Daebak is Homeworld's main planet in the entire cluster and it looks it. Large cities with clean streets, skyscrapers, several space stations, and a heavy navy presence.
There are several (twelve, to be precise) space stations in orbit but landing on any of them is usually a reserved priviledge for the rich, politicians, or the military.
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All ships that wish to land on the planet must land on its moon, Eondeog. Outsider (ie from out of system or without expensive permits) ships are not allowed to land on Daebak and must land at Osan Station. The shuttles down to the planet are cheap.
The moon is also the navy's main base (Eondeog Naval Base) near the planet. The Officer's Training School is here. There is a maglev train that runs between the naval base and Osan Station. Both civilians who work on the base and naval personnel are found on the train.
Osan Station
There is an upscale spacecraft dealership: "Wang Ships", run by Xao Wang's family. Actual ships are on the surface.
Osan Station has a place called "Darkwalkers" that's a training program for space walks (MicroG and EVA skills) that also sells equipment. Neet Shetty sometimes works here when he's at the station.
The pilots' bar here is called "The Barrel Roll"
One of Maurice Clegman's secret ships (Clegship) is here.
NPCs:
Lieutenant-Commander Jinjing Wei (Jillian's old officer/mentor)
Commodore Marcus Blith: one of Malcolm's friends
Captain Woo-jin Cho (male Aiscapo) Military shuttle pilot for Eondeog Military Base, Olivia Bow's boyfriend
Boseog: can pick up medical supplies for a Crapworld run here.
Wonju is the biggest city in the system. Five million citizens call it their home, and it has sizeable neighbourhoods of each major local culture in addition to several more extrasystem cultures. The city borders Andong Lake, an artificial lake created by Andong Dam. The dam provides electricity for the city, making it largely independent from hydrogen. The western part of the city is definitely higher than the east and is therefore the richer part of town. The city is located at 30 degrees south of the equator, giving it a moderately warm climate.
Wandering its streets, it feels like the quintessential capital city: well-funded, clean, calm, and slightly boring. One of the more chaotic aspects is the street food vendors. Their kimchee is renowned for being both good and extremely hot. Numerous trams and buses make automobile ownership a sign of moderate or better wealth instead of a necessity. The Munje district is the closest to a seedy red-light district that you'll find in the city, but anyone who's been in much of the outer systems in the cluster won't find this a frightening place. The Munje district does have a Columbia House.
Reasonable hotel: Lettojin Hotel
Upscale spacecraft dealership: Wang Ships (Xao Wang's family) in the Hyndae district
Ship equipment, especially of an offensive and defensive nature: Geom Ship Supplies in the Byolug district
Very expensive restaurant: The Unctuous Tortoise. Good luck getting a reservation without money, connexions, or luck.
The rich live in the Pyeongchang-dong district, with fairytale gable roofs. Xao Wang's family lives here.
Electric Avenue: young and beautiful people go to this club but it's not the most stylish place in town.
Vertical Drop: pilot bar near the spaceport.
The Spark: classy club for richer clientele; more upscale than Electric Avenue
Café Luma: decent café that also serves food.
Dae Namu: very expensive, classy restaurant. Bishop got humiliated there
Kim Jong Deux: slightly classy restaurant
Kim Chi's: club: lounge with dancing area. Very good music, live bands every night.
Highlights
Walking along the wide Andong Dam, a favorite romantic activity. The dam has overpriced restaurants along its length, but the food is good and the view peaceful.
If walking along the dam isn't enough you can rent a boat or take a tour up the Andong River that flows to Wonju from the SSW. It's wide and shallow with lots of colourful undulating 20cm-long leech-like creatures ("olikeet") that are the equivalent of fish here. You don't have to go too far to get to overgrown banks and cottage country.
You can check out the view from Homeworld Tower, the highest point in the city.
The Air and Space Museum is pretty nice, too. It has a display about Maurice Clegman, who retired to Mokpo, the second city on Daebak. The section on aliens isn't bad but it's simultaneously superficial and overly dramatic.
The Daebak Natural History Museum is good and refers to Mokpo Zoo a lot, which is where its stuffed specimens largely come from.
The Aiscapo Art Museum covers art from all of humanity.
The Jongwon Gardens are large and beautiful. They are lit up at night to the point where it can seem brighter than during the day.
If you want to go shopping, the Hyndae shopping district has modern stores and is a pleasant experience. Very fashionable men's clothing store: Haber and Dasher. Those seeking to bargain or find older or used items should try the Byolug district, but watch out for the pickpockets!
Government district
Hoax (Homeworld Office for the Acquisition of Xenobiology) has its headquarters here.
BoX (Bureau of Xenobiology) has its headquarters here.
System Intelligence Service (sort of an RCMP/FBI organization) has its headquarters here.
