Wrote this up some time ago, don't really intend to use it again so it might be useful for fleshing out someone's game.
Location: Drusus Marches, 5 day trip from Scintilla along stable warp route
Class: Pleasure Planet with substantial industrialisation and food production
Population: 3.2 Billion
Local Time: 390 Terran day orbital cycle around its sun, 28hr standard Terran day
Climate: Mean temperature of 15degrees Celsius, annual rainfall of 5500+ ml
Troposphere: Nitrogen 68% Oxygen 27% Argon 1% Ozone 1% Carbon Dioxide 3%
Pollution Index: Minimal
Hydrosphere: 95% coverage of shallow fresh water oceans
Countries: None, numerous small islands of up to 10sq km in size
Native Flora/Fauna: Vast amounts of Plankton supporting a diverse fresh water ecology, no land animals or flying species and small amounts of insect life.
Capital: Hive Trismeg
Gravity: 0.98G
Principle Imports: Tourists, refined chemicals, light and heavy industrial components, metals
Principle Exports: Industrial Chemicals, Drugs, Combat Narcotics, Food- fish and crustaceans
Military: 1 Corps of Mechanised Infantry PDF Grade 3
1 Army Group of Magistratum Infantry PDF Grade 2
1 Battalion of Heavy Infantry PDF Grade 1
Tithe: Decuma Particular
Governor: Field Marshal Eladio Athan
Askelephon Secundus being called a pleasure planet is something of a misnomer given that the rain never stops, its relatively cold and the slate grey skies are only clear of clouds for about 5-10 days a year. But the amount of vice here staggers belief operating under domestic law, gambling, drug parlours and prostitution are all legal, making it a popular destination for those seeking an alternative from the norm of rigidly enforced clean living which permeates a great number of imperial worlds, at least in principle of the Ecclesiarchy would like them to comply to. Second on the list for reasons to visit is the food, marine life in the planets vast freshwater oceans that is considered a delicacy anywhere else are common, cheap and in vast quantities to sate any appetite.
But its the drugs for which most come, because they're cheap, good quality and in massive quantities.
Its also the planets main tithe that supplies the rest of the sector with a large percentage of its combat and medical as well as a vast variety of complex industrial chemicals that are brought to the planet in their raw state for processing in the massive alchemy vats supplied by an endless amount of fresh water and geothermal power.
Because the water forms a vital part of the planets ability to sustain its manufacturing sector, the worst of the industrial waste is shipped off with dedicated low orbit capable barges and jettisoned with onboard mass-drivers into deep space. An expensive process but has kept the planet in surprisingly good condition, people littering or caught dumping in the canals of Hive Trismeg are traditionally thrown in after it by the local population or the police force. All of which are invariably wired up on something, crime rates are average to high in the Hive which is a sprawling affair dominated by massive refineries lighting up the clouds with baleful yellow flares of burning gas and surrounded by 120km of canals and low lying buildings.
Boat is the fastest way to get around the hive for most people, they vary in size from canoes to fishing factory vessels up to 300m in length that trawl up the bounties of the oceans, there's a simple rule of the water here and that's to give way to anyone bigger than the vessel you're in. On the few larger permanent islands, residential populations of workers live in cramped, high density housing numbering around 6500 people per square kilometre on average to the ultra high density areas in skyscraper sized refineries of up to 13,000. Trismeg central is the lightest populated centre of the hive and where the majority of the licensed parlours, casinos and bordellos operate 24 hours a day, the central tower overshadowing all of the others by a factor of two is the house of Marshal Eladio Athan and the streets kept clean by his troops, making it also the safest part of town.
Outside of that, visitors are warned that they play by the rules of the cartels.
The governor is regarded by many of the inhabitants with a mix of derision to outright loathing. Being he's Imperial Guard through and through, in his 80 years of service after starting out as an Lieutenant, fighting his way through dozens of wars, through the ranks and the hardened old veteran is just as openly contemptuous of the planets layabout, good for nothing inhabitants. Provided they tithe, he doesn't see any reason for now to change anything, even if he wanted to, it would be a bloody fight and he's limited to what he can effect in his sphere of influence. So he's content to slowly retire and enjoy what days the emperor has left to him with his wife and two teenage children. PDF and Magistratum forces on the planet are also run by Eladio Athan, the majority of which he doesn't see fit to fill a set of boots let alone near a weapon but he's doing what he can with a rotten bunch, except for the 1st Battalion of 1000 heavy infantry in carapace armour and armed with the best weapons the old man can source through his many connections. Pound for pound they're the toughest of the tough and dedicated, highly professional soldiers that are highly respected in the sector. Weapons of choice on-planet are cased ammunition stubbers of various shapes and sizes. Caseless ammunition and energy packs are prone to being waterlogged or rot in the ever-present rain, damp and cold if they aren't maintained daily, by the same account the PDF also runs on boats rather than land going vehicles which it has none of. Though Athan has managed to source them a small fleet of gun cutters and heavy amphibious hovercraft transports to round out their asymmetric warfare capabilities.
If anyone is more hated and hates Askelephon Secundus more than the governor its long suffering Captain Geas of the Adeptus Arbites who sees a high turnover of his meagre troops 'eaten' up by the city and not come back. He's convinced that the alchemy cartel is one step away from being outlawed altogether if he can prove it and just itching to find a valid reason to lock them up on Battleship Island in a nice deep dark hole until they rot. Geas is dedicated and after several assassination attempts completely untrusting of everyone but his own close circle of officers and to some extent sympathetic of the Marshal, who under normal conditions would consider a kindred spirit. But the planet is anything but normal.
