This blasted, twisted ice world has seen many conflicts, not least the one which reduced it to its current state. Ando Prime was once a lush, tropical world with a temperate climate and calm, predictable weather patterns. Its oceans teemed with marine life and the forests were full of many native life forms, though none of them were sentient. The atmosphere was primarily oxygen and nitrogen, though there were higher concentrations of natural hydrogen than normally found on most planets of its type.

Shortly after the Aqualish discovered space travel, an argument occurred over the ownership rights of Ando Prime and large scale conflict overwhelmed the planet, leaving it blasted and ruined, its atmosphere almost completely burned away, the forests destroyed and its ecology all but wiped out. Now it is a frigid ice world, almost completely devoid of life, save for that which exists deep below the surface or at the bottom of the oceans, deep under the thick ice. Savage blizzards rage across the surface and the air is thin, though still breathable. After having all but destroyed the world, the Aqualish moved their wars and violence elsewhere, having no further interest in a planet that was now inhospitable to them.

The world was eventually settled by the Andoni, a group of insectoid monks that were forced to flee their own home planet because of religious persecution. Both the Aqualish and the Old Republic largely ignored them, believing that if anyone wanted to settle such an inhospitable world, they were welcome to try. For generations the Andoni Bendu lived their lives of solitude there, undisturbed by the rest of the galaxy and the political juggling that swept most of the Outer Rim Territories as the Republic continued its relentless expansion. Over the centuries, they painstakingly sculpted their temples and monasteries from the unforgiving walls of rock and ice.

When the newly arisen Empire took over the nearby planet of Ando and subjugated the war-like Aqualish, the Andoni Monks were largely ignored, as like the Old Republic before them, the Imperials had no interest in the ice world, though the Empire placed several spy satellites in orbit to keep watch, making sure that the Andobi were not harboring any criminal elements.

Eventually, offworld prospectors discovered rich deposits of minerals and fossil fuels on Ando Prime, which inevitably brought Imperial “interest” from Ando. Many of the Andoni Monks protested the mining operations, believing that it would "upset the balance" of their now-beloved world. However, the Imperials convinced the Andoni monks that although the planet was large enough for both of them, it didn’t necessarily have to be, and they agreed to stop protesting.

Recently though, the Empire was driven out of the Ando system by the Falleen Federation Navy, amid celebrations by the subjugated Aqualish and the Andoni Monks. Galactic commerce has again started to flow freely into the system under the Federation’s watchful gaze, and the galaxy renowned podraces have started up again in earnest.

There is one modest spaceport on the planet, which serves both the miners and the monastery. This is where the podracers invariably arrive, bringing their screaming machines to this quiet world on the edge of the Galaxy to challenge its thrilling alpine courses. The tracks the racers run on Ando Prime are scenic but deceptively treacherous. The twisting mountain roads lead the contestants through narrow caves dotted with ice stalactites, above and between daunting glacial crevasses, along hazardous artificial pipelines and across the surfaces of lakes long frozen. The Andobi Monks welcome the racers and often invite them to great banquets in their temples the day before they are due to race, though their warm welcome is in part due to the fact that the leader of the Monks, Da-shi’al, is a huge podracing fan.

The planet is host to “The Ando Overland”, one of the most famous podraces during the Old Republic, second only to Tatooine’s famous Boonta Eve Classic. It also boasts the “Ando Prime Centrum”, “Beedo’s Wild Ride”, “Howler Gorge” and the “Andobi Mountain Run” podracing circuits. The podraces are rumored to be funded and controlled by the Hutt criminal cartels, though, with the Falleen Federation’s recent annexation of the system, this is sure to change.