Born to a particularly poor family on the Neimoidian homeworld of Neimoidia around 60 BBY, Murl Arceth managed to survive the first seven years of his life in the planet's brutal communal hives before he decided to embrace commerce and business as his personal trade. However, he lacked the same skills that others of his kind had in this field, which resulted in him achieving a lower status in Neimoidian society following a brief and unsuccessful stint as a junior trade officer in the Trade Federation. Because of his lack of business savvy, Arceth was unable to leave Neimoidia. Though not as skilled as other Neimoidians, Arceth remained talented enough to become a smalltime entrepreneur, though was forced at one point to work in a fungus farm for six months.