Free World of Ganymede

History: Ganymede was settled in 2145, the year of the Great Plague. Although it had been chartered a couple of times before, none had been able to make a go of the ice-rock ball. Lacking the chemial richness of Io, or the abundant liquid water of Europa, Ganymede was second-rate. The Ganymede Charter was formed by ambitious escapees from the plague. Some of the more affluent survivors who escaped earth with their fortunes intact, found it difficult to garner sympathy from Luna or Mars. They decided to take their ships and resources to the Galilean World and settle Ganymede. The CCB had no objections, as long as the 'Medes took as many of their poorer relatives as could be moved. One-time aristocrats, they initially scoffed at the suggestion until they realized that someone would actually have to do the work.
The 'Medes transported almost three times their number in the more skilled and literate of the escapees. They made it clear from the beginning that their passengers were along only as labor, not as partners. Once on Ganymede, the relationship turned even more sour when it baecame apparent that the ruling 'Medes looked on them as slaves, and slaves that had darn well better be grateful at that.
This state of affairs lasted for about thirty years. In 2172, a revolution, bloody in the extreme, brought down the ruling calls and abolished the slave order. The Revolution was led by a man named Ivan One-eye, a man of frightful strength who toiled in the Underground Farms. His revolt was followed by a decade of nasty in-fighting and civil war. Finally, the planet re-applied its charter in 2180 as the Free World of Ganymede, a world dedicated to the enterprising spirit of the individual. In reality, the world is a planet of toughs and opportunists. Not as gang-oriented as the low-lifes of New LA, the 'Mede motto might be, "every man for himself". There is no spirit of altruism on Ganymede, everyone is out to further his own interests at the expense of others. They are not necessairly a malicious people, they are simply raised in a society in which he who is brave, strong and smart enough to take something succeeds. Ganymede has many intricate customs which are strange to the outsider, such as the "street trial", wherien accusation, trial conviction and execution can be carried out in a matter of minutes, and the "Dare" in which a person dared to do a dangerous deed may name the price of his success from the challenger.
One-Eye (or simply "the Eye") is still the nominal hed of government, even at his advanced age, due to the fact that he knows where all the skeletons are hidden and who wants to keep what secret from whom. His hand-picked toady is the Speaker for the colony.
Ganymede life is rough and tumble, and visitors would be well advised to keep their wits about them. There are few laws on this colony, and armed people walking the thoroughfares are not an uncommon sight. If a traveller is of the adventurous and rough-hewn sort, Ganymedes nightclubs, alehouses, brothels and gambling houses afford a rare thrill in an otherwise civilized society.