Brainstorming Cronus

 I have an impending playtest wherein we will play a heist in Psi-Wars.  This is intended to shake out the civilian/criminal/law enforcement elements of the game, and while I'd like to run it in the next couple of months, it might turn out to be more work than that.

As usual, when I decide to run a session, I turn my eye towards the setting.  Grist got more detail with Tinker Titan Rebel Spy, and the Tall Tales of the Orochi Belt gave attention to the Orochi belt.  We have lots of places I could run a heist, so I ran a poll for the playtest group, and they tied between Samsara and Cronus, and it looks like we'll be doing Chronos Cronus.

I thought I'd be a little more public about my thought-processes for what Cronus would look like, rather than hiding all of my work, as the point of this blog is to watch my process.  And the first step when detailing a world is to stop and talk about "everything that you know" and figure out what questions you need to ask about it.

Everything that follows are just my musings as I noodle around as to what this world might look like in detail.  If you want to discuss it, to complain about it, to argue against it, or to advocate for particular elements, feel free!  This is a creative process, after all.

What Niche does Cronus Occupy?

So, we can have dozens of worlds that all look relatively similar.  If we're going to go in detail on a world, it needs to stand out.  How does Cronus stand out?

When I conceived of the world, it was to resolve a question in my mind: where did the previous galactic Empires rule from? I could say "Sovereign," sort of like how in Star Wars, Coruscant has always ruled the Galaxy, and there's a plausible argument behind that: you want to rule from the center and galaxies have definitive centers, so the best place for the Eldoth is probably the best place for humanity.  However, I liked the idea of a fundamental shift of the locus of power. In my head, you can split the galaxy in half.  The "eastern" side has the Arkhaian Spiral and the Umbral Rim, which housed the Eldoth and the Ranathim, while the "Western" side have the Glorian Rim and the Sylvan Spiral, which are the seats of human power.  When humanity conquered the galactic from the alien races that previously ruled it, it's natural that they'd want to shift the central bureaucratic power closer to their side of the galaxy, hence a move to Sovereign.  Thus, our alien empires would have ruled from some other world, one closer to their part of the galaxy, hence: Cronus.

So we know what Cronus was: the once-glorious capital of the various alien empires of the Galaxy.  What is it today?  This is a tricky question. The obvious answer is that it's a place with lots of aliens, but I've made an effort to push aliens outside of the "core experience."  If you want to see a Ranathim bazaar or giant Eldothic ruins, you need to "go out" from familiar space and into the more exotic parts of the galaxy, much like an adventurer must leave "home" to go to the "place of wonder" and experience adventure.  But if Cronus isn't alien, then what is it?

Well, at this point, the Galactic Core is dominated by the Empire, and one of the defining traits of the Empire is xenophobia.  They don't like aliens.  Cronus would be a constant reminder of alien glory, thus would be something the Empire would prefer to tear down.  What it becomes, then, is the ghetto: a place with terrible conditions where aliens are barely tolerated because, technically, it's their home.  It's also a place where humanity would impose its rule on the aliens.  There are other places like this in the Galactic Core, like Jubilee Station and Covenant, but this would be the most populous one: this is the "alien ecumenopolis."

So, our easiest answer for "what is it today" is likely an ancient world overgrown with construction and development dating back millennia that have fallen into disrepair, with a wide variety of alien enclaves, aliens of all sorts, scattered across the world, ruled by an uncaring Imperial elite that keeps their distance, and only ventures in to deal with extreme crimes, rebellion and objects of archeological interest.  For practical purposes, the aliens are left to their own devices and have become balkanized across the city, with criminal gangs both protecting and extorting the populace and trying to avoid too much imperial attention. It's a world of grandeur, oppression and misery, which makes for a great space-opera heist.

The History of Cronus

If we're going to argue that Cronus is ancient, then we should talk about its history.  So what do we know about its history?

 

The Eldothic Age

The first thing we know about it is that the Eldoth used it as their capital.  If we look at their history at this point, we're looking at a date of around "4400BD to 4000 BD), or about 6000-7000 years before the setting start-date.  At this time, the Eldoth have completed the first part of their war against the "Adversary." It's probable that "Azrael" is associated with the "Adversary" that the Eldoth fought.  This means they'd want a world near the galactic heart to keep an eye on it.  The Trader Band was likely already a major thorough fare at this point (though perhaps not with the Traders), thus it makes sense if you wanted to control the galaxy, you'd position your world between the two. Such a world would almost certainly have been a "fortress world."  It would have been meant to fend off attacks by the Adversary, and to cement their control on traffic through the galactic core. 

