Prudence Penitentiary
aka “Killhouse”
Our Good Home Prudence Penitentiary for the Peregrine and Penalized, often pilloried as Killhouse, is a massive prison complex built on the remains of Temple Station. Originally founded as a way to house the rebel soldiers of Hiway Rob, it became something more in the years that followed the Hiway War. Once, it stood as a bastion of justice, or so they say, where the Warden of Killhouse would send out their Justices of Sin to weigh the crimes of those that have violated the laws of the San Saba.
Where Killhouse once housed some of the worse criminals the San Saba has captured, bound under lock and key until the annual Indulgence, now the halls and tunnels of the prison have been emptied of prisoners and staff alike. Killhouse remains an impressive fortress, and the San Saba Board has plans to use it as a forward base of operations during the War of Antlers. Several detachments of the Fallow Hope have made recent agreements with Tabitha St. Mercy, the last Warden of Killhouse, to occupy the fortress in the absence of prisoners.
“Welcome again to our esteemed, extraneous, and enervating guests. How opportune to have you here... On any other day of the year, I would be honored to show you our humble hospitality. Indeed, it is our pleasure here at Prudence Penitentiary to give lodging to the lost, the larcenous, and the lamentable. On any other day we could sit down for a cozy chat, contrive some contracts, acclimatize to these quaint comforts that your hands and hard work have helped to build… But this is not any other day...”
Prudence Penitentiary previously played host to two species of detained individuals:
The Penitent
The annual congregants of Killhouse who, by breach or break, via the Gauntlet or at the long end of a Lawdog’s gun - found their way to the expansive General Population wings of the only incarceratory force in the San Saba Territories. Each year they were, in The Indulgence, expunged of their sins and expelled into the Lonestar as new and freshly pressed as a churchgoers best - redeemed by Our Lady Tabitha St. Mercy, Warden of Killhouse.
The Lifers
Those truly reprehensible few who have earned a life sentence at Killhouse - for as long as their wretched durations might last. These dolorous and ill-starred maniacs who are the beating and fetid heart of Prudence’s purpose lie in the vaunted XXX Wing where they are not allowed to die - as for the Lifers of Killhouse - death means freedom.
On the anniversary of the 4th Indulgence, the disgraced Governor Amberdraught released a screaming cloud of death which poured from of the cracked and broken ground beneath new Bravado and spread with terrifying rapidity across the face of the Lonestar Wastes. Survivors raced towards Killhouse, the only promise within a hundred miles, of maintaining the unruptured state of their breathing organs, and bastion of the most dangerous criminals in the contiguous San Saba.
The Warden of Killhouse, Tabitha St. Mercy, entrenched in her own traditions and on the eve of the Indulgence, welcomed this influx of refugees inside with the caveat that they must be canonized as her Justices of Sin on this day of holy work. Hundreds earned their clean and unkilling air by honoring her praxis. Redeeming those who sought it - and damning to darkness the unyielding few who made her infernal jailhouse necessary.
“Legislate as my Law Dogs. Journey forth as my Justices. Render unto the penitent their pardons and the unrepentant their retribution. Make Pride your Protector and Wrath your Wisdom. Find guidance in the glory of Greed and Gluttony. May you be exalted in the Envy of your enemies. May your Lust for the Law lead you in your litigation so that when sunrise comes, you may sleep the serene somnolence of the sacrosanct Slothful. Journey forth to adjudicate, my Justices, and may the Seven eulogize your Jurisprudence.”
After the events of Justicalia, the Warden continued to appoint her Justices of Sin as necessary, and to send them throughout the Lonestar paired with Law Dogs under the command of Boss Wyatt as her representatives, to carry out the weighty vision of the San Saba Board’s Law and Order. No longer were Penitents remanded to the confinement of Killhouse, for that fate was reserved only for the most heinous and nefarious of Lifers. Instead, justice was served in the field, and the Warden herself was more frequently seen moving throughout the settlements of the San Saba speaking of the need to absolve sin through atonement, for while suffering begets suffering, suffering also begets Salvation.
The Second Killhouse Massacre
During the Necrophage crisis, Grandfather Nichols, a mad doctor of the Nemesis cult, returned to Killhouse to infect and convert the Lifers into an army of disease-infused super soldiers. The halls of Killhouse were emptied of any remaining prisoners, the black clouds of his disease spread to every corner of their facility. He marched with his newfound army into Bravado to enact his revenge, but was stopped by the residents of Bravado and slain for good on the shores of Lake Bravo. While Tabitha St. Mercy escaped the second Killhouse Massacre with a few of her loyal bodyguards, her replacement Warden, Adam Moriarty, the Spider of Killhouse, did not.
Now, the halls of Killhouse are empty, inhabited only by ghosts and memories of the tortures that occurred within. Even still, a lingering suspicion and guilt hangs over the place, a reminder that even without prisoners that the fortress is filled with the weight of the crimes that occurred within its walls. Whispers once spoke of a Voice Below the prison, but even that has been silenced.
In the wake of the Necrophage, and of several key votes during the Stakeholder’s Meeting last year, the purpose of Prudence Penitentiary remains in question. The Justices of Sin have been freed of their charge to only serve the wishes of the Warden, and now are free to uphold the laws of the San Saba in a manner befitting their personal faiths. While the building remains an excellent fortress for use during the impeding wars in the San Saba, can it still remain relevant in the San Saba?
With no prisoners or judges, what purpose does a prison have?
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Learn more about the Prudence Penitentiary Society Faction here.