Venedlia is a cold, airless world of slightly smaller than average size, orbiting the systems dying star at a distance of one point two billion kilometres. At this distance, even the solar winds are weak, and almost no radiation reaches the surface of the planet. Average temperatures are more than one hundred fifty degrees below the freezing point of water, not that there is any water on the planet. While some worlds were once fertile and hospitable before some natural or sentient-made disaster caused them to become unable to support life, scientific study by scientists from the University of Dallenor have shown that Venedlia has never been anything than what it presently is – a barren world of rock, dust, floating shards of glass and innumerable craters small and large These craters range in size from a few metres across to tens of kilometres – the legacy of almost constant bombardment by meteorites pulled in by the world’s gravity. Aeons old tectonic activity left the planet with a number of large cave systems, labyrinthine underground mazes of glittering crystal and gleaming mineral veins that run deep into the planet’s mantle.

Despite the hostile environment, Venedlia is home to billions of sentients, the majority of whom work in the massive mining operations that cover the world’s surface and burrow through the planet crust like the tracks of flesh devouring grubs through a corpse. Venedlia’s crust and mantle are incredibly rich in minerals and precious metals, the monthly value of raw material extracted often exceeding that of what most planets can produce in a year. As a result of this abundance, mines, ore production facilities, warehouses and shipping facilities occupy every single inch of the planet’s surface, as well as tunnelling deep through the ground. Most of the galaxy’s major mining corporations and guilds have operations on Venedlia, as do many less savoury organisations that supply everything these corporations need to extract the planet’s wealth at the lowest cost possible. The disparity in living standards between the rich and the poor on Venedlia is mind boggling, with indentured workers living slave-like existence, while the top executive of mining corporations live lives of unimaginable opulence and luxury.