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Cloud City

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a tibanna gas mining colony in orbit over Bespin run by Lando Calrissian during the height of the Galactic Civil War, Cloud City was originally built by Ecclessis Figg and the fledgling Bespin Motors company. Based on the platform of the Floating Hime, it is essentially a huge, saucer-shaped city floating in the Life Zone layer of Bespin's atmosphere, some 60,000 kilometers from the planet's core. The saucer - an incredible sixteen kilometers in diameter - is kept stable via a long repulsorlift unipod which hangs below the saucer. This configuration makes Cloud City seventeen kilometers in overall height. The unipod keeps Cloud City afloat by using 3,6000 repulsorlift engines. There are 392 levels to Cloud City, and a surface-level concourse at its top. The upper levels, denoted as Level 1 through Level 50, were filled with the luxury hotels and casinos which made Cloud City famous. Levels 51-100 were set aside for upscale housing, Levele 101-120 were for administrative offices, and Levels 120-160 housed the infamous Port Town. Levels 161-220 were used for general housing of the facility's workers; Levels 221-280 were used for factories: Levels 281-370 for gas refineries and miners' quarters; and Level 371-392 were filled with the repulsorlift engines and tractor beam generators that kept the city afloat and in position. Its location keeps it out of the mainstream of interplanetary commerce, but that allows it some necessary freedoms. It is known for its productions of tibanna gas, as well as for its casinos and open-air plazas. Due to its small size, in relation to full-scale mining operations, Cloud City was able to remain outside Imperial jurisdiction and separate from the Mining Guild. Lando Calrissian won control of the outpost in a sabacc match, but continued the mining operations and realtive anonymity of the station. Note that Galaxy of Fear 4: The Nightmare Machine claims that Lando won it shortly after the Battle of Yavin. However, when Darth Vader learned that Luke Skywalker might go to the outpost to rescue his friends, the Empire took control of the city. After Luke was able to escape from Vader, Vader left an Imperial garrison there. Grand Admiral Thrawn later used this garrison as a base of operations in his war against the New Republic. The outpost was again freed of Imperial control following Thrawn's defeat, but Cloud City's reputation had been forever tarnished.