Vanlaere
One of the most heavily urbanized planets in the Galactic Enforcement Agency, it is no longer possible to see the natural surface of Vanlaere. Starscrapers reach high into the atmosphere, and industrial hives descend into the sponge-like crystalline crust of the planet.
Class divides on ultra-capitalist Vanlaere are severe. The rich and powerful employ mercenary armies to keep the poor and hungry from their throats. While some areas of the planet resemble a high-luxury resort utopia, others are war zones filled with blood and smoke.
Geography
Vanlaere has a unique planetary structure, almost a bone or sponge-like mineral crust. Despite the countless air pockets the minerals form a crystalline structure that's incredibly stable, like carbon nanotubes. This makes it suitable both for building upon and for tunneling beneath. The crust pockets contain most of the planet's water. Before the urbanization of Vanlaere (thousands of years ago), tidal forces caused water to emerge, then recede, below the surface. It did not have permanent specific oceans, but certain areas flooded reliably on schedule.
Ecosystem
Vanlaere is suitable for life, but life did not evolve naturally here. If any compatible microbes had landed they likely would have thrived. As it is, Vanlaere was settled thousands of years ago by an unrecorded species. Their initial terraforming efforts were accelerated when the Thaal made contact and uplifted them.
Now, Vanlaere has massive populations of microscopic life in its subterranean oceans. Algae, plankton, and other life forms. Supposedly bizarre forms of life exist deep beneath the crust, where the heat of the mantle wells up into the spongy crust, but they are poorly studied.
Most of Vanlaere's ecosystem is artificial, having been terraformed and modified for thousands and thousands of years.
Climate
The atmosphere is fairly humid due to the rising and falling sponge tides. Years of industrialization have irrevocably modified the climate. Temperatures are extreme, hot during the day and cold at night, with massive swings between drought and torrential rain.
Natural Resources
Water and minerals can be found in the spongy earth. Vanlaere has enough metal deposits in its crust to support the enormous infrastructure built atop it. The crystalline formations of the crust contain metal and minerals, and though they require sophisticated technology to extract, they are exceptionally strong.
Vanlaere's relative lack of soil means that all agriculture must be hydroponic or soil must be imported/created. Fungus has a better time adapting to the planet, and massive farms of genetically modified fungal crops grow underground.
Owning Organization