Bespin/Legends

Bespin was a gas giant in the Bespin system of the Anoat Sector on the Ison Corridor in the Greater Javin region of the Outer Rim Territories. It was also a major source of tibanna gas, which was refined for production and transport in numerous mining operations including Cloud City and Tibannopolis. It was home to several million individuals, including Humans, Ugnaughts, and Lutrillians. It was a famous shadowport.

Overview


The planet Bespin was a gas giant that was about 118,000 kilometers in diameter. Like most gas giants, it had a solid core made of metal (in this case, rethin) followed by layers of metallic gases. Most of the layers of gas were poisonous, and the pressure and temperature were far above what a Human could tolerate. But from approximately 150 to 180 kilometers down from space, there was a habitable layer known as the Bespin Life Zone. This layer had an oxygen atmosphere with temperature and pressure suitable for Human life. It was in this layer that Cloud City was located. Like most gas giants, Bespin had a number of moons. It had a 12 hour day, and completed a revolution around its sun about every 14 years.

Bespin's fauna included the winged Tibannucks, velkers, rawwks, the gas-filled beldon, and airborne algae sacks. Bespin was the type class of the Bespin-class gas giant.

History
The planet was first discovered by the explorers from the Hyperspace Navigator's Guild in years prior to the Mandalorian Wars. The carbonite-rich Empress Teta established a small gas operation on the planet, but it was mostly destroyed during the Mandalorian Wars by a fleet of Mandalorian warships, hoping to break up the tibanna gas supply chain for the Republic.

Bespin was first colonized in 1,989 BBY. Lord Ecclessis Figg commissioned Cloud City to be built by the Incom Corporation at the same time. The planet had its own Jedi Enclave. During the New Sith Wars, the Brotherhood of Darkness captured the planet.

In 22 BBY, the planet served as a refuge for children orphaned by the Clone Wars. During the conflict it was a site of several small battles between the Galactic Republic and the CIS, even though the Republic ultimately managed to keep control of the planet.

This is the planet on which Galen Marek found Rahm Kota when he was searching for potential leaders of the Rebel Alliance. The former Jedi had hidden himself on one of Bespin's many construction platforms and Marek fought one of the Emperor's Shadow Guard during the meeting.

During the Galactic Civil War, Lando Calrissian served as Baron Administrator of Cloud City. He helped provide well-paying jobs for the Ugnaughts, and was admired and liked by the citizens of Cloud City.



When Han Solo, along with Leia Organa, C-3PO, and Chewbacca came to Cloud City in 3 ABY to escape from the Empire, they walked into a trap set up by Darth Vader, which Lando was forced into aiding. Han Solo was frozen into Carbonite and Leia Organa and Chewbacca were to remain in the city. As Boba Fett brought Han onto his ship, Slave I, Lando with Lobot's help, got the two out of Imperial controller along with blasted Threepio and tried to rescue Han from Fett but failed.

Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker dueled Vader, lost his right hand, and Vader revealed that he was Luke's father. Pinned between the choice of going with his long-lost father or dying by his blade, Luke plunged into an air vent. When he fell, he managed to grasp onto a weather vane beneath the city. In pain from his wound and his new knowledge, Luke pleaded for Obi-Wan Kenobi's help, to no avail. He managed to telepathically communicate with Leia, and was rescued by the Millennium Falcon. The Falcon in turn managed to escape from the Executor when R2-D2 fixed the disabled hyperdrive.

Lando would eventually return to being Baron Administrator. However, a garrison of troops was left on the planet. His former assistant, Lobot, temporarily ousted the garrison from the planet by tricking them into thinking Cloud City's repulsorlift pods were compromised.



Later, just before the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the Alliance raided the still Imperial-controlled colony with the help of Rogue Squadron. The successful raid secured shipment of vital tibanna to the Rebel cause. The main battle to free Bespin was fought right after Endor. Calrissian, now a general in the Rebel Alliance, led the Rebel SpecForces against the Empire and successfully ousted the occupying troops.

