Culture and Everyday Life

Core Worlds. Housing is the most expensive commodity besides water. Apartments are stacked in narrow towers with minimal space. Families live in two or three rooms at most. Entire blocks may share cooking and sanitation facilities. High rents keep workers in debt contracts. Squatting is common but punished when discovered.
Mid Worlds. Housing ranges from modular prefab units to small blocks run by guilds or syndicates. Quality varies. Some mid hubs provide subsidies for skilled workers. Boarding houses are common for migrant crews.
Rim Worlds. Housing is crude but usually available. It may be unfinished concrete, pressurized domes, or scrap-metal bunkers. Residents repair and expand their own dwellings when materials allow. Security is poor, so most communities organize guard shifts.
Shipboard Housing. Many crews live in their ships full-time. Shared bunks and rotating sleep schedules are normal. A working ship provides shelter and mobility but constant maintenance stress.

Core Diets. Core citizens eat grain bowls, vat-grown protein strips, and processed algae packs. Wealthy sectors can afford imported spices, reef stews, or fresh vegetables from agricultural mid worlds.
Mid Diets. Mid worlds are food exporters but keep the lower-quality harvests for locals. Street stalls sell fried tubers, broth noodles, grilled fungus, and compressed protein cakes. Food defines neighborhood identity. A stall’s recipe often passes through generations.
Rim Diets. Rim dwellers eat what they can barter or salvage: fungus loaves, insect flour, kelp mash, or nutrient blocks. Food is functional, but locals celebrate whenever a fresh shipment of spices, fruit, or grain arrives. Shared meals strengthen trust.
Cultural Value. Sharing food is more binding than a written contract in many communities. Offering a bowl or portion marks respect. Refusing to eat with others is considered hostile.
Crew Meals. A ship’s cook is often the heart of the crew. Even a poor meal prepared reliably can keep morale steady during long hauls.

Gambling. Dice, cards, holo-boards, and machine slots exist on every world. Syndicates run most operations on the rim, while regulated halls exist in the core. Wagers range from credits to shifts of labor.
Bars and Taverns. Most social life takes place in bars. Some are family-run; others are controlled by cartels. They provide cheap drinks, cheap food, and neutral ground for talks. Violence inside is tolerated only if it benefits the owner.
Fight Rings. Unlicensed rings are common on the rim. Humans, Caraphex, and cyber-enhanced fighters compete for wagers. On mid worlds, fight rings are often disguised as “sports exhibitions.”
Dance and Music. Music spreads faster than law. Local styles use drums, stringboards, reef shells, or digital samplers. Dancing is the cheapest way to forget debt for a night.
Holos and Recordings. Old holos circulate endlessly. Cheap projectors replay dramas, comedies, or action pieces centuries old. People know the stories already but watch for comfort.
Community. Crews and neighborhoods often band together for small festivals: food stalls, shared music, or a fight exhibition. These short events lift morale, but work resumes immediately after.

Protect Your Own. Crews, families, and guilds look out for each other. Outside help is rare, so betrayal inside a group is considered one of the worst offenses.
Pay Back What You Owe. Debt is central to life. Credibility depends on paying debts promptly. Even small unpaid loans can lead to blacklisting. Some worlds maintain public debt boards; names on them are avoided until cleared.
Never Turn Down a Meal. A shared meal is an act of trust. Refusing to eat together implies hostility or bad intent. Accepting a meal signals willingness to cooperate.
Keep Tools Clean. Maintenance is survival. A broken tool means lost work, lost pay, or lost life. Crews clean and check tools after every job. Dirty tools mark an unreliable worker.
Record What Happened. Crews keep logs: jobs taken, cargo hauled, debts cleared, and disputes faced. Logs act as proof when negotiating contracts or defending against charges. Data Guilds and Synthborn assemblies often keep backups.
Rotation of Labor. Long contracts wear down workers. Crews rotate shifts to survive the grind. Falling behind in maintenance or schedule can bankrupt a ship or settlement quickly.

Loyalty vs. Debt. Loyalty to crew is real, but debts test it constantly. Choosing between paying a debt and protecting a friend is a common source of conflict.
Neutral Zones. Markets, repair bays, and some bars act as neutral grounds. Violence here is punished by the entire community, no matter who started it.
Respect by Work. Status is based less on wealth than on proven work. A reliable mechanic or pilot earns more respect than a wealthy but absent owner.
Tokens of Memory. People keep small tokens—tools, ship patches, meal cups, or song recordings—to prove their work mattered. Tokens are traded or gifted to mark trust.