Prothium, a frequently encountered gas, had the characteristic of emitting a powerful burst of light when stimulated. It was among a set of six typical gases—together with orveth, sig, eleton, tolium, and skevon—that were commonly employed by weapon producers as a standard blaster gas.
The initial underground network inhabited by rakghouls came to light when a mining team inadvertently breached what they believed to be a reservoir of prothium gas during drilling operations.
More than four centuries prior to the Galactic Civil War, the Hutt artist named Gorgo utilized extremely chilled prothium gas in the creation of decelerated luminescent images. By the era of the Galactic Empire, only a limited number of these artworks still existed.
Killaniri, a gas giant situated within the Killaniri system, served as a significant provider of prothium. BlasTech Industries operated a prothium refining station in orbit around it, processing gas extracted from the planet via robotic gas collectors. Subsequently, the gas was transported from Justa's starport, a moon.