I feel weirdly safe here. It's dark and cozy. Like the rest of the galaxy can't see me.
—Ben Lambert, after relocating to Som Galla.
Som Galla was a remote a volcanic ocean world situated in the Sertar sector, near Elom and Florrum, in the Outer Rim Territories. It was a gloomy world with volatile molten continents, black sand beaches and shallow crimson seas, where stable archipelagos were able to cultivate and support life millennia before the Great Hyperspace War. The world was home to a species of Near-Humans known as Som Gallans.
Historically a Sith world due to its proximity to Korriban and the other Sith worlds, Som Galla held no strategic value, but remained notable thanks to its artisans, who worked with locally sourced obsidian to create statues and sculptures depicting the greatest of the Dark Lords of the Sith. During the later years of the Third Galactic War, Sith Lord Sera Artofen held residence on Som Galla and refused to leave when the Sith Empire abandoned it in late 39 ATC, declaring herself the planetary ruler. Due to Artofen's isolated presence, the Galactic Republic took the opportunity to send a small invasion force to secure Som Galla and capture the Sith Lord, though Artofen ordered her people not to resist, allowing herself to be arrested and temporarily deposed to ensure that Republic forces retreated quickly from the planet.
Following her rescue aboard the Tropical Runner at the hands of Ben Lambert while en route to Belsavis prison and her participation in the Battle of the Dromund Forge against the forces of Darth Vokuur shortly after, Artofen resumed her place as Som Galla's ruler and declared the planet's independence from the Sith Empire, leading the native Som Gallans in what effectively became a golden age, as both factions were willing to tolerate her presence due to the planet's neutrality, lack of stable land for colonization and absence of raw materials. When the Sith Empire collapsed and was ultimately replaced by the Sith Quadrumvirate, Som Galla continued to exploit its strategic irrelevance to enjoy a peaceful existence, in spite of its proximity to Sith space.
Darth Hamon, Artofen's former ally and leader of the Quadrumvirate, remarked that he respected Artofen enough to leave her to her own devices until such a time that it became necessary to bring the rogue Sith – and by extension, Som Galla – back under the command of the Sith Empire. After Artofen's marriage to Ben Lambert, the planet entered into an informal alliance with the world of Farrow, ruled by Lambert's father and namesake, Benjamin Lambert, and this eventually expanded into a formal alliance with the Jedi colony of Shimka's Well a few years after it was established by Zhavi and Isla Waverunner, Artofen's former rivals.
Despite the shifting politics of Som Galla, the planet remained untouched by war, as in addition to being strategically insignificant they had acquired the backing of the elite Advanced Strategic Operations Service, providing a more tangible deterrent. Regardless of their political position, Som Gallan artisans continued to accept commissions from wealthy Sith and Imperial patrons, a practice which was widely known about and tolerated by all factions, albeit unofficially.