The Kessa system is one of the truly unique systems in the Galaxy. However, this may be somewhat misleading since the system itself is not unique in any way. Rather, Kessa is best known for its third planetoid, which is more of a giant asteroid than an actual planet, and the black holes that lie near the system in The Maw. The system contains a modest permanent population; the Kessel miners make up the majority of the population, and most of them do not live very long.

The location of Kessa within the galaxy proved to be of great benefit when the smuggling of spice began. The nature of the system's industry meant that most governments avoided it; the nearest thing to an organized government in Kessa at the time was that of the Hutts. This was largely due to the Hutts being large stakeholders in the smuggling operations of Kessel.

Kessa contains three planets. The furthest from the sun is no more than a large moon named after the system itself and the second planet is a world covered mostly in ice and water with very little life. The remaining planet is a scorched surface. Kessel is widely known throughout the galaxy for being the only location where the telepathy-inducing glitterstim spice is located. Though the spice has many other useful purposes, its ability to temporarily induce latent telepathy has made it a valuable commodity.

At one point in time, the Galactic Empire took control of the mining facilities, effectively seizing total control of the spice monopoly from its previous and less than reputable owners. However, the Empire's seizure of the mines caused the creation of a large smuggling ring to emerge, as many of the previous owners attempted to retain some measure of profit from the spice trade. This smuggling operation came to be known as "The Kessel Run" and could bring fortune to the successful and death or imprisonment on Kessel for those that failed.

Kessa is also noted for the nearby black holes, commonly known as "The Maw Cluster." Many smugglers would attempt to fly as close as possible to the event horizons of the black holes in the Maw Cluster in order to avoid being chased by the Imperial ships which constantly patrolled the system. Many smugglers would boast of how close they would get to the Maw in order to cut their distance to and from Kessel. Some smugglers would attempt other methods, such as bribing corrupt officials to "misplace" shipments, hijacking transports among many others; yet those with a fast ship and keen piloting skills preferred skimming the Maw and the fame that came with it. The Empire, in an attempt to further its own profit, created a prison on the planet's surface where it sent many prisoners to mine the spice. Such a fate was as good as a death sentence; many of the prisoners of Kessel would not survive long enough to see the end of their sentence.