Lore:Imperial City Prison

The Imperial City Prison (also called the Imperial Prison or the Imperial Dungeons) is located in the Prison District of the Imperial City, connected by bridge to the  . It is infamous for its impregnability, although several secret escape tunnels connect up to the ancient subterrane and the prison sewers beneath. It is the headquarters of the  .  

The Prison District is a circular walled enclosure located on the northeastern peninsula of  , outside the walls of the Imperial City proper. A gated wall splits the district in two, with offices and the armory on the public-facing side and a prison yard beyond the gates. In the center lies the Bastion, a tall tower that leads to the prisons below. 
 
History
In  ,   began his attempted   by opening a portal to   above the skies of the Imperial City. The city quickly fell, with   raining down from above and the   and Imperial Legion turning traitor from within. At the time, the prison was under the command of Captain Ululmalit, who refused to turn traitor. The Daedra quickly overran the prison complex, imprisoning Ululmalit and killing most other legionnaires.  Command of the prison was then given to  , a   who declared himself "Lord Warden". Dusk and his council of   retreated deep into the distorted caverns that had formed beneath the prison, maintaining control of the complex through the deployment of  s. The Daedra then proceeded to conduct heinous experiments on mortal captives from the Imperial City, turning them into   or conducting   "flesh sculpting" with their corpses. 

As the   raged on, provincial forces entered the city to liberate it from the Daedra, and the   arrived at the Imperial City Prison to free the countless mortal prisoners within. The     offered to guide them through the complex so that they could defeat Lord Warden Dusk and free her clan, the  , from their eternal entrapment. The Undaunted fought through the Daedric forces and banished Dusk, whose   was soultrapped by the vengeful Lyranth. However, she then ordered the mortals to leave and took control of the now-empty prison for her lord Molag Bal. Lyranth would later restore the Foolkillers to power in Coldharbour,   and after the end of the Planemeld the prison was eventually restored to Imperial control.

At the start of the  , the future   was thrown into a cell deep in the Imperial City Prison on the orders of   and left to die. With guidance from the spirit of  , the Champion escaped his cell and fought his way to freedom by travelling through a Shift Gate.  For over forty years following the Champion's departure, not a single prisoner escaped from the Imperial City Prison.  

The   was held in the Imperial City Prison for a time, before being pardoned by Emperor Uriel VII and sent by ship to   in   together with a fellow prisoner named  .  

In  , the future Champion of Cyrodiil was pardoned by Emperor   as he was passing through the Champion's cell along a secret escape route guarded by his  . The Emperor was fleeing the city while being pursued by assassins from the  . However, the cultists knew of the existence of the prison's escape route and succeeded in killing the Emperor, triggering the  . Before his death, Emperor Uriel gave the   to the Champion, delaying the cult long enough for the Blades to rescue his illegitimate son  . Following the assassination, the prison sewers and subterrane were sealed and occupied by the Imperial Legion, who conducted an investigation into how the events had been allowed to transpire. Despite being heavily guarded, the secret route was exploited that same year by the   in order to reach a mark within the prison; this was the first time the Imperial City Prison had been infiltrated by a Dark Brotherhood assassin in over 300 years.  

In  ,   under the control of   began besieging the Prison District as the floating city approached  . They actively attempted to break through the gate into the district, and swarmed City Isle in such numbers that the Legion was unable to push them back from the city walls. As Umbriel approached the city from the northeast, it seemed likely that it would pass over the prison and turn all those within into undead wormies. However, it was banished from the   before this could happen, killing the besieging army. 
 

Gallery
 
Notes
The Prison had at least 20,252 prisoners by  . It also has a solitary confinement wing. 

References