Port Worden sits on the east side of the aptly-named Port Worden Basin which lies on the northeast coast of the island of Hoshimi. What began as a waste processing and energy storage port 50 years ago, has grown into a city that is increasingly becoming larger than Jaladri’s capital, New Cascade. 

Mountains border the city from the east to the southeast. Directly west is a massive port on the edge of a bay that extends over 40km. Like New Cascade, Port Worden is split into districts. The port and coastal edge is home to the Ikan Seafront. All of Jaladri’s privately-owned residential homes, which are not supposed to exist, are in Port Worden, and over 70% of them are located within the Ikan Seafront. Outside of the massive commercial and industrial port, the district is densely packed, mainly commercial, and where most of the city’s hotels are located. 

The Mirrorback District is the heart of the city. With a density beating out the Seafront and every other location on Jaladri, almost half of the planet’s population lives here. Most of the construction of the last 25 years was illegal. It happened too fast, with too little enforcement. Port Worden is a place where industrial and commercial regulations and planetary doctrine are regarded as suggestions. Incredible amounts of currency, resources, and grey market products from off-world flow through the city. The money finds the weaknesses in the system. Always. 

Port Worden is a striking juxtaposition of urban brutalism, visceral natural features, and exotic flora and fauna. Despite the flagrant disregard for many of the cornerstones of life On-World, some are still adhered to. There is very low pollution (not counting trash) as the city runs almost entirely off of geothermal energy. The construction of the power stations was illegal, but allowed. Plants, birds, trees, and other animals are omnipresent throughout the city. 

Southeast, along the lower mountains Presh Ridge borders the city. Named after the waterfall system in the mountains above Port Worden. This area is entirely residential, and was the first neighborhood built for the port. Dark and forested, the area remains quiet and beautiful, especially in the rain. Small retail shops and cafes are hidden amongst the leaves. 

While technically not a district, the last location is Baisho-Caplan. A private, corporate owned district, which is not supposed to exist. The complex has its own transit station and resembles a college campus with its own enclosed shops, canteens, and housing.

Many odd threads lead to, and end, at Baisho-Caplan.

Contraband should be celebrated as the crown jewel of Port Worden. Instead, the city is known for it’s lava canals, pneumatic transit, and of course, it’s totally legitimate port. 

There is no law enforcement on Jaladri like you may know from Earth or Baronessa. Instead there are building and neighborhood appointed public safety officers and of course, Device Security. What you will find in supplement, is corporate police. Corporations do not officially exist On-World. Shell organizations, generally with an environmental conservation-adjacent purpose, are created and act as representation on Jaladri.

Natural resource trade and scientific research is the main purpose of these organizations, but why stop there when you are able to fly contraband on and off-world?

Device Security monitors all ports and skyports, but their jurisdiction ends in the private bays of Port Worden….which are not supposed to exist.

A very large river flows from natural watersheds in the center of Hoshimi. Ikan Raja Haring, or The Ikan River. Named after the Indonesian word for Oarfish, the river is incredibly crystal clear, resembling a flashing Oarfish reflecting the sun in shallow water.

The river exits the mountains to the east of Port Worden, with the delta encompassing the majority of the east end of Port Worden Basin (Breeze Bay).

Like the wetlands outside of New Cascade, this is a protected area, and home to one of the most interesting birds On-World. Mirandornithes Exo Corvus, or Waubocks. Pronounced “wah-bik”, their colloquial name was derived from their distinct trumpet call. Most closely resembling a crow from earth, with the legs and stature of a flamingo, hence their classification. 

They are part of a delicate ecosystem sustaining the unique wetlands of the Ikan Delta. They feed on a type of burrowing crustacean (Exo Malacostraca) called Potato Prawns (Dendrobranchiata cuniculosus). The birds make their nests out of grass and reeds growing in the wetlands, combined with a paste made by chewing on the chitin of the Potato Prawns and excreting a type of glue. The Potato Prawns main sustenance are a type of invasive beetle that threatens the baby Waubocks in the first few months of their lives.

What is Fullspec? A revolutionary pharmaceutical that delivers full spectrum electrolytes, vitamins, and needed supplements to adapt to the climate and weather of Port Worden and Hoshimi. Because of the volcanic nature of the Island, cooling and darkness due to volcanic aerosols are part of daily life. During periods of heavy eruption, which end up being at least half of the year, the skies in and around Port Worden and Hoshimi are presented with accents of blue and purple.

Historically, people that remember Earth compared them closely to “seeing the aurora borealis in the fog”. It filters the suns’ light and creates iridescent shadows and patterns as it passes through panes of glass, in between structures, and amidst the empty spaces of trees, plants, and other flora.

For the same reasons as above, the concept of eating outside during the day became part of the traditions of Port Worden throughout the years. Before Fullspec, people tried to get their vitamin D any way they could. Through inferior earth supplements, “daylight lamps”, or spending as much time outside as possible. 

Outdoor Lunch as a specific concept has turned into a cultural practice, with many cafes and restaurants offering special outdoor hosted lunches. School children all eat outside, even in the rain, as do most people.

During the expansion era, when Port Worden was literally just a small port and housing in the mountains, the Gradient Locks were being built. To move equipment and supplies up the mountains, tracing the path of the river to its headwaters, a massive network of cable transportation was built. Think of a mountain’s gondola system, but for cargo. 

