The Trench
The prison is formally named The Alinar Institution, named by Alinar Valdithasbut, the high-elf that designed the building. He's long passed on, generally having lost the respect of the general Mienican population, and the building is now only ever called The Trench.
It has several floors, and at its height reaches Korrus 5. There's a magically-protected bridge that connects to the Korrus, allowing access from the Throat, though the main entrance is on the ground level of the Keldris. The building is square-shaped, with a central courtyard throughout. The cells either look out into the dark of the Keldris, or into the courtyard and the mines beneath. The base of the courtyard has a main mineshaft that drops down into the Underdark.
4800 sqft per floor, 12 floors. The lift runs through the entire building, from Keldris 5 down into the Underdark.
The cells are 6x6 feet, there are 55 cells a floor and 660 cells total. The rooms contain two bunk beds, four to a room.
There are approximately 216 prisoners per floor, 2,600 total in the prison.
The Warden is a disgraced military commander from the Rimland. He's very fire and brimstone, and believes in heavy labor and corporal punishment. His guards are worse than a lot of people in the cells, as it's a political prison more than anything. Cells are bought by the highest bidders, who need to remove people but not kill them. The Warden is always looking to take in people to work the mines, and it's cheaper to pay for someone to be sent to the Trench, as it's cheaper than paying the Ishruza to kill them.
The mines under the Trench pull up black carbon and The Herd refines it into ink. There's a carbon scale, from writing ink at the lowest, to tattoo ink, to the most valued magical ink.
Purpose / Function
Formally, the Intitution was made to prevent new crimes; promote the correction and rehabilitation of offenders; and safeguard offenders against excessive, disproportionate, or arbitrary punishment.
Alterations
Where once the prisoners were simply confined, they now work off their debt to society by mining the Underdark. After about 150 years, a scientist discovered sulfuric minerals that could be pressed and combined with other materials to create a very valuable ink.
Architecture
Over the years, the building was added to, both up and down. The original building was only two floors. Additional floors were built up, and tunnels were dug down into the Underdark.
Defenses
The outer stone wall is thick, around nine feet deep, to circumvent spells that can get through the stone. There's also an interior foot of iron, both layers equalling a total of ten feet. There's a large number of enchantments on the building as well, spells and alarms preventing prohibited travel at each entrance. There are magic dampening cuffs as well, for each of the prisoners that have access to the Weave.
Alternative Names
The Alinar Institution
Type
Prison
Parent Location
Owning Organization
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