Prison Parallel?

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

As Coventry is a "closed" timeline, with no way out of it, how would the refugees contact Infinity? Furthermore, how would ISWAT get back out after the job is done?

There's no way out of Coventry, except by projector.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

There's no way out of Coventry, except by projector.

I was just about to say:
You can get to (and from, presumably) it by a projector assisted conveyor, as noted in B540.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

There's no way out of Coventry, except by projector.

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

I was just about to say:
You can get to (and from, presumably) it by a projector assisted conveyor, as noted in B540.

Ah. I don't have my books with me (at work right now), and Infinite Worlds and Banestorm are both books I still need to get, so I wasn't sure that projectors worked on Coventry. I was under the impression that it was a "no way out, PERIOD" type deal.

[oldgringo2001]

1. Coventry isn't a prison parallel, although it probably has prisons. Most of the people there aren't criminals; they are just people who Know Too Much, or (grateful) refugees from low-tech worlds settled there by Infinity. Set your "Escape From New York" campaign somewhere else.

2. While no one knows how to get out of Coventry except using a projector, that doesn't mean there isn't a gate or two out there (or a tunnel, for you Centrum fans. Tracking down rumors of such a gate could make for quite an adventure or not, whether or not a gate is found.

3. If Infinity has a really high security prison somewhere, it's probably on a world like Smother, with no breathable atmosphere. Tunneling out would be somewhat counter-productive.

[Ragitsu]

A dead world with some sort of self contained ecosystem just for the prisoners might work. It's not like they can run far.

[Kale]

Originally Posted by Ragitsu

A dead world with some sort of self contained ecosystem just for the prisoners might work. It's not like they can run far.

That's a common method too. An abandoned oil rig in the middle of the ocean or on a water planet, a dome on a world with an unbreathable atmosphere, a space station, middle of a barren desert or ice desert (or planet). There are lots of environments that can help you keep prisoners from escaping. If you've read any Niven, you could use a Sundiver-style ship as a space station and put the prison into the heart of a star!

[arnej]

Originally Posted by Kale

If you've read any Niven, you could use a Sundiver-style ship as a space station and put the prison into the heart of a star!

Um, I think that was David Brin...

a

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

The Honor Harrington books had the prison planet of Hell. It was heavily fortified with kill-sats and a military base, and there was no public record of it's true location. So no outside help.
Internally, the ecosystem was based on mirror-image molecules, meaning everything was poisonous to humans. Growing food via low-tech methods kept the prisoners occupied (and even that eventually got contaminated and the prisoners died slowly). High-tech (anything with engines or requiring electricity) was forbidden to prisoners. And the prisoners were kept scattered about the planet in small groups.

Applying it to parachronics is easy enough.
First, no public records of it's existence. If no one knows where it is, there can be no rescue expeditions.
A world with mirror-image molecules is good, so the prisoners have to produce their own food, is good. If it's like Rustic, where electricity doesn't work, better. If it's like Coventry and Yrth, and leaving via conveyor is all-but-impossible, better still. If all three of these apply, absolutely wonderful.
And last, of course, no mana. A mana level could allow someone to cast spells or summon spirits to take them home.

The question is - do you strain your players' credulity with such a world?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

There's no way out of Coventry, except by projector.

Or that one pesky world jumper with cosmic tacked on. I always wanted to play such a jumper that punched a hole through coventry staying one step ahead of the fuzz.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

It doesn't have to run smoothly. You can just drop them there and leave them. Presuming it is a planet that has enough resources to sustain colonists but not enough to be worth the bother of developing it with respectable settlers, it would be a great way to save taxpayer's money which can then be spent on more Massive Steller Armadas. And if they kill each other off, or starve or some such presumably the Grand Empire of Splendiferous Despotism won't miss them and it's Obstructive Bureaucrats don't even have to mark it down in a ledger. I think this sounds like a great setting.

It's been used a couple of times by SF writers too. The Convicts/Dissidents/whomever invariable forms some sort of government, often competting ones.