A frigid world of glaciers, icy seas and snow-covered mountains, Polus is not a welcoming planet for visitors who have not taken serious precautions against the cold. With a mean temperature of fifty below zero, most sentients could not expect to last an hour on top of the glaciers. This would be cut to mere minutes if they fell into the sea. Despite the freezing temperature, life abounds on Polus. The native Pengauni, an avian species with limbs well suited to diving and swimming, have long built settlements along the coast, where the glaciers meet the sea. Prior to the arrival of modern technology, these settlements were open to the elements, their inhabitants trusting to their dense waterproof plumage and thick layer of blubber to insulate them from the cold. Some of these primitive villages still exist, especially along the northernmost coastline, although these are maintained more for their historical and emotional value than as functional habitation. Nowadays, the Pengauni mostly live in towns shielded with locally developed technology, which has proven highly effective at keeping out the cold.

Polus' oceans support a diverse food web. The oxygen-rich water and bright sunlight allow for massive blooms of phytoplankton, which in turn support huge schools of fish and other marine life up to great whales, fifty or more meters in length. Seals and other marine mammals hunt the near shores and are in turn hunted at the tideline by large arctic carnivores such as wampas that descend from the mountains to partake in the rich pickings on the shore. Of special note among terrestrial predators are the great Dral'k ice worms - massive, fur covered, serpentine reptomammals that burrow through the glaciers with their clawed feet, growing to over one hundred meters in length and capable of swallowing a tauntaun whole. Their teeth and claws can fetch stupendous amounts on the black market.

Located between the Braxant Run and the Celanon Spur, Polus was discovered relatively early in the history of the Galactic Republic. Its inclement climate, however, led it to be left mosty to its own devices. Those small quantities of technology that made their way to Polus fueled the development of the aforementioned shielding technology, as well as the discovery of the carbon freezing process, which is one of the Pengauni's lasting contributions to the galaxy.