Fortress of Meropide

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The Fortress of Meropide is a subarea located in Liffey Region, Fontaine.

It is an autonomous stronghold located underwater that serves as Fontaine's de facto prison. It is where criminals and other accused are sent after being convicted in a trial to serve out their sentences and has a notorious reputation in Fontaine.

It's more akin to a place for exiles than a traditional prison.

Prisoners use credit coupons as currency rather than mora.

Many prisoners choose to stay in the Fortress of Meropide even after their sentences are over. This is due to life being hard to assimilate to outside the prison as ex-convicts and/or the person being used to the simplier way of living here.

Wriothesley is the current administrator of the Fortress of Meropide.

The Fortress of Meropide consists of the following areas:
• Reception Area
• Dormitory Block
• Administrative Area
• Production Zone
• Abandoned Production Zone

The Fortress has several "hidden" rules, and breaking them is implied to be dangerous, however they are meant as lessons for prisoners:

• Inmates cannot work for more than three days in a row - doing so will result in mystery meat being given for the next Welfare Meal. This is actually prepared by Sigewinne, who examines the state of those who have worked for three days straight, and thus she makes an "extra" dish to help restore their stamina. However, as Melusines perceive the world differently than humans, the dish looks discolored and inedible to humans, so inmates do not eat it.
• Inmates cannot bet on both fighters in the Pankration Ring - doing so will result in a strange bottle of red liquid that looks like blood being given to them the next day. The liquid is actually an experimental Fonta drink Wriothesley deemed to be of low value, and is meant to teach the inmate the value of Credit Coupons.
• An unknown rule related to Sigewinne and the people in the infirmary

Leads one into the Administrative Area. This is where convicts are processed. This is also where convicts can request appeals.

The second floor of the prison. Contains dormitories as well as the nurse's office and

The main floor of the prison. Contains the following places:

Coupon cafeteria: Where convicts eat their meals. One can receive one welfare meal a day.

Pankration ring: It is located in the southwestern part of the Administrative Area, and is accessed by its own separate lift. Technically a boxing ring.

Rag and Bone shop: One can spend credit coupons for random goodies here.

The Duke's Office: It has three floors. The top floor is Wriothesley's office, and features a desk and a sofa with a tea table. The basement contains a lift to the Forbidden Zone, as well as a secret door that leads to a room overlooking a ship.

The Forbidden Zone: It is a secretive area of the Fortress of Meropide. It is built over Primordial Water and has a sluice gate designed to prevent the Primordial Water from flooding Fontaine. There is also a large ship in this area that Wriothesley has been secretly building.

It consists of two levels, located below the Administrative Area and connected by a lift located in the east of the Fortress of Meropide. Further below, available via a lift in the Lower Level, is the Abandoned Production Zone.

This is the factory where prisoners make clockwork meka.

It contains four paths, and the doors to the path are controlled by the Multidirectional Connection Control Drive Valve in the center.

The Abandoned Production Zone's tunnels are controlled by the Multidirectional Connection Control Drive Valve, and the Notice explains the directions. The Gear Drivetrains can be installed and removed in order to control its direction, as they turn alongside the main valve when they are installed. At least one Gear Drivetrain must be installed in order to run the valve. When a door is unlocked, a special animation will be displayed.

Additionally, the Energy Transfer Terminals can be used to see inside each passage.

Contains a path to the geode mine shaft.

Geode mine shaft: The mine is filled with Arkhium crystal and is patrolled by Flying Energy Thieves. Has been abandoned since an accident from the Fontaine Research Institute occured.

Although the Fortress of Meropide is Fontaine's de facto prison, it is technically an autonomous entity that governs itself and is not under the jurisdiction of Fontaine's legal system. Criminals sent there are technically exiles from Fontaine, and the Court of Fontaine has no control over it other than sending some Gardes to help with security. The prison also doubles as a factory, creating many Clockwork Meka.

The Fortress was first built by a group of exiled criminals after the first Hydro Archon, Egeria, began her rule in Fontaine. These criminals were shunned by society and were refused assistance. As a result, some of them began to repent and beg for mercy, which Egeria heard and granted, telling them to help protect her secret beneath the waves. Guiding them to the spot, the exiled community began to grow in size. Even after the first group of exiles had died, subsequent groups continued their work. The "secret" that Egeria wanted hidden was actually an entrance to the Primordial Sea, which the exiles had sealed and labeled as the "forbidden zone", restricted to all but the warden and other trusted individuals.