Eventually, Lando lost the Cloud City to Zorba Desilijic Tiure in a game of sabacc. After Zorba was ousted, Lando turned governance of the city over to King Ozz of the Ugnaughts. Lobot became administrator of the City (possibly under the authority of Ozz), although it was briefly taken over by the Imperial Remnant in 9 ABY and later, the Empire Reborn.

In 11 ABY, Luke Skywalker discovered an elderly man named Streen, who possessed latent Force abilities, living a hermit's life in the abandoned city of Tibannopolis. Streen's life among the clouds gave him unique abilities to manipulate wind, air, and communing with flying creatures. Streen accompanied Luke to the Jedi Praxeum, where he became one of the earliest students.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, the planet remained untargeted by the Yuuzhan Vong. Unlike many planets during the war, it remained untouched and isolated.

In 36 ABY, the planet was plagued with tibanna tappers. Jaina Solo and Zekk were assigned to investigate. It was eventually discovered the stolen tibanna was being used for the Killik nest ships constructed in the Tusken's Eye.

In 40 ABY, along with Adumar, Commenor, Fondor and the Corporate Sector Authority, Bespin became allied with Corellia in an attempt to challenge the benefits of membership in the Galactic Alliance, during the Second Galactic Civil War. Later in 40 ABY, Bespin joined the Confederation.

Economy
The main economy on Bespin was the mining of tibanna gas. Tibanna gas was a very important resource used by both the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Galactic Empire for powering weapons. When supercharged, the gas could fire a bolt of energy, resulting in the blaster shot. Spinsealed tibanna gas, which occurred naturally on Bespin, had the ability to quadruple the power of blaster bolts passing through it. Most of the settlements on Bespin were mining colonies, such as Lando Calrissian's facility in 3 ABY.

While most of the commercial exploitation of Bespin was done by Figg & Associates, there were also a few gas prospectors. These lone pilots would search the skies for "gas strikes" in their ramshackle vessels, where plumes of deep gas would spurt into the high atmosphere due to internal storms deep below them. Some gas prospectors would ride extremely close to storm systems in the hope of gaining many riches from a gas strike, only to vanish without trace in the massive and unpredictable storms.

Flora and Fauna
Many animals existed in the high atmosphere of Bespin, included the beldon, a huge floating creature that excreted the tibanna gas that made Bespin famous. Velkers, rawwks, and tibannucks also lived in the atmosphere, as well as many other exotic and brightly colored animals, many of which were never properly categorized, often called floaters. Some thrantas were transported to Bespin, thus allowing them to survive the destruction of their homeworld, Alderaan.

Floating in the gas giant's skies were many different forms of algae and plankton. One kind of algae called "pinks" were so plentiful they gave the sky of Cloud City its distinctive color. Yet another form of algae called "glowers" gave the night side of Bespin a distinct purplish glow.

Behind the scenes


In the early rough draft of Star Wars written in 1974, the planet Alderaan, which was set as a giant gas planet and the capital of the New Galactic Empire at that time, resembled Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back. And there was also a city that resembled the Cloud City on that "original Alderaan".

In the early story conferences for The Empire Strikes Back, Ketbrae (also known as Kettlebrae) was a gas giant. It eventually became Bespin.

Star Wars 56: Coffin in the Clouds indicates that Bespin is the home planet of the Ugnaughts, and shows the planet as having a habitable surface &mdash; a phenomenon that is impossible on a gas giant. This error is corrected in the Databank, which states that Ugnaughts inhabited secret floating platforms below Cloud City. The "surface", which Lando Calrissian plummeted to in the comic, was later established as Ugnaught Surface in Bespin: Action Tidings.

In the video game Star Wars: Empire at War, Bespin cannot be destroyed by the Death Star during space combat, but can from the Galactic Map.

The PC game, Star Wars: Rebellion, mistakenly places Bespin in the Churba Sector, though it is actually located in the Mid Rim.

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * A Wookiee Scorned
 * Problem Solvers
 * The Secret Tales of Luke's Hand
 * Tall Tales

Notes and references
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