Arbra is a cold, mostly dry planet with one landlocked sea spanning the equator. Fully half the globe’s surface is covered in permanent glaciers that run north and south across the breadth of the planet. Most of Arbra’s precipitation falls on these glaciers in the form of snow, leaving much of the rest of the planet swathed in chilly deserts, save for a large stretch of primordial jungle in the south, which was nourished by meltwater pouring off the western glacier wall. The planet’s single sea is notable for its high salinity—almost sixty parts per thousand—which is a result of high evaporation as well as dissolved salts running from the desert sands that surround it. Average rainfall across the ice-free parts of the planet averages around five or six centimetres a year, with no noticeable rainy season. In contrast, over seventy centimetres a year fall on the glacial regions in the form of snow. Arbra’s day-night cycle lasts thirty-one hours, and a solar year consists of three hundred twenty-four local days.

Despite what many would consider marginal habitability, Arbra has in fact been settled for several millennia. The planet was originally colonized by Sith adherents in the years before the formation of the Galactic Republic. Located far from the Sith Worlds, these colonists developed a number of idiosyncratic beliefs, some tied to the location of their main city, which was located deep inside a vast crystal cavern underneath the planet’s surface. Some ancient race had planted a large number of geothermal power rods, which transformed the planet’s geothermal energy into electricity that was released into the sky as high-altitude lightning storms. This power was also consumed directly by an endemic species of lagomorph known as the Hoojib.

In present times, much of the planet’s surface is covered in urban sprawl. Despite the planet’s modestly habitable environment, large numbers of settlers have made the planet their home, eking out a living off the land and farming for much-needed water. The planet’s moderate mineral wealth has been exploited to fuel a modest local industry focused on trading goods to meet the needs of Arbra’s sister planets.