It would also have been a center for their "Deep Engine" nodes.  A well-protected site positioned in a strategic way would be ideal for extending the techno-mystical power of that eldritch technology.  But to do that, the Eldoth must first bathe the worlds in twisted psionic energy, and the easiest way to do that is to commit genocide, which the Eldoth typically did: the sacrifice of a billion souls to create the disrupted psychic energy necessary to power their eldritch engines.  This implies they would pick a world with a native population, which implies Cronus had a native population. Of what? I'm not sure!  Are they all dead now? I'm not sure!

As the Eldothic Empire continued on, pushing into the Umbral Rim, Cronus would have been a staging ground for invasions and then an administrative center, a natural, de-facto capital, perhaps even the formal capital. It would have been extensively engineered with Deep Engine sites and defensive and logistical technologies.  They might have migrated some populations to the world, especially the Keleni as they started to conquer the Hydrus constellation.

The Ranathim Age

Then we move on to the Monolith War and the fall of the Eldothic Empire. Cronus would have changed hand after about a thousand years of Eldothic rule.  The Ranathim would have inherited a ruined fortress world, with wrecked Deep Engine sites, but likely still some functioning.  Its position would remain highly advantageous, and thus would have been kept as a major trade/administrative world.  It would probably be the closest "major" Deep Engine site to the Ranathim, and thus likely housed a great deal of research and perhaps birthed the beginning of "Zathare sorcery," which allowed the Ranathim to "steal" parts of the Deep Engine's power.

This would likely go through several ups and downs over the era, but whomever held it would likely have been powerful, especially if they could marshal its Eldothic defenses. After about 1500 years, the Tyranny would have splintered into warring states.  Cronus would likely be the center of one of those states.

We begin to move into the human era at this point.  Trader Guildfleets and Shinjurai merchant-princes begin to proliferate across the core, consuming or trading with Ranathim remnants.  The "Witch-king of Cronus" likely would have held onto his major seat of power, a singular, unbeatable world that regulated the trade of the Trader Band and between the Umbral Rim and the Arkhaian Spiral, using his mastery of the remnant Deep Engines and the culture of his ancient court to impress these new upstart factions.  I can just picture such a court.

The Alexian Dynasty

All things must come to an end. The Alexian Dynasty conquered the Galactic Core between 1 AE and 400 AE.  Cronus likely would have been quite a holdout, given its defenses and technologies, but House Tan-Shai and the Traders likely held out longer, so perhaps it was conquered after the death of Alexus Rex, but not deep into the Early Dynasty (perhaps 150-200 AE?). Given the preference of Sovereign over Cronus, the conquest of the world would be more about breaking the last stranglehold of a relic of the Ranathim tyranny.  What happened to the Witch-King after that? I don't know.

Once conquered, it might have been left to languish.  Control of the trade route would still matter, but the Dynasty controlled both ends (with House Tan-Shai on one end, and House Elegans on the other), so Cronus would have been less vital.  My guess is the Dynasty left it alone and let it languish.  Alien cultures might have gathered there.  Perhaps the Dynasty installed a House to over see it.  If so, it's not a House I've named (perhaps House Mistral?). Otherwise, they might have allowed the aliens a measure of self-rule, but I imagine the Akashic Order would have had opinions on this decaying, sorcery-haunted world. I think they would have wanted it controlled or cut off from the galactic community.

The Modern Era

The Languishing of Cronus would have gone on for about 1000 years, and then the Dynasty would collapse.  Then we have the Interregnum and the War of the Houses.  Given the fall out of relationships, control of Cronus might be interesting again.  If a House existed that controlled it, it could control the trade routes.  If no house existed, Tan-Shai would be highly motivated to seize it.

Once we reach the Galactic Federation, the more open and free policies of the era would be a boon for the aliens that previously languished there.  Any sanctions placed on the world would likely expire, and aliens would be free to come and go.  It might see an explosion of artwork and archaeology and prosperity as it reaps the benefits of its closeness to the trade routes.  Corporations would likely take up residence there too, especially those that work closely with the various alien powers.  But I suspect Cronus would become more like Venice: a once-great tourist destination that trades on its decaying grandeur for prosperity while the people slowly begin to relax into their new role in the galaxy.

