The decisions and directives of the elders may have considerable influence with the people of Nungunny, but it would be wrong to call them the sole leaders of the neighborhood. For one thing, while veneration of elders is widespread in Nungunny, it is not universal; for another there are those who don't want to bother the elders except with weighty matters; and there are those who just think the elders are too slow to act. Fulfilling a more proactive röle in the neighborhood's governance, and filling in among those communities where the elders do not, are a diverse patchwork of organizations that have come to be collectively called "crews", though they may call themselves by different names. These crews are usually, though not always, each made up of people of a shared ethnicity and culture, but beyond that they vary widely. Some crews are idealistic but implusive gangs of youth; others are formalized societies with pomp and ritual; still others are united and guided by their religion. Each crew has influence over only a relatively small area; skirmishes occasionally arise between crews trying to gain territory or engaged in a dispute over matters that affect both their territories, and while it's infrequent for these conflicts to turn violent, it's certainly not unknown.

Relationships between the elders and the crews can be complex. Often the crews act as executive arms for the elders; the elders may make the decisions, but the crews carry them out. The elders may decide that some particularly troublesome community member may be cast out, for instance, but they do not personally eject them; the crews may escort the miscreant out of the community, and make sure they understand the consequences of trying to return. Just as often, however, the crews may act on their own without bothering to involve the elders, either because they think immediate action is required or just because they don't think it's a matter the elders need to be concerned with. And sometimes the elders and crews may work at cross purposes; when a crew disagrees with the elders' decision, they may decide to ignore it and take things into their own hands. They must be careful if they do so, however, and perhaps take steps to make sure their actions don't become too widely known; while the fact that the elders rely on others to enforce their decisions means that in the short run the crews are likely to have little trouble acting against them, in the long run if the people of their territory find out that they defied the elders they may lose a lot of respect and face community opposition.

Of course, along the highway, in and around the hotels, restaurants, architectural firms, and chemical plants, neither the elders nor the crews have much sway; there the city guard has a strong presence enforcing the law, and next to them the companies themselves and their own security personnel are the most important decisionmakers and enforcers. But that's another matter.