Rura Penthe

Rura Penthe’s average equatorial temperature is –18 degrees C. Out near the poles, the harsh cold reaches –30 degrees C or more. Though there are common windstorms, it’s actually rare that enough water from the surface sublimates to allow for snowfall. The bitter conditions make traveling and working on the surface in anything less than a full environmental suit dangerous. Because the cold is so lethal on this world, the Klingons do not even post guard towers or erect electronic frontiers to contain their prisoners. If someone escapes the mines, it is certain that he is embracing death.

For a Klingon warrior, there is no greater dishonour than being captured and not being allowed to die. Only the most dishonourable of deeds warrants exile to the harsh prison of Rura Penthe, and few Klingons reach the world without committing suicide first. As a result, the vast majority of Rura Penthe’s prisoners aren’t Klingons, but aliens from a hundred worlds. Many are from subjugated races under Klingon oppression. Others were captured during actions the Klingons found dishonourable. As a Klingon’s honour is prized above all else, it is assumed that any sentence to Rura Penthe is worse than a life sentence, and there is no mechanism for either appeal or clemency. Given the wide range of races imprisoned here, and the near total lack of escapees or released prisoners, Rura Penthe has become known as the Alien’s Graveyard in the Empire.