Aiscapo University
All visitors are supposed to check in and get a a day pass. Also known as "AU" and "the golden university". This is the best-regarded higher-education school in the cluster by far and has a decent enough reputation in other clusters. Its campus has departments for pretty much every subject and the campus has recently acquired several sculptures by Alexei Rusanov, perhaps its most famous graduate.
It has a Department of Xenobiology and Xenotechnology that has some good researchers but no really important labs on-site. The real research happens in different systems for security's sake, especially Walküren. The xenobiology side of things is much more lackadaisical about security, since they have no aliens to examine.
One of the fraternities at the school is Trilam (Tapan Markesh went there).
There is also a small display of alien technology in one of the medium-sized rooms here; it's actually replicas, but the displays are actually excellent at summarizing what is currently (and publicly) known about different classes/races of xenotech. The "museum's" director is Dmitri Lagshmivar.
The university is closely associated with Mokpo Zoo.
NPCs at Aiscapo University
Seo Yee (female Aiscapo): Technician from Aiscapo University (Xenoarchaeology Department)
Shaila Shah (female Vishnu): Dull technician from Aiscapo University's Xenobiology and Xenotechnology department (Xenoarchaeology section).
Jagadeep (male Vishnu): Slightly slow-witted undergrad in Xenobiology and Xenotechnology department from Aiscapo University (Xenoarchaeology section.
Rolf Fisher, a professor of xenotech at Aiscapo University.
Dmitri Lagshmivar, director of the small xenotech museum.
Jae-Hwa Kang (female Aiscapo): Head of the Xenobiology and Xenotechnology department at Aiscapo University.
Eyun Kyung Lee (female Aiscapo): Seo Yee's supervisor. Professor in the xenoarchaeology section of the Xenobiology and Xenotechnology Department.
Jasmine Lee (female Panyan) is the governor and works in the Government District.
General NPCs
Rolf Fisher, a professor of xenotech at Aiscapo University.
Alexei Rusanov: Artist who raped Jillian Grey back in art school.
Gordon Garrison: male/Providence: engineer for hire. Good but snobby.
Inspector How: works for the Homeworld Office for the Acquisition of Xenotechnology
Inspector Wen: works for the Homeworld Office for the Acquisition of Xenotechnology
Inspector Hoo: works for the Homeworld Office for the Acquisition of Xenotechnology.
Xao Wang's family lives in Pyeongchang-dong district in a three-story gabled gated mansion. Mother (Dai), father (Cheng), sister (Ling), brother (Ning), pet salamander (Kang). Servants: Chan Ae Park (female Aiscapo), Rishab Laghari (male Vishnu)
Cailin Allen (female Providence): Second Assistant Junior Undersecretary for Public Relations at the Bureau of Xenobiology.
Hyun Jung Gang (female Aiscapo): liaison between academics at Aiscapo University and the Bureau of Xenobiology
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About 2000km south of Wonju, Mokpo is a much more industrial city than the capital. Two million people live here. The factories are downwind of the city proper and the city feels industrial more in the no-nonsense layout and storefronts than because of industry proper. It's more spread out than the capital Wonju and has less public transport. Renting a car is a good idea if you don't like walking everywhere.
The art scene is small but intense and bohemian. It's very open to new things. It's got its own neighborhood (Yesulga) and the artists tend to keep to themselves, making trips to Wonju to try to sell their art. Mokpo isn't the most artistic town.
Getting here
Getting here from Wonju takes a full day to drive if you don't need sleep. If taking the train takes a day as well, but you do get a sleeper car and meals. If you insist on flying it takes just three hours.
Highlights
The restaurants here serve simple but good food. Even the higher-class ones still serve fairly simple fare.
If you're into hunting you can pick up equipment here and get a guide who owns a swamp boat as well. Hunting for the reasonably dangerous alligator-like amphibians in the swamps is popular and they make for good eating, so hunting trips are usually self-sufficient as far as food goes.
Mokpo does have a very good zoo (Mokpo Zoo) in which creatures from not just Daebak from from Haesik-nim and other systems in the cluster are found. There are even a few beasts and plants from other clusters! The zoo is large and associated with Aiscapo University.
Clegman's Cockpit, a pub run by Maurice Clegman.
Upscale spacecraft dealership: Wang Ships (Xao Wang's family)
NPCs
Maurice Clegman, one of the best space pilots of all time, has retired to Mokpo. He runs a pub called "Clegman's Cockpit".
Kim Hi-Sung: Maurice Clegman's main servant. Has been seduced by Bishop and resents him for it.
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Sogbag is a small town surrounded by four prisons collectively known as the Sogbag Women's Penal Institution. The town itself houses most of the guards for the prisons.