Once a lush planet with abundant fauna and rich flora, Varl was now a desolate wasteland with a toxic atmosphere. Few life forms had survived the climatic and environmental changes: radiation and acid rain having driven many species underground. Other creatures which remained on the surface, such as the vrblthers, dangerous reptilian predators the Hutts still used as pets and guardians, managed to adapt.
According to legends, the ancestral homeworld of the Hutts once orbited two twin stars, Ardos and Evona, venerated as gods, but when the latter was consumed by a black hole, Ardos expelled its gaseous outer layers and destroyed all of the planets in the star system. Most credible historians nowadays attributed the decay of the planet to a civil war opposing rival Hutt clans, from which the surviving belligerents fled to establish themselves on the neighboring world of Nal Hutta.
Stranded, some Hutss had striven to survive by constructing airdomes meant to replicate Varl's original atmospheric conditions and support sentient life. For hundreds of years, they succeeded, but onslaughts from ravenous mutated beasts had led to de desertion of the colonies.
It was on the landing pad of one such uninhabited settlement that Ty'kh was awaiting his companion. Together, they would set out on a reconnaissance mission to determine de practicability of converting one of the old manufacturing centers into a new minting facility for a crown counterfeiting operation.
The young scoundrel had chosen Varl for it remained one of the few locations in Hutt Space not afflicted by the AMS outbreak, but as he skimmed the horizon for an approaching spaceship, Ty'kh was beginning to regret his decision. Despite the environmental suit he was wearing, he could feel the heat from the midday sun on his skin and his breathing mask did nothing to alleviate the acrid aroma that seemed to cling to the air. This would be a long day.
@TWD26