Few places within the known galaxy are as notorious as Nar Shaddaa, colloquially known as Vertical City or the Smuggler’s Moon. It is the largest moon of the Hutt homeworld of Nal Hutta and has long been affiliated with the slug-like crime lords from the swampy planet it orbits. To most visitors, nothing about the world is even remotely beautiful or appealing, as a vast unseemly urban sprawl covers the entirety of the moon’s surface, and is marked by gaudy neon-lit towers and belching smokestacks reaching up into the smog-filled sky.

Nar Shaddaa’s streets are often covered in grime and dirt, and acid rain regularly falls upon overcrowded promenades and pedestrian walkways, adding to the ambience of a decaying urban landscape. Its towering skyscrapers resemble scraps of metal haphazardly welded together, covered in lights and holoscreens, advertising business both legitimate and otherwise. The moon’s urban blocks are constructed vertically, earning the world the nickname Vertical City. The lowest levels closest to the rocky surface are inhospitable due to the excess heat caused by the massive power plants that power the ecumenopolis, sometimes only intermittently so. As the energy needs of the moon continue to increase, the heat from the ever-growing power plants continues to rise higher up through the lower levels, forcing its inhabitants to periodically expand the Vertical City upward.

Nar Shaddaa came into the possession of the Hutts roughly fifteen thousand years ago, when they subjugated the Y’Toub system following the destruction of their original homeworld, Varl. The Hutts displaced the natives of Nal Hutta - the primitive Evocii - to its largest moon before they annexed it and enslaved the Evocii. Ever since, Hutt crime lords, magnates, gangsters, and business owners have developed Nar Shaddaa into the most important hub for trade and commerce within Hutt Space, attracting denizens from across the galaxy. During the Jedi Civil War from four millennia ago, the moon became a miserable but necessary home for millions of refugees, who were often exploited and forced into slavery by criminal organisations preying on the weak. Three centuries later, during the Great Galactic War, both the Republic and Sith Empire attempted to win over the Smuggler’s Moon through shadow wars and underworld intrigues in an effort to gain unrestricted access to its often illegal but revolutionary technologies, weapons, and refineries. In recent decades, the Eidola Pirates and the Smuggler’s Guild have been the most important players on Nar Shaddaa.

Crime is rampant on Vertical City, as it has been a veritable hive of scum and villainy for millennia. Its population is extremely diverse, as Humans, Hutts, Duros, Twi’leks, Rodians, Trandoshans, and Gammoreans, to name only a few, are a common sight. While many of these peoples had the bad luck of being born on Nar Shaddaa, many more had the greater misfortune of being brought to the moon against their will as slaves, indentured servants, refugees, or even as trophies. As a result, destitution is the base state of existence for a vast majority of those who reside on the Smuggler’s Moon, and few are able to escape exploitation