Sky Hold Prison
This prison, housing political prisoners, is located on a small Sky Island in the Izatt Empire. The island floats barely above the Sea of Clouds, and is indirectly chained to Thisal Island, which soars above it and often leaves it in its shadow.
The Sky Hold Prison island is chained to three small islands soaring above it, which in turn are chained to Thisal Island. These chains prevent the islands from floating off. They are under great stress, often groaning and nearly at the point of breaking. The chains are loaded with only a small amount of Cloudstone, not enough to keep them floating if they were to break.
The island contains a square roofless building, 100m on each side with extremely thick walls. Its outer walls are 8 metres high, the interior walls are 4 metres high. The prison consists of a dozen large rooms, connected by a labyrinth of corridors. Prisoners stay in groups in the rooms.
The Wardens are housed on the three supervising islands, responsible for preventing prisoners from escaping. Every five days, they send down buckets of food and water, and drawing waste buckets back up. Twice a year new rags to wear are sent down. No form of medical care or chance at release exists. Prisoners only cling to survival because if they die, their friends and family will be executed.
Outside resupply times, prisoners are disallowed from leaving the building. If anyone is spotted doing so after all, the next supply time is skipped. Theoretically the same punishment applies to any prisoner caught digging. However, anyone caught digging for Cloudstone will be murdered by their fellow inmates instead. This is out of fear that digging up Cloudstone will cause the island to fall.
The existence of Sky Hold Prison is vaunted by the Izatt Empire, to make both its enemies and its own people fear being sent there. The Emperor considers fear a good motivation, and the prison strikes fear into the heart of its people. So great is its impact, that wardens often beg to be sent to the front instead, long before they complete their half year tour of duty.
> Prisoners only cling to survival because if they die, their friends and family will be executed. All right, before THIS sentence I thought it to be just another "let them fend for themselves" type of prison. Holy moly! That is one harsh way to punish those who speak up against the ruling regime. It's so over the top, I'd say nothing really can redeem the Emperor in my eyes ;)
Well they ARE meant to be a big antagonist with pressure slowly mounting due to their Unification intents. =P
Too low they build who build beneath the stars - Edward Young