While the plantations on Ionia are owned by the empire and worked by slaves, the dynamic between the slaves and the Empire shifted over centuries as the number of slaves grew beyond Empire's ability to manage. After many mistakes and bloody suppression of countless slave revolts, the Empire eventually found it more convenient and cost-effective to allow the slaves to govern themselves and simply extract from them what they needed.

Thus, the slaves have their own (still unofficial and unrecognized) government, politics, and socio-economic system. Entire generations have been born, lived, and died as "slaves", though many wouldn't identify themselves as such. Most simply think of themselves as Ionians.

Internally, the Ionian government is fractured into two predominant branches, leading many to call it the two-fold government. The outward-facing branch, the Conformists, deal with the Rotakan forces, manage incoming slaves, and ensure production meets the Empire's demands. They are called traitors by the "true" Ionians, though not very loudly and certainly not to their face. With the tacit support of the Rotakan Empire, including a steady supply of suppression weapons, it is generally unwise to antagonize the Conformists.

On the flip side are the Expansionists, who refer to themselves as the true Ionians. Their stated goal is to turn Ionia into a truly livable planet and kick out the Rotakans. How they intend to do this is...murky. Ionia is barely capable of sustaining life, with only the Empire's supply of water allowing their one small corner to be livable at all. Figuring out how to make the planet livable is virtually an impossible task, not to mention kicking out the Empire. Still, the idea is firmly embedded into the Ionian consciousness, if only because there's a lot of evidence the planet once supported a vibrant ecosystem.

While the Conformists have a coherent institution, the Expansionists are much more fractured, consisting of a loose coalition of almost feudal-like lords. These lords control underground domains that range from small caverns that contain only a few thousand people to massive underground cities with millions of people.

There is constant strife between the lords, between the Conformists and Expansionists, and between the Empire and basically everyone else. However, that strife rarely spills over into full-blown conflict, with each side keeping the others in check while the Empire takes what they want.