Fort Celatum

Fort Celatum is a heavily restricted SIA base located off the southeastern shore of Shops' mainland. The base serves as a training ground for the most elite SIA agents, and a maximum security prison for Shops Island's most dangerous criminal offenders. Fort Celatum quickly grew to become a rogue institution, as it remained isolated from most Shoppers, while those officers and agents stationed there took matters into their own hands. Many government leaks, and undercover footage showed the multiple penguin rights abuses committed by the out-of-control staff. However, living conditions for the staff were never much better than they were for the prisoners.

Conception
Throughout late July and early August 2013, crime on Shops Island skyrocketed after the SIA started lagging after the GSWVI. The remote prisons on the mainland were deemed insufficient in holding convicts and felons, so SIA chief of strategic missiles, Malor Vakovlev, made a proposal to the Shops Island Council to authorize the construction of a new, maximum security prison.

Most of the council, including president Lavender, outright refused the request, deeming it uncivil. With this striking defeat in the courts, Malor went to the head of the SIA, LMGT, for help. LMGT agreed on the act, seeing right through the fact that a prison such as this would easily be subject to corruption and unimaginable brutality. Western Shops governor Bro also signed on to the idea, and pledged to help fund and construct the new facility.

Construction
During the construction, Malor used LMGT and Bro as his pawns to build the prison in his personal ideological image. The project was kept under tight wraps, and even many government officials were in the dark about the project. Because of the prison's sheer secrecy during construction, the prison donned the name "Fort Celatum", which meant "secret" in Latin. Another, less memorable name was propsed, the Shops Island Ultimate Correctional Penitentiary, but was scrapped in favor of Fort Celatum.

Near the end of the construction, suspicions among the engineers and the executives arose about the possibility of assisted breakouts, due to its isolation, and vulnerability from all angles. Bro proposed to make it double as an SIA base to elite agents, and to have a full-on line of defense against any wannabe prisoner defectors. In mid-August, the facility was completed, and the most dangerous Shopper criminals who were formerly in regular jails, were brought to Fort Celatum and locked away to rot themselves to a slow and sad death.

Military Base
The Fort Celatum military base was designed to hold sheer amounts of fighter aircraft and spacecraft from the SIA Space Command Fleet. There are two long runways on either side of the main facility, with hangars beside the runways. The base can hold approximately 10,000 different aircraft, and is a strategic place to launch attacks from. Most pilots sleep in their craft or in the hangars overnight. The main facility of Fort Celatum rests directly above the prison and between the two runways. This is where all officers and prison guards sleep, in much better conditions than the prisoners. The officers' and guards' living quarters are still small compared to a regular military base, though. The main facility is also very advanced in contrast to most other military bases of its size and isolation.

Prison
The prison section of Fort Celatum is extremely high-security; the tightest prison in the western Asiapelago. It's located beneath the water's surface. Prisoners are crammed into extremely small cells, and they each have a super-sealed door. If a prisoner tries to escape, the door can be opened, and the room can be flooded, killing the attempted escapee. The only way to get out of the prison is via a small tube leading up to the military quarters, guarded by multiple SIA Drones and soldiers. In case of a riot, the guards are able to press a button, which causes the entire underwater prison to flood, and kill all the prisoners. The prison guards are willing to kill any attempted prisoner escapees. It's impossible to escape the cells, as they are submerged underwater, and any breach will cause the cells to flood, and drown the inmate.

Defense
Fort Celatum has an extremely heavy base-defense system. The base is surrounded by a heavy blockade of SIA warships, and fighter jets at all times. This is to prevent an escape, and to prevent any unauthorized penguins or puffles from entering the premises. Soldiers and SIA Drones constantly guard the edge of the continuous facility, and the base is loaded with many anti-aircraft guns, and other types of artillery to prevent invasion and/or attack.

Operation
Fort Celatum operates on an extremely strict system; which mainly revolves around the prison. This is because the leaders trust that the soldiers and pilots who stay with their aircraft, can maintain themselves. The prison system states that all prisoners are allowed to be sacrificed, if that means keeping just one from escaping. Torture and starvation have also been reported at times from the facility, though the staff heavily deny any accusations.

Internal Government
Due to isolation from Shops, both because of distance and secrecy, Fort Celatum's internal operation and government became corrupted by military officials who stoke their claims to leadership positions at the base. They make the rules, and are the ones who such heavily locked down on the base. Because of a lack of proper authority, the base is now heavily corrupt.

Living Conditions

 * See Level X for more insight on the prisoners' quality of life.

Living conditions across the base are mixed, yet none of them are of high quality. Commanders sleep in decent rooms, soldiers sleep in small, yet regular standard quarters for any given soldier. Pilots stopping over either sleep in the main base if there's room, and if not, they either sleep in the hangars or in their aircraft. Prisoners hold an extremely low quality of life, being starved irrationally, and being locked down under extreme isolation. The treatment of prisoners is a constant topic of controversy.

Criticism
Fort Celatum is constantly the focus of heavy anti-Shopper criticism by government activists, hippies, and penguin rights advocates. The Shopper government denies the very existence of the base, and their security forces are told to destroy anything that approaches the base, that is not under SIA authority. Protesters often rally for the release of prisoners, though the base will never allow it to happen. Most external governments just completely ignore the fact that Shops has a brutal prison, such as the USA has Owcatraz.