The Askelephon Secundus Cartel is a collection of five noble houses (more commonly known as the AS5-C) that have been on the planet since anyone can remember, they eschew any Adeptus Mechanicus involvement in their alchemical traditions and are notoriously hardline about maintaining their status quo in the greater scheme of things. As mentioned, provided they tithe what they're supposed to back into the Imperium, the cartels run their business as they see fit within the bounds of Imperial Law, visitors are reminded that they are guests on cartel territory and can be expelled however the ruling house sees fit and subject to their own local laws and traditions. Littering in one territory might get you a fine or a dunking on one house, on another they'll just as soon shoot the transgressor for indulging in industrial espionage.
In addition to maintaining their own defence forces which would rival the local PDF, proprietary drug and chemical manufacturing sections they are afforded the luxury of literally wallowing in money from their own private entertainment areas. Should Trismeg central prove too tame for the visitor, the vices of the cartels will make even the most jaded blush, perennially representatives from the Ecclesiarchy undertake their vows to save the sinners in those territories with the word of the emperor. The cartels welcome them with open arms and the city eats them up, most never to be seen again with the virtues they started with, much like the beleaguered Captain Geas's Arbiters end up it would seem. Even the Order Dialogous doesn't send its sisterhood into there to watch over the nobles on standing orders of the sectors Legatine Superior, though they do maintain several in residence of the governors spire.
Sector Lord Hax considers the cartel a minor sin, without them, their alchemical secrets would be lost and for now is confident that the hardline Governor and Arbites will keep the supplies flowing, for all their noxious, highly addictive pleasure drugs and poisons that are made there, there are dozens more of a medicinal and industrial nature which are critical to the health and survival of the sectors population as a whole.
For all intents and purposes the AS5-C might be a bunch of hopped up, inbred chemists with their own sense of superiority on their own turf, but they play by the Imperial rules, even if they make up their own rules locally some of the time. But there is worse to deal with, most noticeably the Eight T's Cartel which is known to operate on-planet and the most vicious independent organisations in the whole sector formed from eight of the largest, most powerful narco gangs based across dozens of worlds. By themselves they where bad enough to deal with, now they're working together its proving impossible to root them out, each time a head is cut off the others take over until a new one takes its place.
About the only redeeming feature of the AS5-C is that they hate the Eight T's with a passion and doggedly destroy any they catch, like most groups maintaining their own oligopoly, they don't want anyone else cutting in on their action and know full well that the Eight T's aims to either depose one of the AS5-C and take over its manufacturing or work their way through to being considered legitimate via other means. Provided they keep killing dozens of undercover Arbites every year, it seems unlikely at the very least of the latter becoming a reality anytime soon, Geas and the ASC-5 will offer bounties between 100 and 500 thrones for proof of a kill of an Eight T's member depending on their standing in the cartel. Its good money, but few live to enjoy it for very long as the T's make a habit of finding out just who X'd their members, then returning the favour, normally starting with that persons friends, then family and eventually the individual themselves all as horrifically as possible, just to make an example.
Security getting onto Askelephon Secundus is tight with rigidly enforced customs checking bags for foodstuffs and illegal items which could threaten either the peace or more importantly the ecosystem itself, it takes a large bribe (1000+ thrones) or heavy duty connections to someone on the planet or both, to ignore that protocol. Even then depending on the guards stationed at the spaceport on Muro Island it could simply mean that whoever is determined to bribe their way in are some kind of criminal or narco ganger and detained for further interrogation. Marshal Athan stations a goodly number of his best and most trusted troops to make sure both for the legitimate purposes of screening who comes in and simply for the fact it really antagonises the cartel members being put under scrutiny outside their comfort zones, not that he openly admits to it being the secondary reason. From there its a 90minute ferry journey to Central across open ocean for the price of 15 thrones, a cheaper way is to hitch a ride on a bulk transport vessel doing a return trip for around 3 thrones or trade in kind. It takes 1hour but the visitor gets to see something that normally the Marshal doesn't like to advertise to guests, the Harrows Chain.
Home to approximately 1.2million mutated rejects of society that live out their lives in several billion tons of garbage annually, this pitiful chain of islands is a waste dump in the middle of nowhere and the smell best described as savagely assaulting, it also sees a minor role of being a dumping ground for criminals falling somewhere between too bad for indentured service and not quite worthy of the death penalty. The Harrows isn't a place anyone goes voluntarily and routinely circled by at least a dozen warships armed with state of the art radar systems linked to multiple heavy weapons systems discouraging any fanciful ideas about floating off in an inner tube to somewhere less horrible. Rubbish goes in, recycled metals, plastics and anything useful comes out from mess in trade for medical supplies and a few metric tons of drugs, dumpster barge duty is dangerous, smelly and possibly the least popular job on the planet even if it does offer extraordinary pay rates. Attempted hijackings from the Harrows residents is part of the job, good captains make sure that their heavy stubbers are in order and the crew armed to the teeth, even so at least one barge is lost once a year from a massed assault and the barge consequently sunk shortly after by patrol boats.
On the upside, the local authorities really don't care what you leave with in your bags provided its not stolen.