Setting Info: Coriolis Station

IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT CORIOLIS
If you are new to the station, Coriolis will offer plenty of sights and activities, but there are a few things all new arrivals should know.

The Calendar
In Coriolis (and all of the Third Horizon), time is usually measured in cycles – or Coriolis’ Cycles (CCs) – instead of years, as the length of a year differs from system to system. One CC is the length of a single year on the planet Kua and is divided into three triads of three segments each. Each segment is dedicated to one Icon. There is one odd day between each of the triads. These odd days are special holidays and are celebrated in a fashion reflecting the coming triad’s Icons.



Birr and Cash
The standard currency in the Third Horizon is called the "birr". Monetary transactions on Coriolis are usually handled electronically, using information storage devices called "tags", although smaller payments can of course be made in physical cash. It is wise to have two tags: one for information (licenses, addresses, insurances, medical records, etc.) and one for your money. A transactor is a safer medium if you wish to keep everything in one place as it is locked to your biocode – ordinary tags are only protected by a numeric code.

The Info Terminals
The info terminals on Coriolis supply people on the station with all sorts of useful information, and they are veritable gold mines to a data spider (i.e., a hacker). All information on the infonet will sooner or later leak out, even private messages from forums and password protected areas. The factions’ communications use the same network but generally have stronger encryption. The station’s security and defense systems run on a separate encrypted network that can only be accessed by the terminals inside Administrative Services, the headquarters of the Guard, and a few other places. Attempts to get at this information are criminal acts and will trigger swift reprisal from the Judicators.

Work
Anyone is free to come and work on Coriolis, but to gain access to basic health care you need to purchase a work permit. These are supplied by Administrative Services in the Core at a cost of 100 birr per CC.

Business
There are no mandatory taxes on Coriolis, but if you wish to start a business, you need to pay for a business license. The license must be renewed every cycle, and the cost depends on the type of business.

Housing
If you intend to stay on the station for a longer period of time, renting a room or a module in a family-run boarding house would be a good idea. As the small businesses generally cannot afford any holo or modulate advertising, they can be tricky to find compared to regular hotels. Staying in a hotel for more than a few days will be very expensive however, unless you choose one of the cheap coffin-style hotels common in the spaceports. Buying your own living module is expensive, but a very good investment.

Law and Order
The laws of the station is enforced by the Coriolis Guard who answers to the Governor. For serious crimes, there is a special division, the Judicators, who work directly under the criminal courts. Both the Guard and the Judicators are mandated to sentence criminals at the scene for a number of crimes. The Guard can order corporal punishments such as whippings or public humiliation. The Judicators can order public mutilations and also sentence someone to death, if they can justify it. Incarceration on the station is always short and reserved for cases of public intoxication or lunacy. Longer sentences are served in forced labor camps on Kua. Fines are common, often in addition to other punishment. Suicide is a crime that leads to confiscation of all assets to prevent people from indebting themselves and then committing suicide to save their families from repossession.

Language
The language of the Zenithians, Zeni, has grown into the lingua franca of the Horizon today, as trade and commerce are dominated by the Zenithians. Most travelers speak Zeni in addition to their native tongues. Kua is also a common language on Coriolis and the planet of Kua, which the station orbits.

Health Care
Through the work permit you have access to several private medical facilities on the station. There are usually block doctors in the larger residential areas. Those without a work permit can visit the Samaritan Sanatorium and its adjacent hospital.

Spirituality
Icon chapels can be found everywhere across the station and the preachers there are at your service in exchange for some small gift. The Church of the Icons can also help you in their Dome in the Core, but reserve more extensive aid for their members. Membership is free, however.

Transportation
Most people in the center of the station use the Ring tube for longer stretches of transportation. The tube runs around the Ring and into the Core through each of the four spokes. There are five tube stations, one on each of the Ring plazas, and one in the Core. Hover taxis are more expensive but can take you anywhere in the Core, on the Ring or up to the Spire, via the grav shafts. Private vehicles require their owners to purchase expensive vehicle licenses. Bikes, rickshaws, and palanquins are license-free, but ground loaders, grav chairs, and grav craft are not. Crawlers are only allowed on the station for sanitation and transport companies, and for the Guard and the Judicators.