After the locks were completed, these systems were supposed to be disassembled, but that never happened. Inevitably, they ended up under control of Baishō/Caplan, and were refurbished. The public facing response was that the system was being used for environmental research. Everybody seems to know and accept that they are used to move contraband to private landing areas in the mountains, which are not supposed to exist.

The first Ops Cores were used in the city ships that brought humans to Jaladri. An Ops Core is a controlled artificial intelligence operational system that can be adapted for ships, buildings, servers, and more. 

One of the most taboo subjects On-World is the existence of specific contracorporate software that was built to override and rewrite an Ops Core. Something that was supposed to be impossible.

Supplement*

Graphite Ghost is an Ops Core from an older Deep Freighter. The AI that controls the Core became sentient, created a copy version of itself to run the remaining systems in the ship, plotted the vessel's planned course in, and ejected itself along with it's power supply while traveling through the Graphite Nebula on the way back from Jaladri headed towards Earth. The nebula recharges its power supply via an active EM field. It will communicate with ships passing and has been found to overwrite Navigation Data Packs to have the ships avoid spatial tears and antimatter fields.

Almost every personal item On-World is printed. In addition, there is a robust craft market available in bazaars throughout Jaladri. People make perfumes, soaps, natural foods, and old style clothing and barter with each other. Items like phones, music players, yellowboxes, gel carts, etc are all in the same design family. They are of high quality, and everybody’s units look the same. Some people are into customizing their versions with paint and stickers, but the basic units are identical.

While it’s nice to not want basic food, clothing, and  required devices for daily life, humans always enjoy novelty and exclusivity. 

This is where the Premium Grey Market flourishes. Electronic devices, luxury beauty items, high end clothes, processed foods, drugs, alcohol, jewelry, and anything else you can think of all have a firm market On-World. Port Worden is the only place where you can enjoy these luxuries, and purchase them from real stores, in public. They are not supposed to exist, neither is the currency used to purchase them.

There is a single maglev rail line that travels from New Cascade to Port Worden. This moves cargo and people. To keep environmental impact low, there is only one track. The train always leaves Port Worden early in the morning, and leaves New Cascade late at night. The journey takes 13 hours on average. There is no real need to commute between cities for most people. 

Contraband moves around the planet primarily through covert drops either offshore or in the wilderness. Space travel is limited to large Deep Freighters. Humans do not yet have personal use crafts that can break orbit. What they do have On-World are VTOL Cargo Freighters. Most of them are very old models that were stored on the city ships during FIrst Landing that have been retrofitted over the years to increase handling and speed while holding heavy cargo. The main drop point for New Cascade is north of the city in Columbia Reach.

Port Worden is known On-World as The Secret City. Decades of skirting rules and regulations has brewed a culture of people that may take issue with the legalities, but enjoy the luxuries of a city rife with contraband and vice. The corporate footholds from Earth and Baronessa are strong. There is too much at stake.

The second wave of city ships arrived 5 years after First Landing. 3 in total, with 1 landing in what would become Port Worden. This ship was called The Presh-Morritz. Its location was a lava flat on the bottom of Presh Ridge in the southeast. 10 years after that, an earthquake caused the ship to sink almost 2/3rds of the way down into the lava flat. Later, a massive eruption caused a lava flow to divert into the ancient lava flat, and essentially fused the ship into the plant, simultaneously rendering all but the top 3 decks uninhabitable. They were filled with substrate and sealed off, removing all caustic and polluting elements. 

A strange thing happened after the lava dried. An odd green fungus or algae started to grow on the fresh lavarock. Later to be identified as Lake Green, this substance, over the next 30 years, grew a massive forested jungle in and around the city ship. The Presh Ridge district grew during the Expansion Era around this location. 

The forest has claimed most of the sublevels of the ship, and was converted into grow rooms for different plants, fruits, and herbs. On the top deck however, a wonderful thing happened. Regional food from Earth was something that was hard to find On-World, pre Expansion Era. Of course there were mutli-cultural print recipes on the ships, but authentic food was a luxury. What began as a small noodle shop has expanded into a permanent market atmosphere of all kinds of regional earth foods.

Mostly made from non printed ingredients grown on the shit in the sublevels. This location is one of the main reasons anybody travels from New Cascade on the train.

The Heart of Hoshimi. The Gem of Port Worden. Mirrorback District is the most exclusive public district On-World. You might think you’re in Baronessa, or one of Earth’s un-unified cities. It’s the only place On-World where you can feel like you are in a vast downtown. While there are only 3 skyscrapers, which are not supposed to exist, many of the buildings are above 10 stories. Although technically labeled a “district” , people in Port Worden call Mirroback the city. WIthin this city, you will find The Jewelry District, Meerae Park, and The Corporate Core.

Jaladri has secrets. People hear of them, and put them in the back of their minds. Rumors circulate detailing stories of found ancient ruins, and caves that can speak. 

The specifics of getting to Jaladri by ship from Earth are even shrouded in secrecy.

Because most of the surface of the planet is water, the oceans are named for their locations relative to New Cascade. The West Ocean is the largest body, covering over half the planet. The North and South Ocean border the protected waters of the sea and bays around New Cascade. The South Ocean is the most contested area of the planet, being the primary location for Off-World cargo drops.