The Empire would put a stop to all of that nonsense, of course. Cronus represents alien power, which the Empire stands against.  The sanctions of the Dynasty would "snap back" and the aliens would find themselves persecuted.  On the other hand, the Emperor secretly fosters Zathare practices and works closely with House Tan-Shai, and so would know the value of the world. It's probable that we'd see imperial research teams digging into sacred spaces and ancient ruins to get at the secrets of those ancient ruins and temples.

The Elements of Cronus

So, what do we expect to find on Cronus?

Well, obviously, Cronus will have aliens.  That's it's calling card: it's where you find aliens in a region awash with humans.  Which aliens? Well, Traders obviously, and Keleni and Ranathim, as we've already established, as we can add some Asrathi (they have some lore here).  But what we start to see is a world that looks a lot like the Umbral Rim with Asrathi tossed in.  Sure, it has Traders, but Traders are everywhere.  What we really need to sell this are some aliens from the Arkhaian Spiral.  After all, the point of this place is to be where these two disparate parts of the galaxy meet.  We can't use the Eldoth (I mean, we can, but they'll be secretive and hidden).  So we may need to come up with a few new aliens.

We also have the Empire.  It's heavy presence needs to weigh on the planet.  This is not a bountiful, happy alien paradise, but the abject misery of Imperial oppression of aliens.  The Empire needs to be visible, pushing aliens out of their way, glowering at their presence and muttering about how weird everything here is.

We need to see ancient relics.  This is a region rife with Eldothic and Tyrannic artifacts.  As an ecumenopolis, we can even build it in layers, like a tell, which each era building atop the previous era, thus requiring people to delve into the city-world to delve into the planet. However, it's not a dead world like Sepulcher or Styx.  We have more than just ancient things.  The city has continued to thrive and build for centuries.  The layers do not stop at the Ranathim, but build up further with Shinjurai merchant-princes, Trader outposts, Alexian fortresses, Federation tourism boards and corporations and now security camps.  There should be this element of the clash of the ancient with the modern.

I also expect to see some conspiracies here.  If we explore this idea of the "Witch King of Cronus," we might expect to see Zathare cults, even with Imperials as secret members, trying to unlock the secrets of the Deep Engine, and perhaps members of House Tan-Shai and Imperial Knights scowling as they unravel secrets.  We also have a nexus of multiple alien philosophies, and that too can create fodder for conspiracy, with hidden Keleni temples and secretive Ranathim cults.

I also expect to see crime.  We've already established on Asrathi gang here.  We might expect to see more from this clash of cultures, with each ethnic group running an ethnic mafia to keep its own safe from the rest.  We might even expect the various races to self-separate in many ways, rather like in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, though I would presume with at least a little more mixing (as half the fun is seeing them all come together)

Corporations might also seek to exploit the starving and hungry aliens while the Empire carefully ignores what they're doing.  Though I'm not sure what such a corporation would produce.  Manufactured goods, perhaps? I doubt there's much left to mine and little room for farming (speaking of which, how do we keep everyone fed? Is starvation a perennial problem on the world?)

Finally, we might expect museums and tourist attractions.  These are likely run-down at this point, but they exist and they're probably struggling to keep people interested.  Imperials want to see the court of the Witch-King or the tomb of the Eldoth, and it's a good place to go if you want to experience alien culture, but you don't want to stray too far from home.

What You Can Steal On Cronus

So, the point of this is a heist, right?  What can we steal?

Museum artifacts or works of ancient art are probably the most obvious thing. We have ancient relics that Imperials would want to move off-world.  There may also be works of priceless ancient art in various museums that the Empire might choose to raid.  I'm not sure who would be a buyer for these, though. Your best bet would be people with deep pockets in the Umbral or Arkhaian, likely using a Trader to smuggle out the goods.

If there's a big corporation, they probably have a lot of money, certainly more money than anyone else on the planet, barring perhaps the governor.  Obviously, we could try to raid their stashes, but that money would be pretty secure.  You'd need some moment where the money was out and available, with the characters able to access it and steal it, such a payroll, or making a big payment with some sort of physical currency.

Finally, I imagine theft in the world of crime would make a big difference to the various gangs that rule the Cronian underworld. Stealing a trophy, leaving a note on a rival's highly secure desk so he always knows you can get to him, or stealing weapons to supply a particular gang, etc, could all be viable options.