Weapon Laws and Self-Defense
All weapons require licenses that cost the same amount as the weapon itself, per year. Heavier weaponry and weapon systems are not allowed on the station. Persons convicted of violent crimes cannot purchase weapon licenses. The self-defense laws of the station state that everyone has the right to defend themselves and their property from an attack, but that the defensive violence should be proportionate to the threat. It is rare for someone to be found guilty of excessive use of force however, unless the person used an illegal weapon.
Keep in mind that being licensed is not the same as being permitted to carry all kinds of weaponry in public, however. Local regulations can still stop you from carrying weapons you are allowed to own.

Holidays and Festivals
There are three major holidays on Coriolis: the Founding, the Cyclade, and the Pilgrimaria.
The Founding is a celebration of the construction of the station, the establishing of the office of the Governor, and the formation of the Council of Factions. The celebrations are station-wide with food, music, and dancing. In the evening, there is a remembrance ceremony on the Spire Plaza for those who have died defending the station, members of the Guards and the Judicators, as well as Governors and civilians.
The Cyclade is the celebration of the new cycle and contains a variety of events and competitions. The parties are even bigger than during the Founding and the night traditionally ends with a huge concert in the Core. An informal tradition for many is to party all the way around the Ring during the day and then end the night in the Core.
The Pilgrimaria is a calmer holiday. The day should be devoted to prayer and reflection. The queues for the Dome grow long already during the night watch of the day before. Processions carrying Icon statues pass along the Promenade with much pomp during the day. The day usually ends with a big dinner for family and friends.

How to Blend in on Coriolis
◆ Support the Governor, the Council of Factions and the will of the people.
◆ Accept diversity, and understand that through this, others will accept you.
◆ Praise the Icons and give proper sacrifice before important decisions and as thanks for a blessed life. Let your actions reflect the Icon calendar.
◆ Participate in holidays and festivals.
◆ Never speak well of Dabaran, Mira, or any other place falsely purporting to be the center of the Horizon.

Layout
Coriolis is divided into four parts. From the top down they are the Ring, the Core, the Spire, and the Cellar. Each part has its own distinctive style and atmosphere, but the friendly and welcoming Coriolis residents are everywhere. The four parts are described below, from the point of view of the arriving traveler.

The Ring of the station is huge, and running along its whole extent is the Promenade, the bustling street of boutiques and shops that characterizes Coriolis. The Promenade is best accessed from one of the four plazas located where each of the four spokes connect to the Ring. Taking a taxi or a grav chair is an excellent way to get there, if you can pay. The Promenade is usually very crowded, making grav chairs, rickshaws, or walking the best modes of transportation.

The Ring is very obviously a place mainly for commerce, but the Core houses both several important administrative functions and a rich life of culture and entertainment. The Core is also open and airy in comparison to the tight, crowded spaces of the rest of the station. The Core Plaza is located in the heart of the station, open all the way up to the lower levels of the Spire.

The Spire is altogether different from the rest of the station. There is more open space, more light, and less people here than in the Ring or the Core. The ceilings are higher, the ventilation systems make sure the air is fresh and dry, the holo sky is brighter here than down below, and the street lights in the narrow streets keep the shadows away. The Spire consists of some two hundred floors. The lower ones are numbered from 1 upwards, while the higher levels have fancy names like Therr, Ardha, Lunah, Afridate, or Alkamarra, which is the top floor where the restaurant with almost the same name can be found. The lower floors are usually a more or less controlled chaos of corridors and streets running between markets, recreational facilities, shopping centers and other public places. The station’s commoners reach the Spire via elevators from the Core that run up to the lower floors. To get even farther up, one has to change elevators or, as the wealthy do, continue in a comfortable grav chair or palanquin through private shafts that lead upwards. A few places of interest in the Spire are described below.

Other than the plebeians, who do maintenance on the station’s life support, and the members of the Guard on purge patrols, no one visits the Cellar of Coriolis. If you have business in the Cellar, put on some protective gear and buy a gun. As the gravity down here is unstable it is good to be acquainted with zero-G. Roughly speaking, the Cellar can be divided into a higher, less decrepit part, and a lower, very worn down part. The floors of the Cellar are not named or numbered, and the only maps that exist are hand-made by the service personnel with the bitter jobs of tending to the systems down here.