Danta Belissa

Danta Belissa was a food and souvenir merchant who ran a small souvenir and antique shop in the planet Bespin's Cloud City by around 1 ABY. In that time, Belissa's store ran into trouble when the criminal Wonn Ionstrike sent thugs to Belissa's store for protection money. The merchant's problems were only compounded when he reported the crimes to the Bespin Wing Guard and one of their officers, Jerrol Blendin, decided to further extort Belissa for money.
When Belissa subsequently began clearing his shop, he ended up discovering an exposed gas conduit that piped harvested tibanna to Cloud City's other levels. Seeing an opportunity to financially help his family and business, Belissa attached a siphon to the pipe and started discretely selling the pipe's tibanna gas to pilots and rogues. He kept his bootlegging business a secret to both Ionstrike and Blendin, although Belissa's fate during the Galactic Empire's 3 ABY occupation of Bespin was unknown.
==Biography==
===Initial business and troubles===
The Human male Danta Belissa was a food and souvenir merchant who had a wife and daughter prior to the Galactic Civil War fought between the Alliance to Restore the Republic and Galactic Empire. By around 1 ABY,The New Essential Chronology dates the occupation of Bespin to 3 ABY. Because Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, Second Edition describes Wonn Ionstrike first causing trouble for Danta Belissa's store about two years before Bespin's occupation, the troubles must have taken place around 1 ABY. he ran a small souvenir and antique shop on Cloud City, a city on the planet Bespin. The store was located on level 120 of Cloud City's Port Town, and sold rich, spicy Corellian food for the level's administrative personnel. Much of the cooking was done by the shopkeeper's wife and daughter in an adjacent restaurant while Belissa himself ran the shop's business, managing five full-time employees. At one point, Belissa spoke about something he referred to as a rare antiquity from the days of the Old Republic.
Around 1 ABY, a criminal operating in Port Town named Wonn Ionstrike sent thugs to Belissa's store for protection money. The shopkeeper reported the crimes to the Bespin Wing Guard, although one of its officers, Jerrol Blendin, was no more honorable than the criminals, and individually extorted the merchant as well. Belissa's money thus was given to both Ionstrike and Blendin.
===Bootleg tibanna gas sales and occupation of Bespin===
Belissa initially began to pack up his shop, discovering an exposed gas conduit that piped harvested tibanna to Cloud City's other levels when he moved one of his storage room's fryer units. Placing a small siphon into the pipe, Belissa sold bootleg tibanna gas to pilots and rogues, and was able to make enough money from selling the gas to keep his store in business. By 3 ABY,The New Essential Chronology the shopkeeper was still able to keep his tibanna bootlegging secret from Ionstrike and Blendin.
In 3 ABY, the Empire occupied Bespin with the intent to capture the freighter Millennium Falcon. Following the occupation, the planet's Baron Administrator, Lando Calrissian, announced for the city's occupants to evacuate. Belissa's subsequent fate was unknown.
==Personality and traits==
Danta Belissa stood 1.65 meters tall.
==Skills and abilities==
Belissa had knowledge of business and galactic history. He also had bargaining skills and had both the intuition to financially help his family and business through seeing an opportunity to discretely siphon tibanna gas for profit and the ability to keep that bootlegging a secret from Ionstrike and Blendin. He was capable of operating a cloud car and its repulsorlift.
==Equipment==
Belissa's equipment included a credit changer. He also wore a jumpsuit and boots.
==Behind the scenes==
The character of Danta Belissa was created for the 1989 first edition of the West End Games sourcebook Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back as an example of a standard Cloud City citizen, where he was given roleplaying statistics.
==Sources==
*Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back 
*Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, Second Edition
==Notes and references==
Category:Businesspeople
Category:Humans
Category:Individuals with he/him pronouns
Category:Males