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The world of Acidus lies on the outer edge of the Karsan League, near the border of the Darikhan Empire, far enough from the core that they don't have to put up with much of the Imperial bureaucracy unless they do something to draw attention to themselves.
A major industrial center, the planet was originally settled to take advantage of the massive oceans of toxic and corrosive chemicals that dominate its surface. Though hazardous to human life, these chemicals are a huge boon to the Acidus' manufacturing industry, as a manufacturing tool, component, and easy method of waste disposal. These toxins however mean that much of the ground near sea level (everything beneath an average of 1000' above sea level) is hopelessly polluted and unsuited to human life.
This fact has lead to the creation of massive city-states that dominate the tops of mountains and high plains, with a person's social status being linked directly to the elevation of their homes and businesses. Serfs and peasants, for example, live at or just below the line of toxicity, near the factories where they work, while freemen live progressively higher according to their means, and nobles and high state officials living in virtual palaces at the world's summits and peaks. This is both a status symbol, and matter of practicality. People live as high as they can afford to because, while roaming vapors and atmospheric carcinogens linger in the low places, they can be blown up to great heights during gusty winds or so-called 'acid storms', and those who live at lower elevations are far more likely to come into contact with them and thus average much shorter lifespans and experience far more health complications.
Living at high elevations has additional advantages for the nobility as well. Particularly near the poles the nobles' homes are often blanketed in snow and ice. On a planet with little access to fresh water, this near constant supply of such an important resource is a point of friction between the nobles and the lower classes who are forced to drink foul-smelling 'recycled water' distilled from the planet's polluted reserves and the colonists' wastes or import expensive water from off world.
These nobles, often referred to by the peasantry as "Winter Lords", a somewhat mocking title with the underlying implication that they are so named because of their cold and heartless attitudes as much as the ice and snow that bedecks their homes, are the rulers of this planet, separated into a number of Houses, great and small that each rule a landmass or mountainous 'island' that rise above the Line (as most call the line of toxicity, or the average elevation at which life can be sustained long term without technological aid). Each house is theoretically autonomous within their own territory, but in reality each is answerable to the planet's Forged Lord, who is chosen from among the heads of the greatest noble houses (though in doing so he gives up his claim to his own house and is expected to rule with the well-being of the entire Council of Lords in mind). Usually this head of state is little more than a figure-head, competed for by old men who are ready to pass on their houses to their heirs, and looking for a way to give them an edge in the future. In times of war or as representative to the League however, he is seen as the face of the planet, and his orders are expected to be followed.
Being distant and divorced from the League gives the nobles of the planet a great deal of freedom. It also means, however, that the local nobility is responsible for most of the planetary defense, and while many of the noble houses keep a small private army for their own use, this is not the planet's primary means of defending itself. Younger children of a noble house, those not due to inherit lands or high-ranking titles of their own, are usually expected to enter the military, creating a core of officer-nobles at the head of a well-disciplined military class of peasants and freemen who are tasked to work together in defense of the planet.
By tradition the heads of two of Acidus' most powerful noble families lead this military jointly, to avoid any single noble house from acquiring too much power over the world's armies. Realistically however this has lead to a major rift between the planet's Hammer stellar defense force and Anvil planetary army, as the two powerful Lords vie for power and funding. It has yet to be seen how the two will be able to work together in the face of coming threats.
The nobility and military aren't the only powers on Acidus however.
Near the equator a growing colony of Kerrn gathers, living on a sizable island in the middle of the toxic sea, so close to the Line that no one has dared to settle it. Of course, aliens grabbing this 'prime' piece of land that no one wanted until they took it has caused some controversy among the freemen of the world, but some ambitious factions are looking toward this group with real, practical experience fighting Vaylen as possible allies in the battles they fear are yet to come.
Also unaffiliated, but somewhat more threatening, is the mercenary group that occupies a series of high, craggy islands just north-west of the planet's greatest city. Recruited to help the factions that would become this planet's noble families to fight for territory during early colonization, these soldiers banded together once the war was over to claim territory for themselves that they felt they had earned with their blood during the fighting. They still hold this choice land because no single family has had the power to defeat them, and they've never proven enough of a threat to justify the world's military intervening, but there are many who fear that, as their activities off-world increase and the mercenaries gain power, conflict may be inevitable.
On top of all this, is the powerful Merchant League who controls the manufacturing industry of the world and is primarily responsible for the importing of food and fresh water to the world. Without their backing few would care if Acidus lived or died, and it would have little chance of living.
Finally, there is the Karsan League itself. Though the planet is far enough removed from their influence that the Empire has little power here in itself, they do have a number of representatives present who are responsible for maintaining planetary loyalty and ensuring the integrity of the Planet's Quarantine. Though of little real import directly, their leader, the Lady Eliza Blake, has the backing of the emperor, and her control over the quarantine (which she argues would be better used keeping out drugs and aliens than searching for imaginary worms)its enforcement arm, and the privacy of her own space station, giving her authority and the means to back it up. Further, there are those among the planet's population, particularly its serfs, who might welcome imperial intrusion.
