Correctional Facilities: Camp Blackrock

Blackrock was established not far to the north west of Cascadia Falls in the Seirac Mountains during the Dark Years when political prisoners were kept there to mine the anthracite coal needed for forges, furnaces, and heating. It has since been commissioned for use by the Knight Guild as a place to send prisoners with long-term sentences to complete, as the jail below the Guild hall itself is nowhere near the size or capacity that would be needed. It is controlled entirely by the Knight Guild and while there are rumors that the treatment of prisoners is “less than ideal” so far no investigation has been made into this possibility. Prisoners at Blackrock are expected to continue the “tradition” of coal mining under the supervision of the Guard faction mostly.

Days are governed by the breaker, a large tower-like structure that houses the water-powered machinery to crush and sort the incoming coal from the mines. Its whistle begins the day at dawn, signals breaks periodically, and finally bellows the end of the day when it is too dark to see anymore. The shuddering grind of the breaker itself crushes the ore into smaller pieces as it comes out of the mines in carts.

Jobs include hauling loaded ore carts up out of the shafts and to the breaker, then bringing them down to the mineshafts after unloading, mining (using clumsy hand tools and torchlight, sometimes in shafts one can barely crawl into), shoring the mineshafts (usually with substandard material), and picking coal from the waste rock and slate that comes with it in the breaker itself as it comes down chutes into various “picking” rooms within the breaker tower. The waste rock and slate the breaker churns out is deposited via chutes and conveyor belts after the coal has been separated out by the pickers, piling constantly onto one of several large culm banks, small mountains of loose rock that are picked through again by crews to make sure the workers inside the breaker didn’t miss any coal. The most coveted post is “breaker boss” along with his team of “overseers” who make sure that the work gets done as it ought to. All aspects of this job are rough and downright dangerous, apt to cause loss of hearing due the noise of the machinery, asthma, broken or crushed limbs, death… Cut and blistered hands are not uncommon among new additions, but the skin quickly toughens up after many days’ work.

There is always danger here. Poisonous gasses from underground can fill a tunnel, a miner can strike a spring and find himself drowned before he can get out of the shaft, there are collapses and cave-ins. Heavy mine carts can careen out of control and crush a man. The breaker is merciless. That machinery won’t stop just because someone gets caught in the works. Men have lost their fingers, hands, or even lives. The culm chutes can trap and suffocate the unwary, and the culm banks can bury you alive before anyone notices you’ve slipped.

Camp life is as rough as any prison might be, substandard food, seven to ten men in tents on cots and bedrolls. About the only thing provided with any regularity is coffee and that’s generally on a first-come-first-served basis. Unfortunately, the order in which the prisoners may requisition anything is the order given to them by the others as there is generally a powerful hierarchy established. There are two unspoken rules in Blackrock: 1) Keep on the good side of the strong group and 2) Don’t give the guards a reason to look at you twice. Failure to follow these rules results in everything from a scuffle behind the tent rows to a sudden push under the culm chute. One will get you a black eye and some bruises, but the other will get you pulled out by your ankles some hours later, suffocated and crushed.

(OOCly Blackrock is probably an example of how corrupt the Knight Guild still can be. Think hard labor, canvas tents, walls, gates, guards, and magical wards to “discourage” escape. The prisoners within have their own pecking order and doubtless there are rings that protect each other within the place. Chances are that, if a fight breaks out, the guards will be the first to take bets on the winner rather than break it up. Food is sub-standard, housing is below sub-standard, necessities only provided grudgingly.)