Elom is a cold, dry world. Dry enough in fact, that there is little permanent ice cover, despite the average global temperature of minus twelve standard degrees, which on worlds blessed with more water, would mean permanent glaciers and a layer of permafrost just below ground level. On Elom, the perpetual cold has prevented any form of native trees from developing. The largest endemic plants are several species of taiga grass, mostly confined to the large areas of tundra grasslands around the planet’s equator. These grasslands support a surprising diversity of grazers, from the ubiquitous nerf to rare species such as the Lowland Eopie Shrew, a thirty-centimeter long, grey and orange furred seed specialist. Elom’s low mountains and rocky plains are home to many species of mountain goats, which graze upon algae and lichen. These in turn are preyed on by carnivores such as nexu, sand panthers, and several species of ursine native to the planet. The local wildlife is adapted to the scarcity of water, most having a physiological specialization that enables them to extract the water they need from their food. Even with these adaptations, animal life on the rocky expanse that covers most of the planet is hard to find.

The scarcity of water is only part of the problem. Much of what surface water there is on Elom contains a dissolved mineral content that is three times the maximum level that would be considered safe for most humanoids. This is due to the nature of most of the rocky plains, in that the rocks are easily dissolved by water, ensuring that whatever surface runoff there might be in the summer months, the only time streams and rivers flow, is heavily contaminated with minerals. Like the local wildlife, the two sentient species endemic to the planet, have developed ways of coping with this, usually in the form of portable distilling equipment.

These two sentient species, the hardy, surface-dwelling Elomin, and the more isolated, cave-dwelling Elom, live very different lives, which helps to explain why one planet can support two sentient species. On most worlds with more than one, there would have been bloodshed until one race was dominant. On Elom, both species have come to an accord. The Galactic Republic only made contact with the Elomin relatively recently, around the year 120 BCGT and the Elom even later. Visitors to the planet are much more likely to encounter the gregarious Elomin, who travel the surface in small caravans, following the herds of grazers, rather than the secretive, subterranean Elom. However, both races are not unfriendly to outsiders, and visitors are wont to be treated kindly, so long as they are not hostile.