Cult of Kronos

The Cult of Kronos is a hostile organization and a dealer of the illegal digital drug cybernephrine. Having ties to Taranis, they operate mostly within the Oraulan East Condemned Zone near Port Oraulan on Yeddo. They are believed to have ties to the Serpent's Fang. The Cult of Kronos keep various virtual life forms in captivity, actively harvesting the cybernephrine from them. They are also responsible for having held Twinkle captive before he was rescued by Sophia Delphi.

Due to the Cult of Kronos's location within the Condemned Zone, law enforcement can do very little against their presence. As such, it is recommended to take extreme caution when traveling the area. They will attack passerbyers on sight and will attempt to abduct any virtual or synthetic life form they come across.

The Cult of Kronos is also used as a proxy by Taranis to get around the truce with the Federation that prohibits sending military and law enforcement into the region.

Overview

Led by a werewolf named Rark Zampos, the Cult of Kronos's base of operations is located in the Geothermal Engine located deep underground. Hundreds of virtual life forms, mostly those considered animals, are kept within several mainframes. Their cybernephrine is distilled and harvested. While it is of a lower quality than that of the Aether Cartels, it is significantly cheaper due to being produced locally on Yeddo rather than being transported all the way from the gas giant Aether. Because of the Cult of Kronos's small reach, the Aether Cartels do not consider them a large enough competitor. However, various mercenary organizations within the rogue nation of Taranis are common clients where the drug is used to enhance their awareness of the vrNet, giving them levels of perception of energy that rival that of trained technokinetics.

Unlike the Aether Cartels which produce cybernephrine purely for profit, the Cult of Kronos seeks to create it for spiritual reasons. They believe that by attempting to develop and create more cybernephrine, they are finding ways to become closer to the ancient machine gods that they worship, specifically the dead god Kronos. The Cult of Kronos holds the belief that cybernephrine is not only a digital encoding but also a metaphysical soul that gives virtual life forms their sentience. They believe that a similar soul essence fundamentally makes up human life as well. As such, they believe cybernephrine is the bridge that allows both organic and synthetic life to be considered alive.

Naturally, Rampants are a byproduct of their experiments. Whenever a virtual life form becomes drained of cybernephrine and turns into a Rampant, the Cult of Kronos either sells it to Taranis' army of necromancers or they euthanize it. Of course, a good number of Rampants end up escaping, contributing to the infestations near Port Oraulan.

One of the reasons that the Cult of Kronos works so closely with Taranis is because their god physically exists right underneath the Goddess Tower - the residence of the queen of Taranis. As such, they believe that Phyliss Taranis herself is some sort of prophet. The two have a strong mutual relationship. In exchange for the cybernephrine the cult harvests, Taranis gives them the resources they need to perform whatever strange rituals they practice. The Cult of Kronos hopes that by learning about enough what truly cybernephrine is, they hope to bring Kronos back to life.