Nar Shaddaa was the largest moon of Nal Hutta. More commonly known as the Vertical City, the Smuggler's Moon and Little Coruscant, Nar Shaddaa was similar to Coruscant in that its surface was entirely overgrown with city sprawl since 24,500 BBY, although unlike Coruscant which was only relatively dangerous on the lower levels of the world city, Nar Shaddaa was filthy, polluted, and infested with crime throughout.

When the Hutts left their homeworld of Varl, they displaced the Evocii, native to Nal Hutta, to Nar Shaddaa in 25,000 BBY. Eventually the moon was annexed by the Hutts, who started building spaceports and docking bays across its surface, some stretching out into orbit. Although the moon was only starting to be built it quickly began to prosper, along with Nal Hutta.

In 24,500 BBY the moon was completely urbanized due to the physical slave labour of the Evocii, enforced by the Hutts and the Evocii were finally free since their work was complete. It rivaled the galactic capital Coruscant as an important center of interstellar trade and continued to grow. Ancient refueling spires and loading docks reached out from the native soil and some built in the upper atmosphere. In between these ports, massive vertical cities grew. The urban areas on Nar Shaddaa were known as vertical cities since new layers of housing and entertainment buildings were built on top of older layers.

Like Coruscant and Taris, the lower levels fell into disrepair and became havens for the lowest lifeforms (particularly the mutated descendants of the Evocii) on the moon. The Hutts continued to exploit the Evocii in their new home, buying up their land and using them as a cheap labor source.

After the end of the end of the Tionese War around 23,900 BBY, Nar Shaddaa became a criminal haven and gained a reputation of being the center of illegal operations in the galaxy. While much of Coruscant was filled with gleaming apartments and well-maintained skywalks, the entire moon that was Nar Shaddaa was dominated by decaying urban landscape and congested, polluted cities. Now distant from most galactic trade centers, the moon was allowed to run its own affairs with little outside interference.

The moon was protected by often-malfunctioning planetary shields. Anything illegal elsewhere could be bought and sold on Nar Shaddaa, and many young smugglers, pirates and criminals started their careers on the Smugglers' Moon. Various sections of Nar Shaddaa were controlled by the Hutts and other criminal organizations.

Sections of the urbanized moon's vertical city included the Duros sector and the Corellian sector, which contained three bars popular with bounty hunters—the Burning Deck, the Slag Pit, and the Meltdown Café, and another corner tavern called the Orange Lady.

After the Jedi Civil War ended, Nar Shaddaa became swarmed by thousands (if not millions) of refugees from destroyed worlds across the Galaxy, and still more ex-soldiers from both sides in the conflict choking up its spaces looking for work and/or new homes. Its refugee sector was one of the most crowded in the entire galaxy, and tightly controlled by the Exchange. The Exchange was exploiting the refugees to lure any remaining Jedi into their hands.

Around 1,002 BBY, the Brotherhood of Darkness operated a Sith academy on the world that specialized in the training of Sith Assassins. In 1,000 BBY, after the Battle of Ruusan, Set Harth and Bal Serinus dueled on the moon, but were both imprisoned by a Hutt crimelord.

Before her death in 32 BBY at the hands of Darth Maul, native-born Pa'lowick Aneesa Dym and her ship the Dusty Duck called the Smugglers' Moon home.

In 28 BBY, the Colicoids took over the spice processing on Nar Shaddaa. Han Solo spent part of his early career as a smuggler on Nar Shaddaa. There, he learned the tricks of the smuggling trade from some of the galaxy's best smugglers such as Salla Zend, Shug Ninx and Roa. He had an apartment on the Smuggler's Moon, which was maintained by his old house-keeping droid ZeeZee, but after he decided to leave the moon for the Corporate Sector, it was left unused.

Nar Shaddaa with an ominous Imperial presence. Jaxxon and Amaiza Foxtrain teamed up as smugglers, headquartered on the moon. Lando Calrissian also spent his early career on Nar Shaddaa. Prior to serving Raymus Antilles, C-3PO and R2-D2 traveled to the Smuggler's Moon in an attempt to apprehend the criminal, Olag Greck. The bounty hunter Greedo the Younger and his family lived in the moon's Corellian sector for several years, until an Imperial attack on a Rebel hideout resulted in the destruction and collapse of nearly twenty sector levels. Following the Battle of Yavin, Rebel agent Kyle Katarn traveled to Nar Shaddaa in order to find Imperial navigational charts related to the Dark Trooper Project; the Imperials had already put a bounty on his head which resulted in a skirmish in the streets.

Region: Mid Rim
Climate: Temperate (urban)
Gravity: Standard
Moons: 0
Length of Day: 87 standard hours
Length of Year: 413 local days
Sapient Species: 20% Human, 1% Evocii, 79% other species
Government: Hutt Crimelords
Capital: None
Major Exports: illegal goods, Narcotics, weapons
Major Imports: foodstuffs, illegal goods, medicine, technolegy.

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