people who come to Kronos are there to indulge in something they can’t do at home, and visitors are often worried about how safe it actually is. The ﬁrst thing you learn when visiting Kronos is that despite various rumors, the port area is remarkably safe. The KPA is run by a group of some of the most brutal ultimates you’re ever likely to encounter. They keep the port safe, because safe is good for tourists and commercial visitors and these are good for business. The KPA is a business-ﬁrst sort of group. Anyone who threatens or commits violence or property destruction—or looks like they might—is in for a very hard time anywhere near the port. Any locals caught interfering with the port’s peace and safety end up brainhacked into obedience and stuck in a worker pod doing low-level maintenance tasks for the KPA.
Thankfully, this risk is almost exclusively a problem for locals. The KPA knows that tourists and other visitors are what keeps Kronos running, and so mostly they just exile troublesome visitors and tell them not to return. If a visitor is an exceptional problem, the KPA may just conﬁscate their morph and stick the ego in virtual isolation. If you aren’t detonating bombs, smuggling antimatter, or otherwise causing large-scale problems, however, you’ll never see even the KPA’s nasty side. Instead, what you’ll see is remarkably polite port ofﬁcials, disturbingly helpful worker pods, and a set of rules that you’d better keep in mind. Violence of all sorts is seriously frowned upon and anything bigger and badder than light pistols, stun weapons, or a ﬂex cutter is going to get conﬁscated. However, non-violent crimes are a very different matter. As the local mesh informs you the ﬁrst time you connect on Kronos, most actions that are nonviolent crimes elsewhere are perfectly legal here. Keep in mind they don’t just mean prostitution, gambling, and dangerously hard drugs. Con artists and pickpockets can practice their trades to their hearts’ content, and many of the latter have tech that allows them to silence your possessions before they begin to yell to you about being stolen.
===Criminal 'Hoods=== 
There are dozens of rival gangs on Kronos, each with their own territory. Despite the fearsome reputation, many of these are as safe as the port—like the ultimates, the crime bosses know that scaring people away is bad for business. Criminal enforcers patrol the streets, keeping rival gangs clear and protecting the residents and tourists. Others are less-savory lawless zones where no is safe unless in a heavily armed group.
The gang zones tend to still operate in Extropian fashion, except that the security contractors and private courts are in service to, or simply replaced by, the dominant cartel. These neighborhoods are the main reason many people come to Kronos, in search of illicit goods or services. This demand is met by thousands of business, which come in two ﬂavors: licensed and unlicensed. Both are perfectly legal here, and, as the old joke goes, the only difference is the cut the KPA gets. Even in the areas the KPA doesn’t directly control, they sell business licenses. Ostensibly, possessing a license means the business is safe and does what it says. Anyone that forges a license or doesn’t keep to the terms it promises must face the wrath of the ultimates. Of course, the licenses cost a fair amount and goods and services provided by licensed businesses are on average almost twice as expensive as unlicensed ones. The gangs all see this as what it is—a KPA protection racket. Some of them comply, some offer their own licenses, many don’t play the game. Unlicensed business can also offer a wide range of services and goods that are frowned upon even on Kronos—if you’re foolish enough to give them a try. Take my word for it—always go licensed on Kronos.
The balance of power between the gangs is constantly shifting, but it pays to be up-to-date on who’s who. Right now, criminal outﬁts like the Messina Sisters and Le Sapeurs are relatively straight shooters, keeping their ‘hoods safe and keeping their customers happy—just don’t get too into debt with them. Gangs like the Vinlanders and Bombacilar are at the lower end—savage animals that will violate your corpse and pop your stack as soon as make an even deal. Many of these gangs would love to oust the ultimates and seize control of the port, viewing that as the ﬁrst step to achieving dominance over the cluster. Several have even formed temporary alliances for just this purpose. The ultimates are wise to the threat, however, and carefully ensure that no criminal outﬁt or bloc gathers enough ﬁrepower to threaten their control.
===Anarchist Zones=== 
The anarchist zones are safe and well armed, but are correspondingly less interesting. If you’re in need of help, they’re usually a good place to ﬁnd sympathy or even allies. Some enclaves have grown inured to the violence and crime, however, withdrawing into a more isolationist stance and no longer sticking their necks out for anyone outside their local group. Most anarchists try to steer clear of criminal conﬂicts, though they also have a vested interest in making sure no gang grows too powerful. The gangs occasionally make a point of scalping or lynching “anarchist vigilantes,” fueling tensions.
===Getting Around=== 
The one essential that you’re really going to need if you’re headed out of the port and into the portions of Kronos not directly controlled by the KPA is a local guide. Locals make good money as guides, both licensed and unlicensed. The latter is cheaper, but once you get outside the KPA’s area of immediate inﬂuence, the difference between a mugger or kidnapper and an unlicensed guide can be very small indeed. The key to getting the most out of your guide’s services is to be completely honest about why you’re there. They’ve heard every weird, creepy, or disgusting reason many times before, and regardless of what you want, they’ll be able to get you to it faster, easier, and safer than you can. Best of all, the licensed guides have enough contacts with the various criminal gangs that the worst you’ll need to do is pay some modest bribes to safely visit or pass through a gang’s territory.
There’s only one good reason to hire an unlicensed guide: if you want to ﬁnd someone. Some people go to Kronos to disappear, some simply arrive and try to vanish, and a good licensed guide may be able to help you ﬁnd them. Some people, after all, pay the KPA lots of money to make certain they’re not found. The KPA would like to believe that no one outside their leadership knows these people are on Kronos, but people talk, and people especially like to talk about people who don’t technically “exist.” However, if you do manage to get close, all they or one of their KPA guards need do is send the KPA a message to tell your guide to back off. At this point, your guide will do one of two things, depending on how much they like you. They’ll either warn you of the danger or bug out and let the KPA enforcers use your morph for target practice.
If you aren’t an idiot, Kronos is worth visiting, and can be relatively safe, but you really don’t want to get between the KPA and their proﬁts. Also, don’t blame Travel Saturn if you come back short a few possessions or having been conned. These things happen on Kronos; it’s part of the local color.

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