OOC: sorry for posting in your comms, but this is something people should remember.
Hostile stance is: you attack the other faction on sight. All the members of the hostile faction are KoS while in the patrol area, and you dont hunt them out of the patrol area. In the case of the SA, the patrol area is all Liberty systems (except New York, that is a non-pvp area). If the HF is in hostile stance, SA will attack any HF ship spoted inside Liberty. In the case of the HF, the patrol area is the independent worlds. In the case of traders, lawfuls will only attack traders carrying contraband, and only if they refuse to drop the cargo and pay the fine, and unlawfuls will attack traders if they dont give money. This is valid for any type of trader, be it tagged as the hostile faction or not. No one of the hostile faction can enter the guard system, and if the hostile faction attack the guard this is reason to declare war.
War stance is: you move half of your forces to a third party base and start repeated attacks on the systems of the other faction. You can attack guard systems. In the case of the SA, it uses Freeport 4, a IMG base outside of the patrol area, to raid Vespucci, and in the case of the HF, it uses Alcatraz Depot, a rogue base, to raid Virginia. Traders can be attacked freely, as you can see happening in Tau 31 where the KNF attack bretonian traders constantly. When peace is declared, both factions return to neutral, unless the infocard says their allegiances are hostile.