A remote waypoint on the Overic Griplink, Toola is the territory of the Whiphid tribes. A peculiar ovoid pattern keeps this solitary planet locked in a state of winter for eight months of its 423-day rotation. Even the population belt along the warmer equatorial region is rather brisk, with the seventy days of summer being no exception. At the poles, temperatures plummet to hazardous levels, necessitating the use of insulated suits and shielded vehicles. Ancient glaciers permanently encase parts of the planet above twenty-five degrees latitude and have been mined for moisture in the past, notably in the Great Ice Floes region. The central habitable zone is heated by a chain of geothermal hot springs that keep the band along the equator free from permanent ice and continuously empty mineral-rich water into the planet's oceans. Where the frigid polar winds collide with the milder sea breeze, snowfall is frequent and heavy, especially at higher latitudes.

Creatures here evolved to thrive in the frozen climate and have baffled researchers by observing a sort of truce in the vicinity of hot springs. Mastmots exhibit no fear in the immediate presence of Snow Demons, who otherwise hunt them on the frozen plains and ice fields. Predators and prey peacefully warm themselves side by side. Alien species introduced to Toola's habitat by Ithaqua Station merchants, either by design or by accident, have not learned this behavior. Whiphids have been known to hunt off-world predators more aggressively to preserve the natural order of the springs. They have even attacked groups of hostile spacers, who were observed to be carrying weapons to a spring. The tribes are more tolerant away from those areas, and most of the Whiphids rely on Ithaqua Station as a vital gateway to technology and advanced knowledge.